Measuring Hour Power on the Cheap
- Thread starter wiredued
- Start date
Ok I have the kinetic road machine
I have Andy's book my 20 minute TT is 222watts that gives me an FTP of 211 watts. I'm 196lbs a little over 6ft 1" and in my early 40's my calculations tell me I need a 300 watt FTP to stick with a club ride. Can I do that in 6 months?
I have Andy's book my 20 minute TT is 222watts that gives me an FTP of 211 watts. I'm 196lbs a little over 6ft 1" and in my early 40's my calculations tell me I need a 300 watt FTP to stick with a club ride. Can I do that in 6 months?
Good choice of trainers & books - I have the very same ones!wiredued said:Ok I have the kinetic road machine
Soooo....you are wanting to go from an FTP of 211 to 300 in 6 months? It is not unheard of, RD has mentioned friends (and a special protege
) that have managed that kind/level/amount of improvement. Probably depends on a) how hard and smart you work at improving FTP and b) genetics!
1) 300w FTP is pretty hefty for a club ride, unless they're all smaller and the ride involves a lot of climbing. 300w at your size is probably Cat 4 pack material.wiredued said:Ok I have the kinetic road machine
2) It depends how many years/seasons you've been riding and training before now. If you're new to cycling, or just haven't been doing much aggressive riding or structured training, your gains will probably be pretty dramatic at first.
That club must be in the Alps.wiredued said:Ok I have the kinetic road machine
I doubt that you need anything more than FTP=250-260 for most club rides, unless there's a huge amount of climbing.
There is a hill in my town with 540 feet of elevation for 1.5 miles that's steeper than the mountain 12 miles away that's the worst hill around but there are many other comparable hills here. I like to do things that motivate me getting dropped by a club ride would not motivate me but staying with them would. I also won't ride with a girl if I think she is faster it's bad for my morale.
Aw come on, we can just do some sprints....wiredued said:I also won't ride with a girl if I think she is faster it's bad for my morale.
For a big guy (ok, personwiredued said:
) that hill is going to be a killer. Even if you develop enough power to kill them on the rest of the ride, you'll probably have a hard time getting over that hill with the little guys. You may just have to resort to riding the hill at your own pace and chasing them down on the other side. 300w still seems pretty high, as that'd probably give you ~330w for 10 minutes on the climb.Even if she's super-hot?wiredued said:I also won't ride with a girl if I think she is faster it's bad for my morale.
Well, the faster you get, the more female riding partners will become acceptable. There's some extra motivation.
Yeh that's the hill I tried to get a 20 minute TT watts calculation on by taking my mountain bike with panniers and 18 extra lbs but it only added 40 seconds to my time to make it 15min 39 sec. 226watts. The kinetic was much better at it. Good advice thank you for that.
LOL - sprints I can do, fairly well too - pickle jars, well, let's just say I cut them out of my diet due to strength limitationswiredued said:If that's you in the picture no thanks but if you ever have trouble opening a pickle jar I'd be glad to help.
Mine are more like sprunts...my workout schedule is Saturday 1 to 3 hours possible, Monday 1 to 2 hours possible and Wednesday 1 hour interval day. Should I spend as many minutes as possible at 91% on Saturday and Monday starting at 40 minutes and working up to what ever is possible? 91% that's the target right?
I recall from the original post that your goal was increasing FTP right?wiredued said:
If that is your goal then IMO, that should be your overwhelming focus. Targeting the 88-94% of FTP in say, 20 minute intervals is a good place to start. This is where the improvement will come from, if it were me, I would spend as much time in that range as possible. All the rest would be secondary.
And in fact, I am doing just that as the right side of my MP curve is rather lacking!
good luck~
