Ok, I've got my goal

Good luck to ya! I herd that too. I think this winter I will do the same.😄

wish i had some money to buy a power meter thingy.

good luck!

sooray02 said:

wish i had some money to buy a power meter thingy.

Yeah, me too. 😉

Hmmm, my half hour power is around 240 watts, better get working..............

450-500 watts might be high, or low depending on your weight. They say you need about 7w/kg over a 30 min period to climb with the big boys in the tour. I would need to generate 595 watts for a 30 min. period.

Pettachi can, allegedly, put out 1700w after a tour/giro stage, and apparently Bradly Wiggins can generate somewhere in the region of 2,100w, but then he's a world champ on the track. On a more realistic note an average, a US Cat. 2 (and I don't know how scientific this is) can put out 7w/kg for 2 min. That's a big difference between a cat 2 and a Euro pro.

or according to ferrari, armstrongs trainer, you need 6.7 watts/kilo at lactate threshold. and armstrong tested at 6.66 prior to the 2004 tour. this from the book "tour de force".

frenchyge said:

Chris Carmichael, in today's TdF coverage, says your 30 min power needs to be in the ~450-500W range to have an expectation to compete in the TdF. So, it sounds like I just need to get a power meter and start pumping out those intervals this winter. 😎

How old are you now? We tested some riders in the NZ track team whose Anaerobic Threshold power outputs were around the 450 mark. They have built up over time. Terry Gyde has noted that last years 15km Scratch Race World Champ Greg Henderson has seen a gradual increase over the last 10 years and no sign of drop off.

What type of intervals did you plan to do?

Hamish Ferguson

frenchyge said:

Yeah, me too. 😉

You really don't need a power meter if you've got a steep hill with a known vertical gain or grade to train on. Since Newton-meters/second = watts; it's easy to calculate your watts power output if you ignore aero drag (at low speeds) and know your rate of climb and weight (body+bike). Believe an extra 10% factor is usually thrown in for drivetrain and tire friction losses.

Have read that Lance can climb at a sustained 0.5 meters/sec vertical (1800 m/hr). If his body/bike weigh 80 kg, the formula says his power required would be:

(80 kg * 9.8 N/kg* 0.5 m/sec* 1.1) = 431 watts.

Ric has some great articles published on cyclingnews.com about power and the TDF cyclingnews.comindex.phpOpen ↗

You want data on professional cyclists? Heres an average of a study of 24 world class professional road cyclists, including one 5 time TdF winner (Indurain), by Padilla, Mujika, Orbananos and Angulo, 1999

Testing method used to obtain data: Wmax test, start 110 w, increment 35 watts every 4 minutes, rest 1 minute between intervals, cadence held at 75 rpm until subject cannot hold 75 rpm

LT is defined as 1 mmol/lac over average baseline at 40-60% VO2 max
Wobla is exercise intensity producing 4 mmol/L blood lactate

all values are mean of the 24 cyclists:
bodyweight: 68.5 kg
Wmax: 478.5 watts
Wmax W/kg : 6.98 W/kg
V02 max l/min: 5.4
V02 max relative: 78.8 ml/kg/min
HR max: 194 bpm
[La] peak: 9.9 mmol/liter
W Lt: 364 watts
W Lt % Wmax: 76%
VO2 Lt as percentage V02 max: 77%
Hr Lt: 163 bpm
W obla: 421 W
VO2 obla (% V02 max): 86%
W obla (% of Wmax): 87%
HR obla: 178 bpm

Indurain data: 77.2 kg
Wmax 573 watts
Wmax W/kg: 7.42 W/kg
W LT: 454.5 watts
W obla: 521 W

For comparison: Floyd Landis put out an estimated 380 watts in yesterdays
55 km TT, he weighs 66.6 kg, however obviously he, along with all the other athletes, is fatigued from the other racing days and could put out a lot more in a TT if they were to say take 4-5 days off and come in fresh.

AussieRob said:

450-500 watts might be high, or low depending on your weight. They say you need about 7w/kg over a 30 min period to climb with the big boys in the tour. I would need to generate 595 watts for a 30 min. period.

Pettachi can, allegedly, put out 1700w after a tour/giro stage, and apparently Bradly Wiggins can generate somewhere in the region of 2,100w, but then he's a world champ on the track. On a more realistic note an average, a US Cat. 2 (and I don't know how scientific this is) can put out 7w/kg for 2 min. That's a big difference between a cat 2 and a Euro pro.

Why are you bringing up sprint wattages? Saying that these sprinters put out 1700W+ has no significance because this thread is about sustained power. I can tell you right now that those road sprinters do not stay above 1700watts for more than a few SECONDS, and that is for the big boys. Smaller sprinters like Mcwen likely don't ever get that high.

You are correct about US cat 2s and 7w/kg for 2 min. That's nearly exactly what I was capable when I raced cat 2 earlier this year. And BTW, there are many US domestic road sprinters and a good amount of amuater road sprinters who can also go above 1700watts (I can in training, but not after a fast leadup to a sprint finish). The thing with Petacchi is that he is an exceptional endurance athlete as well.

dhk said:

You really don't need a power meter if you've got a steep hill with a known vertical gain or grade to train on. Since Newton-meters/second = watts; it's easy to calculate your watts power output if you ignore aero drag (at low speeds) and know your rate of climb and weight (body+bike). Believe an extra 10% factor is usually thrown in for drivetrain and tire friction losses.

Have read that Lance can climb at a sustained 0.5 meters/sec vertical (1800 m/hr). If his body/bike weigh 80 kg, the formula says his power required would be:

(80 kg * 9.8 N/kg* 0.5 m/sec* 1.1) = 431 watts.

You need to add about 50watts for air resistence at steep grade climbing speeds.

Based on this http://www.biketechreview.com/performance/la_cant_doit.htm2004 Alpe D'Huez data, looks like 6-6.4 W/kg for a 40 minute climb is the best stuff the top TdF riders put out in a climb. Of course, they may do this after hours of riding at 230-260 watts. 6.4 w/kg is LA's and Iban Mayo's efforts, at the top of the heap. Mayo's is actually better, because he held it for 55 minutes, but of course LA is more consistent and a better TT'er. See . There's quite a difference between LA and Christopher Moreau in 20 th place, 43 minutes and 5.62 watts/kg for Moreau's climb of the Alpe D'Huez.

-Bikeguy

velomanct said:

You need to add about 50watts for air resistence at steep grade climbing speeds.

Agree, if you or Lance is climbing at that magic 0.5 m/sec rate, that's 11.25 mph on a 10% grade. In that case, 50 Watts sounds right to add for aero...480 w total.

For me, the aero drag at 6 mph will be a lot lower....unfortunately.

dhk said:

Agree, if you or Lance is climbing at that magic 0.5 m/sec rate, that's 11.25 mph on a 10% grade. In that case, 50 Watts sounds right to add for aero...480 w total.

Which bring us right back to what CC said on the show. Hmmm... you'd almost think he's been looking right at the raw power numbers instead of calculating them the way we did here. 😉

It's kind of a kick to ramp it up to 500w on the flat. The bike sure gets moving. Now, if I can just learn to hold it for an hour...

frenchyge said:

Which bring us right back to what CC said on the show. Hmmm... you'd almost think he's been looking right at the raw power numbers instead of calculating them the way we did here. 😉

Well, as they say, it's not rocket science. My ability to do the calculations is unfortunately much greater than my ability to actually produce the power.

Agree it's good fun to put out power, even for a short time. I'm finding this year I enjoy hammering for brief periods a lot more, knowing I can recover quickly and still finish the ride. Last year, my first 5000 mile season, it was more of a struggle just to hang on with the group to the end: no thought to actually taking a pull at the front, or kicking it just for the friendly competition.