This great blog from Luka breaks down the median body statistics for the different types of cycling specialists:
| Specialty | Height | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Climbers | 175 cm | 61 kg |
| All-rounders | 179 cm | 72 kg |
| Sprinters | 179 cm | 72 kg |
| Time trialers | 186 cm | 75 kg |
| OVERALL | 179 cm | 71 kg |
This was the first time I had seen the statistics on what I already knew from my triathlon days. I remember one race on Hagg Lake in Beaverton, Oregon once where I was always passing a particularly big and powerful guy on the hills and he would always pass me on the descents. It was because of our weight difference. Being lighter meant that my inertia wouldn’t last, the wind would stop me easier. But when the wind was less of a factor, I dominated.
I also remember identifying power as my weakness when working through Joel Friel’s Triathlon Training Bible. I hit the gym hard and built a lot of strength power to go with my lighter frame body. And I did really well in the Tri-Cities triathlon because of it. I still did better at Hagg Lake, however, because the course was hilly, not the flats of southern Washington.
The blog talks about the different types of courses where each of the specialists really excel.
Climbers dominate hills—especially those that are long and straight up with no descents. Such climbs are all about weight and have almost no considerations for aerodynamics. Shorter cyclists are not only more aerodynamic making them able to slip behind bigger cyclists but also also tend to weight less and have a much higher power to weight ratio because of it. While they put out much less max power than sprinters, their lower weight makes their power propel them further and better over long inclines.
The best climbers look like toothpicks. Muscle is heavy so less of it makes them faster on hills. The challenge is to keep up the overall power without putting on too much muscle. Climbers have the strangest looking body types of all usually, something like a marathoner but with larger legs.
This is the major group of cyclists. They have huge legs and can climb when needed but don’t live for climbing. They have adapted to all kinds of different courses but don’t excel on any particular type. Their advantage is that they can do anything, just not particularly well. This is also the most popular specialty when it comes to fan appreciation.
Sprinters live for flat courses where everything comes down to the sprint at the end. They are the polar opposite of climbers usually being fine being even overweight if it means their max power increases. Sprinters are all about short-term maximum power. This means they have a lot of slow-twitch muscle fibers making them more muscular. Sprinters also have to have no fear because sprinting takes nothing but instinct and a will to dominate. Explosive power is the what they build and crave. Sprinters will lazily sit in the peloton until the end and even then draft as much as they can until their moment to sprint and shine comes. Sprinters are horrible as sustained, hard efforts, which is the biggest difference between sprinting and time-trialing.
Time-trialers are the most powerful cyclists of all. They tend to be monstrous engines that eat wind for breakfast. Most all TT courses are flat so they build bodies that can sustain high power over a very long distance and work on flexibility to stay in their TT position for the entire course. They don’t work on tactics such as drafting. American triathletes also fall into this category. Weight is a non-issue. The heavier the better so long as it means a sustained high power output and good aerodynamics and better inertia. Weight helps propel them through through wind gusts that would stop lighter cyclists in their tracks. TT specialists are also the opposite of climbers.
Triathletes are also very tall and powerful. Their height helps them slip through the water on their swim better. The taller the swimmer the better their vessel. Their weight also helps them keep their inertia in the water. Shorter, lighter swimmers have to really compensate for this with a lot of upper-body power, which is why cycling and triathlon favor different body types based on the event.
I’ve realized after analyzing this stuff that this is the main reason despite my professional training efforts in my 20s and 30s that I never had a chance entering the top times for triathlons. I always finished top 20% for my age group, but I simply didn’t have the genetics (and the budget for triathlon gear). Even without a tri-bike I would destroy the field on the bike. My swim form was horrible. My running was okay. But I really excelled on the bike—especially with courses that had lots of hills. In fact, I was probably burning my legs out too much on the bike climbs before having to run later.
I live in the land of hills. In fact, the largest peak in Eastern America is Mt. Mitchel. It makes senses that I set out to make the Assaults on Mt. Mourne and Mt. Mitchel my target goals. Having a major goal and specialty helps me focus training and stay intent on attaining specific details in my training even though my main goal is simply health and fitness.
Climbers in the pro camps are separated out into groups and work on threshold intervals on hills instead of doing power sprint intervals or working out on the TT bikes. You could say that climbers excel at rides at threshold pace going uphill.
Climbing is all about weight so that means that I need to set my goal around 60 kg (instead of 67) even though I’ve normally maintained about 70 kg most of my life. It also means that if and when I invest in a road bike that I’ll be targeting the Trek Edmonda or something like it. I’ve not been that light since my high-school cycling days so this will be interesting.