Power..did it really make a difference to you?

[RapDaddyo]

thanks and a happy new year to you RapDaddyo, i've valued reading your motivational & highly analytical posts this year. if everyone took cycling so seriously the races would be a lot harder!

somehow i think that getting to my 2006 "target" of 350 watts for 20 mins is going to be tougher!..

Great target. Go for it. I have a goal for 2006 as well. Actually, two. One is to ride the Mt. Charleston hill climb (17.5 miles 6% avg grade) at an NP >300w (on a training ride). The other is to get my secret weapon working for TTs. You like to ride TTs. I'll let you know about it when I have it working.

 

[robkit]

i dont have any decent comparbles wrt TT's because i havent ridden one in months (mostly road races) and the ones i did ride were on a road bike with a standard helmet (from the boardman "final hour" dvd i understood the helmet alone to cost 20 watts at 50kph).

however...some time ago i did some spreadsheet work, plugging numbers into the analyticcycling.com power model, everything defaulted and gradient 0%, here's what i got if it's of any interest...

watts met/sec mile/hr 10 time 25 time
420 13.54 30.29 19:49:00 49:31:00
410 13.42 30.02 19:59:00 49:58:00
400 13.3 29.75 20:01:00 50:25:00
390 13.18 29.48 20:21:00 50:53:00
380 13.06 29.21 20:32:00 51:21:00
370 12.94 28.95 20:43:00 51:49:00
360 12.81 28.66 20:56:00 52:21:00
350 12.68 28.36 21:09:00 52:53:00
340 12.55 28.07 21:22:00 53:26:00
330 12.42 27.78 21:36:00 53:59:00
320 12.28 27.47 21:51:00 54:36:00
310 12.14 27.16 22:06:00 55:14:00
300 12 26.84 22:21:00 56:53:00
290 11.85 26.51 22:38:00 57:35:00
280 11.7 26.17 22:56:00 57:19:00
270 11.55 25.84 23:13:00 58:03:00
260 11.39 25.48 23:33:00 58:52:00
250 11.23 25.12 23:53:00 59:42:00
240 11.06 24.74 24:15:00 60:38:00
230 10.89 24.36 24:37:00 61:34:00
220 10.71 23.96 25:03:00 62:37:00
210 10.53 23.55 25:28:00 63:04:00
200 10.34 23.13 25:56:00 64:51:00
190 10.15 22.70 26:26:00 66:04:00
180 9.95 22.26 26:57:00 67:24:00

 

[RapDaddyo]

i dont have any decent comparbles wrt TT's because i havent ridden one in months (mostly road races) and the ones i did ride were on a road bike with a standard helmet (from the boardman "final hour" dvd i understood the helmet alone to cost 20 watts at 50kph).

however...some time ago i did some spreadsheet work, plugging numbers into the analyticcycling.com power model, everything defaulted and gradient 0%, here's what i got if it's of any interest...

Thanks. It gets very interesting to look at ways to ride a course, managing power for minimum elapsed time. But, to really get to the fun part, one has to look at both gradients and wind (and altitude), all in the context of NP constraints, both for short-duration efforts and for the totality of the ride (based on one's MP/duration curve). Then, of course, there is the small matter of converting the analysis into something simple that can actually be deployed on the bike on the course in real-time, with beads of sweat rolling off your forehead into your eyes. Now, we're talking.

 

[whoawhoa]

i dont have any decent comparbles wrt TT's because i havent ridden one in months (mostly road races) and the ones i did ride were on a road bike with a standard helmet (from the boardman "final hour" dvd i understood the helmet alone to cost 20 watts at 50kph).

however...some time ago i did some spreadsheet work, plugging numbers into the analyticcycling.com power model, everything defaulted and gradient 0%, here's what i got if it's of any interest...

watts met/sec mile/hr 10 time 25 time
420 13.54 30.29 19:49:00 49:31:00
410 13.42 30.02 19:59:00 49:58:00
400 13.3 29.75 20:01:00 50:25:00
390 13.18 29.48 20:21:00 50:53:00
380 13.06 29.21 20:32:00 51:21:00
370 12.94 28.95 20:43:00 51:49:00
360 12.81 28.66 20:56:00 52:21:00
350 12.68 28.36 21:09:00 52:53:00
340 12.55 28.07 21:22:00 53:26:00
330 12.42 27.78 21:36:00 53:59:00
320 12.28 27.47 21:51:00 54:36:00
310 12.14 27.16 22:06:00 55:14:00
300 12 26.84 22:21:00 56:53:00
290 11.85 26.51 22:38:00 57:35:00
280 11.7 26.17 22:56:00 57:19:00
270 11.55 25.84 23:13:00 58:03:00
260 11.39 25.48 23:33:00 58:52:00
250 11.23 25.12 23:53:00 59:42:00
240 11.06 24.74 24:15:00 60:38:00
230 10.89 24.36 24:37:00 61:34:00
220 10.71 23.96 25:03:00 62:37:00
210 10.53 23.55 25:28:00 63:04:00
200 10.34 23.13 25:56:00 64:51:00
190 10.15 22.70 26:26:00 66:04:00
180 9.95 22.26 26:57:00 67:24:00

BTW, the default Cda at analyticcycling is likely way too low for anyone on a standard road bike-it's realistic on aerobars.