RacerJRP

I was away last week, and did my riding on a borrowed bike with no PM. I did 5 rides for a total of 11 hours and 10k ft of climbing but obviously my training peaks software thinks I sat on the couch. is there anyway to adjust the software, or.....Not sure what or if there is anything to do...TSB is way up at 23.

ericm979

I think there's a way to do manual entry in TP. You'll have to estimate TSS. Using your recent average TSS/hour works ok.

heckler

Ok, my 2 weeks are just about up on WKO. I figure I will purchase since it seems to be what everyone else uses, and has a lot of neat metrics. I am trying to read through this thread when I have time and it seems that a fair amount of identification goes into the power distribution chart and mean maximal power chart. I just read through you orignal guys showing them off in 2008 and 2009, and wanted to know if mine appeared normal. These should include 1 race, 3 group rides, 1 trainer ride, and about 3 solo rides trying to get some good numbers. Is this something that you normally look at after more than 2 weeks? I assume yes, but it is all I have so far.

In the distirbution (which I took out the zeros) people seem to keep mentioning a "big drop" how big is big? where would mine indicate?

SpongeDad

Answer is - export as powertap file, which opens as an Exel file.

Also, fyi, Quarq has now released the Qalvin app for all you at home chainring calibraters out there.

https://www.quarq.com/qalvin

Discussion thread:
https://www.quarq.com/forum/thread/117/

ericm979

Golden Cheetah does pretty much the same thing. Some features are better than WKO, some are not. But its fre and runs native on Mac and Linux (and windows).

You should read Coggan and Allen's book to see what the mean max chart means.

currand

I assume you're trying to find your FTP from the distribution chart? If so, I would say you don't have enough data. Or, possibly, you have too much. Meaning that you've lumped in several rides of differing intensities as opposed to analyzing several similar efforts (like races and hard group rides). If I were to hazard a guess, though, I'd say the second set of peaks (in the 265W area?) would be your threshold. My guess is your endurance paced riding is creating the other peak to the left.

Make it easy on yourself though. Take a couple easy days, go out and do a 20 minute test. Wait a couple days then do some sprints, a 1-minute, then a 5-minute. Bada boom, bada bing. e-wang chart complete.

SalsaPodio

What kind of rider do you think I am (sprinter, TT, pursuit)? I'm interested in hearing peoples opinions. I'm anywhere between 68 and 70 kg, more so towards 70 at the moment.

shovelhd

I would say that you are not a sprinter.

echappist

Do you outclimb the sprinteurs (with your 450W 5' peak) and outsprint the grimpeurs (with your 1250W 5")? If so, i'd say a punchy classics specialist in the mold of Gilbert or Voeckler.

SalsaPodio

Climbs in Iowa . The nastiest climbs in crits are Snake Alley and Melon City, which are pretty much 1' power climbs. Ken Woods in MN has the closest thing to a real climb I've ever had to do.

I guess I'm still trying to figure out what works for me. I've won sprints, won on a 4 mile solo break, won on a kilo attack. Now that I'm doing 1/2s races I feel like I won't be able to get away with that kind of stuff.

shovelhd

Says who?

wens

Ordered the book off amazon last night. Guess it's time to figure out whether I'm getting a pm or not in the nearish future.

Smallguy

read the thread reading the book but have a few questions

I currently have a threaded bb (giant ocr 1) but I plan to buy a cervelo R3 come the spring

- would you buy a quarq now and send it back to be converted to a bb30 ?

- wait till a get a new bike and give up a few months of power data and training?

- has anyone used a bbright to standard crank adapter ? did it affect your numbers?

chumanshow

i'm also 68-70kg and i thought my 10sec of 950W average power is good.
you guys wattage makes me look like a amaturer!

Creatre

Where do you guys do FTP tests in normal places around the US? Find a stretch of highway somewhere with no lights or stop signs? I don't want to know any places specifically (unless you live in upstate SC), but just placements so I can try to find a place similar here.

I just moved from a place where I had a convenient 22-25 minute climb out my backdoor to a place where there are rollers everywhere, and stop signs and lights every 5 minutes. My power usually sucks in rollers, so my FTP will probably drop, but might as well create a new baseline here.

aham23

inside on a trainer. same set up and procedure each time. like you mentioned it is too difficult in my neck of the woods to find a perfect stretch of road for repeatable FTP testing. later.

Creatre

I would prefer the trainer, but it doesn't transfer over equally. Plus, my trainer only lets me hit 200w before there is no more resistance and I spin out. Maybe an excuse for a new one? :/

waterrockets 

For a 20' test, look for a master planned community neighborhood with bike lanes. If you get lucky, you can plot a ~3+ mile course with only right turns, and hopefully just stop signs. I roll into them with my brakes on and pedaling at normal cadence, shifting as needed. I can get down to a California roll style stop (1mph) without dropping power.

One key is to remember that you can slow down without dropping power.

Regarding an "FTP test," that's a whole different discussion. My favorites are the 3' all-out test, and a MAP test (which really just sets zones, not FTP, but it's super reliable, can detect fitness changes easily, and is done on a trainer).

mkadam68

On my regular Saturday training ride, we have pretty much one climb: 0.2 miles at about 6-7%. Me being a large ol' clydesdale, I'm not the fastest one up, although I can stay in contact with the lead group and finish with them a couple miles later. I just did a good climb today. Stayed seated for about 2/3rds up, then I stood for the rest of the way.

In looking at the power data, I noticed I start off strong, but over the course of the climb, everything just slowly slows down: power, cadence, speed (not HR. That goes up!). Here's the power graph from that portion of the ride (climb is the spike in the red power line):



Question: how to train so that the power remains constant? Is it just a matter of shifting gears? As is, I stayed in the same gear to the top (53x19 or 21, I believe). Should I do hill climb intervals where I ride easy at the beginning, then attack the hill halfway up? Some other idea?

waterrockets 

Well, first off, do you mean a 2.0 mile climb?

You need to work on pacing or htfu.

Pacing:I'm not sure what the two dotted lines are (LTHR and FTP?). At any rate, highlight the climb and look at the average power. Next time you do that hill, set that as a target. This will feel easy at the bottom, but should "get real" sometime in the middle. If you have any left at the top, then jump a bit.

htfu:If the goal is to hang with the group, as you would want to in a race (or at least w/in striking distance on the descent), then there's not much pacing you can do. You have to weather the accelerations and pace variation. Maybe take some risks by letting small gaps open on the chance that they will come back a bit later.

mkadam68

Thanks, no. It's only a quarter-mile long. The climb is basically between the spike in the red line (power). Dotted lines are just a straight-edge at 500 & 1,000 watts.

I'll look for a way to find avg power for just the climb. I'm not over sure what the goal is either. Just when I looked at it, I thought the power shouldn't decline like it did. I'd like to train so that I can sustain the initial power over the course of the climb, thinking I'd getter better results. Of course, in order to sustain it, I'd probably have to decrease the power output anyway. Am I incorrect in this assumption?

SpongeDad

Look for some old forts that have been turned into parks. Sometimes you can find one with a reasonably flat perimeter road / loop. Along a river is another good place - 4 to 5 miles one way and then do a turn around.

waterrockets 

Initially, you'll have to back off to a power you can sustain. Then you can train to increase that power -- many different paths to this result.

Creatre

Thanks, this actually reminded me of a facility local that has bike lanes and very little traffic that I should be able to do a few loops of for a 20 minute test.

Just practice. Find the climb, and try a few different ways of getting up and see which works best. I was able to win a hill climb TT in May, not because I had the highest FTP or was the best climber of the group, but because I paced myself the best. Obviously this is much shorter, so results will vary!

VT Biker

[IMG][/IMG]

Kind of new to power training, and not quite sure how to interpret power profiles, especially the Mean Maximal slope. Any guidance as what this chart indicates (i.e. - strengths/weaknesses)?

The drop from my 1" and 5" power to my 1 minute power seems steep compared to others I have seen, and so now sure what this means in terms of my build as a rider? Also - not sure whether my 5' should be higher compared to my 20' all things being equal (trying to determine my weaknesses)

Sorry for the small font. Not sure the easiest way to export/copy that chart from WKO+ into a format for posting on this site.