My cycling friend Doug Fisher passed along some helpful cycling information on a few sites he has been tinkering with. So for you off season cycling junkies trying to figure out how to get faster, stronger, and build sustainability before the spring, check out what Doug says below.
Wanted to pass along a couple of tools that I have found to be very useful.
1. Gear / Speed / Cadence Calculator. Want to know how much a compact might help keep rpms up on a climb? Want to know if an 11 tooth cog will help if you’re spinning out your 12 tooth? You can also see where the optimum point to shift into the little ring with your gearing. You’ll have to download this program. I can’t voucher for the safety, but I haven’t had any problems associated with it.?
http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/bike/gears/gear_calculator.html
2. Watts / Speed Calculator.
I really like this program and found it extremely accurate in predicting what studio work will translate to on the track. Want to see what impact a lighter bike or a couple of less burgers in the diet will have on the your speed, it will tell you. Probably the neatest feature is determining something like the wattage needed to climb Snake Mt without walking. Plug in your expected climbing speed and the grade of the climb and you know how many watts you’ll need to hold and for how long. If you know what watts you can hold and the associated speed you can then use the gearing program to determine what cassette to ride and what your rpms will look like.
http://bikecalculator.com/veloUS.html
Enjoy.