Muscle fiber composition and riding strengths

[redrhodie]

"pure climber"?
If AC isn't a climber I don't know who is.

Contador will do. He's a pure climber, for sure.

[redrhodie]

It's interesting to look at them all together like that. It looks to me, and this could be due to lighting, pedal position, or amount of force being used by each rider, that AC's muscles are the least defined.

[Zen]

I can't make a judgment until I see both with less pants

[Bike Chick]

Zen, you crack me up!!!

[Owlie]

Didn't we do the ogling last month?

I cannot remember if there's a difference in bulking between fiber types. The thing with cycling is that it's primarily endurance, but I imagine sprinting, climbing and pure distance utilize different muscle fibers to different extents.


I ask (not about the ogling!) because I'm quite sure that my muscle fiber makeup is overwhelmingly slow-twitch. I have no idea what my cadence is (comfortable? ), but I'm the type that walks a mile faster than they run one, but I'm okay at short distance dead sprints. I'm not a climber. (Okay, so conditioning plays a role there.) I can do short-distance sprinting (getting around stuff or out of a situation I don't want to be in).
I'm more distance than speed, and I feel like my type IIa fibers are permanently out to lunch.

[redrhodie]

Didn't we do the ogling last month?

I cannot remember if there's a difference in bulking between fiber types. The thing with cycling is that it's primarily endurance, but I imagine sprinting, climbing and pure distance utilize different muscle fibers to different extents.


I ask (not about the ogling!) because I'm quite sure that my muscle fiber makeup is overwhelmingly slow-twitch. I have no idea what my cadence is (comfortable? ), but I'm the type that walks a mile faster than they run one, but I'm okay at short distance dead sprints. I'm not a climber. (Okay, so conditioning plays a role there.) I can do short-distance sprinting (getting around stuff or out of a situation I don't want to be in).
I'm more distance than speed, and I feel like my type IIa fibers are permanently out to lunch.

I always wonder what my real cycling "gift" is. Am I a natural climber, which I suspect , or a sprinter? Too bad there's not some way of knowing that didn't involve climbing or sprinting.

[redrhodie]

I can't make a judgment until I see both with less pants

Don't get me started.

[snowroo]

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2010/...ss-those-legs/

Going on a tangent...On cyclists legs

[Dogmama]

I'll bet that muscle fiber type is only part of it. Some sprinters can probably exist on ATP longer than other sprinters or pure climbers (ATP=type of energy used for sprints that dissipates quickly.)

[Catrin]

hmmmmm THAT can be my excuse...

"sorry, I have the kind of muscle fiber good for endurance, not speed"...

What? Everyone uses that excuse?

Darn, well, I tried

[miamibiker]

I can't make a judgment until I see both with less pants

I need to see them naked and I will judge. But please keep the helmets on, it usually ruins it for me when I have to see their face. One exception, Fabian