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0 pointsvikingerik3y ago0 comments

I know nothing about typical bike timings, but I was struck by that. Does it really take 40 minutes to go 1 km at an 8% grade? Would it be faster to get off the bike and walk? When you're not rolling, you don't have to output power to fight your own weight trying to roll back - the friction between your shoes and the ground counteracts that. (I assume a real race doesn't allow you to walk, just batting around thoughts hypothetically here.)

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4 comments · 2 top-level

toss13y ago· 2 in thread

One racecourse I know about that has both running and bicycle races is the Mt Washington Auto Road in New Hampshire USA. It is the tallest mountain east of the continent. The top is at 6288ft/1917m above sea level. The road is 7.6 miles / 12.2 km long and the climb is 4650 vertical feet / 1420m.

The footrace has been run since 1936 and the bicycle race since 1973. The road used to be paved only half way and gravel the rest, but it is now largely paved.

Now, the Men's bicycle record is 0:50:38 (2022) and the women's record is 58:14 (2000). The running race records are 0:56:41 (2004) and 1:09:25 (2012).

So, pretty clearly, even at a 12% grade, the bicycle still has an advantage. I'd say this is still true even though the bicycle race consistently attracts US Cycling Team and other international class competitors, and the running race seems to less frequently attract that caliber.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_Road_Race

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_Auto_Road_Bic...

vikingerikOP3y ago

Very interesting information, thanks. The sibling comment pointed out that the parent probably meant 40 minutes for 1km of elevation gain, not linear distance, which makes sense too.

Maybe I'm just trying to justify my own struggles where it's faster to walk the bike up any significant grade :)

toss13y ago

YW. You might be using too high a gear, so pushing too hard, which will definitely slow you down going uphills.

In general for reasonably flat riding, you want to be spinning at 80-90RPM. Most cyclists I see are spinning much slower, so pushing much harder. Think in terms of lifting a weight. You might be able to lift 10kg only six times on some motion, but you can likely lift 1kg far more than 60 times with the same motion.

I also have a lesson from Mt Washington. I was an unranked teenage amateur bicycle racer doing ok, but only using bicycle racing as training for ski racing. I'd won a couple regional-level hillclimbs and was looking for another race and someone said "call this guy". I did, and got told about the first Mt Washington bike race. I had no idea what gearing to use, so got the lowest granny-geal cluster I could find in a day. I got to the race and among the small crowd were four guys from the US Cycling Team. I wound up finishing 3rd, only 4min behind John Allis (3-time Olympian) 1h:15m time and 4sec behind 2nd place. I had by mostly dumb luck out-guessed everyone on the gears (neither my conditioning nor my bike was close to their class). The next year Allis came back and won again knocking 14min off his time, presumably with a lower gear cluster.

So, I'd definitely take a look and see about using lower gears...

elektronaut3y ago

I suspect the parent is referring to elevation, not distance. 1km in distance would only take a few minutes.

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