Originally Posted by aliasfox

Hi everyone,

Now that my wife is in the office a couple of days a week, we've started spending part of our time in Manhattan again. So instead of riding suburban and rural rail trails, I've started doing laps of Central Park after work. Not the most exciting ride, but it's the only place where I can get a little bit of climbing in relatively close to home.

One thing I've noticed is that my performance isn't what I expect, and I was wondering if anybody had any thoughts. As one does laps around the park, one often ends up yo-yoing with other cyclists who ride at a similar pace. Depending on traffic, terrain, chugs of water, etc, one person might get a few hundred feet ahead, only for the other person to catch up as conditions shift. One thing I've noticed over the past few rides is that I'm more likely to catch up/pass other riders as the road pitches upwards, but strangely enough, have the most trouble keeping pace on flats or slight descents.

What's strange about this is that I'm not a small guy - 190 lbs (~86kg) if we haven't gone out to eat in the past week, often a few lbs more than that. The people who seem to outpace me on flats/slight descents are easily 20-30 lbs lighter than me, and they're often the same ones that I'm able to pass on Harlem Hill (for example).

Is it that I have decent burst/sprint wattage going up climbs that last 1-2 minutes? Or is it that I have pretty crappy sustained wattage on flat sections? Note, none of these sections are really longer than 3-4 minutes before the road pitches up or down, so I don't think it's a sustained wattage thing, either.

I don't think it matters, but for reference, I'm riding a Cannondale CAAD8, home-built with Force22 and Zonda wheels w/Michelin Pro4 Endurance.

Any thoughts on technique, training, diet, etc would be appreciated! Not looking to race anybody, just looking for explanations to help me understand.