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molgrips
...but it’ll be a good way to monitor progress if I do it every week
Save yourself the misery and do it every 4 to 6 weeks instead...you won't see much in way of week to week gain and it'll be time better spent training than testing.
Oh I've no delusions I'll probably last 30 seconds! But... meh...
DrP
Had a stab today - managed 1 minute and 32 seconds before the wheels came off. Good target to aim for though.
Per the other thread, I did it last night on Zwift and managed to hold 500w for 49 seconds which I was a little disappointed with. But I didn't realize that Garmin Connect had historical power curves so I've just looked back at mine...best 1 minute was 502w last April when I was a lot fitter, so I'm a bit happier now 😁
My best 5 minutes is 359w (also last April) so no chance of 500w!
(Both of those are outside rides recorded with a Giant power meter)
BTW: it's pretty easy to create a custom work in Zwift if you want to do it yourself.
And those be-moaning being disadvantaged by being skinny, **** off and create your own thread about how quickly you can ride up the Alpe Du Zwift! Leave us big guys to revel in our glory 😁😁😁
Just checking my power curve on Zwift Power. My best 500 W efforts are a tad over 30 seconds. My best 1 minute effort is 388 W and my 5 min best is 301 W. So plenty of room for improvement. However I note that my red, power graph on Zwift will flat line at around 650-680 W meaning I cannot generate any more power than that on this turbo* (Elite Direto), even if I wanted to.
For your records my FTP is around 260 and weight of 84 kgs
EDIT * not sure if it turbo related or bike related since I am using an old hardtail mountain bike with 1x9 gearing with an 11-36 cassette and a 44 tooth chainring
Just realised I hadn't included weight - FTP is currently 287 and weight is 77.5kg.
Looked on my Strava power curve and managed 1:08 historically. This was during a 50km ride and was giving it the beans up a local (small) hill. Would be interesting to try aiming for 500w directly. Doubt I could do that now. I was about 86kg. No idea what FTP was back then (around a year ago)
Save yourself the misery and do it every 4 to 6 weeks instead…you won’t see much in way of week to week gain and it’ll be time better spent training than testing.
Along those lines, I opted to make it 2x5 min intervals as a proper training session instead of a test, with a flat out sprint in the warm up just to see.
Peak power: 1346W
Sprint duration: 8s (approx)
Sprint average: 1108W
First 5 min effort: 346W
Second 5 min effort: 327W
Interestingly, the 5 min average was no higher than my 6 week average recorded during races which were in fact longer than 5 mins, and I reached a higher HR during those. So there seems to be a race effect.
I will do some sprint type workouts twice a week I think and see if I can improve the numbers.
I tried it just now. The answer was not very long! 1:18 at between 490 - 500w on my kickr this evening at 71kg. My fitness has been annihilated by having a baby two months ago!
(Technically my wife had the baby, i just stand around and be useless)
Also - when I had a power meter on my bike my wattage on a turbo was always at least 10% down on my outside wattage. I am not sure that my current smart trainer is as bad as my old wheel-on turbo, but I suspect my indoor power is still lower.
red, power graph on Zwift will flat line at around 650-680 W meaning I cannot generate any more power than that on this turbo*
The graph flat lines but the watts will go higher - it flat lines for everyone as the scale goes high - depending on what model of direto you have it will go to 1200 or 1400w. There is also a watt ceiling as you have suggested depending on the gear ratio but it is pretty high in the Elite Direto
So.. to caveat the below...
I DID just do a tough 52 minute 'over under' workout....
AND.... i whizzed up a quick workout for the ERG use, but the max it would let me do was 415watts..
My legs were shot, and I only managed about 50 seconds at 415 watts!!!
So I think, with fresh legs, and simply warming up and going in for the 500w effort, I'll probably manage...erm..the same??!!!!
Will see!
DrP
Just gave it a go. Dam that's hard. Managed 500W for all of 5s. First time I have hit 500W so please with that at 60kg and FTP 227. Need to redo that FTP as well.
And those be-moaning being disadvantaged by being skinny, **** off and create your own thread about how quickly you can ride up the Alpe Du Zwift! Leave us big guys to revel in our glory 😁😁😁
Skinny people won't appreciate how long the Alpe takes if you're properly heavy. Over 2 hours at an average of just over 200W is hard work.
I tried the 500W challenge and managed 66 seconds. I do slightly higher power intervals but holding past the 20-30 seconds I'm used to got unpleasant quick.
Tried this earlier on the rollers (Elite Q-Motion) and despite getting to and holding an indicated 70+kph, which is quite frankly terrifying on rollers, I couldn't get over 425W, so I quit. I then I checked the manual....they only record upto 425W. I don't have a power meter on the bike, so I'm just going to have to find a hill, smash it as hard as I can and rely on Strava to tell me how badly I failed.
I am almost certain i recall Tomas DeGent being interveiwed during the TDF. They mentioned his constant breakaway efforts and the power and duration required
Pretty sure he reckon he went 400watts, for 4 minutes, then look rpund to see who is left on his wheel. Then he decides if its viable or not and either cracks on or drifts back to the peleton
Msybe 400watts hold will be more accessible / practical for more people for a meaningful duration.
Agree. Reckon I could hold 400 watts for close to 4 mins. 400 to 500 is a huge step up.
Double checked my historic strava data. Injured at the moment so can't bang out a PB.
Best 5mins; 454
Closest; 3min20; 503.
330-350ftp, 78kg.
I had another attempt at 500w out on the road rather than on turbo/Zwift and found it difficult to hold a constant power (road was quite steep).
Back to the drawing board to get my technique right...
Looking back over my powercurves I did 503w for 1 minute and 363w for five minutes on yesterday's ride so may be able to better that if I can hold more consistent power...
I was bored so created a Google Sheet to track everyone's progress. Needs prettying up a bit and I'll share it publicly.
It would help if you add your rough weight with your time, because I added a "score" metric which multiplies your W/kg by your achieved time to deliver a dimensionless (at least I think it's dimensionless, should probably check) value.
This way lighter riders can be compared more fairly to heavier riders.
Read em and weep weaklings!!
One of my riding mates that I mentioned this challenge to averaged 448w for 5 mins up Box Hill at the weekend. He’s 11kg heavier than me but also a far better cyclist. Made me realise just how unachievable it is to get anywhere near. He’s still a long way short of 500w though, and he’s probably the best cyclist I’ve ever ridden with except for maybe that time I held on to Marianne Vos’ wheel for a couple of mins.
AA I saw more data that had his 5 minute power down as 498.
Those numbers are staggering.