Does the Size matter?

[kash1125]

Hi all,
I'm interested in to road racing and want to know how does the rider size (height and weight) affects ones capability in racing.
I have been looking all over the internet about this and did not have any success in finding solid studies regarding this subject.
I hope the expert staff at RCUK or the knowledgeable RCUK community might be able to help me with this.
Thank You.

[Known by my posts [FBF]]

Majority of top racers are small, either in height or stature. Unless of course they are sprinters.

[cadseen]

The higher your power to weight ratio the faster you will go.
Especially in hilly road races.

[CVP]

It's not necessarily the size that matters but the quality within it. E.g. Miguel Indurain big bloke and Stuart O'Grady small bloke. Both great bike riders, just very different type so riders.

VO2 max is a good predictor of athletic performance for endurance sports. It's the measure of how much oxygen you can take up and the key component your capability is genetic. By training of course you can improve this somewhat, plus you improve your efficiency in terms of how much oxygen it takes to fuel a certain workload and also your technique gets better so you improve mechanical efficiency there plus trim off as much fat as possible so power to weight goes up and you improve. Fundamentally though being born with a very poor VO2 max will limit your ability and being born with a very high VO2 max will enable you reach great performance if you put in the necessary work.

In addition to that you are born with a mix of slow twitch (endurance based) and fast twitch (sprint based) muscle fibres. This mix makes you naturally pre-disposed to be a sprinter, a rouler, a long break specialist. Again specific taining can alter this ratio somwhat but fundamentally you are limited by genetics.

Overall I'd say your genes are much more important in terms of absolute performance than a smiple big or small style of debate. Your genes really govern what kind of rider you naturally are and then you play to those strengths.

It really pays to pick your parents...

[kash1125]

Much appreciated..!!

[Josh Harfoot]

I guess the only thing I can compare this to is being a jockey. They have to be quite short and light to allow the horse to race faster. And yes, the majority of racers are small. The only thing I will say is that as you can imagine, the smaller you are, they easier you are to propell along a track on a bike. But, and this is a big but, its also a fact that if you are quite small, you will scientifically be less capable of letting out as much energy. Im just rambling here but you will find it helps to be smaller but what the hell! As long as you enjoy it

[VLAD (the Friendly Vamp)]

MY WIFE SAYS SIZE MATTERS....

.
Sorry... are we talking about something else here..

[kash1125]

Couldn't agree more..! thanks.

[coolboarder]

Majority of top racers are small, either in height or stature. Unless of course they are sprinters.

Aren't height and stature the same thing? But what about the Schlecks? Climbers can be tall and thin like Andy and Frank (and me) short and thin like the now discredited Bertie, all rounders can be big and powerful (Indurain, Ulrich) and sprinters small and powerful (Cav), or heavy and powerful (Thor Hushovd, Marcus Backstedt). Its horses for courses so in fact anything will do so long as you have a good power to weigh ratio. Big buggers just have a bit more trouble going up hill and us skinny fellas have problems producing enough power on the flat.

[Paul4]

Not to mention that those of us lucky enough to be of a "skinny bugger" disposition can't quite free wheel at the same speed as a "big bugger" on a descent.