I'm sure there is some variance depending on where you live, but those numbers seem to match with what I've seen. However, 4w/kg is about the price of admission to cat 3 in my neck of the woods, I don't think it'll get you out of the 3's. 3.5 to 3.7 is a pack finisher in the 4/5's in my neck of the woods which is a bit higher than the chart would suggest. I really should just go back to running, I got much better results on the same amount of training. I don't see any of the fluff that others have mentioned even in the 4/5's. With few exceptions, everyone that lines up can ride hard.

I was surprised at the plateau, but that was ~28 years ago and nothing I tried made a difference at FTP and shorter efforts. Unlike you I didn't have outstanding performances in other sports prior that would indicate a higher potential.

What's that supposed to mean? LeDuc was a doper and I could still ride him off my wheel " anyday"...I won that race...(solo 1 min ahead of 2nd)
LeDuc was also Masters World Champion.

If you can sprint and/or have high 1min and 5min power, you can get out of the 3s just fine on an FTP of 4w/kg.

---

Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099

I find it sort of interesting how many name changes you've gone through on Slowtwitch. It's very strange. But each time it takes a little bit to figure out who you are and a lot of times it's because you continue to mention the B2B course record like it's a big deal. It was a triathlon...relay. And you went real fast. Congrats!!!

Why don't you race anymore? Lots of good race results but nothing in the past couple of years. You could clearly still be winning at the national level.

http://www.usacycling.org/...ex.php?compid=198878

Hey James ...Hope that you are well !
I'll try to answer all of your questions...
1.I find it sort of interesting how many name changes you've gone through on Slowtwitch. It's very strange. But each time it takes a little bit to figure out who you are and a lot of times it's because you continue to mention the B2B course record like it's a big deal. It was a triathlon...relay. And you went real fast. Congrats!!!
Simple...I got banned and used another IP address and username.
For me, B2B was a big deal...for an old guy with a headwind for 60 miles...I rode 308 watts average for over 4 hours.
2.Why don't you race anymore?
I do...I am involved in a bi-weekly time trial in Rock Hill SC every year..plus I still do Lowes every now and then. Got the 55+ record last year.
3.Lots of good race results but nothing in the past couple of years. You could clearly still be winning at the national level.

Frankly James...I just got burned out on racing. Every race the same story. Myself against the field. Everyone would just wait for me to make the move and work in a concerted effort to bring me back. It got to the point where I had to solo counterattack many times to finally bury everyone.
It got very old and wasn't challenging nor fun anymore.

Take Care,
JP

Single-handedly burying the entire field isn't fun?! You poor cupcake, that must have been awful, being the geezer version of Peter Sagan. :)

The only other kind of fun I can think of is burying the entire field with teammates.

Oh...don't get me wrong...it was a blast for a while...but the field's learning curve rapidly increased.
When you are one on one against a whole field with intelligence increasing...I needed to have my best "game face" on for every race. If you did it...believe me...you would understand...it eventually got old.

No, I understood you. I'm just making fun of you because I've done something like that exactly once against good competition...repeatedly attacking until no one was left. And I've been trying desperately to recapture it ever since.

I've found this discussion quite interesting. My Tri training group measures and tracks our athletes' FTPs monthly and we have a leaderboard on W/kg basis. Here are the results for triathlon-focused athletes (guys focusing on IM distance):

Top AGer (No.1 in the country, wins or podiums every race including IM regional championships): 4.5 w/kg
Pro: 4.33 w/kg
AGers who have KQ'd: 4.1 - 4.2 w/kg
IM Top-10 AGers: 3.85 - 4.0 w/kg

Most of the guys above are training 24+ hours per week, with 15+ hours per week cycling.

Savan...do those guys not work or just work part time?

Nope - all work full time (Pro works part time).
Some have fairly flexible jobs.
The no. 1 trains like 30hrs a week, with a full time career and family with two kids. He is insane though - up at 3am to ride kind of crazy...

Those numbers are so low they don't even make sense.

I know. I mean, you need an FTP of 5.0w/kg just to allowed to post on slowtwitch right? :)

How the hell does a "pro" have an FTP of 4.33 w/kg? The Kona pro field rode at 4.0+ w/kg!

I'm an average athlete with an FTP of 4.65. Should i be crushing people??

Never said he's a Kona-level pro.

If you can swim and run, you should be crushing and winning your AG.

As per your link, Hoffman rode at 3.4 W/kg at an IF of 0.79.

If that data is correct, that translates to an FTP of ~4.35W/kg?

Huh, i guess so! I just remembered looking at Van Lierde's file the other day and knew it was 4+.

I need to work on my swim and run I guess!

IF is relative to NP, not AP. That puts his FTP at 4.59W/kg and even that seems suspiciously low.

I was serious with my comment. At 4.6W/kg and I've never had the fastest bike split in any triathlon, even in local events. I don't see how any "pro" triathlete could be at 4.35W/kg, that's just ridiculous, even for a second-tier pro.

Your race results don't support an FTP of 4.65

 
search is failing me, can you post that link if you happen to know it?

thanks!

Last race I did I had a 2:27 split on 211 AP. My FTP at the time was 296W but I was using the 2x8 method to estimate, so I know my FTP was overestimated.

Broke my collarbone in August and have beat the shit out of myself on my trainer after buying a Tacx Neo.

Aiming to ride 260-265W in June to a 2:17 on a hillier course.

How come you never answered the last question here?

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/..._BOOM%5D_P5822236-2/

Per the tips in at thread, I increased my cycling endurance due to my poor 70.3 running. Haven't tested it in a race yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll PR my run split by a good amount considering the training bricks I've put down in the last 4 months.

Jaretj was very correct about TTT being too much TSS that close to my "A" 70.3, but that race also ended up being 95+° and 90% humidity, so everyone blew up. Freshly asphalted run course turned into an oven.

I laid down some big rides over a month after and went at another 70.3 in July, PRing with a very MOP 5:13 due to walk/running the run. Don't think I was ready to run off larger watts at that point.

As of now, I've consistently ridden high power (80-85%) for 2:15 and run a least 45-60 min off 5-6 times. So I'm pretty confident I can pull that off in a race situation.

Follow me on Strava if you don't think I've got it in me and we'll see on June 4th!

That explanation is good enough for me