Myth # 7 Skinny riders are better climbers

EAT IT ALL!!!

We have all heard the so-called smart people repeat the importance of power to weight ratio.  The result of these monologues is that everyone needs to lose weight and we should all be skinny.  This simply isn’t true. 

I should clarify something here.  If the rider is skinny and is riding a carbon bike with normal tires and the bike lacks the aerodynamic benefits of fenders, then there may be a sliver of truth, depending on the circumstances. However, in almost every real world situation, the heavier rider is faster.

When was the last time you saw a father who could not keep up with their toddler children.  The father is much heavier than the child, yet he is faster.

Let’s assume a chunky rider, clad in a sagging wool jersey on a flexible noodle of a steel bike with a basket on the front the size of an ice chest and fenders made from platinum or hammered gold leaf.  

As the rider goes along on the flats, where we all agree the rider’s weight does not matter, the flex of the steel frame stores a portion of the pedaling effort for later use.  Even on a hilly route with two thousand meters of climbing on a hundred and twenty kilometer route the vast majority of the ride is flat.  Just imagine all of the energy that can be stored up as the rider pedals on the flats, let along on the downhills! 

Then when the road turns uphill the rider by maintaining a smooth cadence and employing the benefits of the stored frame flex the heavy rider can sail up the hills.

To test this theory I gathered three of my friends from the flat earth society and we all rode up a hill together and after employing group think we decided our level of effort was an eight.  We then stopped and ate donuts.  The donut is the food of choice for the fat rider.  We then rode up the same hill and we all felt it was easier with the donuts in our bellies.  I had a watch that had stopped functioning, but I am sure that if we had measured the time it would have confirmed what we already knew. 

Some would argue that we should have employed fancy power meters and the like but like so many biking products, they just tell you what you already know.  If you pedal harder you go faster, you don’t need some expensive gizmo to tell you that!

Let’s look at the pro cyclists.  Chris Froome is skinny and he had to use a bucket of asthma medicine to do well in the Tour Day France.  Who typically has asthma? Fat kids.  Perhaps I stereotype, but, whatever…  What this really means is that Chris Froome had to try and be fat to win the Tour Day France.