this weekend was the first collegiate race weekend of the season and it started off with a 4.5 mile individual time trial and no aero equipment allowed. I didn’t use a powertap because i used a different set of race wheels but my teammate used a pt and got avg. wattage in the 350 range for ~ 10 min. Anyway I had a dissapointing race and finished MOP but I know I can produce about 370 watts for 10 min. my teammate finished in 9:50 and i finished at 10:15 even though i know i can produce more power. I have narrowed it down to a few possibilities 1) I had a bad race (but 25 sec difference?) 2) I did have an insufficient warmup and this contributed to #1 3) i weigh about 171 lbs and he weighs 164 but keep in mind that this was a very flat course or 4) my position is awful (and thus frontal surface area is large)- i raced on the hoods but with elbows bent at roughly 90 degrees, i didn’t ride in the drops at all. I am leaning toward this as the problem. What do you guys think? Oh and in no way am I trying to discredit my teammate’s performance he had a great race and finished 4th, i just think that I could definitely be up there and would like to correct the problem for next time. Thanks
In order of importance I would guess
A) Frontal area
B) Pacing
C) Warm up
D) Bad day (ie you put out less watts than you think)
E) Weight
Styrrell
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Ditto to this list.
Also note that you 300 plus watt, young, powerhouse kids are disgusting.
Pacing is very tough for a ~10 min TT…very difficult to gauge effort during the first minute or two. Perhaps you were at too far above CP10 for the first minute or two and then had a sub-par middle section and then recovered somewhat at the end. I think this is the common profile of people who TT without power readings.
…just a thought.
thanks for the replys, I agree with the list as well and you hit my pace right on the mark, I definitely went out too hard and had to throttle down a bit. How much can pacing in such a short race mess up my overall performance?
I don’t know the answer to your questions, but here is a link to an article that talks about TT pacing:
http://www.bike.com/template.asp?date=2%2F10%2F2005&lsectionnumber=5
In a nutshell, it says that even going out slightly too hard can lead to a 4% decrease in average watts…probably much more if you went out way too hard.
Great job this weekend! The crew from Cornell took the overall, eh? Good job representing CNY (I live just up the road in Syracuse).
Later,
Matt
How technical was the course? Differences in how you manage the course can account for a large difference in time as well.
yep, cornell won the first eastern collegiate cycling weekend, first time in 5 years or something like that. I put some good sprints in for some solid finished but figured the slowtwitch community would be most interested in the solo effort.
and the time trial course was semi technical (2 turnarounds) but I think I made those turns alright except i was a little delirious/cross-eyed at the 2nd one so i’m not quite sure.
If you are truly averaging 370w, you should be capable of a 40k TT in the low 50s. My thoughts are:
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Make sure the PT is properly “torque zeroed”. If its not, it will read high. When you are coasting at high speed, power should still read zero. Hold the right button down to get into torque mode.
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If you are really producing 370w, you need to really work on your aero dynamics to maximize your potential. Obree set the hour record averaging 370w (he was very aerod.) and Boardman set the Athletes hour on a conventional bike at 400w and 30.7 mph average. Bostick rode :47 for a 40k at about 390w. I get about 27mph at 285w on a PT.
BTW 370w on a powertap is really about 380w generated due to chain friction losses.
Go to http://www.biketechreview.com/ for help.
Hey now… doing 350+ watts for 10 min isn’t nearly as impressive as you old guys breaking 55 min for a 40k.
in my first post i mentioned that the tt was about 10 min in duration and 4.5 miles. I wish i could sustain 370 for 40k but then you guys would be asking me the questions. my LT(estimated using 20min - 5%) is 316 which is much closer to a 40k. and my best 20 min effort is 335 watts. this is all on a trainer because i am in upstate NY and it is cold outside so if that throws off the wattage then so be it, but my torque is zeroed. Also note that there is no aero equipment permitted, not even aero bars so these times are all based on riding on standard bars, standard wheels, etc.
Uh, what old guys would you be referring to? I know it ain’t me.
you guys beat us by a damn single point. couldn’t believe it.
and there’s me in that tt, coughing away to my slowest race ever. it was pathetic.
congrats to your team on a good weekend win.
darrell at dartmouth
my best 20 min effort is 335 watts. this is all on a trainer…
Even after eliminating all of the calibration issues…
I’ve never been able to match my sustained indoor-trainer power numbers outdoors.
Anyone else experience this?
I’ve never been able to match my sustained indoor-trainer power numbers outdoors.
Anyone else experience this?
I’ve never matched it either. I can always do at least 10% higher outside =).
Scott
"Even after eliminating all of the calibration issues…
I’ve never been able to match my sustained indoor-trainer power numbers outdoors.
Anyone else experience this? "
What type of trainer do you use?
JC wrote: I’ve never been able to match my sustained indoor-trainer power numbers outdoors.
Do you think it is for the same reasons that people can generally maintain higher wattages while climbing? I always consider my resistance trainer to be similar to going uphill…my rollers seem to be most similar to slightly uphill with a stiff tailwind.
i use a cycleops II fluid trainer, i agree with the higher avg. wattage on the trainer because it forces you to pedal constantly, however i can’t think of a time in a tt when you would stop pedaling so in relationship to indoor testing and outdoor testing for a tt i can’t think of why it would be different.
Darrell- see you next weekend at penn state, good luck in the circuit race i hear it’s supposed to be a really tough course.
My CP30 on the trainer is the same as a 20k time trial on the road. I would have to say maybe the power difference lies in the type of terrain you ride, or races you do.
If you don’t ride in the drops on a solo TT effort, why do you have them?
Raise your bars a bit. Ride in the drops. Are you a TTer? I’m not sure why, but I just don’t have the mental toughness it takes to do well in TTs. I can ride a break, or chase one down, but give me a clock and a start ramp, and I start making excuses.
4.5 miles in under 10 miuntes, your teammate needs to find a velodrome, 2.48 miles in 4:45ish gets you on the National Team and a chance at a National U23 Championship.
-SD