Deal, but can I just get the number of a certain Dr M Ferrari from you please.
Power/Weight Thread
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Deal, but can I just get the number of a certain Dr M Ferrari from you please.
Soldato
Holy crap, those are impressive numbers. I remember Wiggo saying he could do 475w for 30 minutes on a climb but obviously he didn't back that up with any actual data so could just have been posturing.
My best is 290w at the same weight, only 144w to go.
I reckon 5w/kg will get you near to the top riders on a long hill climb here, but that's still a way off where I'll probably ever be.To keep it on topic, I'm retesting this weekend so will be interesting to see how things are going. CTL up at 47.5 from around 30 mainly doing sweet spot work with the aim of being around 70 for the start of TT season proper. I'll be doing SpoCos from late February though to keep things ticking over.
This is the first time I've ever done any sort of structured training so I'm hoping to see some decent gains by April time. Provisionally going to Mallorca in mid-April too so looking forward to that too.
Holy crap, those are impressive numbers. I remember Wiggo saying he could do 475w for 30 minutes on a climb but obviously he didn't back that up with any actual data so could just have been posturing.
My best is 290w at the same weight, only 144w to go.
To keep it on topic, I'm retesting this weekend so will be interesting to see how things are going. CTL up at 47.5 from around 30 mainly doing sweet spot work with the aim of being around 70 for the start of TT season proper. I'll be doing SpoCos from late February though to keep things ticking over.
This is the first time I've ever done any sort of structured training so I'm hoping to see some decent gains by April time. Provisionally going to Mallorca in mid-April too so looking forward to that too.
Last year I put down 313w for 27mins @ 59kg. That was on a hill climb, and I finished 12th!!! It was mental winds though.... I have worked out recently the VAM and W/KG figures needed for me to be top 5 at Scottish national HC level at tail end of next season, the numbers would make peoples eyes water but it's not out of my reach at all more so because of bodyweight really. But up here, a hell of a more than 5w/kg is needed to be competitive, I might work it out for English national HC from the results as a reference but the standard down south will be higher than up here I would reckon.
Spoco, I gather is a series of events through the season?
TT'ing is something I will be getting into this season, I've only ever done one and it was a 2up with Touch on here, it was great fun. I want to make a proper go at TT, dunno what to set as a goal, sub 23 for a 10mile TT maybe?
Presume you're talking normal road bike with your power? If so 23minutes should be easily achievable.
I've not even gone on the turbo for most of the last few months as the weather has been quite dry and mild down here, so no idea of power or anything. I'm chucking in the miles and trying to get weight down currently before I even start the hard stuff. Will do a test first week or two of Feb so I can understand where I am before heading to Majorca and retest two weeks after I get back. My main aim is for Tour of Cambridge in June, so plenty of time to fix myself up.
Yeah, it was on normal road bike. I will just get bars for TT's and fit them to my road bike for this coming season and see how I get on. I am strong climber just no idea about TT yet until I give it a go.
Weather here also been very good apart from the past week where it snowed and froze for a whole week, as of the weekend will be back outdoors though with the milder weather coming in thank goodness.
Sounds like you have it well planned out and your abroad trip coming exactly where you need it
June seems an eternity away right now but it will come around before you know it!
Soldato
For local events I reckon 5w/kg would be alright over 20 minutes or so, but you're right for national events the standard would be higher. I believe the winner of the national HC apparently did ~7.5w/kg but that was for a 4 and a half minute climb. I'd guess you'd be looking at close to 6w/kg to win a longer hill climb in the nationals. They're usually run over shorter climbs though.
Spocos are sporting courses, usually a TT event run over a non-standard distance on a lumpy course (something like the Buxton MTT or Circuit of the Dales is a good example). You'd do well with your power to weight ratio.
Depending on the course and the equipment you use, I can't see you having too many problems going under 23 minutes in a 10!
Yeah, it was on normal road bike. I will just get bars for TT's and fit them to my road bike for this coming season and see how I get on. I am strong climber just no idea about TT yet until I give it a go.
Weather here also been very good apart from the past week where it snowed and froze for a whole week, as of the weekend will be back outdoors though with the milder weather coming in thank goodness.
Sounds like you have it well planned out and your abroad trip coming exactly where you need it
You'll be able to achieve sub23 with a good position and a good helmet quite easily I suspect, I think I only put out 255 for a 22:35 last year, your frontal area would be quite small I'm guessing due to your weight?
Yeah I was up in Scotland last week, although Glasgow was warmer on Tuesday than it was down here. Perth on the other hand had an inch of snow whilst we were up there.
Well I don't know last year, I had a plan to do, but my year just fell apart with non cycling activities, so I'm trying to enjoy and ride with friends where I can and then get into the harder stuff slowly building up.
For local events I reckon 5w/kg would be alright over 20 minutes or so, but you're right for national events the standard would be higher. I believe the winner of the national HC apparently did ~7.5w/kg but that was for a 4 and a half minute climb. I'd guess you'd be looking at close to 6w/kg to win a longer hill climb in the nationals. They're usually run over shorter climbs though.
Spocos are sporting courses, usually a TT event run over a non-standard distance on a lumpy course (something like the Buxton MTT or Circuit of the Dales is a good example). You'd do well with your power to weight ratio.
Depending on the course and the equipment you use, I can't see you having too many problems going under 23 minutes in a 10!
Yes, nationals is weight weenie land, high avg gradients and usually a mile or so. I think the HC nationals course this year up here may change from the past few years where it has been held, but I plan to use last years course a few times this year to gauge where I am as reference. I've worked out Scottish HC last year was won at approx 6.65W/KG.
Spocos sounds cool, maybe later into summer season we could post our calendars up, would be cool for some of you guys to come up and race in Scotland and vice versa maybe?
SoliD said:
I reckon I could get a good position on the bike, I've actually been doing a bit of work on it on the turbo recently, I have a tiny spacer coming out tonight and that's my bars as low as they will go and I am quite happy with how it feels and think I can adjust a bit more and get a really good position even on the road bike.... I've already told the gf she is getting recruited to help and video so you can imagine the usual eye rolls and misunderstandings at this weirdo cycling crap
Frontal area, yeah pretty small man, people would laugh at me saying it but was pretty bulky last year, was lifting too much weights and was 59kg. I plan to lift less weights/higher mileage this season and race around 57/58kg, frontal area of course at that weight pretty small, inevatible on a runt! Real world/life will always get in the way
I hope you can crack through a plan more so this year. Riding with your mates is as important as the hard stuff, even in height of a hard week/fortnight, gotta keep the coffee/cake runs and enjoy cycling by taking your easy days very easy and keeping the hard days very hard. This is the bit I struggle with.Real world/life will always get in the way
Absolutely, me too, I'm at that age where people were getting married and 30th birthdays, so far too many weekends with alcohol and food involved, and various new house stuff.
Absolutely this, it is tough when you're out with your mates and they're not competing though, as they don't have the easy days to the same extent.
Soldato
Well i just tried to do a 20 minute test on the trainer. Average over the 20 minutes was 201. Just using the fluid power curve so it's maybe not terribly accurate. Anyway it sparked a whole discussion in IRC about what FTP is and how you should do it... i'm guessing by the fact that I was able to do a bigger effort in the last minute that I paced the first 19 too low? It did start to feel easier about half way through, maybe I needed a bit more of a warmup. It's all terribly confusing. This was also technically supposed to be a rest day
I think i'm about 184cm and 77.8kg.
I think i'm about 184cm and 77.8kg.
Soldato
Yep, I would say so. I can usually push a little harder for the last minute just because I know it'll be over soon but I think the gradual increase you have all the way through shows you paced it a little low.
Looking through my data from holiday last week, I dont have a full 20 minute effort but some pretty close attempts.
The best I can find is:
322w for 20 mins
384w for 8 mins
I'd guess my FTP is probably around 310-315. So that's 10w higher than I thought. Not too bad
Soldato
Sufferfest Rubber Glove is worth buying for a structured FTP turbo vid.
Soldato
Well i just tried to do a 20 minute test on the trainer. Average over the 20 minutes was 201. Just using the fluid power curve so it's maybe not terribly accurate. Anyway it sparked a whole discussion in IRC about what FTP is and how you should do it... i'm guessing by the fact that I was able to do a bigger effort in the last minute that I paced the first 19 too low? It did start to feel easier about half way through, maybe I needed a bit more of a warmup. It's all terribly confusing. This was also technically supposed to be a rest day
I think i'm about 184cm and 77.8kg.
The usual 20 minute test protocol includes a gradual warmup to approx threshold with a few quick sprints, then a 5 minute maximal effort, then a break, then the 20 minute test.
The idea behind the 5 minutes is it exhausts your anaerobic reserves so this doesn't overly influence the 20 minute result. Similarly, in the 20 minute test you shouldn't sprint at the end because it'll skew the result.
Ideally it should be an evenly paced effort where you die at 20 minutes but that'll be near impossible for your first one because you don't know what you're capable of. Now you have a baseline your next one will inevitably be better because of experience as well as training between now and then.
My approach these days is go out a few watts higher than I did last time and then reassess at 10 minutes. After that it's about hanging on!
Now I've got another set of the Vectors, I'm going to have to get GoldenCheetah installed!
Going to do a power test post Majorca and prior to first TT of the season the following Saturday! I've no idea what sort of form I'm in, but been feeling good last couple of weeks. Not really pushed myself for long enough to really be able to tell though. Hopefully be where I was at the end of last year, as I've lost 2kg or so, good base to build on for the rest of the year.
Going to do a power test post Majorca and prior to first TT of the season the following Saturday! I've no idea what sort of form I'm in, but been feeling good last couple of weeks. Not really pushed myself for long enough to really be able to tell though. Hopefully be where I was at the end of last year, as I've lost 2kg or so, good base to build on for the rest of the year.
Yep, I would say so. I can usually push a little harder for the last minute just because I know it'll be over soon but I think the gradual increase you have all the way through shows you paced it a little low.
Looking through my data from holiday last week, I dont have a full 20 minute effort but some pretty close attempts.
The best I can find is:
322w for 20 mins
384w for 8 mins
I'd guess my FTP is probably around 310-315. So that's 10w higher than I thought. Not too bad
Yep, 16mins to 20mins is horrific pain and pure holding on, but I can push extremely hard at max'd out HR for the last minute purely because you know it's the final blowout before it is over.
If doing a test and you get half way through and it feels easier, or if you are getting to 18mins and not feeling like you want to die, then you are not pushing it enough
322w for 20mins, where about did you get that? That must be 15mins-ish of hard pushing and then easing off somewhere as wasn't much proper 20min areas we pushed on, so your 20min probably a bit higher on a specific test just now?
I put out 286w for 15mins exactly, no proper full 20min areas. And 308w for 11mins. I reckon on a test just now I would be around 280w (4.6w/kg) and would place my FTP around 260ish (4.3w/kg). Pretty happy with that for February.
Soldato
Second time around the mountains (in reverse), big climb straight after lunch. I think it was over 20 mins of riding hard (including the gradual climb through the village) but not quite at 100%. It's not far off it though.
Last weeks race, average power 286w for an hour 5 minutes. Was over 300 for the first 50 minutes! Ouch. Handicap race so mostly just rolling hard turns constantly, with a bit of a hill thrown in, which I didn't mind as could ride just above threshold and more controlled.
2x10mins on the turbo last night after eating my birthday dinner of Domino's pizza, wedges, garlic bread AND cookies. Fuelled up! 309w for 1st 10mins then a 8min recovery and 312w for 2nd 10mins.
Weighed in this morning (after Domino's near death last night) at 60.2KG. So happily over 5W/KG for 10mins, reckon right now I could be right around 295-300watts for 20mins @ 60kg so picking up quite nicely and quite happy with that form for February. Lots more to come this year!!
Weighed in this morning (after Domino's near death last night) at 60.2KG. So happily over 5W/KG for 10mins, reckon right now I could be right around 295-300watts for 20mins @ 60kg so picking up quite nicely and quite happy with that form for February. Lots more to come this year!!
Soldato
Soldato
No new figures from me but I did notice something last night after using a watt bike.
My power output for the workout averaged to 45% left leg, 55% right. So my left leg is a lot weaker than my right and my Stages is measuring my left leg power! Clearly explains my disappointing FTP?
What's the fix? One-legged squats on my left leg?
My power output for the workout averaged to 45% left leg, 55% right. So my left leg is a lot weaker than my right and my Stages is measuring my left leg power! Clearly explains my disappointing FTP?
What's the fix? One-legged squats on my left leg?