Something smells fishy

[Seph]

Today a local racer won 2 race in the same day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
I've done the race in the morning, during the entire race my heart rate were 96% with a peak of 102%. I ended the race at 36/104 (not super but also not bad, I'm happy to have won the second place of my category).
As now I feel my legs tires and lots of lactic acid, probably more than usual since I suffered a lot the thirsting. The other racer I start talking at the begging, keep the speed of 3miles/hours more than the pursuers group.

Is really possible to archive such as training?




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[TobinHatesYou]

Today a local racer won 2 race in the same day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
I've done the race in the morning, during the entire race my heart rate were 96% with a peak of 102%. I ended the race at 36/104 (not super but also not bad, I'm happy to have won the second place of my category).
As now I feel my legs tires and lots of lactic acid, probably more than usual since I suffered a lot the thirsting. The other racer I start talking at the begging, keep the speed of 3miles/hours more than the pursuers group.

Is really possible to archive such as training?

Not enough details to even speculate. There are people a lot stronger than you. There are a lot of possible reasons why a peloton might be considerably slower than a breakaway.

[Seph]

I'm slower , not arguing about that.
I also not accusing or said anything else, I just find amazing to have such as a fast recovery enough to get 2x the exceptional performance in the same day.


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[Ypuh]

A large part is just physiology. I remember Egan Bernal tested a VO2Max of like 91 at the age of 19. Chris Froome peaked at around 88. For reference, mine's around 66 which is already considered to be in the top few %.

I doubt any amount of training would ever take me to World Tour levels, just as that Froome's peak with the same trainingschedule isn't going to achieve that of Bernal. Cycling is more than just VO2 Max, but there are aspects to cycling you can't control by training. If your natural capacity is higher than your peers and everyone completes similar training, a better rider might need to go less deep and recover quicker.

Amateur racing covers such a wide range of riders compared to the World Tour. Even in the World Tour there's a huge range of capabilities. Riders as Ben O'Conner and Romain Bardet are never going to win a grand tour as long as Roglic, Evenepoel, Vingegaard, Pogacar and soon Ayuso are in top shape. It's still a surprise that Jai Hindley and Tao Geoghegan Hart managed to win a grand tour recently.

[bmrk]

I'm slower , not arguing about that.
I also not accusing or said anything else, I just find amazing to have such as a fast recovery enough to get 2x the exceptional performance in the same day.


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You named this thread Something smells fishy.

[LouisN]

I though it was about...food supplementation (Omega 3 fish oil ).
Some people are just stronger than the field in amateur racing, so simple to understand.
Many people like to sandbag outdoor races, not just Zwift ones, so they shine in lesser categories.

Louis

[Rudi]

Was this a lower category race?

Quite often people who are on the way up are looking to accumulate points as fast as possible, and if they are genuinely destined for a higher category then they blast through the lower levels.

[AJS914]

Yes, when I raced I saw people blowing through lower categories and by me all the time. The typical scenario would be starting at a cat 5 and being a cat 3 in one season and a cat 2 by the next season.

We can usually assume that these are genetically gifted athletes. Greg Lemond raced and beat cat 1-2 fields when he was a teenager.

[TobinHatesYou]

Yes, when I raced I saw people blowing through lower categories and by me all the time. The typical scenario would be starting at a cat 5 and being a cat 3 in one season and a cat 2 by the next season.

We can usually assume that these are genetically gifted athletes. Greg Lemond raced and beat cat 1-2 fields when he was a teenager.

It’s even easier if you’re 35+ in the US. I would do three crits in a day finish top 10 in each of them and get upgrade points.

Plenty of guys go from cat 5 to cat 1 in a season too. These are guys who pretty much win every single race they enter until they hit cat 2.

[Seph]

In my country the cat are not getting upgrade by points but by age. Collecting points will increare your overall regional rank (wich one this year i'll claimed as regional champ of my cat).

Also the race is mixed by any kind of age

[Seph]

I'm slower , not arguing about that.
I also not accusing or said anything else, I just find amazing to have such as a fast recovery enough to get 2x the exceptional performance in the same day.


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You named this thread Something smells fishy.

tittle was hilarious, but since me and others have a slower recovery is normal to have a bit of doubt.
still, i'am here to learn not accusing anyone.

[TobinHatesYou]

So tell us about yourself. Age, height, weight…what’s your threshold, 5’, 60”, 15” power? How aero are you? What frame, wheels, tires, etc. are you running?

[Requiem84]

Let's say that I would be racing Pogacar in the morning and then again a few hours later for a second race.

Would I be surprised he would beat me (and the rest of the field) easily on both occassions while I had a heart rate of 200 in the first minutes of the first race?

Duh. No.

It's all about the relative level of this guy versus the level of the field he was racing that day. Without knowing his level versus your level, it's a pointless discussion.

[TobinHatesYou]

A typical low level road race averages maybe 23mph around here. To average 26mph would probably require ~300W on a flat road. Easily doable.

[Seph]

A typical low level road race averages maybe 23mph around here. To average 26mph would probably require ~300W on a flat road. Easily doable.

most races are around 37miles with 400/600m of difference in altitude, done with 26mph of speed