Are there performance benefits to increasing weight?

okgo

ozzzyosborn206 wrote:

just out of interest, if people don't mind sharing what kind of numbers do other people put out? Also how much are you doing now during winter compared to in the season when racing? I have only had power meter since November, I took a month off in October and took a while to get fitness back but at the moment my power pb's are

5sec 1060W
1min 449W
5min 327
20min 292W

I haven't done many hard efforts on the road yet, just two 20 min efforts so i could determine my ftp and therefore zones. Is it unrealistic to think that in the season my ftp would be around 300-310 that is a rough guess from people who i race with and where theres are. I weigh 64kgs and race 2nd cat.

It's not unrealistic, no, but you will have to train to get it there! I have lost a little top end and what not from summer but not much and the great mix of training I've been doing is working it would seem.

These figs are where I was at near end of past season on road bike.
5sec ~1550
1min ~750
5min ~ 460
20min ~ 400

In probably 78kg or so at the minute, said last year that 75kg would be a nice target. But proving tough!

okgo

Tom Dean wrote:

Team4Luke wrote:

Those stats appear to be typical of a 3rd cat level,

OP's power to weight is way above average 3rd cat level IMO.

But the racing here doesn't suit people like OP really, it's too flat, so most of the time the people with more absolute power do better here. A chap I know (who to be fair is elite) would be incredible if we had the kind of terrain that would flatter his tiny weight but huge w/kg. people like that need the right terrain to shine I think.

ollie51

secretsqizz wrote:

No.... but just had a read of your blog.... 1 thing stands out..
you aint racing enough in the season as it is, end of.
As others have stated If you just do flat airfields, you really are handing things over to big lads.... find something undulating , you'll start to appreciate what you are then.

I did hardly any bike racing in 2013, I had the flu all the way through January and then bad post viral fatigue, then on top of that I was struggling to medicate my asthma properly. I think I did maybe a dozen races in 2013 (inc XC + road) I don't think I ever really 'hit form' until September, then I tore my ACL and knocked myself out ... So yeah, racing more has been identified as something I need to do already.

ozzzyosborn206

something else to bare in mind is its not always the person with the best power that wins, timing and tactics trump power all day long, i know a guy who pretty much has pro tour power but doesnt get results he should because he often misses breaks and has to ride across gaps once it has already gone, or has poor positioning and wastes energy and so is still racing amateur in france. Fingers crossed he will make the breakthrough this year and then make the step up

okgo

lol nobody that has pro tour power would struggle to get results unless they were 55kg.

ozzzyosborn206

okgo wrote:

lol nobody that has pro tour power would struggle to get results unless they were 55kg.

he is about 65kgs has ftp of about 375 and 5min power of 450 which puts him at the top end of the power charts in Training and racing with a power meter, When i say he struggles to get results, he still has good results, last year won a stage of Essor Breton(French Elite National stage race), won a 1,2,3 in France, and several top results in prologues and other Elite Nationals. I guess last year was a crazy year with so many teams folding all across the board making places on teams hard to come by.

Team4Luke

Tom Dean wrote:

Team4Luke wrote:

Those stats appear to be typical of a 3rd cat level,

OP's power to weight is way above average 3rd cat level IMO.

may well be, his FTP appears far too low and confirms why he is being left by the bigger stronger riders (higher cat levels, we do not know, what level is he, is he racing with 1/2's ?) Got to be looking at raising that above 300.

Tom Dean

ollie51 wrote:

I was riding along in a race the other day, and it was at the stage where the groups get whittled down and I noticed a couple of things, everyone left in the group is 2nd cat or better (except me) and they're all heavier than 70kg. This made me come to the conclusion that weight is rarely a limiting factor in racing in East Anglia, and instead, just lots of watts seems to win stuff.

See if you express my power outputs in relative terms, (they're not maximums, that's what I can reasonably expect to produce on a race day when fairly fresh) you'd expect me to do better than collect 20 something points in a season:
5 sec: 19.9w/kg
1 minute: 10.1w/kg
5 minute: 5.2w/kg
FTP: 4.7 w/kg

If you want to draw any conclusions from these figures in comparison to other riders, you need to test properly, rather than cherry pick from race files.

Also, as has been said, numbers aren't everything. When you start racing more you will get a much better idea of what your weaknesses are.

At your age, you can expect your natural build to still be changing.

My advice is: train to increase your power across all durations and don't worry about your weight (for now ).