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I did the testing under the guidance of a coach for the purpose of developing a training plan. Lying isn't going to get me anywhere so I dont see why I would do that
If its coreect then its really impressive. Im guessing you must have strava KOMs everywhere?
You’ve been cycling for 6 weeks and have a coach already? That is pretty committed!
I'm intrigued to see some evidence of this. 6 week of cycling, already have a coach, and 5 min power equivalent to a cat 2 roadie..
Until I see a shred of evidence I'm going to have to call bullshit I'm afraid!
If it's true however, that's outstanding, and you must be a very very gifted cyclist..
Just looked back through my Strava records thinking I might have had a chance, ha! No.
Best last year was 320 for 5 mins, longest I’ve held 500w for is about 50 seconds.
That’s recorded, I never had power before lockdown 1 and I’ve definitely been fitter when I was commuting by bike so probably managed over a minute at 500w back then.
Nope, according to Zwift 319w for 5mins.
Middle aged, asthmatic ex smoker with sciatica, a left knee that sounds like a ratchet and a beer habit.
Regular cyclist not really trained properly.
At 20, who knows? Probably not.
Nope, not even close.
If my Direto's power meter tells the vaguely accurate truth, ~348W recently and a similar figure before Covid in Feb '20. From the 4iiii, 353W up "Turkey Island" (Hill Lane) in South Harting last July.
Now the slightly confusing stat... My best duration 500W+ effort on the 4iiii was five weeks after getting Covid (1min16secs), when I was still trying to challenge my PBs up hills, but then getting crippling ~96 hours of extreme fatigue after doing these efforts instead of the pre-Covid norm of 24-48 hours. It also includes reducing power to be ready to slow to a stop to cross my local main road. I've not come close to that best 1min of that effort (578) before or since, it was a freakish good little ride.
Give the kid a break - my best 5 min power this month is 466w. My 19 year old son only cycles for transport and would absolutely murder my figures. Some of these youngsters are all muscle and 🫁
I really hope dilute19 does prove his claim. Would be nice to see all the moany bitter Wannabees eat their words😄
And yes, before we go there, I am a complete punter who would never get near 300 so even the Wannabees would mince me.
DJFlexure, how much do you weigh?
Just roughly?
Anything less than 80kg and thats an excellent figure.
I'm predictably a bigger unit at 86-88 🙁
I have decent 30 minute power too but it rapidly goes downhill afterthat.
All in all its a bit of a party trick, and has nothing whatsoever to do with being 'pro'
In today's Filippo Ganna power news:
"Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) went around the 13km TT course at UAE Tour today in a blistering time of 13:56, for an average speed of 55.981km per hour, averaging 530 Watts."
530w for 14 minutes? Jesus - my 5 minute is 280, I can roll along at 180-200 all day but anything much above that & i'm toast in a short space of time...
Is this something Zwift would tell me? Not that anyone is in danger from me but reading this thread has made me curious.
@uphillcursing yeah, if you pause or at the end of every ride on the info screen it will give you some stats (current ride & all time) including this
Cheers Gents, will have a look later and no doubt weep at my inadequacies.
I really hope dilute19 does prove his claim. Would be nice to see all the moany bitter Wannabees eat their words😄
So questioning some fairly unlikely claims on the internet makes me a 'moany bitter wannabee' does it?🤔 ok then..
If the lad can do that after 6 weeks then, far from being bitter, I'd be hugely impressed.
Give the kid a break – my best 5 min power this month is 466w. My 19 year old son only cycles for transport and would absolutely murder my figures. Some of these youngsters are all muscle and 🫁
Is that an assumption or have you actually tested that? An 'untrained' teenager putting out 500 watts for 5 min is definitely not the norm based on the younger lads at my cycling club. Assuming he's not a 100 kg giant.
I think I’m going to set up a custom workout in zwift with just a good warmup and a five min block of 500w and stick it on erg mode.
Would be a fun challenge see if I can crack it before the end of lockdown…
Have to agree with TPBiker, I was a trained athlete at a reasonable standard before taking up competitive road cycling, and I’ll be honest I know a lot of very good cat 1’s and while they can put that type of power down, they are also seriously well trained and experienced riders. Be interesting to see the type of power the pursuit and kilo track riders put out for 5 mins.
Not saying it’s impossible, but it’s certainly unusual to have someone with no background in the sport, who admits to being untrained in endurance sports but is able to put out 5 min power at the same level as elite riders.
If true great, if it’s power meter over reading, can I buy it off you for our zwift races please!
Don't under-estimate the advantage of youth or pure muscular strength. Some people are just powerful for short distances, but that doesn't make them great cyclists necessarily. Age about 16 I rode back from my mate's house 10.5 miles in 25 mins, on my Dad's crappy hybrid (with my elbows on the bars), including junctions and the last bit through town, wearing trainers and normal clothes on flat pedals. The only riding I'd done was to and from his house a few weekends a month, and the only sport was general school PE. I might be able to beat that now on a proper road bike but it'd be a fair old effort. However I was pretty battered afterwards, and the hills I used to fear then don't even register as hills any more.
Also, one 500W effort that leaves you battered isn't the same as a fast 3hr bike ride, obviously. So I reckon it's entirely possible.
“Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) went around the 13km TT course at UAE Tour today in a blistering time of 13:56, for an average speed of 55.981km per hour, averaging 530 Watts.”
No. He averaged that for the first 3 minutes. https://twitter.com/VelonCC/status/1363827835618607109/photo/1
His Strava upload says 289W for the whole TT.
Age about 16 I rode back from my mate’s house 10.5 miles in 25 mins, on my Dad’s crappy hybrid (with my elbows on the bars), including junctions and the last bit through town, wearing trainers and normal clothes on flat pedals
Again that sounds hugely implausible unless there was a strong wind behind you or you are on a downhill. A sub 24 min 10 on a standard road bike is decent going for a pretty good tt'er, so the fact a kid with normal clothes on a hybrid, who hasn't trained...nah not happening.
I ride club tt's, lots of young lads ride them also, and all struggle to beat 24 min on a road bike with proper cycling kit.
Edit..that's on a tt course.. without junctions and traffic which you apparently also had to contend with!
Age about 16 I rode back from my mate’s house 10.5 miles in 25 mins, on my Dad’s crappy hybrid (with my elbows on the bars), including junctions and the last bit through town
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so pathetically slow in other words, and beatable by most young lads who've barely ridden 🤣No. He averaged that for the first 3 minutes. https://twitter.com/VelonCC/status/1363827835618607109/photo/1His Strava upload says 289W for the whole TT.
I think I’m going to set up a custom workout in zwift with just a good warmup and a five min block of 500w and stick it on erg mode.
Would be a fun challenge see if I can crack it before the end of lockdown…
ooh..agreed!
I'd probably start with a 400w for 5 min workout...
see how that sits.. then build it up i guess??
DrP
Are you sure it wasn't 10.5km molgrips?
Kms hadn't been invented when molgrips was a lad.
This thread is bonkers.
Now, anyone who does the race series knows that I am slow & unfit in cyclist terms.
But some of these numbers are crazy.
According to intervals.icu 500w for 5 mins puts you into a very narrow sliver of people. Right at the top & presumably that is people who are putting every effort into developing that sort of power; nutrition, recovery, training, rest etc.
molgrips
Age about 16 I rode back from my mate’s house 10.5 miles in 25 mins, on my Dad’s crappy hybrid (with my elbows on the bars), including junctions and the last bit through town, wearing trainers and normal clothes on flat pedals. The only riding I’d done was to and from his house a few weekends a month, and the only sport was general school PE.
Really?! That's an AVERAGE speed of over 25mph!! Surely this must have been downhill, or with a MASSIVE tailwind?!
Like I say - this thread is bonkers....
There's a STW zwift race tonight, would be great to get some of the heroes in this thread involved.
DrP
Full Member
I think I’m going to set up a custom workout in zwift with just a good warmup and a five min block of 500w and stick it on erg mode.Would be a fun challenge see if I can crack it before the end of lockdown…
ooh..agreed!
I’d probably start with a 400w for 5 min workout…
see how that sits.. then build it up i guess??DrP
Might just have a go myself, sod building it up warm up then 500w and se how long i can hold it before I collapse in a heap or my legs explode, I'm reckoning about 50 seconds!
benman
Free Member
There’s a STW zwift race tonight, would be great to get some of the heroes in this thread involved.
Don't you worry! I'm signed up already. I'll be nibbling on the heels of the backmarkers & make no mistake.
I might even poke a stick through the spokes of anyone attempting to lap me....
I’d probably start with a 400w for 5 min workout…
Is it ok if I start with 300w for 5mins
Have to agree with TPBiker
You shouldn't, because he's talking complete bobbins in so far as he's taken the OPs original question down a rabbit hole. The question was 'have any of you done it?', not 'how hard is it for a good road cyclist' (who generally have a physiology uniquely unsuited to the task).
According to intervals.icu 500w for 5 mins puts you into a very narrow sliver of people
This, just like all the other reference points being banded about, is misleading because you're starting with a narrow sliver of people (good road cyclists) and then confirming how hard it for this narrow sliver to turn 500w for 5 minutes - which is probably true, but that doesn't mean in itself it's that difficult.
I really don't think it's that unachievable at all.
I'm a crap road cyclist, I don't enjoy it, I'm too big and heavy, my neck and lower back are too stiff to get into a comfortable aero position and I can't create any meaningful cadence with my legs. A a result I've done less than 200 miles of road cycling in my life.
According to Zwiftpower my best 5 mins is 401W and I did that as part of an 18 minute time trial, so I'm quite certain if I focused on just a 5 minute effort I could improve on that - and I'm a few weeks away from my 65th birthday.
My leg strength comes from 30 years of playing rugby at a reasonable level, and whilst this and the rest of my physiology makes me crap at road riding, if I've just got to sit there and blast out power for 5 minutes I can make a reasonable fist of it - and the 30 year old version of me would have knocked this out of the park no problem.
So even if @dylu19 has only been riding a bike for a couple of months, if he's any kind of an athlete there's no reason he can't achieve this with youth on his side.
That's interesting @Phil56. The OP did his on an exercise bike so I think the distinction between that/Zwift etc and a decent road cyclist is reasonable. Your position on a bike on the road is a compromise between optimising power and aerodynamics - especially TT's where it's accepted that a power loss will be a trade off for aero gains. 500w for 5 mins is very impressive on a static bike but on a road or moreso a TT rig is truly exceptional. Then (unless you're on a track) there's finding the road and conditions where you could even attempt this.
My leg strength comes from 30 years of playing rugby at a reasonable level, and whilst this and the rest of my physiology makes me crap at road riding, if I’ve just got to sit there and blast out power for 5 minutes I can make a reasonable fist of it
It's funny you say that because I was gonna add a comment along the lines of "I suppose if you are a large rugby player or rower, then perhaps this would be a more feasible figure" but deleted it.
My brother used to lift a lot of weights - while at one gym he was urged to enter this rowing challenge that they had going. He's not really into that kind of thing, so resisted at first but eventually had a go at it after being badgered to have a go. I think they were trying to get the number of people on the list up. Anyway - he blitzed it, ended up at the top of the leader board & no one could get close.
Not sure he'd have got a seat on the Oxford-Cambridge boat race though.
I’m a crap road cyclist
You have an ftp of 350 watts..you clearly aren't a crap road cyclist at all. You are also however quite a big chap as far as I recall
Dylu is 76kg, so not so big, and he has only been cycling for 6 weeks. He also didn't say he had been training in any other sports, which would be a key factor. I'm sure it's possible and if so a top effort, I however find it unlikely.
Going back to the initial OP's question, I've already stated 500 watts should be doable for any good roadie assuming they weigh north of 80kg.
I’ve already stated 500 watts should be doable for any good roadie assuming they weigh north of 80kg.
Pass the donuts, 10kg of donuts then jump on the turbo and I'm sorted!!
Let’s not forget that different types and brands of powermeters are not necessarily consistent with one another.
One mans 500w is another mans 450w. According to my stages I did a 460w for 5 mins last year whilst training for some hill climb events. There’s not a prayer I can do that on my Wattbike. Not even close
One mans 500w is another mans 450w. According to my stages I did a 460w for 5 mins last year whilst training for some hill climb events. There’s not a prayer I can do that on my Wattbike. Not even close
Yes. Trying to ride a Wattbike up a hill climb is a mug's gaame.
Would a more reasonable challenge be more like say the average punter on here is 80kgs? Then 500/80=6.25 w/kg for 5 minutes? or if the average is 70kgs then 7w/kg lol
don'y come in here with your maths and facts and calibrated power meters, this thread is better than the power profile one on weightweenies training sub 😂
Haha those numbers royally hurt just looking at them 😀
Curiosity got the better of me, so I've just tried it on Zwift. Created a custom workout with a bit of a warm up, ease off to get everything back under control then a 5minute block @ 500w, followed by a cooldown.
For reference, I weigh 87kg, have been riding for many many years but not in any way formally trained nor a particular racer (did some xc MTB races about 20 years ago!).
Anyway, I held 500W for.....
.
drumroll
....49 seconds....😳
Oh dear...must try harder next time.
49s is a good effort I reckon