You Power Profile

Meek One

Or any US National Team member...

I used to believe some of the stuff I read on this forum, but now that every Cat 4 or 5 puts down 20+watts per kilo on their sprints is just ridiculous. America sucks at track sprinting on a world level because all of our country's top 200M sprinters are Cat 4 roadies with no desire to be famous World Cup Champions but are content to be just local training ride pack animals.

Short Tirade over.

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-Meek
"Some people train to look pretty. I just train so I can be the strongest man there is. And then again, I'm already pretty." -Magnus Samuelsson

acoggan

Guys like Hushovd and Boonen don't win sprints as a result of having a really high 5 s power.

BullGod

would you not agree though that top sprinters have very high top end 5 sec power, and that the reason non sprinters can't beat them is that they have lower power over such a short duration?

whoawhoa

What kind of 100 meter times do you think top marathon runners can do?

acoggan

Compared to, say, a GC rider, sure. Compared to, say, a match sprinter (or many a high school football player), not really.



1. Sprints are almost always longer than 5 s.

2. You can sprint to a win in a flat stage of something like the Tour de France while producing a peak power of only ~15 W/kg. To do so, though, you first have to ride >200 km and generate >8 W/kg for at least a minute just to be in position to unleash your "massive" kick.

sabrops

I know someone who rode with Thor Hushovd at the Tour of California and Thor, who had just started using an SRM this past offseason, told him that he maxed out in the 1500-1600 watt range in the sprint. So he was probably in about the 19-20 w/k range for 5 seconds. But, as acoggan pointed out, the trick is that he is there at the end of the race in position to sprint. My powertap says I can do 1300 watts for 5 seconds @71 kg (1355 max) but I am usually pretty cooked by the end of a crit from all the accelerations during the race and unable to even contest the sprint. Guys with much lower 5 second maxs than me are easily able to beat me.

Oh and fwiw
5 second: 1299
1 minute: 580
5 minutes: 370
60 minutes: 291 (this was on Mt. Diablo but it came 2 hours into the ride) I've done 330 for 30 minutes in a race so I suspect that I could do higher for an hour.

BullGod

this makes a great deal of sense.....thanks.

HammerHead

ditto

I've ridden casual rides with a local div3 pro, and I can usually take him in a sprint while goofing around. As he rides with a PT as well, I also know I have a higher 5sec power (when fresh).

I've ridden with the same guy in a small group ride where we are really going at it. Never beat him in the sprint. Never been next to him in the sprint. Never stayed on his wheel long enough to even consider the sprint.....

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