My standard weekend ride is about 40 miles, mixture of flats and rolling hills, on a soloist with aero bars. Currently 250W is getting me about 20.5mph average, which is clearly weak. Does this indicate a poor aero position, or is that about right for that power output? If I want to get to 22mph average, What do I need to do? Or is my quarq knackered?
To get you 250W at 20.5 mph, I have to have your CdA of 0.5, which is quite high. Using these figures, you need 305W to do 22 mph.
Fix the aero position.
250W??? We need more info. Is the normalized power, does this include starting and stopping?? Tubes??? Tires??? Wheels??? Frame???
My standard weekend ride is about 40 miles, mixture of flats and rolling hills, on a soloist with aero bars. Currently 250W is getting me about 20.5mph average, which is clearly weak. Does this indicate a poor aero position, or is that about right for that power output? If I want to get to 22mph average, What do I need to do? Or is my quarq knackered?
A picture would help, otherwise its pretty much impossible to figure out if it sounds right or what.
So that is a 250 watt average ? Whats your weight? I personally think aero position and your quarq is knaxkered if that means it needs recalibration. If I was to average 250 watts I would be more in the range of 24 mph. On my computrainer that is.
This is whatever the 310xt calls average power when you hook it up to a quarq. Starting/ stopping isn’t an issue as I never have to stop on my ride. Also I never coast, to the extent that matters.
2007 soloist, profile design T1+ clip-ons, forward seat, 10cm seat to elbow pad drop, Rol Race SL wheels, Conti 4000s tyres, butyl tubes (ie training wheels).
I wouldn’t worry about your power to speed ratio in training. I train to try to be able to put out more power and hardly ever look at my speed. If you think you’re putting out a lot of power for the speeds you’re seeing, I’d say set up your bike like you would race it and do some dedicated testing to determine your CdA.
Can you please post a ride file? You’ve got us curious about why you’re under-performing. Don’t worry – this can only help you. 
That seems a bit off. A mediocre position for 3.5 w/kg (my calculator says 3.47 for 250/72) should put you above 22mph and definately way above 20.5mph over average rolling and flat terrain with variable winds. Even if you were sitting up I would say you would be above 20.5mph. Are you riding into a strong headwind the whole time?
The ride is a loop so I can’t blame a headwind. I’ll try to post a ride file when I download the ride on Monday, though I have to work out how to do that on garmin connect.
My average power for my last 20 mi Sprint Tri was 265, I’m on a P3, Fist approved position, flat back, all aero details (606, aerohelmet, torpedo mount bottle) 5’10" 155 lb and my average speed for that race was 24.87 mph (hilly course hehe). Hope this helps . . .
you could be going much faster than 20mph on 250 watts in your aero position. I’m 72kg, and on my aluminum soloist in my road position i can go 20 on somewhere around 190-220watts.
My standard weekend ride is about 40 miles, mixture of flats and rolling hills, on a soloist with aero bars. Currently 250W is getting me about 20.5mph average, which is clearly weak. Does this indicate a poor aero position, or is that about right for that power output? If I want to get to 22mph average, What do I need to do? Or is my quarq knackered?
Are you on a MTB bike? Joking.
If that’s your average on a flat road in your TT position, yeah it’s pretty bad. But, if you’re talking a mixture of terrain with a lot of climbing, on and off the aero bars, then maybe not so bad. If the latter, pacing could also be an issue. I find that hitting the hills a little harder, and the downhills a little easier, improves my average speed.
I’m just under 90 kg and 250 Watts gives me about a 23.5 mph average… that’s always in my TT position, out and back on a flat road.
It seems to me, as others have mentioned, that your aero position isn’t helping you enough.
For reference, here’s some info on a ride I did at about the same power earlier today. It was abut 8 and a half repeats on a 6.7 mi flat course with quartering 8-12 mph hour winds. I rode into the winds with about 5-10% more power than with the winds. Still, average speeds were as low as 21mph into the wind and change for some laps and as high as 24.9mph for one of the laps with the wind. Also, the trip up involved stopping for a few lights/cars here and there, but all the trips back were light free. Also, the first lap was quick warm-up, last two laps were averaging more like 280-290 watts to empty the tank.
56 mi
Average speed: 22.6 mph
Spinning wheel time: 2:28:37
Average Power: 255
Normalized Power: 262
my weight: 195 lbs/88.6 Kg
tri bike with pretty aggressive position (about 16cm drop)
wheels not aero today
tires: heavy Armadillo!
helmet: road
kit: loose jersey
bottles: one in the bars, one on the down tube
Also, rocking my disc cover, 404 clincher in front, aero helmet, and snug tri suit easily gives me another 1-1.5+ mph for similar power output believe it or not.
My average power for my last 20 mi Sprint Tri was 265, I’m on a P3, Fist approved position, flat back, all aero details (606, aerohelmet, torpedo mount bottle) 5’10" 155 lb and my average speed for that race was 24.87 mph (hilly course hehe). Hope this helps . . .
I’m sorry but thats really an awful comparison. You’re talking about race gear and a tri bike. Hes talking about a road bike with i’m going to assume clip on aerobars. If you were running a training set up you would have lost at least 2-3mph in your sprint tri, further you can’t compare rides on two courses that you dont know the specifics on. Now I’m not saying he doesn’t have a piss poor position he very well may. But comparing what you did in a race to what he just did in a training ride is pretty worthless.
um… my poin is that my wattage/speed is a near best case scenario… duh
My standard weekend ride is about 40 miles, mixture of flats and rolling hills, on a soloist with aero bars. Currently 250W is getting me about 20.5mph average, which is clearly weak. Does this indicate a poor aero position, or is that about right for that power output? If I want to get to 22mph average, What do I need to do? Or is my quarq knackered?
As mentioned a few times it is really hard to compare power/speed to others and generally not a very useful exercise. Key is to increase the watts. That said I would expect you to have gone faster than that sitting up on a road bike at that AP. For example, here is my file from the timberman course which while not super hilly is sure not flat:
Duration: 2:30:57
Work: 2151 kJ
TSS: 150.3 (intensity factor 0.773)
Norm Power: 248
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: -1.78%
Pa:HR: 1.51%
Distance: 55.579 mi
Elevation Gain: 5219 ft
Elevation Loss: 5189 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (7 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 858 238 watts
Heart Rate: 143 182 165 bpm
Cadence: 32 218 91 rpm
Speed: 0 50.5 22.1 mph
Pace 1:11 0:00 2:43 min/mi
Altitude: 381 1061 635 ft
Crank Torque: 0 1027 224 lb-in
I weighed around 185 at that point so a hell of a lot more than you and theoretically a quarq should always read a few watts more than a PT due to drive train losses. I would take a hard look at your position and calibration.
Agree 100%. essentially worthless to compare power with different riders. Here is some more worthless data lol. Today’s ride was a 52 mile ride with a 40 min interval session in the middle. I weigh 73kg, use a Quarq and averaged 209 w. Tri bike but no aero goodies, not an aggressive position (sorry Dave Luscan). Averaged 21mph with heavy wind. Have averaged 21.5 on same ride when it was more of a steady effort on same watts.
2,215’ gain.
Are you riding a mountain bike?
Didn’t see above post…MTB x2 ?..