Am I at elite level? Break down my data/ power data
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05-26-20, 11:50 PM
#77
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I weigh around 130-135 in race form. Most races around here are flatter so you’ll see big guys dominate. By big I mean 165-180lbs.
I’d say that chart is definitely a bit generous. I’ll agree with all the other posts that say power is not everything in a race. But in a super competitive field, you’d be surprised as to how much power it takes just to stay in the draft. I think there is a range of power curves that are viable in each category. They’re just way closer to each other than that chart suggests.
In fact, FTP and especially 5 minute power matter more in a crit than I think people realize. I can put out close to 1200W for 5s when I’m not dying and get a good leadout. But if you make me go over threshold constantly for 20-40 minutes and I have to go all out for the last 5 minutes to hang on, I’d be lucky to cross 900 for 1s. A big sprint is useless without fitness to match. So I wouldn’t worry too much about those sub 30s power numbers.
Last edited by smashndash; 05-27-20 at 12:07 AM.
05-27-20, 03:42 AM
#78
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Thanks. I'm a cat4 racer. I was planning on moving into cat 3 this season but races all god cancelled due to COVID-19.
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05-27-20, 12:21 PM
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Seems like you've got great power for an amateur cyclist. If you're racing Cat 4, I suspect you know what kind of power/weight most elite pros are running at. You aren't at that level, obviously, but you're doing really well!
05-27-20, 01:03 PM
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05-27-20, 02:53 PM
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I'm a cat 2 guy. Right now I'm telling one of them "you have to get that bird because we don't have any food for you." Lazy jerk took a nap instead.
05-27-20, 06:07 PM
#86
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Have you ever chased someone down because they looked like Lance?
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05-27-20, 06:17 PM
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I used to dial it up to 400 watts, but these days I’m way more into women on Cervelos in bikinis and flip
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You could fall off a cliff and die.
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OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
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05-28-20, 08:42 AM
#88
Jedi Master
Long distance cyclists tend to think about things in terms of distance over elapsed time which puts the OP just under 13.7 mph for a 72 ft/mile century with almost an hour off the bike. Most of the guys I ride with are in the 16-19 mph range for a century depending on hills and wind, with 5-10 minutes off the bike. These are just normal middle aged guys who would get dropped immediately in any cat 5 race. RAAM qualifying time for 72 ft./mile course is 360 miles in 24 hours or 15 mph. Christoph Strasser rode 3,020 miles at 16.4 mph when he set the RAAM record in 2014.
05-28-20, 09:50 AM
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If anyone wants to feel small, chase some fake riders on Zwift KOMs. Sometimes the KOM climbs that are longer than 5min for any "human" are done at like 9w/kg by riders with some kind of characters for their name I don't recognize as the greek alphabet.
05-28-20, 10:26 AM
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Long distance cyclists tend to think about things in terms of distance over elapsed time which puts the OP just under 13.7 mph for a 72 ft/mile century with almost an hour off the bike. Most of the guys I ride with are in the 16-19 mph range for a century depending on hills and wind, with 5-10 minutes off the bike. These are just normal middle aged guys who would get dropped immediately in any cat 5 race. RAAM qualifying time for 72 ft./mile course is 360 miles in 24 hours or 15 mph. Christoph Strasser rode 3,020 miles at 16.4 mph when he set the RAAM record in 2014.
miles.
05-28-20, 10:53 AM
#91
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Yes. That's why the range is 16-19 mph. Rough estimates, the pace tends to drop about 1% for every 5 feet/mile over 25. So most people will be about 15% slower on a course with 100 feet/mile than a course with <25 all else equal, so someone who can average ~19 on a flat course will likely drop to ~16 when there's 100 feet/mile.
05-28-20, 11:20 AM
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I wish I could average 16 mph on a hilly century! I was at 13.1 mph on my last one. I guess I’m not elite! Damn. Not that I’m typical of what road cyclists do, but I tend to focus more on power than speed. And I look at my segment times.
05-28-20, 11:38 AM
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Yes. That's why the range is 16-19 mph. Rough estimates, the pace tends to drop about 1% for every 5 feet/mile over 25. So most people will be about 15% slower on a course with 100 feet/mile than a course with <25 all else equal, so someone who can average ~19 on a flat course will likely drop to ~16 when there's 100 feet/mile.
IMHO, most fondos tend to be ideal average speed scenarios. You get breaks. The turns are marshalled as are stop signs and lights. Most route design is for easy descending without weird blind dead stop hairpins. In the flat parts you're nose breathing and chatting for long stretches doing 100w at 25+ mph as the peloton shrieks along. Lose a group? There's another.
Other posters talking about 1min and 5min power are correct. You won't get away on TT power at most flatter races around here, you'll get towed back. But, it's about being able to dig at 1min power after already doing threshold for a couple minutes or recovering and doing it several times. Except for hobbyists in TT, 20min power and longer doesn't really matter a lot in slower amateur racing. So long as you have a good enough "base" that when you're sitting in the group you're recovering and not still working.
Same for group rides. You need some more overall fitness if just sitting in the rotation is painful and you're not recovering.
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05-28-20, 05:42 PM
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Long distance cyclists tend to think about things in terms of distance over elapsed time which puts the OP just under 13.7 mph for a 72 ft/mile century with almost an hour off the bike. Most of the guys I ride with are in the 16-19 mph range for a century depending on hills and wind, with 5-10 minutes off the bike. These are just normal middle aged guys who would get dropped immediately in any cat 5 race. RAAM qualifying time for 72 ft./mile course is 360 miles in 24 hours or 15 mph. Christoph Strasser rode 3,020 miles at 16.4 mph when he set the RAAM record in 2014.
05-28-20, 05:43 PM
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05-28-20, 05:49 PM
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