Racing with a power meter. Link to my latest tt.

A light bike doesn't replace good fitness.

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jo.k
Posts: 196
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 11:39 pm
Location: Norway

by jo.k

National championship a week ago. 50 km, nice conditions and rolling terrain. Not much chance for rest!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/191376695" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I had a couple of incidences with traffic completely blocking the road, hence the peaks in the power curve. Guess I should have remained a bit cooler and accelerated more slowly, as my legs really paid for the >1000 W efforts the next kilometers ... Lesson learned for next year!

Any comments to the pacing? I think I started just a bit too hard, but without the two or three "sprint" efforts I reckon I'd just might be able to sustain my power all the way in. My last TT over 30 km had an average power of 356 W (358 W normalized), while this had 343 W (353 W normalized).

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denzity
Posts: 94
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:01 pm

by denzity

jo.k wrote:National championship a week ago. 50 km, nice conditions and rolling terrain. Not much chance for rest!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/191376695" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I had a couple of incidences with traffic completely blocking the road, hence the peaks in the power curve. Guess I should have remained a bit cooler and accelerated more slowly, as my legs really paid for the >1000 W efforts the next kilometers ... Lesson learned for next year!

Any comments to the pacing? I think I started just a bit too hard, but without the two or three "sprint" efforts I reckon I'd just might be able to sustain my power all the way in. My last TT over 30 km had an average power of 356 W (358 W normalized), while this had 343 W (353 W normalized).

How do you find pedalling at ~100 RPM? I do the same and have always wondered whether I'd get a better average power over 1hr if I pedalled 80 RPM at a higher gear.

jo.k
Posts: 196
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 11:39 pm
Location: Norway

by jo.k

I try to keep the cadence up a bit, but haven't really reflected much over the potential effects of lowering it. I find it a bit harder to hit my target power with lower cadence while doing intervals on the TT bike.

Machinenoise
Posts: 141
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:39 pm

by Machinenoise

denzity wrote:
jo.k wrote:National championship a week ago. 50 km, nice conditions and rolling terrain. Not much chance for rest!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/191376695" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I had a couple of incidences with traffic completely blocking the road, hence the peaks in the power curve. Guess I should have remained a bit cooler and accelerated more slowly, as my legs really paid for the >1000 W efforts the next kilometers ... Lesson learned for next year!

Any comments to the pacing? I think I started just a bit too hard, but without the two or three "sprint" efforts I reckon I'd just might be able to sustain my power all the way in. My last TT over 30 km had an average power of 356 W (358 W normalized), while this had 343 W (353 W normalized).

How do you find pedalling at ~100 RPM? I do the same and have always wondered whether I'd get a better average power over 1hr if I pedalled 80 RPM at a higher gear.


I guess it depends how you are made (genetically/muscularly/fitness) I come from a rugby playing background (lots of gym time pushing big weights) so have very torque(y) legs quite happy to handle large force loads. I find I run better at high 80s low 90s rpm than at ~100rpm. I.e. my gear cable slipped a few weeks a go at about 3miles into a 25 and was left with 12-14 on the cassette, so i just rode it single speed and put in a massive PB. mind over matter? Although if i do lots more endurance work my self selected cadence rises slightly, as i find my lungs burn less for the effort. However no time to do that at the moment with working 12hour shifts. :(

markc
Posts: 194
Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 2:23 am

by markc

Yeah, TT thread!!! Here is a shot from our state TT. 40km, flat course, ran 57:08 this year on a decent but not great leg day. Power right around 250w average for this distance. For 10 miles I can get to the high 260s and on a flat course, no wind will run under 22 min (with the bike as shown).

Image


Juan - using the same bars / extensions as you and here is how I have my computer set up:

Image

Just a piece of delrin rod cut to size and rounded on the ends. The Garmin mount just sits on top of the rod and a couple wire ties keep it in place on the extensions. I've since moved the computer up so it sits right between my hands which makes it very easy to view even when going all out.

Also spent time mitering the rod so it fits nicely between the extensions. Can use cheap PVC pipe for this or go nuts and get some carbon fiber tube. I'm tempted to epoxy the Garmin mount to the rod eliminating the rubber bands.

This was last year's set up but just to show the computer placement. I've since gone to Di2 (full internal wiring with battery in the seat post on the P3C) and just received the new 3T Brezza Nanos which will go on this week.


In terms of pacing strategies, there are some interesting studies on this. I tend to shoot for even pacing but there is an argument for shorter races that say a "U" shape pacing effort is faster and more natural. Hardest thing I had to learn was to not go too hard the first 5 minutes. Nice thing about TTs and a power meter - you can try many different variants and see what works best for you. Power never lies about your effort.

Machinenoise
Posts: 141
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:39 pm

by Machinenoise

[quote="markc"][/quote]

"Noice" as we saw in blighty (UK) ! Random question how tall are you, looks like quite a small frame/ rider combo which is obviously an advantage, just interested being 6'1" and on a 56cm P3 with similar componentary, that i have to produce a significant amount more wattage to do a 57min 25 TT. However I do have local competition which can get by on 300w for 30mph average TTs.... :(

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grid256
Posts: 362
Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:32 pm

by grid256

However I do have local competition which can get by on 300w for 30mph average TTs....


Good gravy. Either I need to work on my position more or that course was mostly downhill. I averaged 316 watts in this weeks tt and clocked exactly 27mph. Many hills though.

Machinenoise
Posts: 141
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:39 pm

by Machinenoise

grid256 wrote:
However I do have local competition which can get by on 300w for 30mph average TTs....


Good gravy. Either I need to work on my position more or that course was mostly downhill. I averaged 316 watts in this weeks tt and clocked exactly 27mph. Many hills though.


No, he's just a midget, ~5'4"

markc
Posts: 194
Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 2:23 am

by markc

Machinenoise wrote: "Noice" as we saw in blighty (UK) ! Random question how tall are you, looks like quite a small frame/ rider combo which is obviously an advantage, just interested being 6'1" and on a 56cm P3 with similar componentary, that i have to produce a significant amount more wattage to do a 57min 25 TT. However I do have local competition which can get by on 300w for 30mph average TTs.... :(


Apologies for the delay in responding, tnx for the compliment on the bike. 300w would get me to 30 mph too but I'm forever away from that power number.

Am 5'7" x 132 pounds (1.7M x 60kg) FTP is right around 255 and CP20 is 270. Figure with a little more work I can get those numbers up a few percent and run high 55 40K. Just another old guy riding a bike but it is fun.

Set up is a 51cm frame with a 35mm stem (DH Mtn bike stem). Had to go super short to get the pads where I wanted them. 30mm of risers. Rest of the bike is Di2 internalized, D/A wireless SRM, Stinger 9 front and Stinger Disk rear. RXLP tyres.


Updated photos with the 3T Brezza Nanos and Di2 shifters on the cow horns:

Image

Image

The Nanos are very narrow but not hard to ride at all. The short stem made the brake cable routing odd but works fine with the Nokons. Looks nice and clean from the front. Probably take this rig down to A2 in the late fall and see if we can tweak the position a bit, try some of the new helmets and maybe drop a few more grams of drag. It's a bit of an addiction at this point and I want that 55 min 40K badly :-)

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grid256
Posts: 362
Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:32 pm

by grid256

Ok, here are two recent races for me. As you can tell by the elevation chart the course is only flat at the start/finish area.

Link to race #7:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/211071073" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Link to race #8:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/211068597" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So... I'm left wondering... I smashed myself for race #8. It was the last of the series and I was determined to completely bury myself, which I did by riding an average of 21 watts higher than race #7. My time was however slower. I rode the exact same setup - wheels, skinsuit, helmet everything. One thing though - it started to downpour just after leaving the start line. Would the water on the road have slowed me this much even with the increase of 21 watts overall?

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grid256
Posts: 362
Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:32 pm

by grid256

I'm not certain, but the wind speed between races was very similar. The air pressure however was likely different given the storm that rolled in.

After some thought I'm looking to my Quarq which I'm getting rid of. They're garbage if you have to a hard start as in a time trial. The rings slip ever so slightly against the round portion of the unit throwing the calibration off. I'm even running steel bolts with friction paste at 15nm and still getting the slip.

woz9683
Posts: 233
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 6:58 pm
Location: MS, USA

by woz9683

How did you compare to your competitition between the two?

Not sure how the falling rain effects you, but water on the road decreases Crr so you should actually be faster because of it (as long as the course isn't too technical, slowing you down in corners).

Other than the slipping you mentioned, the weather moving in could have caused a temperature drop which would have effected calibration as well.

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grid256
Posts: 362
Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:32 pm

by grid256

I beat my closest competitor on both races by nearly the same amount. Somewhere around 10 seconds on both races. After looking through some of my latest training files with 2x20s I'd say my earlier race had a power meter slip and my recent race in the rain was pretty dead on for my current fitness in terms of power numbers.

mrlobber
Posts: 1928
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2010 9:36 am
Location: Where the permanent autumn is

by mrlobber

Here is my first TT, using powermeter on the TT bike.
Dead flat, slightly wet course with quite low winds.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/213735864" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Average watts lower than I hoped for (can push around 300 on a road bike for the same time), but I attribute this to the TT position, it might be my hip angle is too closed as I tried a new lower position recently.

Had a TT 2 months earlier in the same course (with more sidewinds and "old" - higher TT position), the speed and HR were basically similar as today.

What's more interesting - power is similar to Juanmoretime's previous post, however, speed is 2.5 km/h slower :|

Edit: putting into Chung model, it solved for CdA of 0.278
Minimum bike categories required in the stable:
Aero bike | GC bike | GC rim bike | Climbing bike | Climbing rim bike | Classics bike | Gravel bike | TT bike | Indoors bike

mrlobber
Posts: 1928
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2010 9:36 am
Location: Where the permanent autumn is

by mrlobber

Oh sorry. Missed the small closed key button. Now it should be shared.
Minimum bike categories required in the stable:
Aero bike | GC bike | GC rim bike | Climbing bike | Climbing rim bike | Classics bike | Gravel bike | TT bike | Indoors bike

by Weenie


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