Climbing specialist (cycling)

A climbing specialist is a road bicycle racer who can ride especially well on highly inclined roads, such as those found among hills or mountains.

Climbing Physics and Physiology

Sports physiologists have attributed the advantage that small stature holds in cycling up steep ascents to the way in which body mass and body surface area scale according to height. As a hypothetical cyclist?s height increases, the surface areas of his body increase according to the square of his height whereas the mass of his body increases according to the cube of his height. The net effect is that surface area scales approximately according to the two-thirds power of body mass. The surface area relation applies not only to the total surface area of the body, but also to the frontal area, which is critical in determining aerodynamic drag, and the surface areas of the lungs and blood vessels, which are primary factors in determining aerobic power. Thus, an equally-proportioned cyclist who has 50% more body mass (i.e. is 50% heavier) will generate only about 30% more aerobic power. On a steep climb most of the cyclist?s energy goes into lifting his own weight, so the heavier cyclist will be at a competitive disadvantage. There is, of course, a lower limit to the benefit of small stature because, among other factors, the cyclist must also lift the weight of his bicycle.

Related Topics:
Physiologists - Mass - Surface area - Aerodynamic drag - Lungs - Blood vessels - Aerobic

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scaling factors also account for the relative disadvantage of the small cyclist in descending, although more as a result of physics than physiology. A larger rider will experience a more powerful gravitational force because of his greater body mass, but he will not have as great an increase in the frontal area that creates aerodynamic drag. The downward force is proportional to the cube of height whereas the drag force is proportional, among other things, to the square of height. Descending exclusively under the force of gravity--i.e. not applying power through pedaling--the heavier rider will be faster.

Related Topics:
Physics - Gravitational force

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although these factors might seem to cancel each other out, the climber still has an advantage on a course with long ascents and long descents: adding several miles per hour on a slow, time-consuming climb is much more valuable than the same increase on a fast and brief descent. Any rider, of course, can improve his cimbing speed by increasing his aerobic power and reducing his body weight and can increase his descending speed through better bike handling and the willingness to accept an increased risk of crashing. One of the few elite riders to use descending skill as a competitive advantage is Paolo Savoldelli, who is nicknamed "the falcon."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For a more quantitative treatment of climbing physics and physiology, see Swain, DP, Cycling: Uphill and Downhill http://www.sportsci.org/encyc/cyclingupdown/cyclingupdown.html.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~