Raigoki

I just wondering how do you increase your average power output?
Been riding my bike since august 2014 (average 99w) to now (average 142w). I've heard that recreational cyclist have 200w an hour or 2. Is it possible to increase your power output quickly? For a weekend rider? How would you do it?

chaadster

It's not clear to me what you're asking about. It sounds like your citing average power over the course of rides, but I think that's not directly speakimg to what your really concerned about, namely increasing your ability to produce power.

Ride power averages are extremely variable, depending on terrain, traffic, and other factors, but ultimately gets down to how hard you ride. Are those numbers representative of maximal efforts over the course of the ride?

If yes, then you want to increase your ability to produce and sustain power. That's a matter of training, and measured by functional threshold power. You should probably start there by Googling for FTP; lots of info and plans for increasing it out there. Check out "sweet spot training", too.

no sweat

By riding more than just weekends.

bgav

Structured training is the best way. Quality over quantity but you'll still need to put in the work to get results. Good reading:

Three Ways to Improve Functional Threshold Power | TrainingPeaks

Free Ebook: How To Start Training With Power | TrainingPeaks

Raigoki

Sorry, i'm quite new in reading these data. I just noticed it in my strava about this average power (See pic above). then researched about the average power a recreational cyclist can produce/maintain in an hour or 2. so i can compare. Turns out, the average was 200...
I'll try to research about FTP. (but i don't have a power meter, only my suunto watch). I just rely on my movescount to strava connection for these power readings.

Igualmente

Power output depends a lot on the weight of the cyclist., so what you might want to measure yourself by is watts per kilogram. If you look at the following link, you will see a chart suggesting that an untrained cyclist might be in the 1.9 to 2.5 watts per kilogram range for an hour or so: Just How Good Are These Guys? | CyclingTips.

As for how to increase power, see the answers above.

gregf83 

I wouldn't bother trying to draw any conclusions by looking at Strava estimated power over the course of a ride. It is not very accurate and will change depending on wind and your riding position, type of bike etc.

If you don't have a powermeter and want to estimate your power, your best bet is to time yourself on hills of varying lengths. For example, find a hill that takes 3-5 min to climb and time yourself going all out on the hill. Using your weight (total including the bike) and an on line power calculator you can get a reasonable estimate of your power over that time period. The steeper the hill the better, as wind will play a smaller role in the results.

chaadster

@Raigoki, it's very hard to work to, or from, the Strava estimated power number simply because it's just an estimate, and not an actual measurement of your power. The app has no direct data about your effort, and can only infer from speed, terrain, and the weight you gave in your profile, unless you're feeding it heart rate, but I'm not certain their algorithm even factors that in.

Anyway, the point is that if you want to see that Strava estimated power number climb, you just have to ride faster. While there are many ways to train to do that, using Strava's estimated power figure is really not the metric you want to use to compare your capabilities to others' in any case.

It's natural to want to do that, and looking at power, specifically watts per kilo as noted earlier, has given us the most accurate of the indirect ways (direct being racing/riding) to do that. However, you need a real power meter to do that.

I'd think that your standings in the leaderboards on Strava segments are more accurate indicators of how to stack up against the average rider than is any type of "average power."

LGHT

I use strava to measure my progress, but only in comparison to itself on the same route and segments.

It's a nice tool because it tracks "segments" and times which is great because if you ride the same route over and over and over you can go back and look at your just YOUR times for that specific segment or route. For example I have a hill I ride often for training purposes close to home. If I click on the segment and choose "my results" I can see back on Sept 29th my time was 16:46 at 8mph at 181 watts of power. I've done that segment several times over the months and again Saturday and my best time was 14:39 9.1 mph at 218 watts of power. So for that hill alone I can see I've gotten a full mph faster and dropped more than 2 minutes from my initial time for the 2.2 mile segment.

Although it may not be a completely real world accurate power rating when compared to itself I can see exactly how I've improved over the months. The only thing I can see a problem is if I'm heading a serious head wind on one ride and no wind on the other the numbers are going to be pretty off since I'm obviously putting down more power to get through the wind. However if there is no wind on both rides the power results shouldn't be too far off.

Drew Eckhardt 

Get a structured training plan and follow it. You'll need to ride more often (indoors or out, with night riding a great option due to less traffic and lower summer temperatures) to have enough endurance because that's pretty much your daily exponentially decaying weighted average from the last 6 weeks.

Riding 3x10 minute intervals at 100-105% of FTP quickly got me from 185W to 235W.

Initially once a week, then twice a week.

With enough easy days between I was fresh enough - initially mostly zone 2, then zone 3.

I also seem to need a rest week out of 4, and rest month out of 6.