Power/Weight Thread

20mins FTP test thingy on Zwift last night @ 61.8kg = 267w.
4.3w/kg I think it is not bad for this time of year off of nothing but z2 type riding recently and lower volume.

First time I have done a test on a turbo before, I know I could get a higher watt figure on the road so reckon over 20mins I am about 30watts down on peak summer fitness last year and also 2kg heavier just now.

248w for FTP if *0.93 and Zwift set my FTP to 252w now based on its estimates. Either way FTP on either off those > 4w/kg so I am where I want to be as training ramps up for season :)
 
Thomas. PLease. said:
Good progress! Still not found a time or day when I've felt up to an FTP test at the moment, but I expect to be down to around 300w at the moment which is frustrating.

Training camp in Feb should provide a good week of training at least, and I'm miles ahead of this time last year, so still hopeful to try and get FTP closer to 340w peak.
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I wasn't planning the test, I had about 3 hours sleep night before was feeling pretty naff but just decided after spinning away for 15mins to bash on with it. So definitely wasn't in rested mode for doing it so I'm happier even more so because of that.

Guessing you are heading somewhere in Feb? Where you going?
We are away to FuertaV early February for a week, counting down the days!
 
It is normal for everyone unless you are pro and training where weather is and therefore no drop in volume or training allocation. 99% of people like us here in UK will absolutely be pushing a lot less power and way below peak summer fitness levels. Natural, and even still, nobody should be maintaining near their "peak" fitness levels for months on end of the year, that is not possible. It's all about cycles (literally) :D
 
One More Solo said:
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. :eek: 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.
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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?
 
SoliD said:
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.
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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!
 
One More Solo said:
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!
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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? :cool:

SoliD said:
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.
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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 :p 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! :p

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.
 
touch said:
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 :)
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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 :D

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.
 
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!!
 
Every single time I hear someone going on about Stages now I am ready to cringe. They sound like such a hassle and just don't seem the way to go at all :(

I am usually around 48/52 on normal riding although in FurteV I was more like 45/55 for some reason.... On hard efforts and racing, I am bang on 50/50 every time. I don't think there is any point in over analysing and worrying about balance this way, I don't see an effective and safe/proper way of addressing it really.
 
Thomas. PLease. said:
First day in Spain and happy with a new 18 min pb at 352w
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My levels of hate have grown for you on Strava this past week.... 350w for 20mins then? You are right around your best from last year already, good things coming this year Thomas! :D

I am on a proper downer week as it is the big spewey 20min test on the turbo this evening. Absolutely dreading it but cannot wait to see what I can do either. 310watts I reckon, we shall see tonight :cool:
 
306w so right on that 5w/kg mark. 8w lower than last years best which was set on a climb, so with 306w on turbo I know I could push more on a climb so reckon the power is where it was at best last year, means nothing though without the same level of outside riding really and I am 2kg heavier just now.

Thought for a year my max HR was 194/195, well tonight it sat at 200bpm for 3mins and maxed at 202bpm. So I guess a proper rested week and flat out effort shows the true capabilities of my rested body. Basing my new max HR as 200bpm for now which is very promising as my resting is around low 40's and lactate turnpoint I estimate in high 170's. Not bad for 28 years old!
 
4x15second sprints on my ride this morning. First time launching any sort of sprint since September and they felt terrible... Not in the painful sense, more so in the fact they felt sloppy, terrible form and all over the shop. Felt like I was pushing very low power and not gaining mental speeds..... So of course I gained new 5second and 10second PB's, go figure!
5sec = 878w - 14.39
10sec = 845w - 13.85

Only pushed 905w peak twice, that's 100w down on race fit last year. I know all of the above is junk, but I am not a sprinter and the fact they felt ridiculously bad is good news for training these on the coming months :)
 
New peak power PB by a single watt on Saturday. 1006w now, YEAH!

Oh, and I just got a new 20min best of 342w @ 60.5kg. That's up 30w since my best last year.... 5.65w/kg boys. Getting 6w/kg for 20mins is happening this year, it's not far away.
 
Thomas. PLease. said:
Monster watts for your weight xdcx, knocking on the door of 1st Cat/Domestic Elite with power like that.

In other news I've ordered a new P2m Type S as my current classic has gone pretty wrong. Lost about 50w, so what should be 250w is now 200w. Weirdly higher wattages seem ok. When I get the new one I'll send the old back for repair so hopefully will have one for winter bike and one for summer then.

Interested to test FTP with the new one as I've always felt like the classic under read.
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:cool: I just need to build and build this year and get into TT'ing as it is holding big gear and sustaining on flat/speed that sort of power where my weakness lies. If I can mash big gear up a climb at that power there is no reason I cannot be pushing big power on the flat and really making myself competitive. The numbers are there on paper.

So this is new Type S for your S3? Rotor 3D+? I love the look of the P2M and those cranks.
 
Bingo!

Raw w/kg and climbing ability is super and all but for racing, it is no where near the be all, end all. Especially even in the Highlands here, the races we go to are 30-40 miles with less than 600m climbing usually, so being a skinny climber is actually borderline useless.

When the surges come I can hang in, but on the BIG efforts and sprints I am nowhere as I do not have that big raw power that larger riders have. This is what I need to address and work on more than my 10min+ power sustainability it is holding bigger watts for 20/30secs up to 2mins etc. But to address that you need to up your FTP as well as your peak 1sec for it all to come together which I am sure it will.... The big w/kg over longer timeframes is only useful if you are fresh enough to have it in the legs after living with attacks and big gearing on flats at speed. Racing is such a huge picture, being strong in one area is simply nowhere near enough.
 
touch said:
I'm not convinced by their numbers? All the power:weight values put him at 82kg? He's quite tall, but he didnt look like 82kg.
I'm roughly the same shape as that (3 inches shorter and 2kg lighter) but I certainly dont have the same body composition as him :p


His wikipedia page says 78kg.
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Yeah I was also in same boat and done some digging. Someone on Reddit corrected it saying his weight was 77.3kg actually. Which would seem a damn sight more accurate.

I thought you actually looked exactly like him! ;):p
 
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