Originally Posted by
deacon mark
I don’t have power meter but for almost 58 years old strong cyclist. I run too but slow primarily a runner but better at cycling as i age.
So so today on relatively flat 43 mile course I average 17.8 mph. Wind was ok loops so fair as far as time with wind and into wind. Strava says I averaged 132 watts burned 720 calories. They use same calorie count as garmin connect which I upload to.
I know the calorie thing is off my guess is I am burning about 600 per hour was out 2:25. The watts seem off too and I think I am putting out more watts than that. Is there any way to estimate watts on a curve of some kind. For me this was not a huge effort but steady. I generally ride 17-19.5 mph on rides of 30-70 miles. I just don’t know enough about watts to say a thing. Running is easy to tell it is all speed.
One day I decided to do an experiment when there was a 10mph wind that was either a perfect headwind or tailwind depending on the direction I rode on one of my interval roads. I picked the same pace (20mph), same gear (53x16), same cadence (80 rpm), same position (hands on hoods) and compared the power output as measured by my Quarq: 309w headwind v. 158w tailwind.
https://www.bikeforums.net/19545151-post28.html
I also decided to compare my measured wattage against what Strava estimated. Measured power: 306w. Strava estimate 167w. (As you can guess, this was from one of the headwind sections).
https://www.bikeforums.net/19545157-post30.html
So, I would not call that close enough.