badgertri wrote:
Am00re34 wrote:
. I cheered on the hill last year and I'd say 60-70% walked and of those who didn't probably 80% of them were maxing hR. You need to be a good climber to get up without hurting the rest of your dayThis is very surprising to me. I would expect that a compact crank with a 28 rear at a low cadence would get most people up Barlow with no matches burnt.
You're not a flatlander, are you?
The last 2/10ths of a mile of that hill are a ~9% grade. You have to be able to push ~2.5 watts/kilo (for ~2.5 minutes) to get up that at 5mph. Slower than that, many people find it hard to keep balance and easier to walk. Especially if you're not used to climbing steep grades out of the saddle.
2.5 watts/kilo may not seem like a lot to an Ironman competitor, but it's definitely "burning matches" zone for many Ironman "completers."
"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"