Watts per kilogram

ROK ON · 24-05-2010 10:05am

Excuse my ignorance os all things scientific related to training. What is 50/50, other than the obvious meaning.

Lumen · 24-05-2010 10:06am

ROK ON wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance os all things scientific related to training. What is 50/50, other than the obvious meaning.

Sorry, 50mm rims front and rear.

ROK ON · 24-05-2010 10:17am

Lumen wrote: »

Sorry, 50mm rims front and rear.

Sorry to be a pain (and I certainly dont mean to admonish you), but should you not be going much faster, or is it the case that you are trying to put a consistent amount of power out.

I guess, the aim is trying to increase your power, but am wondering why you average say 36km/h over 16km.

Now I have never TT'd so I know not what I am talking about, but in my extreme naiveity I would have assumed that flattish course in weather like this that >40km/h avg was definitely doable.

Last night without doing anything aero I covered first 30km in 1hour even. How much more difficult is sustaining 36km/h over 16km.
Sorry for the rambing nature, but am curious as to the effort/pain involved, as I always feel I could be pushing myself harder. So in a way reading all you guys training logs serves as an illustration of what is or is not possible.

Lumen · 24-05-2010 10:37am

ROK ON wrote: »

Sorry to be a pain (and I certainly dont mean to admonish you), but should you not be going much faster, or is it the case that you are trying to put a consistent amount of power out.

I guess, the aim is trying to increase your power, but am wondering why you average say 36km/h over 16km.

As a rule of thumb, I was told that the course tends to have about the same pace as a straighter, flatter 40k TT. There is 84m of elevation gain and three corners.

The TT time was with a crippled back, but the others are just threshold training so I'm not aiming for "curled up a ditch" levels of suffering. My best power output for 17 minutes is 289W, and for 20 minutes 280W, but these are on hillclimbs where there are no downhills or corners so it's easier to keep the power up.

ROK ON wrote: »

Now I have never TT'd so I know not what I am talking about, but in my extreme naiveity I would have assumed that flattish course in weather like this that >40km/h avg was definitely doable.

Not for me.

ROK ON wrote: »

Last night without doing anything aero I covered first 30km in 1hour even. How much more difficult is sustaining 36km/h over 16km.

A lot.

There isn't much difference between a 25 minute effort and a 60 minute effort, except psychologically. Maybe 5W or so.

The difference between 30kph and 36kph is something like 160W vs 260W. For me, that's the difference between barely ticking over and going fairly balls out.

Give it a go yourself and see.

mloc123 · 24-05-2010 11:13am

Hah, fairly easy to say that 40km/h is doable... actually doing it is not so.
The effort after 30km/h is exponential as after this point drag makes a huge difference.

DirkVoodoo · 24-05-2010 12:05pm

ROK ON wrote: »

I guess, the aim is trying to increase your power, but am wondering why you average say 36km/h over 16km.

According to my computer I averaged 30 and a bit km/hr heading from my house to the race on thursday (35km). It cerrtainly didn't feel that hard and I probably had a bit of a tailwind, but my flat TT speed was around 35 km/hr (pathetic I know) and I certainly found that hard going.

teufelswerk · 24-05-2010 12:10pm

I'm just wondering have you tried to do this TT without any immediate feedback? I know it sounds counterintuitive but I have taken the step on placing my gps in my back pocket and checking it every hour or so. Getting the average for me is all the information that I want. I ride within my limit and have found that the results are similar when I have feedback once an hour versus constantly on my speedo. Could you be getting an information overload for the level that you are at?
Perhaps trying the time trial as just that (i.e. you and the clock) and forgetting what your computer readings say you are at will assist you in some way?

ROK ON · 24-05-2010 12:16pm

Thanks for that. Where I am coming from is that you guys race at a higher ave speed for longer.
So I assumed tha a once off TT a person could go faster than in a race on similar parcours.

Again I am not trying to belittle any of these things in that they are beyond me. Just trying to put things together.

The 160 versus 260 w example answers it all.
Thanks.

Lumen · 24-05-2010 12:20pm

teufelswerk wrote: »

I'm just wondering have you tried to do this TT without any immediate feedback? I know it sounds counterintuitive but I have taken the step on placing my gps in my back pocket and checking it every hour or so. Getting the average for me is all the information that I want. I ride within my limit and have found that the results. Could you be getting an information overload for the level that you are at?
Perhaps trying the time trial as just that (i.e. you and the clock) and forgetting what your computer readings say you are at will assist you in some way?

Not a bad idea. I'm not sure I'd be any faster, but I might get a better appreciation of the physical feedback.

I find the numbers quite motivating. I hit the lap button every five minutes, and try to hit an average power for each of those intervals. I tend to back off a fraction at the start of each interval, then wind on the power steadily until I'm thinking "only another 2 minutes of this to go", then five minutes passes and I'm on to the next interval.

What tends to happen on a well paced slightly sub-maximal effort is:

0-5 mins: keeping a lid on the effort
5-10 mins: some concentration needed
10-15 mins: my legs hurt; I'm bored now and want to stop
15-20 mins: getting into the rhythm now
20-25 mins: twilight zone where everything blurs together
last couple of minutes: hammer for the line

The "want to get off now" point coincides with my HR hitting 180bpm, but after 5 minutes of that I can't feel anything. :pac:

niceonetom · 24-05-2010 12:39pm

ROK ON wrote: »

Thanks for that. Where I am coming from is that you guys race at a higher ave speed for longer.
So I assumed tha a once off TT a person could go faster than in a race on similar parcours.

Again I am not trying to belittle any of these things in that they are beyond me. Just trying to put things together.

The 160 versus 260 w example answers it all.
Thanks.

Race speed in a group are entirely unrepresentative of what you can achieve on your own. I've averaged over 42kph on the Britas circuit of the Orwell league, and that would be a very slow TT loop given its various drags and corners. I doubt that any individual in the group would be capable of getting a 42kph avg on that course, even with total commitment and full aero gear, but as a group on road bikes it felt reasonably comfortable. The person on the front must be putting out significantly more than their threshold power, but they rarely really need to do so for more than 30 seconds before getting some respite.

Kaisr Sose · 24-05-2010 10:31pm

I think there is merit in using modern methods to get the best out of yourself and also just going for it based on riding as hard as you can on the terrain you are on during a TT. I would suggest you aim to do two x 16k TT on the same day using both methods and compare times. If nothing else it would make gor good training and a good experiment.
Would love to have had a power meter when I was fit. Happy with 22.29 for 10ml and 58.32 at the time (no disc, aero bars or skinsuit) but I wonder what I could to now if I can get back into regalar training. How much for a power meter? I know you can rent them which is something I might try after getting more distance in the legs.

Lumen · 24-05-2010 10:37pm

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

Would love to have had a power meter when I was fit. Happy with 22.29 for 10ml and 58.32 at the time (no disc, aero bars or skinsuit) but I wonder what I could to now if I can get back into regalar training. How much for a power meter? I know you can rent them which is something I might try after getting more distance in the legs.

Ha ha, that's proper cycling that is.

I'd rent from cyclepowermeters. The best wireless option IMO would be the Powertap Elite+ Wheel Only and Garmin 705 HR for £14 a week, and the cheapest altogether is the wired PowerTap Pro (which should come with a head unit) at £9 per week.

Good service apparently, that's where I bought my Quarq power meter.

Lumen · 03-06-2010 12:03am

New power peaks tonight on my usual training loop.

5 min: 328W (up from 318W)
20 min: 284W (up from 281W)
30 min: 275W (up from 266W)

All done in the same interval at only 171bpm and with no hillclimbing to help keep the power up.

I'm happy enough with progress given the pitiful amount of training I've been able to do so far this year. Time to ramp things up...

el tel · 03-06-2010 1:53pm

I don't know where you guys get the time and patience to monitor, measure and report all this stuff! Is there a machine that does it? I think I'm waaay behind the times with all this technology.

Lumen · 03-06-2010 2:10pm

el tel wrote: »

I don't know where you guys get the time and patience to monitor, measure and report all this stuff! Is there a machine that does it? I think I'm waaay behind the times with all this technology.

It takes no more time than using a HR monitor.

The most important aspect is having the power numbers on the bike to help pace the intervals. The power meter requires no maintenance, although it should be zeroed before each ride (ten seconds ish). It communicates wirelessly with my Garmin.

I usually download the data from the Garmin whilst heating up my post-ride food. Takes a few seconds.

Now that I understand the power data I've stopped doing any analysis of long rides, or weekly training load, or any of that stuff. The only thing that matters is hitting the numbers on my intervals, plus understanding how close to my limits I'm riding in races.

el tel · 03-06-2010 3:23pm

You make it sound so easy Lumen!

I think the reason that I have barely improved as a rider in 15 years is that my training (if you can call it that) is so haphazard and unfocussed. Only lately have I attempted to do interval training! I'll have to take a leaf out of your book methinks.

levitronix · 03-06-2010 11:10pm

Those are some nice looking figures Lumen

Lumen · 05-06-2010 8:34pm

I'm in Newcastle West for the Cycling Pursuits 3 Day, my first multi-day racing event (is "stage race" appropriate? It's not exactly the Giro).

Today's A4 race (stage?) was a flattish 45km. The racing was more fun than usual, mostly on account of the women's contingent who seem keener to attack than the men.

There was a crash in the last couple of km. A rider in front of me snagged The Crunch's shorts with his handlebars and went down (or caused someone else to go down, not sure). I saw it happen in slow-mo, the bike flying sideways in front of me. I had no choice but to plough onwards, and the bike's front wheel slammed into mine. My right shifter got a whack too, but both wheel and shifter survived and I stayed upright.

We galloped on to the finish where I crossed the line about eleventh. GC is determined by points rather than time, which means if you're outside the top six you may as well be last.

Overall, a well organised race with a nice open finish, and for me another crash dodged which is good news as I didn't bring a spare front wheel.

Stats: 217W avg (245W normalised), 170bpm, 38.5kph. The last 20 seconds of the sprint were around 570W which is pretty lame. The preceeding 2.4km averaged 207W/44.5kph, which shows that my wheelsucking skills are fine - I think my poor sprinting is a mental rather than physical limitation, need to HTFU and push harder.

Tomorrow brings a 16km TT (at 9am :eek:) followed by another 45km mass start race in the afternoon.

Thanks to Liam and the rest for organising such a great event (so far).

Results not up yet on Cycling Ireland. edit: results here

Raam · 05-06-2010 8:42pm

Good luck, Lumen

DirkVoodoo · 05-06-2010 11:03pm

Raam wrote: »

Good luck, Lumen

+1 Kick some ass tomorrow, you know you can do it, so go do it!

Lumen · 06-06-2010 11:27am

Powerful, aerodynamic - pick one.

I've still not managed any training on my TT bike, so this was only it's third outing on the road since I bought it at the end of last year.

Since I'm not used to the way it's set up, I decided last night that I'd have nothing to lose with a more aggressive aero position, so moved the saddle up and pads further forward to allow me to sit right on the tip of the saddle.

At the start line I discovered that I'd misread the website, and that it was actually a 10km TT, not 10 miles. Ah well, less pain.

It soon became clear that I couldn't sustain anywhere near my road bike power (which would be almost 290W for this duration), so I rammed my pointy hat between my shoulder blades and pushed on staying as aero as possible.

End result: about 15:58 for 10.6km, 39.8kph, 245W.

4 minute averages: 256W, 233W, 242W, 252W. HR averaged 172bpm, hitting 175bpm half way and finishing over 180bpm.

So, about 15% less power for the same sort of heart rate. The lack of power was disappointing, but the speed was good so I just need to find the time to get out on my TT bike and train those muscles.

I'm unlikely to have gotten any points this morning. One of the women (Caroline Ryan) got well under 15 minutes and the others weren't far behind.

Maybe I need to start doping with oestrogen. :pac:

edit: turns out I got 10th of 33, about 20 seconds off the top six.

Lumen · 06-06-2010 4:15pm

This one was five laps of a flattish 9km loop with a drag and a kicker finish to each lap.

Points (for GC only, not proper C.I. points) were on offer for intermediate sprints on the first four laps, and I managed to grab 2pts for 5th on lap 2.

Aside from that I was trying to conserve what little energy I had between each sprint.

At the finish I had nothing left and trailed in at the back of the bunch.

Stats: 1:12 @ 37.8kph, 203m^, 160W (192W norm), 165bpm. My legs hurt.

Those numbers look pitiful, but sprints were quite draining and the TT in the morning didn't help.

Tomorrow is a biggie, 69km with a badass hill apparently. I foresee droppage.

Beasty · 06-06-2010 5:11pm

Keep going for it Lumen - everyone else is in the same boat, so hopefully you'll be able to keep in touch, and if(/when) you're still there at the end, who knows what you can do.

On the TT, do you think your lack of power may have been down to the fact you raced yesterday, and knew you had another race later on? I always find I can push out much more power when I feel I am fresh.

zzzzzzzz · 06-06-2010 11:24pm

Lumen wrote: »

Tomorrow is a biggie, 69km with a badass hill apparently. I foresee droppage.

Have you got the route on mapmyride or anything? Or even just the climb?

Lumen · 07-06-2010 6:47am

Beasty wrote: »

On the TT, do you think your lack of power may have been down to the fact you raced yesterday, and knew you had another race later on?

Probably didn't help much.

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

Have you got the route on mapmyride or anything? Or even just the climb?

Nothing. All I know is that there are 3 laps of a 23km Circuit around Broadford.

Lumen · 07-06-2010 3:03pm

Big hill. 2 laps. 5th.

Beasty · 07-06-2010 3:15pm

Lumen wrote: »

Big hill. 2 laps. 5th.

Congratulations on a tremendous result Lumen. Presumably a more detailed report will follow in due course (or will we need to read about your exploits on the Irish Cycling website)?

Lumen · 07-06-2010 9:57pm

So today the A4s got destroyed by a triathlete, Colm Turner. He'd been fairly active near the front all weekend and had recced the climb yesterday (when I was asleep, probably). When the bunch hit the climb he disappeared and was never seen again, an outstanding performance. The fact that he wasn't in Athy this weekend (some lame excuse about transportation) suggests his triathletism may soon be in remission.

The climb was about 8km with a dip in the middle. Not sure of the gradient, the MMR route is here, but it was steep enough to seriously split the group. Despite averaging 295W (about 4.3 W/kg) for seven minutes or so on the first section, I couldn't/wouldn't stay with the chasing group of about seven riders, but caught them over the top. We lost a couple to the undergrowth on a hairpin during the wet descent, leaving about six of us "chasing" over the 10km back round to the base of the climb.

I was less bothered about catching Colm (who would have dropped us again on the hill even if we'd caught him) and more about those behind us, but only one or two of the group were working despite encouragement. In retrospect I perhaps should have jumped off solo (I was barely into tempo zone at the front) and given myself some breathing space on the climb, but their lack of co-operation was unexpected given our position in the race. I don't understand why people who can put out 300W+ on a climb then feel unable to even do 200W on the flat in a break during such a short race - if you're under 80% effort it takes nothing out of you.

Second climb around I stayed about second wheel for the first section, then a couple of them kicked off and it became a solo TT to the finish for me. I never saw anyone else behind me.

Anyway, a pleasing finish to a great weekend. These races had something for everyone, really well thought out. Maybe I'll get a couple of points for my 5th today, or maybe not - the grading guidelines are somewhat ambiguous.

Whatever, I've learnt loads this weekend from watching the strengths of different riders come through in the various races.

Stats for today: 46.7km, 1:29, 31.4kph, 201W (avg), 227W (norm), 162bpm.

Results on IrishCycling here.

edit: action shot (taken by Amy-Norah Farrell)

The Crunch · 08-06-2010 10:30am

Fair play, John. Well done. I did that course last year. Mental stuff...

niceonetom · 08-06-2010 10:50am

Well done Lumen. Hope you get your points. Good action shot too.

You're making me think I have to give one of these multi day events a go. I seem to finish every race feeling I like a want to do it again, this time properly. I think having another crack at it against the same oposition would be a great way to learn what works and what doesn't, yeah? and also see what my powers of recovery are like.

Did you bring the TT bike rig down? or just make do on the scott? Also, racing a steep race in the rain on carbon rims - any brown trouser moments? I had a few on Sunday and that was in a flat sportive...

Lumen · 08-06-2010 11:13am

niceonetom wrote: »

You're making me think I have to give one of these multi day events a go. I seem to finish every race feeling I like a want to do it again, this time properly. I think having another crack at it against the same oposition would be a great way to learn what works and what doesn't, yeah? and also see what my powers of recovery are like.

I think these events are brilliant. Day 2 was really hard physically, and it wasn't easy being away from my family all weekend. When I'm away with work I just get drunk, but that's not really an option when you're racing the next day. The last day my legs felt great, which is what everyone says.

niceonetom wrote: »

Did you bring the TT bike rig down? or just make do on the scott?

TT bike. It didn't necessarily improve my time that much due to power development issues but it would have done had I practiced on it.

niceonetom wrote: »

Also, racing a steep race in the rain on carbon rims - any brown trouser moments? I had a few on Sunday and that was in a flat sportive...

The descent was straightish, so no problems there. There is only really an issue when braking constantly or very hard, and it would be a very unusual course which required that - even the tight corner where others left the road only required a short squeeze to drag some speed off.

The wheels have been amazing overall, despite the wet braking performance I have no regrets at all. They've taken a real pounding from potholes (and the flying bike on Friday) but are still almost perfectly true, better than any other wheels I've owned.

Do you have carbon rims now?

ROK ON · 08-06-2010 11:15am

Well done. Great photo. Crazy gradient.

Raam · 08-06-2010 11:18am

The Scott and the wheels go well together. Nasty conditions, you're a better man than most of us.

niceonetom · 08-06-2010 11:33am

Lumen wrote: »

The descent was straightish, so no problems there. There is only really an issue when braking constantly or very hard, and it would be a very unusual course which required that - even the tight corner where others left the road only required a short squeeze to drag some speed off.

The wheels have been amazing overall, despite the wet braking performance I have no regrets at all. They've taken a real pounding from potholes (and the flying bike on Friday) but are still almost perfectly true, better than any other wheels I've owned.

Do you have carbon rims now?

Nope, still on shallow aluminium with too many spokes... it will be a long time before I go carbon, though if I do, I'd be looking at clinchers like yours I think. I still wouldn't use them for really mountainous stuff like the Marmotte though - I just wouldn't trust them to stand up to the braking.

ballyharpat · 08-06-2010 5:23pm

What carbon wheels are you racing on? What tires do you use?

Lumen wrote: »

I think these events are brilliant. Day 2 was really hard physically, and it wasn't easy being away from my family all weekend. When I'm away with work I just get drunk, but that's not really an option when you're racing the next day. The last day my legs felt great, which is what everyone says.

TT bike. It didn't necessarily improve my time that much due to power development issues but it would have done had I practiced on it.

The descent was straightish, so no problems there. There is only really an issue when braking constantly or very hard, and it would be a very unusual course which required that - even the tight corner where others left the road only required a short squeeze to drag some speed off.

The wheels have been amazing overall, despite the wet braking performance I have no regrets at all. They've taken a real pounding from potholes (and the flying bike on Friday) but are still almost perfectly true, better than any other wheels I've owned.

Do you have carbon rims now?

Lumen · 08-06-2010 5:29pm

ballyharpat wrote: »

What carbon wheels are you racing on? What tires do you use?

Soul C5.0 Prodigy carbon clincher. They're sort of a pre-production model.

The ones on the website are the previous version, actually a different rim. I think they've run out of the old rims, so new orders are probably similar to mine, although Sean (the owner) told me that they have a different surface treatment on the latest ones.

Anyway, they're good. I was expecting them to fall apart at the first sign of a pothole, but they've stood up well so far. Almost 200g lighter than the latest Zipp 404 carbon clincher and much cheaper, although probably a fair bit less aero.

I'm using Conti GP4000S tyres.

ballyharpat · 08-06-2010 5:42pm

@ Lumen, they are nice looking wheels, I have a set of Zipp 303 tubies and love them, but I did crack a rim at the start of a race in Massachussetts a year ago. They are light and spin freely though.

The Soul wheels are very popular over here btw. I use the same tires, have tried pretty much everything else and after a few sspills on slick roads, will now only use the Conti's as well, great racing and training tire.

I think the aero part depends more on the depth than the "dimples" dimples that Zipp market so well. BTW, congrats on the race over the weekend, I was following your updates.
To find out my best aero position to get the most power, I used to set up the tt bike on the trainer, with the powertap attached, then I'd see what power I was putting out at LT heart rate in the various positions, My Hr would get very high in some positions and squeeze my lungs, preventing me from putting out optimum power, the best power I was able to put out was about 15% off my LT power and still get the aero advantage.

Lumen · 08-06-2010 5:48pm

ballyharpat wrote: »

the best power I was able to put out was about 15% off my LT power and still get the aero advantage.

Ah, balls. I got the same result. I know I can't sustain 40kph for 15 minutes on my road bike, so maybe I just have to live with lower power and greater aero efficiency.

I need to do some aero testing out on the road, or at the track.

ballyharpat · 08-06-2010 5:54pm

Lumen wrote: »

Ah, balls. I got the same result. I know I can't sustain 40kph for 15 minutes on my road bike, so maybe I just have to live with lower power and greater aero efficiency.

I need to do some aero testing out on the road, or at the track.

I think it is about standard to be able to lose that amount of power versus the road bike, the other thing that I found great was stretching-Yoga ( I know very gay, lol) it allowed me to flex more from my hips rather than my core, it also helps me get more aero on the road bike, without back pain.

mloc123 · 09-06-2010 2:19pm

Lumen wrote: »

Ah, balls. I got the same result. I know I can't sustain 40kph for 15 minutes on my road bike, so maybe I just have to live with lower power and greater aero efficiency.

I need to do some aero testing out on the road, or at the track.

Have you tried much testing on the turbo? Best aero to comfort balance? Since you have a PM it should be pretty simple to work out a test procedure. Take your current setup and do a 5minutes @ x bpm, take the avg power. Play around with position and take pictures of each one, based on the 2/3 positions that look like they should be best you can then test them on the track

levitronix · 10-01-2011 5:49pm

Wondering where you finished off at the end of 2010 did you get your targets ?

Lumen · 10-01-2011 7:31pm

levitronix wrote: »

Wondering where you finished off at the end of 2010 did you get your targets ?

I finished 2010 injured, with suspected ITBS.

I'm currently planning* a comeback to mediocrity, under the supervision of a physio who I will pay attention to this time.

On the upside, I'm quite proud to have acquired an overuse injury. That's got to count for something, right?

Recommendations for Dublin physios with proven success treating ITBS with a remedial/preventative approach would be welcomed.

I'd be most interested to hear of physios who are able to do gym-based sessions, as I feel that I probably need a programme with a bit of "grrrr" rather than boring balance ball/foam roller stuff. I have a few kg to spare, so a bit of useless muscle won't slow me down much.

What I've learned is that power-based training is all very well, but you can't go faster if you're injured.

* Planning as in "currently staring at the last Roses in the tin, which I've managed to finish off in a dedicated solo effort over the past couple of weeks". From here the only way is up.

Raam · 10-01-2011 8:10pm

You took weeks to eat a tin of roses? *shakes head*

uberwolf · 10-01-2011 8:37pm

I have personally found Aidan in Pearse Street Physio to be excellent. And I have recommended him to others who have said likewise.

http://www.pearsestreetphysio.com/about_us.asp

lukester · 12-01-2011 11:35am

I found Aidan in Pearse St good too. Can't remember if you've been to Irish Fit or not- ultimately that's what resolved my ITBS- he diagnosed a leg length discrepancy and recommended some shims for the shorter leg.

nak · 12-01-2011 2:17pm

I have been to a few physios in Dublin since I injured my knee, and by far the best have been Sports Med in Kildare St. They have a couple of gyms in the building, and my sessions have all involved the gym instead of lots of the soft tissue work the other physios seemed to prefer. I was given a plan consisting of circuits I can do at home at few times a week (the physio I went to post-op kept suggesting I joined a gym and only gave me very basic exercises to do.)

I have seen a significant improvement in just a couple of months.

dermabrasion · 11-01-2015 3:38pm

This was an awesome thread. Did you do it again?
I think your FTP was fairly impressive. Did you move up from A4?

Lumen · 12-01-2015 4:41pm

dermabrasion wrote: »

Did you move up from A4?

Yes and no. Had fun in the A4 races though my tactics were crap, crashed a bit, had some back problems, took a season out, registered an A3 license with no training, got dropped from a couple of hilly races, then switched back to club league racing which I've been doing on and off since.

dermabrasion wrote: »

I think your FTP was fairly impressive.

Well, when I had it measured in a lab in 2010 my Tlac was 262W, a good bit below what I thought it was as the time - I was having no difficulty doing 300W for 15 mins or so according to both Quarg and Power2max meters on my bike.

I know a few people who have done better than me at racing with about that FTP, but they're all lighter, and I still think that 4W/kg FTP and 5W/kg for 5 mins is where racing becomes fun.

dermabrasion · 12-01-2015 9:05pm

Just getting into power measuring now having 2 years of being A4 pack fodder. I always thought I was fairly strong but too heavy (86-88kg racing). I do a reasonable TT for semi-limit. But the power meter is telling me that actually I'm buggered. I can put out 320-330W for about 10-12 minutes, and my FTP is now 270W and slowly getting better. So, I really not that strong, but OK. It means for A4 races around Leinster, I can keep up. But when the road goes up, I'm screwed as a 3.2-3.5W/kg is not going to cut it.
Thankfully, the skinnies rarely seem to push advantages going over drags or short sharp climbs. Sometimes they do push on but I find I can hang on and catch up on the downhill, but the effort will take a toll.
Sounds like a confession.

Plan: loose weight!

Watts per kilogram

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