Quote from jrob_bent on Apr 21^st, 2015, 6:34am:

Speed on a bike isn't about leg strength, not even a little bit. It's about heart and lungs. Leg strength will help in a short sprint or climb, but that's all. When you go into oxygen deficit after a few seconds, it's all about heart and lungs.

Quote from Bud_Bent on Apr 21^st, 2015, 8:06pm:

 
I agree Bud. Sprinting and climbing hills does take leg strength. And here in MO you had better have leg strength, because it ain't flat. And to maintain 30+ mph for a mile takes both strength and stamina, something I think Greg has! So, I think leg strength has a lot to do with speed. For long distance speed, you do need more cardio. But if two riders are racing, let us say a 10 lap race, and they are even coming to the finish line, the guy with the sprinters legs will win if everything else is equal. I know quiet a bit about lack of oxygen, I have had 2 lung diseases all my life. And now I have COPD. Before any ride, I have to take two puffs from my inhaler. That is why I have to work so hard to improve my lactate threshold.

I find the truth to be somewhere in the middle.  I get a lot of speed and can put a hurt on people with sheer strength.  That pop to get up to the top of the hill or perhaps get/stay in a draft can be an advantage.  But, if you do that more times than you can recover from, you suffer mightily.  If I'd done any of that at Bessie's Creek I'd have been screwed long before the 12 was up.  As it was, I had a good result with gas left in the tank.  The aerobic capacity aids in the recovery.  One other place that I think strength is helpful is with cadence.  I can get into a bigger gear, use pure strength to get it going, but once I have it spinning the amount of power input needed to keep it spinning deceases dramatically.  That 300 watt initial effort quickly becomes a 130 watt effort.  I can tell you my quads are a different shape after 4 months of solid training.....  
 
Quote from rmillay on Apr 21^st, 2015, 10:23pm:

Quote from Bud_Bent on Apr 21^st, 2015, 8:06pm:

 
I'd have to disagree some Bud.  Lifting (deadlifts and squats) this past winter has helped me immensely with my on-bike speed, despite taking 8wks off the bike in the lovely Feb-Mar weather here.  Now, I still can't sprint worth a tinkers dam on the bent, but I can sprint if I am on the DF (well for me is it a sprint...)

Seems like this little thread is all about assertion and then disagreement. I've got to throw my two cents worth in here. Muscle strength is 100% related to its cross-sectional area. Once you pass puberty you are stuck with the number of muscle (and fat) cells that you have at that point. When you stress them, they respond by getting thicker. That's called hypertrophy. Increasing the number of cells is called hyperplasia and that just don't happen with muscle or fat cells--the ones you've got just get bigger or smaller. What body builders build is blood flow through their muscles along with some hypertrophy. That's why Hans and Franz always say they want to "pump you up." They can pump up the volume of their muscles by increasing the blood flowing through their capillary beds. The work they do is great for muscular endurance, but not too much for cardiovascular endurance, since they work small muscle groups at a time.
 
I have a friend who has a recumbent. When I got my Musashi we went for a ride in the neighborhood. He asked me if mine was really fast. I said I didn't know.Before I knew it he said, "Ready GO!" and started sprinting away for a block to the next stop sign. That was his measure of if a bike is fast. Since he squats 475 pounds, he will cook me on any short sprint like that, but I think we all know what would happen even in twenty miles.

Wow, Bud! Really? BS???

I was a little put back at the tone of your text, mostly because I was agreeing with your point. My buddy who can leg press 475 pounds is a very weak rider. In a mile he is in oxygen debt and his ride is over if he's trying to stick with me.
 
That's the thing about riding versus running. When riding the effort required to maintain good speed on a flat is minimal because we (especially recumbents) are so efficient. In running when you go into oxygen debt it is a serious matter. We can go into little debts and pay them off over and over again on a bike ride--if we have our hearts and lungs in shape for it. That comes from spinning at high RPMs.
 
Now can a guy with legs like trees succeed in the bike world? The answer is.....go pick a fight with Greg out there on the roads. He uses his trees to do some serious beat down.

Quote from Bud_Bent on Apr 23^rd, 2015, 8:37pm:

 
You can call it BS all you want to, but it still takes strength!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are just splitting hairs. I do agree you have to have good cardio, but saying leg strength has nothing to do with it is really BS!