Originally Posted by
DrIsotope
It's called "being a normal human being." Don't fixate on pros unless you want to develop a neurosis.
My 1 and 5 second power is so low I fall into the "untrained" category on those anxiety-inducing power charts.
What keeps me going some days is knowing that a buddy of mine had his girlfriend take an FTP test on Zwift. Her FTP was 81W.
Most days, best to just compare your effort today with your effort from yesterday. The only competition that matters, unless a number is pinned to your jersey.
I guess that's true. A few weeks ago I sold my old Surly to my normy, untrained, non-cycling friend. He's a healthy guy who hikes and eats right. He couldn't climb the first 500 ft hill without stopping. I think he was going 12 on the flat roads, maybe.
Still, I can't help but to wonder why I can only, for all my effort and trying, only do 1 percent the effort of someone like Colin. If I could at least hold the wheel of someone like him for 30 mins, that'd be ok. That'd be something. I could live with that. Or how about I compare myself to someone like Oliver Bridgewood from GCN. He is supposed to be the everyday, average guy on that show. He regularly posts 200w+ average on long rides on Strava.
I mean, I think I've gotta be capable of at least maintaining 200w average for an hour or two.