The Wattage Thread

[okgo]

Looks like I need to hit the yoga up again. Did 30 mins steady at about 345w this evening, was not really stressing me all that much but my back started to ache. I genuinely noticed a huge difference when I did it last year, and I think one of my main limiters on the bike is actually staying comfortable while putting the power down!

[lukefreeman]

Finally got a power meter (Stages 105). Pretty nifty bit of kit, accurate compared to my Elite turbo.


My question is what's the difference between NP and weighted power?

I did 301w NP for 4 hours, but 276 weighted power.


Also, if you're doing 5/10min intervals, what %FTP should I be going for? 125/112 respectively?

[lukefreeman]

lukefreeman said:

Was at 75kg/350ftp last year.

Now at 83/4kg and averaging 310 for 20 minutes (not an FTP this year, and don't want to). I'll blame that on wedding and house.

Would like to get back to where I was, got until May.

Edited by lukefreeman on Saturday 4th March 13:46

77kg, 380 for 20 minutes at the minute. Still a bit more to go.

[Banana Boy]

Banana Boy said:

This is both depressing and inspiring!

I have no idea where my FTP is because I can't make myself suffer enough to find out. Done a couple of FTP sessions on the trainer but simply lacked the motivation to push myself properly and ended up pissing myself off with poor outputs... 205w down from 257w!!!

To try and kick myself up the arse I finally managed to get myself out on my local club run which was awesome! Can't wait to get out with the Peterborough CC Early Birds again. That's helped a lot this week, plus I'm committed to joining at the end of the month with a view to racing and time trialing!

Not entirely sure why I funked really?! I have a suspicion though that I'm one of those people who always needs a new challenge! I think maybe it all got a bit 'samey' and I plateaued... a bit of self inflicted pressure always helps though!

Edited by Banana Boy on Wednesday 11th January 23:41

Well something seems to have worked! If joined PCC, been out a few Sundays and hope to get out again this Saturday coming!

Today I had a look at an afternoon FTP test, a no excuses fully rested, fully fuelled and stretched off FTP Test. I'm a little disappointed in some ways, still struggling with pacing but an avg of 232 gives an FTP @ 220w. To be fair I've spent the new year on a weight loss plan and currently weigh in at 73kgs (from 78 at end of 2016) giving a power to weight of 3w per kg. Considering I started the year with a 205w FTP at 78kg I should be a bit happier?!

[E65Ross]

Banana Boy said:

Banana Boy said:

This is both depressing and inspiring!

I have no idea where my FTP is because I can't make myself suffer enough to find out. Done a couple of FTP sessions on the trainer but simply lacked the motivation to push myself properly and ended up pissing myself off with poor outputs... 205w down from 257w!!!

To try and kick myself up the arse I finally managed to get myself out on my local club run which was awesome! Can't wait to get out with the Peterborough CC Early Birds again. That's helped a lot this week, plus I'm committed to joining at the end of the month with a view to racing and time trialing!

Not entirely sure why I funked really?! I have a suspicion though that I'm one of those people who always needs a new challenge! I think maybe it all got a bit 'samey' and I plateaued... a bit of self inflicted pressure always helps though!

Edited by Banana Boy on Wednesday 11th January 23:41

Well something seems to have worked! If joined PCC, been out a few Sundays and hope to get out again this Saturday coming!

Today I had a look at an afternoon FTP test, a no excuses fully rested, fully fuelled and stretched off FTP Test. I'm a little disappointed in some ways, still struggling with pacing but an avg of 232 gives an FTP @ 220w. To be fair I've spent the new year on a weight loss plan and currently weigh in at 73kgs (from 78 at end of 2016) giving a power to weight of 3w per kg. Considering I started the year with a 205w FTP at 78kg I should be a bit happier?!

A higher FTP and lower weight....you should be happy. It's always very hard to increase power whilst also losing weight, because you aren't often fuelled 100% either.

Well done on the weight loss as well

[Banana Boy]

E65Ross said:

A higher FTP and lower weight....you should be happy. It's always very hard to increase power whilst also losing weight, because you aren't often fuelled 100% either.

Well done on the weight loss as well

Cheers, it's been nice to finally start shifting the last 8kg or so of excess weight after hitting a bit of a plateaux last year. It's been an interesting learning curve being mindful of my reduced fuelling levels and trusting that training at a reduced/controlled levels would yield the desired results. (I'm very much a 'if in doubt, flat out' kind of athlete (regardless of chosen sport...)

I think most of the disappointment comes from the 'missing' 37w from last year?!

A few more weeks though and I should be at my target 70kg and can start training for power! I'm aiming for a 250w FTP at 70kg which would see me at 3.57w/kg for Tour of Cambs in June and whatever else I can find time for - defo PCC 10 mile TTs and with luck a few Rockingham Crits?!

[E65Ross]

My body make-up just isn't for cycling (unless it's in the Alps!)....I'm only 54-55kgs, my FTP is currently 234W which means I'm good at long, steady climbs....I'm rubbish at sprinting....my max power is not only quite low, but in terms of watts/kg it's also quite low as well....but I prefer the more endurance stuff anyway.

Thing is, if I try to gain weight by eating more, I end up just feeling bloated and horrible, so I don't fancy eating....and I maintain the weight I am. That said, I've put on about 1kg since Xmas time, give or take.

I'm only 5ft 5.....I'm built for running, which used to be my main sport, but, alas, I can't do that anymore unfortunately (well, not to a decent level, anyway)

[Banana Boy]

I'm not really a traditional rider shape either, I was really best suited to rugby, football, hockey maybe cross country at a push! I'm only 5'6" but stocky. I'm hoping to suit the ebbs and flows of crits/road racing but only time will tell?!

[lukefreeman]

Edit: because Stages are st, and the power noted is probably +40% due to my leg inaccuracies.

Edited by lukefreeman on Thursday 9th March 12:18

[okgo]

I wouldn't read too much into the stages numbers for such efforts. They're dogst at the best of times, let alone when peak numbers come into it.

[ED209]

These wattage figures are pie in the sky to me. Never used a power meter but my tacx neo when used on zwift/strava gives me a weighted average power of between 150-170 on most rides.

Im not unfit as such but i couldn't imagine 300 watts!

[lukefreeman]

okgo said:

I wouldn't read too much into the stages numbers for such efforts. They're dogst at the best of times, let alone when peak numbers come into it.

I'd agree with peak, but 1100w average for each effort removes the instant power measure if it was incorrect

[lukefreeman]

ED209 said:

These wattage figures are pie in the sky to me. Never used a power meter but my tacx neo when used on zwift/strava gives me a weighted average power of between 150-170 on most rides.

Im not unfit as such but i couldn't imagine 300 watts!

what's your weight though?

I always put More power on the road, and I'd never spent on the turbo

[ED209]

lukefreeman said:

ED209 said:

These wattage figures are pie in the sky to me. Never used a power meter but my tacx neo when used on zwift/strava gives me a weighted average power of between 150-170 on most rides.

Im not unfit as such but i couldn't imagine 300 watts!

what's your weight though?

I always put More power on the road, and I'd never spent on the turbo

Approx 77.5kg

[okgo]

The stages become hugely less accurate the harder the effort from what I've seen.

Riding around at normal watts my balance is good, when I really push hard my right leg is dominant, stages is only measuring one leg then doubling it, its not that useful for harder efforts IMO. Still can't fathom why anyone would buy one, but there we are.

[E65Ross]

okgo said:

The stages become hugely less accurate the harder the effort from what I've seen.

Riding around at normal watts my balance is good, when I really push hard my right leg is dominant, stages is only measuring one leg then doubling it, its not that useful for harder efforts IMO. Still can't fathom why anyone would buy one, but there we are.

What are you using? I'm using a power2max which seems consistent enough, although I have quite a large L/R discrepancy, it doesn't appear to cause any real issues so I'm not that bothered....it's typically a 46/54 split, which is quite a lot!! Think how much faster I'd be if my left leg was as strong as my right (not much, probably)

[fromage]

okgo said:

The stages become hugely less accurate the harder the effort from what I've seen.

Riding around at normal watts my balance is good, when I really push hard my right leg is dominant, stages is only measuring one leg then doubling it, its not that useful for harder efforts IMO. Still can't fathom why anyone would buy one, but there we are.

Yeah really struggle to understand why people are still buying stages, got my last 2 Quarqs for just over £400 brand new. I tried a stages a couple of years ago and it was a proper random number generator, I gained about 35 watts at threshold, gained about 150 watts when sprinting but 5 minute efforts seemed about right. I just sent the piece of junk back after 2 rides.

[Sandersports]

fromage said:

Yeah really struggle to understand why people are still buying stages, got my last 2 Quarqs for just over £400 brand new. I tried a stages a couple of years ago and it was a proper random number generator, I gained about 35 watts at threshold, gained about 150 watts when sprinting but 5 minute efforts seemed about right. I just sent the piece of junk back after 2 rides.

Where can you get Quarqs for £400ish ? I would buy one perhaps 2 right now !

[okgo]

I've got quarqs too.

I've always had very solid numbers through these, both units.

[lukefreeman]

What's wrong with Stages accuracy exactly?

Understand it's left only, however a manu tolerance of +/-2% at steady state conditions plus countless reviews backing this up leads me to think it's OK for an amateur like me.

The only concern I have is water ingress, but it's coated in waterproof tape.