Originally Posted by
WhyFi
Yup.
Most people are going to have a supply of a 1-2k calories, in the form of glycogen, at the ready for high intensity efforts; riding at lower intensity can goad the body in to burning fat.
You make it sound like goading the body to burn fat is a bad thing?
For an endurance rider, a low VLa max is a good thing and frequently riding at high intensity often is counterproductive towards that end. Someone who can burn a lot of fat and pyruvate, will have an FTP much closer to VO2 max percentage-wise than a typical time crunched rider. The changes to type IIA and enzymes take careful training.
I suppose it depends on one's objective. The maximum fat burning power is somewhere just above VT1, maybe low tempo.