Do you cheat?

[bbrauer]

No, not dope. When you're performing your max tests do you get out of the saddle? What's the consensus on this? 5 sec max is a no-brainer, but I also stand either intermittantly or throughout the duration of my 1/5/20 min max tests. For example, my 1 min test course is a steady gradual hill where I'm completely out of the saddle. On my 5 min, similar technique and grade, though I usually start in the saddle and finish up standing. Even my 20 min is performed on a long steady climb, and the last minute I'm out of the saddle giving it everything.

Standing during hard efforts easily yields an additional 10-15% additional power, but is obviously not as sustainable (I'm even wondering if that's debatable). The way I see it, your max is your max, however you manage to generate it.

What are your protocols?


It just occurred to me that an interesting series of tests for myself and my clients could consist of max tests of the same duration, but under different topographical conditions. For example, what are the differences between, say, my max 5 min flatland power, my 5 min standing hillclimb power and my 5 min seated power. I'm convinced that I'm a better climber than a flatlander simply by virtue of fact that the vast majority of my hard efforts during my years of mountain biking have been uphill.

 

[Alex Simmons]

No, not dope. When you're performing your max tests do you get out of the saddle?

No, except for the start of shorter test like a pursuit or a track time trial. Anyone who can stand at the end probably hasn't ridden hard enough. Sprints however are different and the nature of tests to some extent depends on the nature of the event targeted.

 

[waterrockets]

I always stand at will for tests. My 1m intervals and tests always begin with a full sprint. For my 5m tests, I stand off and on throughout. In a 20m test, I get out of the saddle to stretch or to top off a hill.

 

[BtonRider]

my 1 min test course is a steady gradual hill where I'm completely out of the saddle.

This is a good question. In general I don't stand unless I'm at the very end and I want to really push it for the last 30sec. A more interesting question is how does your 5min power compare to a flat course?

I've noticed that I can't physically push myself to get the same sustained power on a flat course as I can on a steady climb. In most of the heart rate discussions, they explain the higher HR on climbs as more muscle recruitment. I wonder if this explanation holds true for power too. It makes sense that standing or climbing would use different muscles than sitting. If this is true, how useful is one type of data for predicting performance on a different type of terrain?