jblackmd

haha... good one!

genejockey 

My sister moved to Sarasota. Once after a ride I'd done with 2000 feet of climbing I told her that this would have left me 1700 feet above the highest point in Florida.

banerjek

This can be less straightforward than you might imagine.

Basic problem is that people who are any good often avoid riding near those without group skills -- effectively putting the cyclists who are hardest to ride with safely together. You can mitigate risk considerably by choosing partners with level heads -- neither overly confident nor fearful, good self awareness, and willing to take time to figure things out.

jblackmd

Pretty much!

WhyFi

Whoa. They have a bridge that's 300 feet above sea level?

genejockey 

Hey, don't laugh. My brother-in-law the speed skater practices in parking garages sometimes.

colnago62

I was doing some laps at the velodrome. One of my 15 minute intervals was 20mph on the nose. The average watts were 198 measured on an SRM Origin. I weigh 225lbs. I wonder if a fix gear is more efficient than a road bike when used on a velodrome?

Doge

I don't think so. The RD pulleys are not that significant, the rest is pretty close on a modern aero bike. Obviously the surface and tires can be lighter. I don't know how aero your wheels were, but yea, as I posted 265W should get you better than 19.8. OP said he had stops, but that should be reflected in average power and speed. Maybe the power came from the stationary trainer.

I've seen many improvements from position. More power is great too, but position tends to be low hanging fruit until it starts robing power. Even then, I'd venture to guess that our best ITT guys may not be doing the same power they would be doing in a more upright position. It is all a compromise which makes it more interesting. If your goal is going faster, it is likely you may not be doing the power you would if your goal was to do the most power. And if your goal is winning races (which is the wrong forum, and their aren't any) it may be neither of those.

Doge

I have always liked hub power because we can cross compare. Power measured at the pedals or cranks can measure the person well, but that is off what the hub sees. Of course there are hub bearings and wheels and tires too, but at least we take the chain, BB bearings (and pedal bearings and flex), crank flex and bike flex out of it.

burnthesheep

Is your power estimate from the Peloton or an outdoor meter?

Impressive if outdoor to start your first outdoor ride with a meter on the bike. Peloton? Mixed bag. We’ve had folks post 400w rides for 20min on a Peloton who couldn’t hang in an A group outdoors. Just saying I wouldn’t put it up against an Quarq or SRM.

Grab outdoor miles and entry level groups. It could spell disaster to jump into fast groups with great power but little riding experience.

Triathletes are notorious Zwift fanatics who can hold megawatts but can’t ride a TT bike for crap. I have half the power most those guys do but can beat lots of them on a more technical TT.

Rvair

I can maintain a half mph better on the track bike than the road bike at steady state with the same aero wheels, but the indoor wood track and 130 gm tubular tires inflated to 210 lb. may have something to do with that. I think at 190 lb on this bike in a good position on the drops would give me about 22 mph at 200W. My Felt TK1 track frame is more aero than my Cervelo S5 road bike with all the derailleurs, chainwheel, cassette, levers, brakes, etc. and weighs about 4 lb. less.

colnago62

The has to be some other reason. The difference couldn’t be that much from just how the power was measured. My bet is there was less wind at the velodrome then where you were riding.

Doge

I am not the OP. I expect 5-10W for meter. But I think the OP was on a trainer, so watt for watt, they may not be 100%. And his power was 265 W, It is very hard to tell our difference drag. My legs are hairy I assume if you're at the track your legs are shaved, then the kit, and position. My kid is 170, wide as a barn. I'm a wee above your weight and not so much wider than he is. Aero profile matters a bit at 20mph. A 26W at the pedals can do >22 if positioned well, and 25 on a tt bike.

colnago62

My track frame is basically a tt frame with drop bars. I was riding a 90mm in the rear a 50mm in the front there was probably less than 4mph wind. I ride 39mm bars. Much smoother riding surface than the road. All that stuff adds up, I guess.

Doge

I'd suggest the most significant part of that is your torso. You were doing 198W, OP said he was doing 265W (not clear if on trainer or on road and not clear how accurate that is). My point to the OP is that power is a lessor factor for gaining 2-3 mph if you are not already tuned for aero, mass and friction (30mm tires OP used are very unlikely to be the fastest).
If you don't think we are in agreement, let me know, but I think we are saying the same thing - 19.8 is slow for 265W and a lot can be done via bike and position.

stephr1

I'm not a road cyclist. I have an mtb, but I do ride mostly on the road. I'll still offer my more zen approach to this and hope it helps.

I bought my mtb after many years of not riding a bike (hurt myself playing competitive volleyball and needed some kind of exercise/activity).

So, my bike muscles were way out of condition (if they even still existed when I started riding (again). I began doing 6+ mi. a couple of times a week just to chk out my conditioning. Since I did not have any "standard" set for myself, over the first month or so I watched the mins./mile and total time for my ride. I continued that routine and at some point (maybe 6 months or so), I felt the 6+ mile ride was not enuf. So I upped it to ~8-1/2 3x a week. I then did that for a number of months and eventually moved it to abt 12 mi. And that is where I am now.

I have been doing the 12 miles for quite some time mainly because it takes me just about an hour to do, and I do that right when the sun comes up (cool, fresh morning air, minimal traffic and people, etc.). Before the pandemic came around, I was extending my 12 mile ride to 30+ miles ride in the middle of the week, and hope to get back that after this virus gets under control (and I'm brave enuf to again use the 12 or so miles of mut/mup again).

So, here's the zen part....I have just gone with the flow for me. As I've felt stronger from my riding, I increased my distance. Once I've increased my distance, I then try to increase my speed (as much as one can on a mtb When I have an "off" day, I don't spend much time worrying about it. I look at my overall performance over a period of time and, as I see my mins./miles improve, then I know I'm doing good for me. At some point, I may feel good enuf to bum up my distance again. I won't spend any energy thinking about that. If/when it happens, I'll deal with it then.

Don't know if this was specific enuf for you, or if you are training for some serious cycling and need some competitive insight. However, zen can be applied in many different ways.

Cheers....

scuzzo

oops