Power/Weight Thread

:)

I 100% recommend GC. If you have any questions at all about the usage (I know it is very daunting at first) please ask away, happy to help.

I been meaning to do these guides from the ground up but I have just not had the time to dedicate to it unfortunately.
 
touch said:
xdcx wrote a Golden Cheetah guide back on page 1
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Oops, should read more closely

xdcx said:
:)

I 100% recommend GC. If you have any questions at all about the usage (I know it is very daunting at first) please ask away, happy to help.

I been meaning to do these guides from the ground up but I have just not had the time to dedicate to it unfortunately.
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Will give it a go and report back :p
 
Shamrock said:
34s off my PB for the TT course this morning.

Average power only increased by 5W so I guess it was more due to favourable wind rather than any powah gainz.

Hopefully on the race day I'll be able to take the time under 28mins! Do long sleeve skinsuits save more watts than a s/s suit do you reckon?

https://www.strava.com/activities/335930831
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Niceone, should be able to get that with race day adrenaline. Get some beetroot juice in as well! I'd wear a long sleeve suit if you have it yeah.
 
xdcx said:
Get loading this stuff - http://www.beet-it.us/

100% works. Just have a google around heaps of info on nitrates in betroot juice and the effects relating to sport.
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I was at the TdF last year and caught a few musettes chucked away after the feed zone.
Both Belkin bags I got had little shot bottles of Beet-It, so the pros are (supposed to be) drinking these during the race.
(but i'm not surprised the riders didnt drink them - they taste like diluted mud :( )
 
xdcx said:
Get loading this stuff - http://www.beet-it.us/

100% works. Just have a google around heaps of info on nitrates in betroot juice and the effects relating to sport.
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Are you sure about the 100% bit? I read that it has a good chance of helping, but it's not a absolute given?

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/04/beetroot-juice-good-science-or-great-marketing-hype/

Enjoying riding with my PM - Can put power down on the climbs but loaf along the flat when I was happy with doing 18+mph.

Will get some more rides done and update my actual FTP etc - it won;t be anywhere near what it was!
 
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GSVBagpuss said:
Are you sure about the 100% bit? I read that it has a good chance of helping, but it's not a absolute given?
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I guess I can re-phrase that it 100% worked for me!
It is massive in running/track so I am not surprised to hear of pro teams using it, but like Touch says, it is rotten! Although I have developed a taste for it and don't mind it now.

From my personal experience of using it a lot over the past few years, I only ever benefit from it when doing sessions or racing when over threshold and requiring a large amount of time over threshold. For easy and steady exercising it makes no difference for me, but maximal it works well, and I don't mean a little difference, it is an exceptional difference and noticeable.
 
There's plenty of proof and scientific papers that show beetroot juice has benefits. I definitely noticed some when I had mine.

There's no proof that you need to 'load' it though. You can simply consume some either immediately before a long/intense cycle or try to time it so that you get the most benefit at the right time (which is ~3 hours after consumption iirc).
 
FrenchTart said:
There's plenty of proof and scientific papers that show beetroot juice has benefits. I definitely noticed some when I had mine.

There's no proof that you need to 'load' it though. You can simply consume some either immediately before a long/intense cycle or try to time it so that you get the most benefit at the right time (which is ~3 hours after consumption iirc).
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Yeah, this pretty much. I usually try and have a big glass of it about 2 hours before I'm racing. It does help imho, helps get that last 5% or so extra, which when doing an FTP effort it quite meaningful. I quite enjoy the taste to be honest, but if you don't mixing with apple or orange juice seems to work well.

I usually buy the litre cartons from Tesco rather than the shots.

I'm also tempted to start trying sodium bicarbonate, but I hear the side affects are pretty grim, so may wait for an unimportant event to give that one a go.
 
daveski said:
Some Wattbikes coming into work next week, was going to try and use one to get an idea about FTP but having just read about them being out maybe I won't bother?
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I can only give you my experience which is quite anecdotal.

I had a proper FTP test done on a watt bike end of August last year (warm up, 5mins all out, 20mins all out) and it gave me a figure W/KG figure that is considerably higher than what my Stages PM says.

However, because it's been so long it's not unlikely that I'm simply weaker now.
 
Thomas. PLease. said:
Yeah, this pretty much. I usually try and have a big glass of it about 2 hours before I'm racing. It does help imho, helps get that last 5% or so extra, which when doing an FTP effort it quite meaningful. I quite enjoy the taste to be honest, but if you don't mixing with apple or orange juice seems to work well.

I usually buy the litre cartons from Tesco rather than the shots.

I'm also tempted to start trying sodium bicarbonate, but I hear the side affects are pretty grim, so may wait for an unimportant event to give that one a go.
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This is what I do with TTs, although I got the 210ml concentrated bottle from holland and barrett recently for about £5. Certainly works on the longer races, sport pursuit have the shots on offer at the moment, need to work out if they're worth it! I have mixed with a few things, pepsi max the other day was interesting, but my favourite is with Ribena Apple and Cherry I think, just makes it taste ridiculously sweet! perfect for me.
 
I have experimented a lot over past 2 years more so with running but recently with cycling and it has remained working best if I do the following (using the 500ml Beet-It carton):
- few mouthfuls before bed the night before.
- few mouthfuls lunchtime on day of.
- 1/4 carton 2 hours before the ride.

If you want the grim details and I can't scientifically explain this, but the times it has really been majorly beneficial and noticeable for me using the above is after the hard session or race, everything coming out the other end is proper purple. I have done the above before then ended up not training or something has happened and I've not done what I planned and everything coming out the other end was not purple. Like my body had not processed it or "used" it or something? Dunno if that makes any sense, I seriously dunno but there must be something to that. Lovely :)
 
Some people have difficulties digesting the stuff and/or get bad side effects from too much (e.g. headaches, etc). I can tolerate it quite well so I just chug half a litre before I set off. Makes sense to space it out if you have issues though :) I think you can get a benefit from it for quite a while after ingestion.
 
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