I found it interesting that 12/15 top men bike times were done by athlete’s 5’11" or taller. Does height has anything to do with bike speed? Maybe this is a coincidence?
Also interesting that they are all between 158-165lbs which is super-light for that height. Guess I need to starve myself at 6’, 188lbs! Or maybe I’ll have a pizza later!
Power goes up approximately linearly with height. Twice as tall, twice as much power. Just the way physiology scales. The genes that give you taller bones gives you bigger lungs, heart, and more blood to go with it.
Drag doesn’t work like that though, since the torso is mostly horizontal, that extra height is largely hidden.
So yeah, on flattish courses, tall is usually good. Personal proportions and position choices can skew all of that of course. (Levi Leipheimer is tiny and TTs pretty good)
So yeah, on flattish courses, tall is usually good. Personal proportions and position choices can skew all of that of course. (Levi Leipheimer is tiny and TTs pretty good when he is on the drugs)
Fixed that for you.
So yeah, on flattish courses, tall is usually good. Personal proportions and position choices can skew all of that of course. (Levi Leipheimer is tiny and TTs pretty good when he is on the drugs)
Fixed that for you.
Yes, but I think the drugs worked just as well for the tall guys.
I found it interesting that 12/15 top men bike times were done by athlete’s 5’11" or taller. Does height has anything to do with bike speed? Maybe this is a coincidence?
Also interesting that they are all between 158-165lbs which is super-light for that height. Guess I need to starve myself at 6’, 188lbs! Or maybe I’ll have a pizza later!
It is not just the top 15 Pro men. Pretty well in any male age group the bulk of the Kona qualifiers are this size. There is a body type for every sport and for Long course racing, this is the body type that rules.
If you are smaller, you need to find a race with a ton of climbing and a lot of heat and humidty. If you are taller and heavier, you need to find flat races that are cool. It is just the way the physiology of IM racing works.
I think you are right, but is Kona not hot and humid? The Kona guys are tall but compared to me really light so I’m sure that helps them in Kona conditions.
Depending on from what country you are from 5.11 is not tall, actually less than average for several countries.
I think you are right, but is Kona not hot and humid? The Kona guys are tall but compared to me really light so I’m sure that helps them in Kona conditions.
I don’t think any 6 footers have won Kona.
Maybe if there is a hurricane starky will one day =)
Isn’t Peter Reid well over 6’? Closer to 6’3".
I think you are right, but is Kona not hot and humid? The Kona guys are tall but compared to me really light so I’m sure that helps them in Kona conditions.
Yes, it helps them. My key point is that if you are under 5’10", you need a hilly race to minimize your power/CdA penalty but you also need it to be hot to take advantage of your light weight. Case in point is Ivan Rana. Off the back after the bike but then moves up big time on the run. Put Ivan on a hot course like IM France, and he’s probably going neck and neck with Fredrick Van Lierde, if not faster. (I’d love to see that)
Bottom line is you have to be “light for your height” be it 5’6" or 6’6". Then it is a matter of finding the right course for your height with the right temperatures. I’d go so far to say that most guys above 6’6" or under 5’4" will have very very low odds of Kona qualifying in the age group ranks. There will be a few exceptions but rare. Riding along in Kona, I felt that every guy near me was 6" taller. The only people my size (5’6", 138 lbs) were age group women (well, they are my height by 20 lbs lighter). At the same time, I saw almost zero really really tall guys.
This is in sharp contrast to your regular Ironmans where you see every body type under the sun. In Kona there is a body type that qualifies for that event. It’s just like playing college basketball…there might be the odd exception but you gotta be shaped a certain way for your sport…natural selection.
My best chance for a Kona qual are races like IM France or Tremblant/Placid/Whistler if they get really really hot (If they are not hot then those races still don’t help enough). Or as I did in St. Croix on crazy humidity when everyone was walking the hills.
Isn’t Peter Reid well over 6’? Closer to 6’3".
Also, are Mark Allen and Dave Scott not around 6’. What about John Howard, and Tinley. Certainly Fredrick Van Lierde is 6’ +
I am 6’3" I feel like a beast. Sitting at 178 right now have gotten to 166. I as bad as I want to be a runner, I cant get the times to match.
Isn’t Peter Reid well over 6’? Closer to 6’3".
you are correct! thanks for correcting me
<Bottom line is you have to be “light for your height” be it 5’6" or 6’6".>
I agree with this. Weight kills especially on the run, regardless of terrain. If I’m on flat or rolling course I will do farily well on bike - usually top 5 in AG…then I watch them all go by on the run and end up losing 3-4 places.
He was pretty good. 
Depending on from what country you are from 5.11 is not tall, actually less than average for several countries.
You are correct…Holemenkollen FIS XC ski World Championships Sprint final…every Kona top 10 pro would be a midget in this field:
fast forward to 0:15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6DTvHo6eYQ
…and with that, time to get outdoors and slap on the XC skis for some semblance of sprint intervals (even with my non functioning left leg)…
Depending on from what country you are from 5.11 is not tall, actually less than average for several countries.
Since I am derailing this thread, Northug and Hellner got beaten by “Roger Bannister” over 1600m…I guess the rolling resistance of rollerskis on a track is pretty slow!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXILd2oW_9k
I never thought about trying to use roller skis on a track!
I think you are right, but is Kona not hot and humid? The Kona guys are tall but compared to me really light so I’m sure that helps them in Kona conditions.
I don’t think any 6 footers have won Kona.
Maybe if there is a hurricane starky will one day =)
FVL is shown at 6 feet 0.5 inch
XC skiing is essentially about leverage. So it favors the taller folks; longer legs/longer arms=longer levers for better efficiency and speed.
It is interesting this sweet spot for height/weight for the top tri-guys though…
Here’s a useful chart based on the heights and weights of pro cyclists – there’s a good deal of variation:
http://www.wenzelcoaching.com/...g-body-weight-chart/
Unfortunately the chart only addresses climbing and sprinting, not time trialing. Also note this data is for elite riders; if you over 35, add 5 lbs to each range.
More info:
When you’re familiar with athletes in most conventional sports, it’s a shock to see how small and thin top cyclists are. The rule for climbing prowess: You should weigh (in pounds) no more than twice your height in inches. So at 6 feet (72 inches) you’d need to weigh 144 pounds rather than 190. Pro cycling tends to select lean, light-bodied athletes in the same way that the profile of a mastodon is required for football linemen. Climbing ability is crucial in racing, and it depends on the power-to-weight ratio. A light rider doesn’t need to generate as much power as his heavier competitor because he has less weight to propel up hills. In the 2005 Tour de France with 189 starters, here’s the profile of the average rider:
**
*Height – 1.79 meters (5 feet, 10.4 inches)Weight – 71 kilograms (156.2 pounds)Resting heart rate – 50 bpmLung capacity – 5.69 liters (1.48 gallons)*Of course, there are exceptions. Five-time Tour winner Miguel Indurain is 6-foot-2 and weighed 190 pounds when he began racing. Lots of miles reduced him to 175. At that weight, his huge power output enabled him to ride with the specialist climbers in the mountains even though he outweighed most of them by 30-40 pounds. And of course he was nearly unbeatable in flat time trials where weight doesn’t matter much but power output does. Think of Big Mig and don’t give up hope for climbing well. Continue riding, train on hills and you’ll improve to the limits of your physique.