In Reply To:
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>
> "the power input represented by the maximum kinetic energy of the thighs is
> in the order of 6-7W. "
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> Please forgive me for asking, but I do not understand the physics behind your
> calculations.
Nor do I! My wording above was deliberately vague so as not to accept the notion that the thighs are absorbing the energy. I did the calcs that way for hypothetical reasons, hoping to exclude Frank's ideas on the basis of the numbers alone, since Frank is not persuaded by other arguments. But since my calcs were off I'm eating some crow. Still, Frank's assumptions continue to be wrong, and it may still be worth the effort to try to get him a glimpse of what he's missing.
The Power-Velocity curves may be useful (I haven't thought about it much), but I suspect that there are also other factors that make it more complex than just that.
You know, the thighs may only absorb the bulk of the energy when riding unloaded (this coming from negative muscle energy required to keep the pedal speed "constant". But, when riding loaded some of the losses may come from flexing and internal friction losses in the cranks and frame. Unless someone can convince me that there is a reasonable mechanism (that has some experimental support) to explain how this energy variation of the thighs is "conserved" I simply don't believe it exists.
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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks