what is considered a good FTP
- Thread starter Luke Davison
- Start date
Good point. In higher categories guys (and gals) have really honed in on what they need to do to be successful. If that FTP isn't high enough to stick a break or ride away on a longer climb, then energy conservation becomes that much more important so that when the opportunity comes they can utilize the strengths they do have.
The dynamics of bike racing are such that it can be very easy to be one of the strongest riders in the field yet not even sniff the top 10. That's one of the more exciting things to teach newer riders, too. Holding tight to those matches and reading the race to figure out when to light the blue touch paper is just as much a skill that one needs to be cognizant of as the ability to sprint or climb or solo away.
So what team for this season or just unattached? My issue is taking a 90 @ damn near 40mph and still having to close a gap. Do this enough and you run out of gas quickly. I tail gunned the last half of ElkGrove last year and afterwards a pretty successful guy commented on how strong I was to repeatedly close the gaps I was creating with a heavy ill timed brake hand. Didn't do much for my confidence after a less than desirable result. Figure I am going to spend this season on the MTB and see if that may help my confidence a bit, maybe return to the road next season. Or who knows, maybe endurance MTB is my thing and I will stick with that.
Just a team.
I don't know, I don't think it'd be that big of a downer to hear that. I think that learning how to corner efficiently is a lot easier than training to get to such a level of fitness that you can still stick in there regardless. But everyone's a bit different. .
Yeah definitely not too down overall, I had some ok results last season when I managed to stay off the pavement (mostly not my doing) or not bust my bike. The crashes mess things up between the ears. The MTB is by no means me bailing because I am disappointed, more just giving this a bit more focus to see where things go. I had lots of high expectations, so I put undue pressure on myself (some fueled by stupid charts like the one posted previous). I will be racing at a high level on the MTB, but a bit more open to collecting results as they come, so it may go good places.
Where are you guys based?Originally Posted by needmoreair
Just a team.
I don't know, I don't think it'd be that big of a downer to hear that. I think that learning how to corner efficiently is a lot easier than training to get to such a level of fitness that you can still stick in there regardless. But everyone's a bit different. .
I'm not in a team, too old now, but still racing A grade and mixing it with Michael Hepburn, Sam Volkers, Jack Anderson etc, each week at our local crit. Muz, in Brisbane.
Paul
Six to eight weeks of 5, 2, 1 and 30 second intervals with minimal rest inbetween each and you'll be smashing that Cnut into the pavement. You are what you train for to a certain extent. If you have a big engine and good FTP then pulling up the power in the shorter efforts is just a matter of 6ish weeks of specific training away. See Andy Coggans pursuit training PowerPoint for a similar yet different example...bgoetz said:
Reading what is written and responding accordingly with respect:
Why is it absurd to expect a 10% increase in power from a person who focuses predominantly on body building with cycling as a second priority? Why is it absurd if he focuses on cycling as a first priority and at least pushes his cadence from the mid 60's to above 80 over a 6 month training period? Why is it absurd not to expect more than a 10% FTP improvement?
I'm listening and eager to learn?
To add to the above, 10% is not much. You can expect a 10% increase in power with doing nothing other than comparing Powertap readings with exactly the same effort, riding one day at 32F and the next at 80F due to the type of strain gauge they use. SRM is a little better, probably 8%. No matter how often you calibrate these units, the drift remains. We can go into exact factual details here if you want?
Try and reply rather than being insulting to divert the discussion and avoiding the subject matter.
I am not one to take sides, but this is just totally wrong, I have no idea where you got that information. If powermeters varied 10% with temperature they would be totally worthless. On top of this, most guys like myself would certainly take note of the 10% variation. I have NEVER gone out on a day and "said holy ****, I can pump out 10% more today"! I would notice a 4-5% fluctuation, and have not ever taken note of that. On the flip side I assume if you are going to make these claims, you will have no problem linking your supporting documentation.WillemJM said:
If I did not understand power meters, strain gauges etc., I probably would have been fired from my real job.
The Powertap guys are pretty honest, so the link is actually on their site.
http://www.powertap.com/blogs/train/8266769-accuracy-of-srm-and-powertap-power-monitoring-systems-for-bicycling
Us older riders have developed perceived effort over the years, i notice it immediately. This was the reason i did a bit of research, I noticed good days and bad days. Here in the South we can have winter the one day and summer the next.
In industry, we use expensive instrumentation, as we will never get away with that type of accuracy.
Finally, while it is important to test once or twice a month, this is best done on an expensive indoor trainer with a power-meter under exactly the same conditions and power load settings. Most of my road riding is done with only my Iphone in my back pocket, I hate riding with computers.
Welcome to the Power and HR gizmo hype, it generates lots of money, and while there is a good place for it, it certainly is not the end all and be all.
Wow, you are in fact a delusional idiot. Making assumptions of how you and my cycling abilities compare and how much time I have on a bike, by making unnecessary comments like "us older guys have developed perceived effort" is not a good way to have any type of conversation and is likely the source of your frustration with the lack of others willingness to listen to your googily garble. That link provided nothing more than a abstract. If stain gauges are effected by temp, which they might very well be, I can assure you there is something is the software spitting the final # out that takes this into account. If not I am going to create on with that simple adjustment to the software and become the new standard. Now give AOG a call and go on one of his 300TSS rides, dropping tour pros, you two are of the same mold.
Now I'm lost. First, I thought you were arguing that Felt could increase his FTP by 10% by increasing his cadence, a claim that I don't agree with anyway. Now, you are arguing that he will increase his FTP by 10% not due to increasing his cadence but due to power measurement error???
What is so hard to understand?
Powertap reads 8% higher from 8C to 20C as tested from a link posted on the Powertap site?
So lets do it the American way. at 46.4F to 68F your powertap will read 8% higher.
So, without going into interpolation i did a rough estimate and stated from 32F to 80F it would read 10% higher. In fact it is a bit more, surely you do not want me to do the math? Why does that ruffle your feathers? Same question to BGoetz.
You guys crack me up and I would much rather be called a delusional idiot than not understanding the above.
From Quarqs website: "Quarq power meters are highly engineered and feature multiple temperature compensation systems. From the intrinsically balanced strain gauge arrangement to clever measurement circuit design, temperature effects are isolated and eliminated at every step in the system." Pretty sure all others are the same. DC rainmaker has noted drift, but nothing that isn't corrected by re zeroing. Your annoying and are not even a good troll, at least AOG was slightly entertaining, I just feel sorry for you...
Did you read the article?
Here is the link again, second last sentence, fourth paragraph.
http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2004&issue=07000&article=00025&type=abstract
No, zero will not help for Powertap, or SRM.
I'm not aware of any tests from Quarq, if their advertising is correct then perhaps they are not affected by temperature? There are ways to build these, it costs a bit more money. I would test before I believe them.
With the former two, it is not a big deal, as long as you know about it and you compensate for it.
About the troll part, oh well there is no ego here so have at it. Some folks don't like to be wrong I guess and don't render your power meter useless as per your previous post.
You do realize that article is 10 years old right? DC rainmaker does some of the most complete reviews and comparisons on power meters that were created in THIS decade. Give his stuff a read, it has been discussed many times. Now go back to making widgets or whatever it is you do, your annoying me and are officially being blocked from posts I can see
Similar threads
