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Help me review my power file...
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I'm wondering if someone who is familiar riding with power can look at a subset from my ride this morning and provide tips. The snippet shown was during one of our sprint points on a road that was a bit rolling and bumpy. No drafting, I'm in front

A couple questions...
1) I know I'm supposed to ride consistent, but how consistent? Are the up and down bumps in power throughout normal? Should this be more smooth? I do look at 3s power while riding and it varies .. but how flat can you really keep it on a non-flat road?
2) After surges, power drops and then slowly picks back up... I imagine a slower surge would mean a lesser drop... any tips for surging 'less than all out' so the drop isn't as significant? Maybe a slower increase?
3) Anything else you see that looks out of place / doesn't make sense that I should be looking at?

I've read Training and Racing with a Power Meter (Coggan / Allen) when I first bought the PM, maybe it's a good chance to go back and re-read.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.





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Re: Help me review my power file... [mvenneta] [ In reply to ]
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Looks typical for that type of terrain at a "sprint point" of a group ride. Certainly you could have rode smoother, but if you're trying to separate yourself from other riders, the idea is to put the most power down when drafting isn't as beneficial...when the grades get higher.

Yes, if you kept the surges down, it's likely you would be able to keep more up more power during the flatter sections, but that may not translate in you getting to the sprint point ahead of your buddies. They would just suck your wheel till the last hill and attack you.
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Re: Help me review my power file... [mvenneta] [ In reply to ]
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If you goal is to do the highest watts possible for 8 minutes you would be better off without any peaks and valleys, but if you are leading out a sprint and want to stay on the front you probably did a good job cuz dudes are not going to want to pass you on the downhills or flatter sections, and if they do you can just accelerate next to them when they try.

366 for 8 minutes is pretty good, unless you are fat as he!!.
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Re: Help me review my power file... [jjh] [ In reply to ]
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When I reviewed my thought was probably less about the large surges, but more in the part where I felt I was consistent and the power shows I'm consistently +/- 20% power when I felt like I was going somewhat consistent. I look at 3s power when I'm riding and I struggle to keep it consistent even when riding on the flats.

Most of my rides end up being on rolling hills so it's hard for me to get really sustained power for long periods of time on the flatts. On the trainer I can keep power variance to 3-5% during a sustained effort but outside I struggle much more.

For others is the +/- 20% power fluctuations normal?
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Re: Help me review my power file... [mvenneta] [ In reply to ]
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If you are trying to win a sprint point, power should be as close to 0 at all times, until you decide to make the move to win it. Where power should be as close to infinity as possible.

simple!



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Re: Help me review my power file... [jackmott] [ In reply to ]
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Brilliant answer. How about if I'm not in a sprint .. and I was just riding on my own on an undulating course how much power variability would be typical? This is near Lost Creek since I believe you're in Austin jackmott and would know the course.
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Re: Help me review my power file... [mvenneta] [ In reply to ]
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mvenneta wrote:
Brilliant answer. How about if I'm not in a sprint .. and I was just riding on my own on an undulating course how much power variability would be typical? This is near Lost Creek since I believe you're in Austin jackmott and would know the course.

You were JRA and in 8 minutes went almost 1000 watts once and over 500 watts 6 or so times? Jebus.
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Re: Help me review my power file... [mvenneta] [ In reply to ]
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Your output decreased as the hill went on. Even if you are trying to drop someone, you still have to maintain power after your attack. Also, you stopped pedalling once you crested. At least get to terminal velocity first
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Re: Help me review my power file... [echappist] [ In reply to ]
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Good point on power decrease after the surge. I really struggle to get back to consistent power after a surge, and similarly putting up continuous power going up hills. It's probably because I'm riding at or near my current power limits and when I surge, I have nothing left.


I generally go as hard as I can, recover and then pick up again. Don't really know how to do it differently other than slow down...
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Re: Help me review my power file... [mvenneta] [ In reply to ]
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mvenneta wrote:
Brilliant answer. How about if I'm not in a sprint .. and I was just riding on my own on an undulating course how much power variability would be typical? This is near Lost Creek since I believe you're in Austin jackmott and would know the course.

So here is an 8 minute section from my z2 ride today. The graph has the first notch of smoothing put into it so it looks pretty smooth, but min power is 121, max is 275 and average is 205. I was trying to just ride 200 flat for 90 minutes, so you can see that for unsmoothed power, it's very spiky even though I was trying to ride a steady power, but averaged over even a short period it averages out to about where I want it. I think this is relatively normal for most riders.



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Ed O'Malley
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Re: Help me review my power file... [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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Your VI is 1.0 which I believe means even. I'm going to try a similar ride when I'm back from vacation and see how I go. I wonder if it'll be easier in z2 compared to 10% above FTP. Thanks for sharing. . So it is possible. ..
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Re: Help me review my power file... [mvenneta] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, but if I was trying to win a sprint, my VI would certainly not be 1.00!! I'm sure if you're just out for a steady ride the power will be smoother.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
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Re: Help me review my power file... [mvenneta] [ In reply to ]
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i guess the answer depends on what you were trying to accomplish with that block of riding. If it was part of some larger plan, it might help to look at your top 10 30 second intervals and see what they look like. As another poster noted, if your objective was to put out a solid 8 minutes, then you overcooked the initial part and were running out of gas at the end.

So, good effort if anaerobic was your goal, not so hot if V02 effort was what you were after
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