Yes, exactly. We also have some kind of success bias. Someone that starts training and hits 4watts/kg in 6 months will post about how easy it is. They will post that anyone can do it with hard work. But did they work that hard to get their in six months? Maybe they are 22 years old or simply that genetically gifted person that could run a 5 minute mile in high school on little training.
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“even if I am going as slow as I can in my lowest gear without falling over.”
If you truly find this to be the case. I would suggest swapping out your gearing to provide some lower gearing. As you build strength and can drop down to a higher gear and get up these step climbs swap the cassette out for what you have now. This or drop chainring down a few teeth. I prefer to swap out cassettes most of the time.
I have a compact cranksets with a 11-30 on the back. If the bill is steep enough and you are low ftp it is impossible not to go over ftp to get up it
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What about an 11-34 or 11-36? Slighlty bigger gaps but you’ll love having the extra gear.
My indexing was off on my ride yesterday, so my 11-34 cassette was effectively an 11-30 
Fixed that as soon as I got home! I need every gear I can get!
This is exactly where I was. Riding a compact crank with a 10-28 I’d have to push into anaerobic to get up some of my local hills. New bike this year with SRAM Rival has 46-33and a 10-36 rear cassette. All of a sudden I can z2 up some hills I would tip into vo2 previously. So the combination of better gearing and a somewhat higher ftp has made hills much more manageable for me.
I know that getting into near gear is not always possible. But keep up the work and you will get there!
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Honestly most Roadbikes are just overgeared for people under 4W/kg unless you only ride flat and short rises. With 3.25 w/kg I wouldn’t want to go away from my Gravel Gearing, with 31/34 as the smallest one… Honestly I rather spin out at 50-60 km/h then have to go over threshold or go sub 60 cadence for every hill I have here…
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3.2-ish w/kg, 50/34 and 11-34 on my everything bike. Grades on the gravel roads around me get up over 20% on the regular, tarmac’s not much better, and I’m just not getting up any of it with classic road gearing. 34-34 lets me stay under threshold most of the time, even under sweet spot.
Unless you’re trying to avoid big jumps between cogs, I can’t recommend expanding your cassette range enough if you live in a hilly area. There is no reason to grind yourself into anaerobic paste just to get up a climb. We may be mere mortals but we have the technology!
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I’d be curious what percentage of mere mortals truly need to concern themselves with spinning out at 50-60km/h. Many that I know, including myself, don’t have much need or desire to barrel down most hills at 70,80+ km/h.
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I actually am typically one of the quicker descenders - this is where I make up almost all of my lost time going up long hills in a race situation (especially in gravel).
I however do not recommend it for most and I do have a lot of descending experience and for some reason just naturally confident going downhill. I am in agreement with you, I would take more climbing gear over top end speed if I had to choose it.
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Done 80+ kph once and that’s enough for me!
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I hit some high speeds in some races on my triathlon bike but honestly it wasn’t the most comfortable feeling. Knowing that at higher speeds you have to be that much quicker to spot any pothole or pebble or stick or issue I’m the road that could throw you off.
I don’t know if gravel is the same or worse. Gravel you’re more stable on bigger tires but depending on the type of gravel it can be super sketchy. I was on a descent a few months ago. Very steep but the gravel looked pretty good. But it was hiding some serious washboards so I was about rattled off my bike.
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When I was doing IM distance stuff I would also bomb hill’s on the TT bike - at lake placid I did Keene descent fully aero and pedaling and passing people. It was a tad scary but I felt fine doing it, more worried about someone moving over on me. Just as you said, just have to be on your toes and aware of the situation and make the move if need be.
Gravel is a whole other animal and depends where you are in the country for descents - like you said big holes, washout, loose gravel and wash boards are what come out of no where.
You just gotta hold on, work with the bike (not against it) and hope for the best haha.
For the record the quickest/fastest speed I have touched was 65mph once, that was enough for me.
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I consider myself a mere mortal, FTP 250. I think my biggest problem is consistency. I consistently train 7 days week, but some days I run and the other days bike. I’m on the bike 4-5 days per week and the other days I run. Sept '20 through Jan '21, I barely got on the bike, I was training for an ultramarathon. I don’t race bikes, but I like to do bike events like the Triple Bypass. I train for whatever stupid event I sign up for. I came from a running background, but now I enjoy both and not sure how to get better at both while doing them at the same time.
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Late to chime in here, but I’m a “low-power” person. Always have been. I’m avg height, avg weight, and I guess (based on the power curves above) avg power. However, I can shoot it out with people with far higher power output, and a lot of that has to do with efficiency, experience, flexibility (I can hold a very aero position), and mental toughness (still working on this, but it’s in there most days). Power numbers - like HR numbers - are helpful for training, but not for person-to-person comparison.
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I feel ya here. I came from a cycling background into running (though I ran in my youth). Spent the first part of this year training for Duathlon Nationals (standard distance, so 10k, 40k, 5k), and finding a balance between cycling and running was tough, and even just between mid-distance endurance running versus 5k speed work was tough. I’ll add that I’m also a competitive martial artist, and balancing three leg-heavy sports can be intense, for sure.
My advice is to listen to your body. Each activity type will use you up in different ways, so don’t ignore the “I feel like doing X” motivation, because that’s probably your body telling you to switch gears. Keep your schedule flexible - you might like to run on set days or times, but don’t be afraid to switch things around as your body needs (and the weather requires).
I found setting goals for each discipline and extending the time to reach those goals was helpful. I’d make a 4-6wk plan and extend it to 8 or 10 weeks. Takes longer, and more discipline, but you’re also asking far more of yourself. Plenty of people will try to tell you that you can’t be a Jack of All Trades and not sacrifice being great at any one thing. But look at Ironman triathletes: they dominate three disciplines. And yeah, one might be better than the other two, but guaranteed they can beat me at all three. 
Faster than me, being a mere mortal I bottle out
The bike I bought in college that I still use is 53/39 12-25 9 speed. RIP my legs. I just tell myself to HTFU until I can afford a better bike. Although this thread is convincing me to get a bigger derailleur and a cog with bigger gearing.
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I am the opposite… Ran 5k/10k/XC in college bumped up to 100+ mile weeks chasing the Olympic Trials standard for the marathon. I had such a base with limited training 10 years after I stopped formal training I could still “jump” in a marathon and run 2:40ish. I held on to running with a tight grip and ended up having a lost decade from 35-45 where I battled injury and ran when I could. Two kids and 10 years later I finally got my first mountain bike bike. My only regret is I didn’t start biking earlier.
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I’ve met quite people dropping hours drastically after years of consistency, some dont ride anymore. In you case kids are a good enough excuse, but in my case I have no excuse. I have a lot of time, but after 4 seasons of structure and a hard earned 4.35w/kg PB I’m dropping hours, riding very little and totally for fun and fully unstructured.
I’m afraid of loosing all this fitness but i fear more the sensation of putting +15h and barely having adaptations anymore, plus illness or random events that force me to skip workouts or getting mad due group ride intensity too high, or really bad weather, etc.
But I’d say the slowdown in performance gain was like loosing the main incentive. Knowing you’re close to your limits and exponentially harder to improve.
Apart from kids, what made you realize 15h are not worth for you? Do you think you’ll train hard again in a future? Will be old fitness easy to recover?
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Why do you need an excuse? It is a hobby. You put as much or as little time into it as you like.
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