I have been doing my power training with my power meter and doing an SST/L4 session. With 3 x 10 intervals and my FTP is 230 from my last test. As I was coming around the east side bend in central park up in the 90s, a couple roller bladders were eyeing me as I was doing a comfortable 20 mph and ready to start my interval. One begins to sprint to the side of me before I reach her while the other one sprints as soon as I pass him. I say fine, I do not mind being the fox in this chase as I do the same to other riders sometimes. So instead of going into the interval I stay at 20 mph, the road is a slight incline but very slight, after a minute or soI see he is about to catch me, I than push it up to 25 mph, he almost catches me at the gate and yells thanks.
How much power and energy does it take to do that on roller blades? I was really impressed and did not think possible on an incline or flat. Also his style I found strange as I looked back, his stance was very wide and short quick leg movements instead of long leg movements with a narrow stance like a speed skater which I thought would be correct...
Can roller bladders compete in a short race with a cyclist?
I have been doing my power training with my power meter and doing an SST/L4 session. With 3 x 10 intervals and my FTP is 230 from my last test. As I was coming around the east side bend in central park up in the 90s, a couple roller bladders were eyeing me as I was doing a comfortable 20 mph and ready to start my interval. One begins to sprint to the side of me before I reach her while the other one sprints as soon as I pass him. I say fine, I do not mind being the fox in this chase as I do the same to other riders sometimes. So instead of going into the interval I stay at 20 mph, the road is a slight incline but very slight, after a minute or soI see he is about to catch me, I than push it up to 25 mph, he almost catches me at the gate and yells thanks.
How much power and energy does it take to do that on roller blades? I was really impressed and did not think possible on an incline or flat. Also his style I found strange as I looked back, his stance was very wide and short quick leg movements instead of long leg movements with a narrow stance like a speed skater which I thought would be correct...
Can roller bladders compete in a short race with a cyclist?
-JS
I don't know about roller blades, but speedskaters are about as fast as track sprinters, I think.
I was on a bicycle ride earlier this year with a new fellow we hadn't seen before and he told us that he was a competitive roller blader. He said that he can draft bicycles doing 40 km/hr, and sometimes pass them. (He was on the bike ride for a change of scene, but I haven't seen him since).
Sounds like what you encountered were some very fit competitive bladers.
We have a road loop around 2.2 miles long that encircles a State office campus that is used by cyclists, runners and roller bladers. There is a speedskating club that does dry land training in the evenings as well. The speedskaters will occasionally draft some of the faster (>20 mph) cyclists and blow by them pretty easily.
I have to believe they have to generate alot more anerobic power to reach those speeds than you do on a bike...I would love to see their power output...
-JS
fleshbroiler said:
We have a road loop around 2.2 miles long that encircles a State office campus that is used by cyclists, runners and roller bladers. There is a speedskating club that does dry land training in the evenings as well. The speedskaters will occasionally draft some of the faster (>20 mph) cyclists and blow by them pretty easily.
You and me both. Very disconcerting to be cruising along, legs burning, sucking big wind and have someone on speedskates blow your doors off and say "thanks for the pull." I can usually manage a grin and a nod for a response.
