WASTED WATTS Bike Physics
IMAGINE YOURSELF AT THE TOP OF A BIG HILL. Before you stretches out a long, straight roadway. This road has no cross roads, no traffic and is finished in good, smooth pavement. In other words we can go as fast as we want for as long as we need. To make the maths easier, this hill has a gradient of 10 percent. That is pretty steep, but not ridiculously so.
Today you brought two bikes with you. The first bike is a rusty old racing bike from the 1970s that needs some serious TLC to be its best. The second bike is a state-of-the-art aero racing masterpiece. They happen to weigh the same amount.
