The first year we did the project we asked riders how far they were
planning on covering on foot and got some answers that could only be
described as Ambitious. Most of the people we knew who were bona fide
distance runners (like Chris Knoch) said they ran 15-18 miles, so
naturally we were a bit suspicious of the folks who had never run a
marathon but swore they were gonna run 35-40 miles of the Tevis trail.
Taking distance on foot would be a more important factor if we had been
able to see a difference between the different weight categories, ie if
there was a difference between heavyweights that ran vs. heavyweights
that didn't, but there was no statistical difference. However, I
suspect that heavyweight riders that are also long distance runners
would be a more important factor in shorter races, like a 50, or
possibly on multi-day rides, where the continuous stresses of carrying
more weight may be a factor in lamenesses. There are all kinds of
directions this line of research could go from here, but I was funding
it all myself and ran out of money, time and patience from my graduate
committee!
Thanks for the question, I was wondering how fast someone would answer
back with that thought.
Susan Evans