Originally Posted by
queerpunk
you know, a bunch of years ago, when i was starting to travel around and race on the national circuit, i said to my old track director, "Hey - what kind of a flying 200 should an enduro like me be capable of?"
he responded, "twelve oh is good. eleven five is better."
anyway, the answer is "it depends" because brawlo can pop off 2500 watts on a kickr and has a 11.8 PR, and my best is right around there but I barely cracked 1100w during that effort.
besides... eleven five is better.
Because as a friend put it to me, I'm like a piano with a parachute. As a 6'5" rig that sees aero as some fairytale story, that "2500" watts still won't get me terribly fast. That is a peaky short accel whereas what gets you your time is sustained speed for the full effort. That is where bigger gears are coming into play. Small gears are great for accelerations, but the truth is that there are only a very small handful of gifted individuals that are able to churn out power for any meaningful distance/time with them. Most mere mortals get far better results from larger gears with lower peak power but for longer durations.
Power is intensely personal. You can likely talk ballpark figures for a comparison, but the figures that a 60kg whippet in full aero kit are going to be wildly different from someone that is 6'5" on spoked box rims and wearing non-aero club kit