Poll: What's your Functional Threshold power?

PSUcycling

nice!

also, i would like to reiterate a point that has been made before. Although my numbers are not that impressive, it looks like on paper that I would be a decent climber, and a mediocure Criter/RR. But what those numbers don't tell you is repeatability. I'm never the strongest guy in the race, let alone on the team, but after 4 hours of racing, i can place high in a RR, and especially in a crit that requires LOTS of hard accelerations. My favorite is the last crit of a 3 or 4 stage SR. The question could/should be what is your 60sec CP after 150miles of racing during a crit in the heat? Lots of variables...

acoggan

Actually, they do, at least in the sense that not only your endurance but your "repeatability" is directly linked to your muscle respiratory capacity, and hence your functional threshold power. Couple that with decent neuromuscular power (which I assume you have), and you're naturally going to be good at "worrying people to death" over the long haul. That's certainly always been the tactic that has gotten me the best results (a friend of mine once termed this the "scorched earth approach to racing").

PSUcycling

maybe i'm missing something...

i guess i see your point but i'm only getting the loose connection.

for example:

my teammate is a state TT champ, now a cat 2 38years old 180lbs and on most days can ride me OFF of his wheel. All of his CP tests are higher, in actual and close in p/wieght. This guy can flat out ride. and sprint.

At the end of long crits he doesn't quite have the snap to come around me. Now this is definately not the case on the 'wednesday night world cup' rides and in jumps, or even shorter TTT's.

how do you explain this? I really do not believe it is a mental barrier on his part, he can suffer.

beerco

I know you didn't ask me, but I'll answer anyway. I'll bet he spends too much time with his nose in the wind (or brakes too hard for corners in crits) during the race to be effective when it counts. You could verify this with powermeter files comparing you to him during the same crit.

Being naturally weak myself, I've learned to suck wheel very well and have managed to beat quite a few folk who are much stronger than me

PSUcycling

see thats the point, he doesn't do that. He is a very savy racer, i mean he's been a cat 2 for a year. You can't get there by making cat 5 mistakes.

..even if that was the case. Surly we can use my question hypothetically, and say assuming all else being equal, why would he not be able to repeat as well, also assuming his CP's are the same.

acoggan

Not enough carbohydrate in his diet?

PSUcycling

very good point, i don't think he has the best diet.

mises

Another factor is what is being used for fuel. I suspect he's burning a lower % of fat for a given effort than you are so as time goes by he runs out of gas.

Ferrari uses a tank vs engine analogy in explaining better endurance. Your teammate has a great engine but no gas tank, you relatively the opposite.

Ferrari, and I guess he should know, also implies that doping can do a lot for the engine but the gas tank is almost impossible to improve that way, so shorter stage races and stages are in effect encouraging rather than discouraging doping. As a person with a great tank and no engine I wish all race organizers would take his advice. Maybe a 160km and 2 mountain pass minimum. :-)

acoggan

Only if 1) his functional threshold power is really lower than PSUcycling's, rather than the same as assumed, or 2) he habitually eats a diet lower in fat (but in that case you'd expect him to fatigue later, not sooner).

beerco

Well, actually you can't really tell without a power file. I suspect that riders who are naturally strong never really learn to ride with the fear of being dropped because they're never really in over their heads. Just like climbers never learn to descend.

A good friend and I often race in the same training series. His FT was around 300w@73kg mine was 250@75kg. In the same races, his NP was consistently 20 to 30w higher than mine. He raced more aggressively because he had more power on hand. At the end of the day we were both really pack fill (bi weekly cat 12345 50mile crit).

frenchyge

I agree with Beerco. If he's a strong TT-er, and also a savvy racer, then it certainly seems unlikely that he'd spend as much of the race sucking wheel as a strong sprinter. Wouldn't the preferred tactic for a rider of that type to aggressively try to get into breaks?

joemw

FTP ~ 380ish
Weight ~ 68kgs
Age ~ 26
Best Recent Result ~ A Win
Years Racing ~ 1 (5 races as a 5, 1 as a 4)

fergie

To compare within the age group...\

FTP: 320watts
Age: 15
Mass: 64kg
Best races: No 1 ranked U17 in Region
Years in Sport: 2

FTP: 245watts
Age: 15 (rider aboves twin brother)
Mass: 63.5kg
Best races: No 2 ranked U17 in Region
Years in Sport: 2

FTP: 200watts
Age: 16
Mass: 56kg (156cm tall)
Best races: Top 3 rank in NZ U17 pursuit and top 10 in Road
Years in Sport: 6
Note rider: rider tested after a bad NZ winter full of flu's and was overtrained with far too much interval training before I took over his coaching.

FTP: 225watts
Age: 14 Female
Mass: 58kg
Best races: 2nd Nats U15 TT, 3rd Nats U15 RR, 2nd Nats U17 IP.
Years in Sport 2

FTP: 240watts
Age: 14
Mass: 56kg
Best Races: 10th Nats U15 TT
Years in Sport: 1

At the other end of the spectrum from 1995...

FTP: 475watts
Age: 19
Mass: 69.3kg
Years in Sport: 5
Note: has medalled at World Track Champs for the last three years inc Gold in 2004. Prep 3 days out from World Pro Road Race last year was 3 X 20 LF training doing each 20min effort at 400 watts.

FTP: 470watts
Age: 20
Mass 73.5 kg
Years in Sport: 5
Note: Now a Euro based on Pro on Cat 1 team working as lead out for TdF stage winner and has won several minor Pro races and two top ten finishes in World Pro Road Race.

And back to reality

FTP: 215watts
Age 34 (me)
Mass: 96kg
Years in Sport: 21 (back to cycling in May 2005 after 5 year break)
Best races: Former Regional Champ and Rep, World Ranked in Sport Aerobics and now can't finish Cat 5 races.

FTP: 245watts
Age: 45
Mass: 75kg (Father of twins above)
Years in Sport: 2
Best races: Top Cat 5 rider in Canterbury in recent series

FTP: 350watts
Age: 33
Mass: 66kg
Years in Sport: 20
Best races: NZ rep in Oceania Level Events, Raced minor Pro-Amatuer events in Europe, NZ Age Group Duathlon Champ (30-34 age group)

FYI

Hamish Ferguson
Cycling Coach

fergie

Hmmm, perhaps you do need those intervals. My gun U17 rider had an ave power of 345 for a 5 min test. This was his first test where his FTP was only 290 (now 320 after going through the whole programme, was tested at start of training and then a week after Road Nationals). We didn't do a 5min test during the second testing session.

That being said he is now out doing 4 hour rides twice a week during our Summer and his School Holidays. Can't wait to do his next testing session. But these numbers are nothing compared to his attitude to racing!

Hamish Ferguson
Cycling Coach