Wattage Targets

joeyhalloran

I would love to see more race skill/practice/coaching days on circuits, or possibly just see them better advertised to those with races licenses so I am aware of them. I think it could be a great way to practice tactics as well as safety.

I am a 3rd cat so have done a few races but I feel I could learn a lot from them, I am keenly aware of how unsafe road racing is (or rather can be), but I enjoy so I carry on (when fitness/life allows).

LegendLust

JoeyHalloran wrote:

I would love to see more race skill/practice/coaching days on circuits, or possibly just see them better advertised to those with races licenses so I am aware of them. I think it could be a great way to practice tactics as well as safety.

I am a 3rd cat so have done a few races but I feel I could learn a lot from them, I am keenly aware of how unsafe road racing is (or rather can be), but I enjoy so I carry on (when fitness/life allows).

Surely the way to go is some sort of accreditation scheme like they have at Velodrome's. You can only apply for a licence after you've been accredited

weadmire

Borderland,

Thank you.

Your first set of ergo numbers cheered me up, I'd have had you beat, the second set you'd have done me over 2000m. I didn't do an hour but I did 15km in a long 55. That said my fighting weight is about 90kg, I'm 1.94m. To pull that lot and be sub 80kg should have you at 2nd cat before you have properly learned how to ride a bike in a bunch!!

Otherwise good to see some order and decorum apparently restored to this thread.

Borderland

Yeah the first set wasn't me you prefer the stamina based ergs then by the sound of it. Surprised I would beat you over 2 but not 5km, I would rate my 5km performance higher. I was about 90kg when I did those tbh and about 19 years old and training plenty. I don't know where you got the 80kg
From though I am 92kg at present and was 103.5 in January

maryka

weadmire wrote:

Otherwise good to see some order and decorum apparently restored to this thread.

Yes, let the w@nking over wattbike and ergo numbers continue.

weadmire

Borderland,

You are right, I misread the 5000m. My best was about 16,50, under 17 the big figure was the target. 6.29 for 2000. I saw my mistake but didn't want to be accused of having a J Arthur at work so I let it go.

With regard to weight I saw you had been sub 80kg. If you were there when you were under 25 I would expect you to be able to get back to it. I can't recall being sub 90. When I started cycling I weighed about 135kg, clothed and in shoes. Commuting about 50 miles a day, 25 in and 25 back with about 800m of vertical gain on each leg, saw my weight go from 135kg to 92kg over the period of about a year. You will enjoy every kg you lose, the next probably more than the last. Sadly the commute is one I no longer have, it's now about 1.5 miles of pan flat, so vicarious living for me now...

The penny has dropped, I am reading W&G's numbers being the first I read and thinking they applied to you now with the others being from your youth. Similarly the weight quoted. W&G, with a week or six to get into shape I can beat you!

DavidJB

Lets not forget someone died in a crit crash earlier this year. Crashes are NOT something to be taken lightly. I was in the race and it's not something I ever want to experience again. Please do everything you can to ride safe.

JamesFree

If I was you I would also try and do some TT's, if those numbers are right even if you weren't terribly aero you would get some pretty good times!

Though when I had a go on a watt bike the one I used seemed massively out (though on the whole they must be ok surely?) Maybe rent a powertap rear wheel (only £50 a month) and do some testing on the road and see how the figures compare.

wallace_and_gromit

Borderland wrote:

Yeah the first set wasn't me

They were mine. I wasn't very good at rowing and I'm not very good at cycling either, so there's some consistency at least!

wallace_and_gromit

weadmire wrote:

W&G, with a week or six to get into shape I can beat you!

I think you can set the bar for sporting excellence higher than beating me!

weadmire

W&G,
I need to take the wins where I can find them these days. I would certainly turn a blind eye to the fact you were giving me about 20kg. On an ergo not a problem because of course rowing never takes you uphill...

weadmire

W&G,

And you are being modest, those numbers sub 80kg would have you well up there, if you could stand joining the swivel eyed hunted looking ranks of the 70kg set and still pull the times and distances you quoted you would enjoy yourself, at least while you were not thinking about food. Have you done any time trials? If not you will enjoy your first season. The prizes aren't worth a damn but you will get plenty of attention.

wallace_and_gromit

weadmire wrote:

W&G,

And you are being modest, those numbers sub 80kg would have you well up there, if you could stand joining the swivel eyed hunted looking ranks of the 70kg set and still pull the times and distances you quoted you would enjoy yourself, at least while you were not thinking about food. Have you done any time trials? If not you will enjoy your first season. The prizes aren't worth a damn but you will get plenty of attention.

Thanks - I tend to downplay my achievements on the "erg", but I was actually quite decent in my early/mids 30s as a lightweight (75kg or less - never in with a chance of the on-water lightweight limit.) I remember always thinking about food during my lightweight campaigns, that's for sure!

It was all over 10 years and a twice ruptured lumbar disc ago, though. I've not sat on an erg in over 6 years except to demo the stroke to my daughter!

okgo

Have I stumbled onto a C2 forum?

weadmire

Okgo,

Nah, but if you have a time for 2000m let's have it..

okgo

haha.

I think I tried it about 5 times, 7,10 first effort and I think I got 6.50 the last time I tried it, but given it suits people with long limbs and taller at 6,1 with short legs it wasn't gunna be my sport!

wallace_and_gromit

okgo wrote:

haha.

I think I tried it about 5 times, 7,10 first effort and I think I got 6.50 the last time I tried it, but given it suits people with long limbs and taller at 6,1 with short legs it wasn't gunna be my sport!

I'm 6'1'' with short legs. Stop making excuses man!

bigmat

Think my best was around 6:40 for 2km, just under 18? for 5km. I'm 6'2 with normal limbs FWIW. Never actually trained for it though, I tend to have a go then decide I don't fancy it again for the next 6 months!

okgo

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

okgo wrote:

haha.

I think I tried it about 5 times, 7,10 first effort and I think I got 6.50 the last time I tried it, but given it suits people with long limbs and taller at 6,1 with short legs it wasn't gunna be my sport!

I'm 6'1'' with short legs. Stop making excuses man!

I'd rather be a good cyclist than indoor rower.

wallace_and_gromit

okgo wrote:

I'd rather be a good cyclist than indoor rower.

A fair point. One needs to be certifiably insane to do indoor rowing as your main sport. I know this all too well, as does my long-suffering other half!

There's nothing to stop you being both. Dan Staite is still famous for his stirring deeds in the over 30s lightweight category, though is unfortunately most (in)famous for other matters.

bigmat

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

okgo wrote:

I'd rather be a good cyclist than indoor rower.

A fair point. One needs to be certifiably insane to do indoor rowing as your main sport. I know this all too well, as does my long-suffering other half!

There's nothing to stop you being both. Dan Staite is still famous for his stirring deeds in the over 30s lightweight category, though is unfortunately most (in)famous for other matters.

Dan Staite - says it all really!

wallace_and_gromit

BigMat wrote:

Dan Staite - says it all really!

It was a deliberately provocative reference! He was chuffing fast on a rowing machine though.

http://www.concept2.co.uk/indoor-rowers ... weight=Lwt

okgo

Apparently he was OK on a bike according to guys that raced with him I know, and then took drugs and was amazing, so I doubt he is all that without the juice.

imposter2.0

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

BigMat wrote:

Dan Staite - says it all really!

It was a deliberately provocative reference! He was chuffing fast on a rowing machine though.

He was fast on a bike too - but there was a reason for that. Possibly the same reason he was fast on a rowing machine.

wallace_and_gromit

Imposter wrote:

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

BigMat wrote:

Dan Staite - says it all really!

It was a deliberately provocative reference! He was chuffing fast on a rowing machine though.

He was fast on a bike too - but there was a reason for that. Possibly the same reason he was fast on a rowing machine.

If you'd read his blog, you'd know it was all due to how hard he nailed the lid down on his "hurt box".

Point taken though. You've got to be sad to dope at that sort of level. Doping to win at the Olympics or the top world level does at least make financial sense.

weadmire

okgo wrote:

haha.

I think I tried it about 5 times, 7,10 first effort and I think I got 6.50 the last time I tried it, but given it suits people with long limbs and taller at 6,1 with short legs it wasn't gunna be my sport!

Don't think I don't empathise, machines, rowing or otherwise are beyond tedious - pi**ing perspiration combined with toe curling boredom. I discovered the ergo when I lost my commute. To compensate I joined the Poplar Blackwall and District Rowing Club. Perhaps more so than any other club on the Thames it reminds us time and tide waits for no man. If the tide is in to the point where the water is touching the river bank/walls you do not row, you get on an ergo.

With regard to limbs I didn't know it before hand but I was apparently designed to row or swim rather than cycle- 1.94 in height my arm span is 2.05. Rowing and training on water like cycling on most roads is a pleasure. PBDRC's beat, from the Woolwich Barrier to Tower Bridge is likely as interesting a stretch as you will get, there is always something going on and the tide makes it never quite the same twice. Like my old commute. Turbo trainers or ergos on the otherhand...

okgo

That is at odds with what I've heard tbh, from people who raced many of the surrey 5 day races etc with him...

imposter2.0

I've never met him either - but surely if he was that good an athlete, he wouldn't have needed to dope to hang on to a UK elite licence...?

Borderland

Guys/OP - got my first race this weekend, just wanted to say I appreciate all the feedback hopefully I can pull a decent performance out the bag even if that means simply staying upright and in the pack! Haven't done any specific training just commuting and the odd run, weights, tennis but my watts are intact and weight still hovering around 93kg. Once I get this out of the way I will have a better idea of what needs most improving - weight, power or endurance (or all of the above).

Cheers

okgo

I can tell you right now what it will be. You don't see 93kg road racers, ever I'm usually one of the biggest in an e123 at 76-78kg.