What is your benchmark?

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Comments

  • MiddleRinger
    MiddleRinger Posts: 678
    Thick Mike wrote:
    Castelli Medium
    Haha! This. As long as I still fit into my Castelli medium kit I'll be happy.

    SloppySchleckonds wrote:
    5 W/per KG
    ^ Although that would be pretty nice too....
    ~ ~ How fast is fast enough? ~ ~ ~ ~ Tempo Cyclist - Tasmania ~ ~
  • MozBiker
    MozBiker Posts: 77
    At the start of the year I had the goal of winning at least one race this year. And I managed to do so in my first race ever.

    My next goal would be to complete a mad 380km ride climbing from sea level to 2100m, with total elevation gain 5 900m.

    My motto, go big or stay home. Obviously big for your personal ability. So all of the above goals are excellent ones.
  • w00dster
    w00dster Posts: 880
    300 watts ftp and getting better at sprinting is my goal. Currently 282 ftp, started specific training in Feb. I race flat (ish) crits, being 67kgs and not a great ftp I need to improve my sprint as I tend to get routed by the bigger more powerful riders at the end.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    w00dster wrote:
    300 watts ftp and getting better at sprinting is my goal. Currently 282 ftp, started specific training in Feb. I race flat (ish) crits, being 67kgs and not a great ftp I need to improve my sprint as I tend to get routed by the bigger more powerful riders at the end.
    You're at 4.2w/kg and 300 watts would give you as near as makes no difference 4.5w/kg - thought about racing something with a bit more elevation? I would have thought you could do well.

    My target is 280 watts and 70 kg which would give me 4w/kg... I suspect it's unattainable though since I'm only at 255 at the moment! I should be able to get lower than 70kg really but it seems to be the lowest I can sustainably get to, been down to 68 before but it doesn't stick.

    In the meantime being reliably over 3.5w/kg is enough to be quick enough on the climbs to find club runs enjoyable (i.e. not getting shelled out the back straight away).
  • AK_jnr
    AK_jnr Posts: 717
    As we keep saying in other threads, W/KG really doesnt make a difference in any races in this country.
    Getting to 4.5 w/kg from 3.8 made absolutely no difference to my results in RR's as I was getting hammered on the 3/4 minute climbs.
    The big difference was improving my terrible 1000 watt sprint to 1300.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    AK_jnr wrote:
    As we keep saying in other threads, W/KG really doesnt make a difference in any races in this country.
    Getting to 4.5 w/kg from 3.8 made absolutely no difference to my results in RR's as I was getting hammered on the 3/4 minute climbs.
    The big difference was improving my terrible 1000 watt sprint to 1300.

    Fair enough. I think it would make a difference to my general riding though - I guess there aren't many road races up them but there are some longer climbs around - we go up climbs like Long Hill which is 14-20 minutes depending on how good you are, and my times up climbs like that seem to be pretty well correlated with my weight! Although when I'm lighter it tends to be when I have been riding more so my FTP is probably higher too.

    Also did the Snakes Pass hillclimb last year and w/kg certainly has an impact on that. Planning to do some more this year.

    I am a really rubbish sprinter when we do town sign sprints on chaingangs, but I don't know if that is related to power or awful tactics - I always seem to end up leading it out... This puts me off racing for real so to speak (plus the fact I'm just not that strong).
  • w00dster
    w00dster Posts: 880
    With my weight / FTP I find I'm OK on the small inclines on Crit circuits, full on road races with genuine hills are a different story, I'm getting dropped by the guys 10kgs lighter than me. I don't enjoy losing weight (love my beer and food too much) - so my thought is to try and get better at sprinting, I do a lot of interval sessions plus endurance "power" based sessions at the Athlete's Lab in London. Hoping this will allow me to gradually work my FTP up to give me a small chance of sprinting with the big boys. (Part of my thinking is that the higher FTP and the specific training I'm doing will help with overall fitness for closing down gaps etc, making me fresher when it comes to a final sprint.
  • jeremy1
    jeremy1 Posts: 71
    My benchmark is to ride to enjoy and not get caught up or fixated on figures and distance or times, cycling is a pleasure not a punishment
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    jeremy1 wrote:
    My benchmark is to ride to enjoy and not get caught up or fixated on figures and distance or times, cycling is a pleasure not a punishment

    so you dont need to be reading Training threads then lol
  • Tom Dean
    Tom Dean Posts: 1,723
    AK_jnr wrote:
    As we keep saying in other threads, W/KG really doesnt make a difference in any races in this country.
    Getting to 4.5 w/kg from 3.8 made absolutely no difference to my results in RR's as I was getting hammered on the 3/4 minute climbs.
    The big difference was improving my terrible 1000 watt sprint to 1300.
    you improved threshold power/weight by nearly 20% and it made no difference over 3/4 mins?
  • AK_jnr
    AK_jnr Posts: 717
    Not really as my FTP was from 265 to 307 so not big numbers compared to the strongest guys. 5 mins its only 390 ish so you can see why I would struggle. Its just a duration I struggle with.
  • tonysj
    tonysj Posts: 391
    As a new to road cyclist, started last December, my goals are.

    Ride my first 100km - Done on the 5th of April.
    Ride my first 100 miler.
    Be able to keep at 18mph per hour for a full longish ride/62mile
    And most important for me.

    Ride when I want and can and visit areas or routes Ive never ridden a bike on. Really enjoy a different route as its so enjoyable a lot better than slamming the same 24 mile route just to see if I can PB on segments, I started out doing that but find all I did was become a stat monster.

    Regards.

    Tony

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