Originally Posted by
rubiksoval
Because the chart really doesn't mean anything. The original didn't have race categories attributed to it, that was just added on later as marketing gibberish.
It has nothing to do with actual racing. You could have someone with 20 min power in the "Cat 4" bracket that wins p/1/2 races simply because they know how to race and have an awesome sprint. Conversely, you can have cat 1s with 5s power in the "Cat 4" bracket because they aren't sprinters. Just doesn't matter, and no one is great at everything.
The only way to compare yourself to other bike racers is in a race. Charts are not races, power outputs are not races, training rides are not races. Even zwift is not comparable to a real race.
Exactly.
And while w/kg at FTP is important on long climbs. Power to surface ratio is more important on the flats, and 10 second (sprinting) and 1 minute power are more important in other aspects of racing.
So for me, I can time trial at a pretty decent level, ocassionally win sprints, and do ok on courses with short punchy hills. But I couldn't win a Cat 5 race with long sustained climbs.
There's more to bike racing than just FTP w/kg.