Originally Posted by
wphamilton
That's another way of expressing what I'm saying, and what the scatter plot shows. It takes MORE added power to jump x% of the riders as you get closer to 100%, for a given x. That's the same as saying the same power jumps fewer riders. The common knowledge suggests the reverse of that (that riders at the highest level get closer in ability, ie, takes LESS added power to jump x% of the riders).
Power =/= ability.
I think that's where we're differing. At the lower levels of the sport, simply adding power can drastically increase your success. At the upper levels, power is just part of the equation that adds up to ability.
To wildly make up numbers, if at say Cat 3, power is 60% of your success. At the WT Pro level, it's maybe 25%. Sure you have to have massive power to be a Pro. But every Pro has massive power. So it takes more than that to be successful.