My thoughts are that there must be at least one of the following going on to achieve sub 5
- Very aero
- Very small person
- miscalibration
- easy course
- great pavement
- no wind
- drafting
Or all of the above.
For example, if Paula Newby Fraser or Natasha Badmann had a powermeter, I am sure we'd see numbers lower than 200W.
For the 145 guy doing almost 5 hours at IMC on 178, saying his position is not too aggressive (given ~3000 feet of vertical at IMC), I think other factors are at play (maybe some miscalibration). That's a 3255 Kjoule ride. Keep in mind it takes around 600 Kjoules just to lift a rider plus bike vertically up all the climbing on the IMC course. So that leaves around 2600 Kjoules for this rider to do a pancake flat 5 hour course.....that would translate to 144 watts on a pancake flat course for a 5 hour ride. Is this remotely in the realm of possiblity for a 145 lb rider with a not so aggressive position? I got my bullshit meter out on that one.
Please fess up to miscalibration.
Dev
Edit: corrected for 178W