Cycling With Power

[Pete Ellis]

Happy mostly spring everyone!  Well...we are getting to that time of year again; fresh air, long outdoor rides, and the freedom from your Tri Club buddy sweating all over you in the spin studio.  The main question I have been getting from a lot of you is: what do I do with all this power and FTP data now??

I can tell you this: unless you are planning to bring the computrainer outside and put it in your driveway, you will have a hard time comparing your wattage numbers inside to outside if you do not have a power meter.  Now I do not want to make the hard sell on power meters here; it is a considerable investment.  But let me reiterate that point: investment.  

There are a few items I consider critical to your success on the bike:

• Good training
  
• Good nutrition/hydration
• Good position/form
• Good data
  

Now I didn't say: race wheels, fancy carbon bike, sweet unicorn helmet, etc.

Good data is crucial to your success whether you are training and racing for long course or short.  Good data means numbers generated in training that are easily adaptable to racing situations.  Most of you train with heart rate, which I think is just fine, but it does have its major flaws from time to time:

• Drift
  
• General well-being
  
• Hydration 
  
• Nutrition
  

Again, power is power, it is consistent and reliable.  The coaches have spent considerable time dialing in the computrainers to give you a realistic outdoor power number that you can use in your daily training.  Your outdoor power meter readings should closely mirror your indoor computrainer readings.You can take that data with you now and create excellent easy, tempo, interval and long distance workouts to suit your plan, but you need a power meter.

The Stages Power meters that we sell are reliable, flexible and very importantly affordable compared to their counterparts.  We can do your entire crankset (if you need to make a crank arm length change...ahem bike fit) or your non-drive side crank arm.  Both are again very affordable.  

I have attached a spreadsheet based on many many hours of number crunching and real world experimentation that will give you realistic speed numbers based on watts in an aerodynamic position.  This chart also has recommendations for percentage of FTP for long and short course races.  

Sorry for the novel, but a lot to cover here.  Please give me a shout via email, stop me quick after class or set up an appointment with Vic or I to discuss a plan based on your power numbers.  Thanks again all for training so hard this winter.  We are truly proud of the progress you have made on the bike!!!

P.S. - A bonus note on Rest/Recovery

I have also attached power numbers for pro cycling tour rider Michal (Michael) Kwiatkowski for a ride he was on today.  Michal finished second in Paris-Nice (neece) on Sunday, an early season classic seven day stage race with the top names in pro cycling participating.  Notice that this is a short rest/recovery ride for Michal.  His typical average power output for a 120mi stage is 290-320W. 

Even pros rest/recover people.  

Regards,

 

Pete Ellis