Real race data!
Just did my first crit with a PowerTap (SL) and my C'dale six13. What a sweet ride! I've been intentionally not riding it just so I could feel the exaggerated difference between it and my other bike. The Campy carbon cranks couple with the bottom bracket for a very stiff and responsive ride, yet it is still a very smooth ride and corners like a champ.
But on to the power stuff as this is the power forum...
For the background, this was the 1st Crit of the year here in SoCal. I'm a Cat IV, and I took 5th in the race, which is the best result I've had on this course, and is good enough to get a couple upgrade points. I did what I wanted in a sense as I tried a breakaway, the goal being to try something to disrupt the race, and avoid just sitting in and sprinting. Had some teammates in the race, but no help in the break or blocking. I highlighted this attempt in the graphic. Interesting that the pack did speed up to catch me, so I probably softened the field up a bit with my effort. Notice the short burst at the end of around 800w to get back on a wheel towards the front of the field.
Sprint-wise, if you look at the power data, you can see where I had to let up significantly to get around a guy that killed my momentum. I was still gaining speed at the line, and needed another 25-50 yards to really get my spin and power going. I was passing people quickly after I got it going some, but my cadence at the line was only 103, and should be more around 120-140. I still have some experimenting to do with this.
To date, I've done very little intensity (some L5, very little L6), so there is some big upside here when I start doing the shorter, more intense interval stuff. Of course, that's probably the same story for many of the riders there, so it'll be interesting to watch as the season progresses. I wasn't expecting great things as I did a lot of climbing yesterday (7,000') in final prep for a tough RR next weekend. For yesterday, I more or less did a 2 x 40 in Andy's "sweet spot" (260ish watts for me), and then on the steeper stuff just did MuscleTension at 45-50 RPMs at around 200w. Despite the occasional temptation, I didn't ever go over 300w for more than a few seconds, and I felt great to race today, although it was a pretty short crit (35 minutes). Funny to look at the relatively smooth power files from yesterday and from my warm-up and warm-down today compared to the stochastic power file from the race.
Beyond the numbers, I do feel my race experience played a big part in my top 5 finish. I was shooting gaps and passing in corners - things that I would not have done in my early races, and was really paying attention to where I was in the pack, what was going on in the race around me, mostly always staying in the top 20% of the field of 70-80 racers. In the last lap, I shot a narrow gap to gain some position and bumped a guy who mumbled something as I muscled past him, but that was about the extent of the contact for me today. No wrecks in our race, which is a pleasant surprise.
I am excited and wanted to share, hope you all enjoy!
Here's the file if you'd like a look...
http://tinyurl.com/bhqkh
I welcome any feedback or questions.
Cheers,
Ethan
Just did my first crit with a PowerTap (SL) and my C'dale six13. What a sweet ride! I've been intentionally not riding it just so I could feel the exaggerated difference between it and my other bike. The Campy carbon cranks couple with the bottom bracket for a very stiff and responsive ride, yet it is still a very smooth ride and corners like a champ.
But on to the power stuff as this is the power forum...
For the background, this was the 1st Crit of the year here in SoCal. I'm a Cat IV, and I took 5th in the race, which is the best result I've had on this course, and is good enough to get a couple upgrade points. I did what I wanted in a sense as I tried a breakaway, the goal being to try something to disrupt the race, and avoid just sitting in and sprinting. Had some teammates in the race, but no help in the break or blocking. I highlighted this attempt in the graphic. Interesting that the pack did speed up to catch me, so I probably softened the field up a bit with my effort. Notice the short burst at the end of around 800w to get back on a wheel towards the front of the field.
Sprint-wise, if you look at the power data, you can see where I had to let up significantly to get around a guy that killed my momentum. I was still gaining speed at the line, and needed another 25-50 yards to really get my spin and power going. I was passing people quickly after I got it going some, but my cadence at the line was only 103, and should be more around 120-140. I still have some experimenting to do with this.
To date, I've done very little intensity (some L5, very little L6), so there is some big upside here when I start doing the shorter, more intense interval stuff. Of course, that's probably the same story for many of the riders there, so it'll be interesting to watch as the season progresses. I wasn't expecting great things as I did a lot of climbing yesterday (7,000') in final prep for a tough RR next weekend. For yesterday, I more or less did a 2 x 40 in Andy's "sweet spot" (260ish watts for me), and then on the steeper stuff just did MuscleTension at 45-50 RPMs at around 200w. Despite the occasional temptation, I didn't ever go over 300w for more than a few seconds, and I felt great to race today, although it was a pretty short crit (35 minutes). Funny to look at the relatively smooth power files from yesterday and from my warm-up and warm-down today compared to the stochastic power file from the race.
Beyond the numbers, I do feel my race experience played a big part in my top 5 finish. I was shooting gaps and passing in corners - things that I would not have done in my early races, and was really paying attention to where I was in the pack, what was going on in the race around me, mostly always staying in the top 20% of the field of 70-80 racers. In the last lap, I shot a narrow gap to gain some position and bumped a guy who mumbled something as I muscled past him, but that was about the extent of the contact for me today. No wrecks in our race, which is a pleasant surprise.
I am excited and wanted to share, hope you all enjoy!
Here's the file if you'd like a look...
http://tinyurl.com/bhqkh
I welcome any feedback or questions.
Cheers,
Ethan