Wattage profile?

Callas <[email hidden]> wrote:
: What wattage and speed profile does a big, heavy cat 1 rider exhibit during a typical 30
: mile race?

Some random points:

Typical 30 mile race? That's not a race, that's a crit. A 1st cat road race will be 70+ miles. A
crit will usually be on a very short course (500m - 1km say) and be 1hr + X laps where X is small.

A road race is going to be very peaky power wise. Big peaks jumping out of the corners, small
numbers coasting in the bunch on the flat.

Hard to give any specific numbers, but here's some indicators:

440W - Chris Boardmans power for one hour in his 1995 hour record 2000W - track sprinter for a few
secs 1800W - Cipo for a few secs

Try this for some solo numbers:

kreuzotter.deespeed.htmOpen ↗

Basically in a 30 mile crit you're looking at sprinting out of each corner (big power, anaerobic)
then much less power on the straight. The whole thing is going to have a high average though since
it's so short.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune clune.orgclune.orgOpen ↗ "Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook

Quoted message said:

Callas <[email hidden]> wrote:
: What wattage and speed profile does a big, heavy cat 1 rider exhibit during a typical 30
: mile race?

Some random points:

Typical 30 mile race? That's not a race, that's a crit. A 1st cat road race will be 70+ miles. A
crit will usually be on a very short course (500m - 1km say) and be 1hr + X laps where X is small.

Hmm. The one cat 1 rider I emailed with prefered doing 30 mile races. Bearing in mind I've never
raced or timetrialled; are crits a long time trial (single start) or are they massed start, e.g. a
race, except over a short distance?

Quoted message said:

A road race is going to be very peaky power wise. Big peaks jumping out of the corners, small
numbers coasting in the bunch on the flat.

What sort of speed will be seen? are we talking 30mph for the 30 miles?

Quoted message said:

Hard to give any specific numbers, but here's some indicators:

440W - Chris Boardmans power for one hour in his 1995 hour record 2000W - track sprinter for a few
secs 1800W - Cipo for a few secs

I'm *so* unfit 🙂

I figure in another three or four months I should be doing 300 watts (the unreliable figure from the
trainer) for 45 minutes. I'm under the impression 300 watts is the "cat 1" level - the only issue in
my case being the short duration this effort is maintained for.

Quoted message said:

Try this for some solo numbers:

kreuzotter.deespeed.htmOpen ↗

Very very interesting. The speed figure, for me, for 300 watts in the superman position is 27.1mph.
This is very close to the figure I see from my trainer computer. If I were to sit up, I drop down
to a measily
20.8mph! I know how vital aerodynamic efficiency is, but it's rather shocking to see it shown
so clearly.

--
Callas

Callas <[email hidden]> wrote:

: Hmm. The one cat 1 rider I emailed with prefered doing 30 mile races.

Crit - massed start, short course, flat. Favoured race of big fat sprinters.

: What sort of speed will be seen? are we talking 30mph for the 30 miles?

Nothing like. The average is pretty much meaningless since in a crit you'll be slowing down for the
corners and then jumping out of them all the time.

Even in a long road race the average will be very misleading. Races are peaky. A race might average
25 mph, but that will consist of 10 miles at 35 mph and then 10 at 20 (ok, that's a little extreme
but you get the idea) It's the peaks that matter - if you can't hold the bunch when it's going flat
out then you're off the back.

: I figure in another three or four months I should be doing 300 watts (the unreliable figure from
: the trainer) for 45 minutes. I'm under the impression 300 watts is the "cat 1" level - the only
: issue in my case being the short duration this effort is maintained for.

Trainer data is pretty unreliable for many reasons. A more useful test would be what speed you can
maintain on a road bike on the flat with no aero bars for 5 mins.

A road race is *so* different to any other sort of cycling. Just enter one. Anyone even vaguely
competive (and you clearly are) should do at least one.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune clune.orgclune.orgOpen ↗ "Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook

Callas said:

Quoted message said:

Try this for some solo numbers:

kreuzotter.deespeed.htmOpen ↗

Very very interesting. The speed figure, for me, for 300 watts in the superman position is
27.1mph. This is very close to the figure I see from my trainer computer. If I were to sit up, I
drop down to a measily
20.8mph! I know how vital aerodynamic efficiency is, but it's rather shocking to see it shown so
clearly.

And on a faired recumbent, you'd be getting 45.1 mph (at least, if you're my height and weight and
you're putting out 300 watts you would be).

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) jasmine.org.uk~simonOpen ↗

do not sail on uphill water
- Bill Lee