Comment by mikestew
4 years ago
At one time I was a Cat 1 (last stop before pro) bicycle racer. Races would typically spend hours at 25mph, so I have a pretty good idea of how hard it is. 30mph on flat ground, unassisted, for any non-trivial length of time? Yeah, damned hard even if you're in shape (and impossible if you're not). 25mph by yourself? It might be "not hard...to hit" 25mph, but to sustain that speed is going to be nearly impossible for the ones I see zooming by on their electric motorcycles. And it's going to be tough workout even for an in-shape cyclist. As another commenter points out, that's over 300 watts. If you can do that for your hour ride to work, go get a race license, you'll do well.
Exactly. The kind of stuff thrown around in this thread borders on the unbelievable or we have a couple of pro riders here that I wasn't previously aware of. I think I know a couple of really strong cyclists (notably, my brother but also others) and in spite of my injury I'm no slouch and am rarely overtaken on a regular racer but if I'm to believe this thread then I really should be checking my bike if something is dragging or not ;)