Racers speed/wattage up steep TDF climbs

[Doug]

Hey all,

I've been riding some bone crushing climbs recently. At a snail's pace, nothing about which to brag.

Remembering a thread recently where racers' speed and wattage up steep climbs was estimated, I
searched for grade data on TDF climbs.

http://cbs.sportsline.com/u/racing/tourdefrance/2002/mountains.html is a link with data about some
famous climbs. Ventoux is 7.5% for 13.1 miles, with a gain of 5200 ft. or so, ending at el. 6200 ft.

Lance climbed Ventoux in 58 minutes. That equates to an average speed of 13.6 and output of
465 watts.

The power calculated using this site: http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm

I could not find a power calculator at analyticcycling.com.

Interesting numbers!

Below are some comments from the old thread.

>I can't imagine someone putting out 450 watts for more than one minute in a long distance race
>without trashing their legs. That's an incredible energy output to sustain. Guess if anyone could
>it would be Lance.

>>>> From my recollection, every real attack Lance pulled off in the 2002 TdF was on a "real hill"
>>>> where the speeds started at something like 10-12mph or less
>>>
>>>According to analyticcycling.com, a "Lance" equivalent putting out 450 watts on a 7% grade would
>>>be going 17.5 mph. He probably was going a little faster than that during the initial attack.
>>
>>I recall that he made most of his attacks when the hills were steep enough that they were down to
>>"small-ring speeds". And of course, even Lance can't put out 450 watts all day (that would REALLY
>>take the drama out of the tour!). But yes, I'm sure he accelerated above 12mph during any attack.

>>>10-12 mph is pretty darn peppy up a "real hill" of 7% or more. Bumping that up another 5-6 mph is
>>>simply amazing.

 

[Jon Isaacs]

>Lance climbed Ventoux in 58 minutes. That equates to an average speed of 13.6 and output of
>465 watts.
>
>The power calculated using this site: http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm
>
>I could not find a power calculator at analyticcycling.com.
>
>Interesting numbers!
>

Here is the link to the Analytic Cycling Power calculator:
http://www.analyticcycling.com/ForcesPower_Page.html

One of the questions here is how much does Lance and his bike weigh, my guess is 80 Kgs which put
Lance at 160lbs wet with an 16 lb bike.

Analytic Cycling gives 411 watts for these conditions, i think this is pretty reasonable. 465 watts
is a big number, significantly bigger than the numbers I have seen for his TTs, which are similar
efforts but do not involve several long prior climbs during the day.

Jon Isaacs

 

[Robert Chung]

"Jon Isaacs" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> >Lance climbed Ventoux in 58 minutes. That equates to an average speed of 13.6 and output of
> >465 watts.
>
> One of the questions here is how much does Lance and his bike weigh, my
guess
> is 80 Kgs which put Lance at 160lbs wet with an 16 lb bike.

In the last couple of years I think Armstrong has tried to race at around 67kg. I figure his bike
and all equipment to account for maybe 8 or 9kg more. My estimates from the last couple of years
consistently fall into the range of 400 - 425 watts, though keep in mind that these are typically
measured on climbs at the end of stages where he's already crossed a couple of Cat 1 cols and ridden
160km or so.

 

[Andy Coggan]

"Robert Chung" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> "Jon Isaacs" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > >Lance climbed Ventoux in 58 minutes. That equates to an average speed of 13.6 and output of 465
> > >watts.
> >
> > One of the questions here is how much does Lance and his bike weigh, my
> guess
> > is 80 Kgs which put Lance at 160lbs wet with an 16 lb bike.
>
> In the last couple of years I think Armstrong has tried to race at around 67kg.

Word on the street (er, from the lab in Austin that has tested him) is that he's north of 70 kg even
at his lightest.

Andy Coggan

 

[Robert Chung]

"Andy Coggan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Robert Chung" <[email protected]> wrote
>>
> > In the last couple of years I think Armstrong has tried to race at around 67kg.
>
> Word on the street (er, from the lab in Austin that has tested him) is that he's north of 70 kg
> even at his lightest.

But...but...but...that would mean information gathered from the internet might not be reliable. Oh
my god, do you understand the implications of that?

 

[Paul Southworth]

In article <[email protected]>, Andy Coggan
<[email protected]> wrote:
>"Robert Chung" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>>
>> "Jon Isaacs" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>> > >Lance climbed Ventoux in 58 minutes. That equates to an average speed of 13.6 and output of
>> > >465 watts.
>> >
>> > One of the questions here is how much does Lance and his bike weigh, my
>> guess
>> > is 80 Kgs which put Lance at 160lbs wet with an 16 lb bike.
>>
>> In the last couple of years I think Armstrong has tried to race at around 67kg.
>
>Word on the street (er, from the lab in Austin that has tested him) is that he's north of 70 kg
>even at his lightest.

Word on the team web site says 77kg.

http://www.uspsprocycling.com/02team/03bio_armstrong.htm

--Paul

 

[Anonymous]

>>> > >Lance climbed Ventoux in 58 minutes. That equates to an average speed of 13.6 and output of
>>> > >465 watts.
>>> >
>>> > One of the questions here is how much does Lance and his bike weigh, my
>>> guess is 80 Kgs which put Lance at 160lbs wet with an 16 lb bike.
>>>
>>> In the last couple of years I think Armstrong has tried to race at around 67kg.
>>
>>Word on the street (er, from the lab in Austin that has tested him) is that he's north of 70 kg
>>even at his lightest.
>
>Word on the team web site says 77kg.

Just for info, I used 75kg/165 for Lance and 16 for the bike in my original 465W calc. The
analyticcycling.com calc gave me 414W.

Regardless of +/- minutiae, amazing power numbers.

Doug

 

[Hawke]

news:[email protected]...
> >>> > >Lance climbed Ventoux in 58 minutes. That equates to an average
speed
> >>> > >of 13.6 and output of 465 watts.
> >>> >
> >>> > One of the questions here is how much does Lance and his bike weigh,
my
> >>> guess is 80 Kgs which put Lance at 160lbs wet with an 16 lb bike.
> >>>
> >>> In the last couple of years I think Armstrong has tried to race at
around
> >>> 67kg.
> >>
> >>Word on the street (er, from the lab in Austin that has tested him) is
that
> >>he's north of 70 kg even at his lightest.
> >
> >Word on the team web site says 77kg.
>
> Just for info, I used 75kg/165 for Lance and 16 for the bike in my original 465W calc. The
> analyticcycling.com calc gave me 414W.
>
> Regardless of +/- minutiae, amazing power numbers.

That is amazing, I can barely maintain 400 watts for a half hour.

Hawke