Wattbike figures.

willhub

Hi.

I hear wattbike is one of the best ways of like measuring power compared to other stationary devices like computrainer and presumable more accurate. What sort of time on them is good for 250m and what sort of avg wattage is decent for 20 minutes? I did a wattbike session today at the velodrome and to say the least it's one of the hardest training I've ever done, I was on another planet after it. I'd like to post my figures so see if they are any good compared but I'm reluctant to do so due to the risk of getting flamed though.

They had me doing like russian steps and the 250m was on number 8 resistance, the 20 minute "TT" was on number 3.5-4.

bahzob

For 20 mins a good average wattage would be 4*body weight in kg. (5* would be very good, 6* think of taking cycling as a career).

There are some rankings here if you want to compare yourself with others. Peak wattage of 2372W is quite impressive..
http://www.wattbikeranking.com/

Also if you have access to a Wattbike take advantage of its polar view to get feedback on your pedaling technique. (see links below)

The power is measured directly, not calculated from your resistance settings. So you should use whatever settings allow you to generate the best power. Typically this will be at a high cadence with a smooth view on the polar view as per picture on this link:

http://wattbike.com/uk/blog/post/proving_the_point_an_olympic_champions_polar_view

(Interview with an Olympic gold medalist on why the polar view is useful here (skip to 7:30)

http://wattbike.com/uk/blog/post/rebecca_romero_interview_part_two

dw300

Make with the figures Will !!

willhub

Well my results are pretty average I think.

On the 20 minute "TT" I was on for 330W average, but about half way through I asked if I could raise the resistance (it was on 4 and I was spinning too fast for my liking (109rpm), and he said no got a lot more to do after this, so I ended up backing the power off slightly, managed 324W average. I averaged like 105rpm which I was surprised by, on the computrainer I'm doing around 92 average and on the road probs about the same but not sure (no computer) I'm pretty sure I could put out more power if I lowered my cadence, I was getting it up to 360 but the cadence was too much.

I weigh 73kg.

For the 250M I did 14.96 for the first, then 13.94 for the second with an average of something like 975avg and max of about 1200 on a resistance of 8.

I'm pretty certain I can get a higher peak wattage, the way we were told to get out peak wattage was to get in a certain position and put a sudden burst of power, the straps I could not get tight enough and kept pulling my cleat out of the SPD's, so might have to try tightening the SPD pedals next time, but apparently everyone suffers from that so probably no effect.

I was pleased with 324 average though and want to try beat it on Sat, I had a pretty hard week by my standards with 140 pretty fast miles in, don't know if that actually would have slowed me down on Sat? But with it being a nice day on Thursday and my recovery being abnormally quick (for me), I thought why the hell not?


It frustrates me that I'm potentially putting out 300+ on a 10 mile TT and people I know who are putting out maybe 250 are beating my by like 40 seconds+

oldwelshman

so what is your actual time for a flying 200m and fopr a 3km pursuit on the track?
Then you can use wattbike for a while and compare improvements on both the bike and track
I might rent a wattbike for a month or two.

willhub

oldwelshman wrote:

so what is your actual time for a flying 200m and fopr a 3km pursuit on the track?
Then you can use wattbike for a while and compare improvements on both the bike and track
I might rent a wattbike for a month or two.

I've never ridden on the track and won't in the near future, got to go through all that certification and acreditation stuff don't you, I can't see myself being good on the track anyway so probs won't bother.

Alex_Simmons/RST

willhub wrote:

It frustrates me that I'm potentially putting out 300+ on a 10 mile TT and people I know who are putting out maybe 250 are beating my by like 40 seconds+

Pithy Power Proverb: "Maximise the power you can produce, minimise the power you must produce." - Jim Martin

amaferanga

Are your Computrainer and Wattbike sessions done using your TT position? If not then it may be that you're putting out considerably fewer Watts in the TT position compared to your road position.

oldwelshman

willhub wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

so what is your actual time for a flying 200m and fopr a 3km pursuit on the track?
Then you can use wattbike for a while and compare improvements on both the bike and track
I might rent a wattbike for a month or two.

I've never ridden on the track and won't in the near future, got to go through all that certification and acreditation stuff don't you, I can't see myself being good on the track anyway so probs won't bother.

What you mean niot good enough? If you can pedal a bike and hold the bars your good enough, as long as you can keep over 16mph would be fine. Much more fun trying to improve times riding on the track compared to a turbo or wattbike

danowat

willhub wrote:

It frustrates me that I'm potentially putting out 300+ on a 10 mile TT and people I know who are putting out maybe 250 are beating my by like 40 seconds+

Shit aerodynamics?

willhub

Well some people rekon my TT position is not too bad, but I'll be riding it on just my road bike tonight, do if I do like a short 23 I know it's position but if I do about a minute less then it can't be position.