Again I focused on pace, which I tried to sustain at ≤ 2:30/500 at 24-30 spm.

Also I wrote a lengthy post to Mel Harbour on rsr:

“... there is absolutely a correlation between force and power — they're proportional. There's also a similar correlation between handle speed and power (since the distance something moves divided by the time it takes to move is by definition its speed). All Valery is saying is that through the drive, the stroke should move from high force-low speed to low force-high speed.That's the 'evenness' he speaks of. Smoothness is another thing. You can have a completely smooth, completely uneven application of force or power.

“In mathematical terms, when he refers to evenness of power application, he's talking about a low standard deviation of the power input over the course of the drive phase. Smoothness is something different, which you could think of by considering a tangent to the curve at each point. As you progress along the curve, the tangent shouldn't experience any sudden jumps of angle.”
— Mel Harbour

I wonder if the trapezoidal figure in the June 2006 RBN — i.e. Valery’s third case of constant power at average 3N — doesn’t suggest that the ratio between high force-low speed to low force-high speed should be as small as possible? Is this what Mel means when he writes, “In mathematical terms, when [Valery] refers to evenness of power application, he's talking about a low standard deviation of the power input over the course of the drive phase.”