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That’s quick – is it flat? I once had a commute of similar length, and my record was the same 33kph. That was absolutely pancake flat except for a small hill at the end. To get that time I had to catch every light and junction and be sustaining around 42kph o the flat!
Not flat, but not overly hilly. There's about 300m of climbing in the 27km, so 1:100. There's also 18 sets of lights/roundabouts.
My fastest time is 35.8kph over the same route, but that requires (very) early mornings and light jumping.
That's an amazing time in that case.
If I wanted to start to measure watts, what’s (ho ho) the cheapest entry point? Going on a mountain bike.
It’s unlikely to be cheap as you already suspect. On my road bike I’ve gone with assiomo Uno pedals - but I don’t think they make an off road set.
Garmin I believe do a power meter pedal with an xc style spd mechanism - but it costs quite a lot.
Other cheapest option - maybe 4iii or stages make a left side crank that would work with your existing right hand side? I probably would have gone this route but even with the thinnest 4iii new style power meter I didn’t have enough clearance to the chainstays (gravel bike frame).
I have an XT 4iiii crank on my mtb.
This is cheap if you need 170mm
Otherwise it’s about £370 I think.
Thanks guys @joebristol, you suspect correctly! I've SRAM cranks, so no Stages NDS available, is that right? so I'd need set of cranks, new BB, and stages NDS so about £300-380 for the power meter, £150 or so for the cranks (and a redundant NDS) and some bearings £20 or so...
Or Garmin pedals at about £480-500 or so.
Wow That seems pretty bloody expensive..!
I'm not sure how much value there is having power on an MTB, unless it's your only bike. And if it is, you're probably better off spending the cash on a road bike.
Power is most useful regulating long constant power efforts which are nearly impossible when MTBing.
If I wanted to start to measure watts, what’s (ho ho) the cheapest entry point? Going on a mountain bike.
Do you want real time and/or accurate?
Cos if you can tolerate looking at numbers after the fact, and basing it all on algorithmic estimates then just capturing HR/Cadence/Speed data via cheaper sensors and uploading to Strava and then punting it out to Veloviewer (or similar) to pour over is probably enough for most people, Various interweb experts claim it's "within 5-10%" of Power meter captured power, not totally sure where that is plucked from of course...
Obviously you need to keep other information up to date like your weight and check things like elevation are captured correctly (as with any data; crap in = crap out), but you can at least review that estimated power after a ride, maybe look at the bits where you know you were putting in a substantial effort and be equally disappointed without having to pay ~£400+ to discover you are a weakling...
I'm sure I've also seen some IQ apps that claim to do the whole power estimation thing as a field on the fly so you get a number to start at, but I really don't buy it being anything like correct.
Various interweb experts claim it’s “within 5-10%” of Power meter captured power, not totally sure where that is plucked from of course…
That's terrible accuracy. When doing z2 rides by power a 2W increase Vs HR over a regular ride was a great improvement. Over the course of a couple of seasons I went from about 205W to 230W. So two years of training could be obscured by a 10% error!
Off road it's even worse because estimates know nothing of train conditions. Oh, you've lost 15% of your FTP you're de-training! No, actually it rained a lot last night.
Yeah, you’re better off using RPE and HR to train than that.
In fact, I’d say 75% of how I use my PM is after the ride rather than during these days.
The main one being kj of course.
Recovery rides are HR based, endurance rides are calibrated against the ‘talk test’, tempo is probably more power based as HR will vary a lot across the effort and Threshold is a bit of both.
Thanks @Molgrips I was going to ask why power meters weren't useful off road...your last post seems to cover it. I don't own a road bike, and TBH I was just looking to see if there was a better "training" method than doing by HR, but I'm just doing it for interest rather than need for an event, so having looked at power meter prices...I'm not interested any more!
Thanks; especially @cookeaa, lots of useful info in your post.
if you can fit one onto your bike, a rival axs chainset with power meter built in is £250, bodge a front mech on to keep it in the 33t ring and bobs your uncle 🙂
@NickC If you can get an old copy of Friels MTB training Bible, it’s basically his other book re-written for folks who definitely don’t have a PM.
In fact, I think some of the tables and explanations in there are better than in his regular Training Bible.
(Loads dirt cheap online)
I think the most important aspect for Mtb’ers is incorporating some kind of steady state work to get that endurance going. It doesn’t need to be roads though- Rich and I rode endurance on the ridgeway on our mtb’s the other week.
endurance rides are calibrated against the ‘talk test’,
Well, that in turn is based on power, as long as you have had a lactate test.
I think the most important aspect for Mtb’ers is incorporating some kind of steady state work to get that endurance going
Yes, get yourself a big Enduro sled and fit the biggest tackiest tyres you can, then come to a South Wales unofficial bike park. You will spend hours winching your way up fire road!
Seriously though MTB is really really bad for base training. The bike park idea is as good as it gets.
so because all the training gurus are likely on here.. a question..
I'm early 40s and have a max heartrate of 185bpm (I've really pushed as hard as I can a whole bunch of times, and can't get it any higher). This roughly corrolates with my age.
however, I can hold highish heartrates for quite a long time - eg I can do 40 mins at around 175bpm and 4 hours at an average of 162bpm (both big efforts, both measured on a chest strap)
if I wanted to get into training, where should my zones be? the percentage of hr thing doesn't appear to work for me unless my max is well over 200 and i'm just not good at getting there 🙂
Percentage of max HR is pretty inaccurate as you've discovered.
You want to know your threshold heart rate which you can find with a big long steady climb that takes 20 mins or so. Then work from that.
Yeah, I calibrate it (talk test) against a PM as it’s easier to follow a number (especially indoors) but I could just concentrate on following it by RPE.
That’s kind of the point re. switching to training rather than just riding isn’t it- you are going to need to adapt the riding you do at least a couple of times a week.
But as I say- it can be fireroads or byways. It doesn’t have to be tarmac.
Also what following Friels book will illustrate is perhaps as if not more important than the zones you’re riding in- the weekly, monthly and quarterly ebb and flow of overload and recovery.
You want to know your threshold heart rate which you can find with a big long steady climb that takes 20 mins or so. Then work from that.
any reasons it has to be a hill rather than just as quick as I can go along the flat? the longest hill near me is ditchling beacon, and I can get up that in 5 mins (not at threshold heart rate, for sure) - I'm not aware of anything that gets above 200m of elevation gain this side of london 🙂
Nope. Any hard consistent effort will do. Friel recommends the average HR from the last 20 mins of a 30min effort. Maybe look for a local ten mile TT route?
ta, I've got one of them from last week (although not really a TT route - and it was on my watch, hence why there's a jump from the first half to the second half I think)
https://www.strava.com/activities/9349762685/analysis/257/835
surely a 175 threshold is way too high if my max is 185 though?
Not necessarily. You may be surprised how much higher your HR could go in the right circumstances. Max is fairly irrelevant for training zones anyhow.
My threshold is about 176bpm and my max about +20 but I’ve rarely been there this year.
Rotor are doing some very keen prices direct at their EU store.
Amazing high quality cranks made in Spain. I've had a one arm crank system for must be 7 years and still going well on my MTB.
Just got 2 in power (2 sided) for practically half price.
https://www.rotorstore.eu/product/rotor-2inpower-direct-mount-mtb-crankset/
You will pay duty but still good.
(This is MTB)
https://intervals.icu/ uses 98% of your best 20mins heart rate to estimate Lactate Threshold Heart Rate. It notifies you of improvements, but leaves it to you to change metric in settings, as heart rate can be affected by a number of non-performance factors.
any reasons it has to be a hill rather than just as quick as I can go along the flat?
Theoretically no, but somehow in real life I find they are pretty different activities. I've no idea why, probably psychological but also something to do with your pedal stroke which I think is different. But yes if you have no hill then try and choose a proper flat road. Undulations mess with constant power efforts. If you've never ridden with power, it is astonishing how much your power goes up on the slightest rise and disappears on a descent even if you are trying to keep it even. Sticking to say, 220W for me requires absolutely dawdling up hills and smashing the living daylights out of descents. Whilst producing the exact same power. It's very strange.
surely a 175 threshold is way too high if my max is 185 though?
No, that's about where I am these days. Max HR is governed by different things than threshold HR.
I think the most important aspect for Mtb’ers is incorporating some kind of steady state work to get that endurance going. It doesn’t need to be roads though- Rich and I rode endurance on the ridgeway on our mtb’s the other week.
Ah cool, I've started doing a longer commute which is 18 miles each way off road - more or less completely flat, it's mostly an old railway line and keeping it in Z2 as much as I can, I do this twice a week, so I get 6 hours or so of pretty steady state riding.
That’s terrible accuracy.
Well yeah, but it's ~£450 cheaper and lots of us are just nodders wanting to dabble in and gain a more general understanding of our cycling power.
Ultimately PMs are still expensive, temperamental tools for "Serious" (i.e. racing at the sharper end) cyclists not jolly punters who are at best merely curious...
Well yeah, but it’s ~£450 cheaper and lots of us are just nodders wanting to dabble in and gain a more general understanding of our cycling power.
Sure, but I don't think that's accurate enough to be of any use. You may as well train with HR.
If you have a turbo with accurate power (and you actually like using it for training), then a power meter isn't that important for most people imho. Definitely not if your focus is MTB. The two pillars of ftp-raising training regimes, Z2 and VO2max, do not require any power-monitoring outside, and you get yourself calibrated in general terms on the trainer.
Rpe is a very effective way to train IF you're experienced with the quantitative approach. Some very strong riders will 'just train by feel bro' but you need to have been through the numbers for that to work.
Sure, but I don’t think that’s accurate enough to be of any use. You may as well train with HR.
Kind of my point, accuracy isn't such a concern if you're only looking to chart upward or downward trends whilst, as you said, using HR as your main training tool.
Having said that I did find myself having a wee browse of 4iii LH arms earlier, I'd say those border on "affordable" at around the £250-300 mark.
had time for an hour today, knew I'd still be carrying some fatigue from Sunday, but it my only option to get out before Friday, thought about sitting on the turbo and watching the tour, but blasted round for an hour, and despite having to fish a wasp out my helmet as I was riding and a stung forehead, I put 2:02m into my quickest time round a 34.5km loop from 2021 (@38.4kph) and +12w for an average of 277w for 53:37 and that's at 11bpm average less, 172 v 183bpm,
so still very slightly incrementally increasing across the board, which is nice
Nice work!
I’m getting things back in track again now as I work out of my back spasm. Still have a morning stretching routine which I think may need to be permanent now.
Had a hardtail session locally on the weekend - no structure - just sprinted round like my hair was on fire in bursts on the fun bits - then churning out the slight gradients. All fairly flat around Ashton Clurt and Leigh Woods. Did pop down a few bits of steeper off piste and the climb back up but not a lot of climbing. Felt good though.
Z2 turbo on Tuesday night for an hour just to keep things moving.
Commuted yesterday on the road bike - still in the novelty stage with the power meter. Current on real-time power - am I better smoothing readouts slightly with 3 or 10 second power to make it more useful to try and hold a level of power?
Did quite a bit further than I needed - instead of taking the direct route I went a roundabout way both ways on the Bristol-bath cycle track. Just need to get the backpack off my back - think I’m going to pick up an Ortlieb quick rack next payday and look for a waterproof pannier - laptop is heavy on my lower back. Sod the aero - the huge backpack ruins it anyway.
Just smashing out some weights before work - feels good to be back on it. Lost some strength but feels like it’s going to come back fairly quickly.
3x 10 dumbell cheat press 22.5kg dumbbells
3x10 Dumbell chest flyes 10kg dumbbells
3x10 dumbell pullovers 20kg dumbell
3x10 dumbell overhead tricep extensions 20kg dumbell
3x10 bench dips
3 second here as well,
Cool, will switch my garmin to 3 second power.
Commuting once a week on my bike now - means Garmin is having a guess at ftp based on my commute, as is Intervals ICU + garmin is attempting riding dynamics information. I’m not convinced it really knows when I’m stood up or sat down - doesn’t seem right that info.
Garmin thinks my ftp is 217w, intervals thinks 227w based on my commute this evening and TrainerRoad is guessing 242w I think. I feel reasonably fit considering the time off I had - and Strava is saying my fitness is in the way back up again.
Going to start a new turbo block soon - although might only manage 1-2 sessions a week as I’m mtbing and bike commuting at the moment. Will ramp test at the start for context on where I am vs where I have been.
Im enjoying beasting myself on the road bike at the moment, apart from my Hope RX4 being an arsehole on the back and leaking out the pistons (I think). Hoping new seals will fix it - otherwise it’s going on eBay and a shiny new Ultegra caliper is going to find its way on there.
jumped on Zwift the other night for an hour Z2, my sub had lapsed somehow, so I did 1hr up Ventoux and still have 12.5km left, don't think anything else is as climby is there?
rinsed myself outdoors today, for an hour and twenty ish, 51km loop, with 3 punchy climbs (4 min, 90 seconds and 5 mins) in quick succession in the middle before it loops for home, did 299 for 26 minutes during (intervals guessing at 290w FTP) and 274w for the 1hr 23m, nicked the KOM by 2 seconds, but knocked 3m 19s of my previous best from 2020
last week was a shorter week, at 4 1/2 hours in 2 rides, just don't have the time, and I'm deffo knocking on the door of where I can get to with the hours available I reckon, but hovering around 300w, for 20 minutes (at 42) isn't a bad place to be
Eight climbs of various length/gradient throught the new Zwift portal feature, includes Tourmalet and a few others already done by this year's TDF.
how far is it to the portal though?
After a weird likely fatigued and possibly long Covid / post viral fatigued year and after some rest, I did a flat Zwift race yesterday with the intention of holding onto the pack for 20 mins to simulate a 20min ftp test.
I made it to 15 mins then excruciatingly backed off, and whilst appreciating its not true test format, I recorded a 20min ftp of 234w or 3.0 wkg. To think, before March I posted an FTP of 3.8wkg.
🙁
I start proper training again on Sunday, and with some low volume but sharp efforts on weekdays with some endurance volume over the weekends I perform a proper FTP test in 2 weeks in order to inform a plan ending at the Gorrick Halloween event. Hopefully it improves slightly!
Well, my first clean, rested fully prepared-without-issue, great nutrition focused 20 min test and 3.4wkg. Damn, I was a consistent 3.9-4.0wkg in 2021 before all the respiratory issues happened.
Oh well, it is what it is, and now I have a base from which to improve for 2024.
This might not be directly relevant but when riders like Wiggins and Thomas wanted to increase their w/kg, they lost weight, they didn't increase their power.
I was 76kg when I tested at 4wkg., I’m 74.5 now. I could drop some more yes, but have had 18 months peppered with respiratory infections and subsequent interrupted training, plus post viral fatigue of some kind since March this year of which I seem to be recovering now, hence the test. I found that I lost top end, and couldn’t hold lengthy and elusive power at vo2max for very long.
The next 8 months will see if I can get it back.
This might not be directly relevant but when riders like Wiggins and Thomas wanted to increase their w/kg, they lost weight, they didn’t increase their power
They had been training full time for years at this point, including lots of years on the track where weight was less important for them, do already had huge power. Probably not a useful comparison unless you think you’ve gone as far as you can with improving your power.
treading water here, business end of Y1 of my masters, and last couple of weeks of school for the kids meant lot of celebrations assemblies and stuff, also the weather, wtf, ticked through a few Z2 sessions indoors, but even when it's not hot, it's still hot as hell,
however, time wise on the bike, after a couple of hour bimble this afternoon, I surpassed any year in the last 8, and it's only July 30th, so we'll take that
Z2 indoor/indoor in general has become a struggle though, don't know if it's the heat, or the lack of something to watch, or just where I'm at, but 90% of the riding early this year was breaking bad and ticking off Zwift routes for extra XP, id do 2 hours to do a 50/60km route which out thinking and now, I'm looking at the clock 10 minutes in and thinking about binning it off
I also wrote of part of this week by going for a run early hours on Monday, couldn't sleep, went out, kept HR low, felt ok, so kept going, did 10km, and went straight to sleep, walking on Tuesday/Wednesday was a challenge 😂
@dirtyrider - nice work - running really messes my legs up for a few days - just no crossover between cycling and running!
Im still easing back into turbo - done a number of 30/45 mins sweet spot sessions and feels like my legs are gradually coming back now. Going to setup a proper plan again after holiday in a few weeks time and get cracking.
Was considering doing an enduro in October but couldn’t convince any mates to do it with me so I’ve kind of knocked that idea on the head.
How is everyone doing on their fitness at the moment?
I’m currently up to 77.5kgs (was 78 last week) after my back playing up then a bit of training again, then an all inclusive buffet type holiday. So I’ve re taken stock of where I am and going again.
I’ve paused my Trainer Road subscription for now (got access until the end of September before it’ll stop) and subscribed to Zwift just for a change of scenery.
The ftp I was using (but not ramp tested in a while) was 242w but after my first Zwift race this week Zwift suggested 247w. That was after a 51 minute race pushing my limits for periods of time. I don’t know if that makes it more or less accurate than a ramp test - perhaps more due to sustained levels of putting out power flat out?
Going to aim for one intense race a week and do some endurance type rides on TR whilst I still have access. Once that ends I’m going to have to commute to work more as it’s being insisted we’re in the office 3 times a week from October. Given I now have power meter pedals I’m going to try and make my commutes into structured workouts of some description so they aren’t just junk miles. Either make them zone 2 and keep my watts under control or look to do intervals. I can make pretty much the whole commute on the Bristol / Bath cycle track so no traffic to play with.
See if I can get back down to 75kgs and up to 260w by the end of 2023
Not really done any structure since maybe late April, generally a Tuesday bash and long weekend ride with Z2 in between - smattering of pub stops or efforts at some of the local segments to keep it interesting.
I did a short Wednesday night road series in July which went reasonably well, although the last round on a slightly hillier course highlighted the abscence of any previous racing this year.
Relaxed attitude this year has left me a little heavier at 68Kg on a bad day, enough to see me down to about 3.8 going off a couple of efforts on the local TT course and WKO
Actually feeling quite good until flu kicked in yesterday...
Got my first hill climb of the season next weekend, and then signed up for our club team for the zwift race series which starts the week after. Trying to lose a couple of kg and hit 64kg before the hill climb
Currently hovering around 290 ftp, but would love to hit 300w this winter (I also said that last winter...)
Mine is as good/bad as ever... but i'm rubbish at both diet and structure.
I had a hard day on MTB monday, then Tues off (well a gentle 8 miler), Weds was racing, today was racing (on Zwift for both). My esults don't change, neither does my weight really, or my power... but i just ride and enjoy.
Had a solid few months, been in good health - No training just timetrialling every week. Power never changes - 290W to the watt over 10, 300 if I raise my bars but it's a bit slower. <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Decent amount of MTBing in the mix, couple of enduros and first time riding in the Alps on an actually good bike - hands got absolutely hammered but felt good otherwise.</span>
Doing the national ten at the weekend, fast course in the NE. I peaked in June on the times so don't have big expectations, but should be good to experience the event.
The kg part of the W/kg equation remains gravid with potential. Unlikely to move much in the winter for me I would guess.
Fitness is going ok for me - I decided to see what TrainerRoads FTP robot thought after a summer of not much structure and I haven’t lost any watts. Our bathroom scales are broken though so no idea about my kilos.
Now the summer hols are over I have a bit of space for some structure but don’t feel motivated for a full on plan. Going to aim for 3x rides per week, with at least one having some structure, and at least one being just for fun. Should hopefully keep my powder dry for turbo trainer season:)
weights up a bit, riding time is down, I've had an OSCE and an assignment due in August, combined with the kids being off school, then it's been a busy month, I didn't ride in August at all last year, squeeze in 21 hours this, my heads in holiday mode until I start placement on 4/9 so I'm not paying much attention to what I'm eating or how much I'm drinking
did set a 2023 PR for 30 minutes (293w), 50 minutes (283w) on 10/8
so as much as my brain suggests it's all gone to shit because I've been busy, it's not actually the case
Just returned a positive Covid test, great 🙄
My fitness dropped in early summer, probably because I stopped using the Turbo and Zwift racing. July and August weather saw me back indoors and got back to spring fitness! Been on hols with family the last 2 weeks and only managed the odd weights/callisthenics workout. Didn’t know how my fitness would hold up but had 2 massive days MTB today and yesterday, both nudging 30miles and fitness seemed to hold up pretty well. Back home tomorrow and work Monday so planning a bit more structure… may book an October riding weekend in as motivation
Yeah I couldn’t find anyone to do an enduro with me in October so I’m probably going to book a BPW day end of October / early November. Don’t need pedalling fitness for that but need to get my leg strength / endurance up for that plus make sure my lower back and upper body are in decent fettle. Just in the gym now on a back and biceps session. Making sure to work my core and grip and started with loads of lower back / glute / hip flexor stretches which the last physio session highlighted I should do.
Training:
Suitcase Deadlifts / wide grip pull-ups / bent over dumbell rows / rear dumbell flyes / ez curl bar bicep curls / hammer curls / glute bridges
Went out on my hardtail last night but wasn’t massively feeling it. Rainy / muddy / gloomy. Had to use light under all the trees and didn’t feel very energised at all. So plugged round but it wasn’t wildly fun tbh! That was Ashton Court / Leigh Woods - the latter was unbelievably slippery and running a rock razor on the rear which was erm…..interesting.
Much preferred my ride last weekend at the Mendips on the Sentinel.
did 85km (sub 500m climbing) Saturday and 179km (sub 1000m climbing) on Sunday, don't know if it was the heat, but holy hell my legs are fried today (Monday), I cannot remember the last time I got DOMS from cycling, neither ride was particularly tough, both at 32.1kph, with them being 205w and 179w averages, strange
Back training. Currently about 3.5 W/kg and 73-74 kilos. Need to drop three kg of ballast and add a kilo of muscle to each leg. I don’t care for HIIT nor indoor riding in general really, so started back in vets racing. Wasn’t a good start. But my peak was 4.3 W/kg in 2018. At current rate of fitness increase, this is possible by mid next season. Hoping health holds out for that long!
Have averaged 250km/week for the past four weeks. Before COVID that was 400+.
I'm back on track after a few years of recurring illnesses (thanks covid and a child that started nursery in 2020).
I stood on the scales back in Jan and was 79.9kg - the heaviest I've ever been. I was just under 4 w/kg then. I eventually started calorie counting in July. Not to restrict calories but more for awareness which was a bit of an eye opener. I'm now back to 74kg and 4.6w/kg and the weight is still trending down. At this rate I'd like to think I can get back to 72kg where I used to be 10 years ago.
In pervious years I've followed some pretty regimented training plans. This year i've just been freestyling it based on how i'm feeling on the day and what my short term goals are. My "training" has been somewhat conflicted though as I've done a few ultra distance bikepacking events and then at the other end of the spectrum some recent hillclimbs. It seems to be working quite well though.
I'm about to head out and see if I can beat my PR on a local 5-6 min climb from my pre dadulthood days! I've steered clear of it for the last 3 years. It was one of those "I'll never beat that time again" efforts - lets see if I was right!
please collect £200 and move to the 5w/kg thread :strong:
Yeah that’s ridiculous lol. And here I am scraping round low 3’s at the moment!
Got another Zwift race planned for the morning - some kind of crit thing. See how that goes 🫣
Just finishing up a shoulder weights session at the moment
2nd Zwift race today - joined a crit with @weeksy. Felt like a brutal pace again - faster than the (longer) race last week. Averaged 243w (peak 662w) and 173bpm (peak 193bpm).
At the end it came up with the below - not sure how reliable that is? I mean va a ramp test I will have been putting out a level of power for a set period of time that it can use I suppose. But if I tried to do an erg based TR workout using 260w as my ftp I think I’d probably fail on longer sweet spot / threshold intervals.
Maybe that’s more a motivation thing than a physical one though?
260w you beast... was quite a funny race. ABCD all togehter out of the pens.... me and Joe sat with lead bunch, almost got dropped on lap2.... But hung in as some guy towed me back in.... then lap 8 or 9 i saw joe had lost the wheel and the group... suddenly it was 4s back to them, then 5... he went for it... then stayed ... then more... he's closed to 3s.... but died... So i powered through and finished it, but i'd dropped him in the process.
I waited up and then we had a bit of banter and play to the finish.
I kicked at 1km out and gapped Joe... but had a hanger on so sat up.... Joe went deep to close and just after he'd caught us, we had 400m to go and dropped him for the finish. Was a good bit of entertainment... my legs are RUBBISH at the moment thogh
I might be wrong but I think the auto FTP increases are based on the best 20 min effort during that workout (and then they apply the usual 0.95 calc). If you check your power curve for the activity you should see a peak 20 min power of about 273w.
Given the nature of an on / off race you'd probably get a better result from a steady 20 min FTP effort.
Zwift may now be using some other form of calculation though.
I've started to take FTP scores with a pinch of salt and just ask myself if I reckon I could hold it for a lengthy period, say 45 min+ and then adjust it to suit.
Quite enjoying Zwift races even though they are really really hard. Going to plug away with one a week alongside a couple of zone 2 ish turbo sessions up to an hour each + an mtb ride every weekend.
I can do that until 2nd October and then I have to go into the office 3 times a week according to the instruction that has just come down from management. Then I’m not quite sure what I’ll do as I’ll probably cycle commute those 3 days - 9 miles or 4.5 miles each way depending on the route. Will probably do the 9 miles route most of the time for the calorie burn - just will have to workout on certain days if I do it as a sensible zone 2 or maybe make it short intervals other days. Might only fit in one Zwift race a week + mtb on top of that commuting.
it's too hot for zwift racing surely unless you have the privilege of an air conditioned room
was 7.30am and had fan on... garage was about 15deg with wind and fan... was nice.
Race wasn't too long at 35 mins
Interestingly, in ZP context... i got the win too.
dirtyriderFree Member
it’s too hot for zwift racing surely unless you have the privilege of an air conditioned room
@dirtyrider - turbo train in my garage which I’ve insulated so it tends to be cooler than outside when it’s hot. Got a big fan going but thinking I could possibly do with a 2nd one for Zwift - or getting my current fan nearer. It used to sit on the lifeline turbo table in front of me right in my face but when I put the tv up recently it was in the way. Might need to build myself a little table to hold the fan higher up in front of my wheel. At the moment the fan sits in front of my front wheel but just inside the turbo table front bar (not on my picture).
Had a go at a zone 2 commute yesterday -out on bike in reality it’s quite hard to stick to lower power. Mentally decides to set a ceiling of 200w vs a 260w ftp. On average I did a 131w average / normalised power of 165w so overall I think I did ok. Did spike to a max of 688w bit that must have just been a second or 2 at some point.
On the way home I went a bit further and pushed a bit harder - did a 165w average - and NP of 195w I think it was. Much warmer on the way home / all slightly uphill. Got a few pbs on Strava. My fitness definitely feels like it’s in the up, even if my weight doesn’t currently seem to be decreasing as much as I’d like.
I think I’ve put some muscle back on, but before I’ve lost the extra fat I put on through illness and pigging out on holiday. Hopefully the weight loss will come with time and training.
what a nightmare I had last night, out for a couple of hours, went a couple of miles along a road, no dead end sign, and it turned into singletrack, zoomed out on my wahoo, looked like it wasn't too far to the road, so carried on, big mistake, found the only standing water for 300 miles, and it was like a bog of doom, and deep as I stepped into it on the right, enjoy the picture montage, not sure how the mech killing itself happened, expensive evening, 1x dead ceramic speed ospw, 1x sram red eagle xx1 chain shortened to get home, now too short for anything, 1x broken mech hanger, unsure if the mech is bent, lucky the frame isn't broken, it has a proper ding where the mech rotated,
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That’s barely a puddle if you’re in a mountain bike - but guess what you’re riding is not at all equipped to handle that. Hope it’s not too expensive to fix 😢
I stayed as far right as I could and my left foot just sank in it, and I was on the edge, wasn't a puddle and solid underneath, it was silty shitty mud bog, you'd not get across it on a mtb
3rd Zwift race tonight - I’ve been bumped into Cat B so it’s going to be hard yards from here I think.
Another increase in ftp to 275w. Not sure what weight I am at the moment. Between 76-78kgs I think. Managed a 20 min stint at 289w average so I’m guessing this probably is a better guideline than a ramp test.
It was a 3 lap race - at the start of lap 3 I was still in the group and crossed the line in 1st but then my legs hit a bit of a wall and I got dropped. I eased off for a period then went hard again until the end and put in a bit of a sprint on my own too.
good effort! I often find that in the crits and short races, it's just so full gas I have zero sprint left
as good a place for this, right science me guys, I've seen this somewhere about how inefficient humans are because we bleed so much heat, hence the need for acclimatisation when it's hot to get on top of it, I'd love the link to some papers (I've deffo seen them), i know the hour record stuff and cooling and slush ice and ice vests until the start and the first 15 minutes are the body running cooler, I'm sure I've seen something that suggest we are like 80/90% inefficient, but I cannot find what I read
WR marathons seem to be run between 5-8 degrees
I ask this, because I went out tonight to do some KOM trolling (failed) at the end of summer, it was 50.9km long, set on a local group ride years ago at only 37.5kph, I have the kom segment almost 2km longer at 39kph along the same roads, just with different start and end apices, , I thought I'd blitz it, yer my HR was way up (I even got a training peaks threshold notification of 183bpm), my power was down and if it wasn't for the train crossing that was down 1.5km from the end I think I'd have still been about 20 seconds short, looking at my other ride, it was about 10 degrees average, and todays was about 20
I know I've answered my own question here, I just want to see the papers I know I've read, I'm sure it said something about 2000w threshold, help!
pretty sure my threshold is below even ^ that 😉
So in terms of progress if I take that ftp from Zwift I’m currently 3.57w/kg over a 20 min period.
I’ve done another race since the above one but didn’t beat my 289w effort over 20 mins. It was an hour and 3 minute race and there were a lot of suspiciously fast C’s in it. All the categories went off at once and the A’s were just gone, a few b’s hung onto them and a good few C’s. I settled into the 2nd group and there was sort of an uphill sprint finish which was gross. I think I upped my power a bit too late or I think I’d have made up a couple more places than I did.
It’s quite addictive this Zwift race thing - although bearing in mind it’s absolute balls to the wall for almost the entirety of the races I’ve done I’m trying not to do too many for fear of burning myself out.
I did one yesterday, first since April maybe, still far too hot indoors, (does anyone use a cooling vest or such?) pulled the plug after 37 minutes, was on Makuri 40, first 4 minutes was crackers, almost did the best 4 minutes of the year, they it settled but got randomly surgey every so often, I was just gassed and not really paying attention and was out the back as makes the small climb after you 26km or so, couldn't be bothered to chase back on
I’ve been doing one race a week, the Z racing series - FTP is improving and am generally meeting my aspiration of top half of Cat B field. What’s weird though is how IRL I can hold my own on the climbs, but I ALWAYS lose the lead group on the climbs towards the end of the race. Assuming we’re grouped by W/KG, the bunch can’t be THAT much faster than me, and overall analysis of my W/KG vs the winners validates that, but I get crushed on the last climb?
Anyway, I’m enjoying the “can you finish in the top half” challenge, which for me does mean that I’m all in chasing 14th in a field of 30! Slightly ridiculous but it’s my one HIT effort per week