Interesting article regarding pro's power output

[Fatty]

Amazing what these guy's can do.

https://cyclingtips.com/2017/06/just...road-cyclists/

[MattTuck]

The thing that these numbers really show is that a bicycle is extremely efficient. You can power a man and his vehicle over 250km of roads for roughly the equivalent of 5 60 watt light bulbs. Put another way, at the end of the day, that is what he accomplished. He powered 5 60 watt light bulbs for 5 or so hours.

[PepeM]

Should switch to LEDs and he could power the whole building!

[shovelhd]

Meh.

[carpediemracing]

On the other side there were reports that on one stage of the Tour, a transition stage, a rider did 90w avg for a while (5 hours?). Since powermeters were brand new it was either Lemond or Phil Anderson. I don't remember anyone else using them, back when they were the size of a small tablet.

I wish my powermeter was working. I'm pretty sure I'm racing at about 160w avg right now, vs 180-190w when I'm fit. My sprint is probably similar to before, 1000-1200w peak (peak power doesn't change much), sustained is pretty low, maybe 800w vs 1000-1100w when I'm fit.

I've had the privilege of sitting on the wheel of a former bronze medalist in the Elite RR. He pulled for a couple laps (2 minutes per lap) and then went harder up the finish hill. I was sitting on his wheel but couldn't respond. He used to do 500w intervals for 5 min. When I took part in a VO2Max study I learned about here, I struggled to do 250w intervals for 5 min. Strong riders are strong.

[jtbadge]

Originally Posted by shovelhd

Meh.

Why even post **** like this?

[54ny77]

Guess I won't be quitting my day job to join the ranks of pro cyclists.

(Those figures are mind-boggling by the way.)

[hobbanero]

As a lowly amateur I have only done short stage races (eg. 4 days), but even then it is amazing how much the fatigue builds and your numbers drop.

It is amazing to me the TSS figures the pros put up day after day. It brings into focus that recovery is a critical element of winning a stage race.

[Blown Reek]

Originally Posted by hobbanero

It is amazing to me the TSS figures the pros put up day after day. It brings into focus that recovery is a critical element of winning a stage race.

That and pharmeceuticals.

[shovelhd]

Originally Posted by jtbadge

Why even post **** like this?

So you can provide an opinion but I can't?

It's yet another "compare yourself to the pros" article. Nothing new.

[benb]

Originally Posted by Blown Reek

That and pharmeceuticals.

That and sitting with their legs elevated not doing anything all day after they ride, having a doctor and chef prepare all their food for them, daily massages, lots and lots of sleep, etc..

But then again they can put out lots of wattage but lots of them would have trouble raking the lawn or swinging an axe cause they burned off all their upper body muscles. Not what the rest of us need to be.

[batman1425]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

The thing that these numbers really show is that a bicycle is extremely efficient. You can power a man and his vehicle over 250km of roads for roughly the equivalent of 5 60 watt light bulbs. Put another way, at the end of the day, that is what he accomplished. He powered 5 60 watt light bulbs for 5 or so hours.

Kind of like when that german track sprinter with the ridiculous quads powered a toaster for just barely long enough to make something resembling toast. Pretty interesting to think about the "real world" value of human muscle power.

Also consider that the efficiency of biological conversion of intake calories into usable output for said person isn't very efficient. In raw energy, yes a perceptibly small amount of energy to pedal a bike - which is a product of the efficiency of the bicycle - but said person had to consume a lot more energy than the equivalent of 5 60watt bulbs to generate that output.

[Jgrooms]

Originally Posted by benb

That and sitting with their legs elevated not doing anything all day after they ride, having a doctor and chef prepare all their food for them, daily massages, lots and lots of sleep, etc..



But then again they can put out lots of wattage but lots of them would have trouble raking the lawn or swinging an axe cause they burned off all their upper body muscles. Not what the rest of us need to be.

So much ax swinging going on now days. And raking the yard I know is such a passion. The fact is, wo the genetics, you can sleep all night, train all day, get a chef & a doctor, prop your legs up, avoid axes & rakes, get to single digit bf & still be slow.

[Ti Designs]

Why do people do this to themselves? People either watch the pros and think "train like a pro, ride like a pro", which maybe works for 0.1% of the riders out there. The other option is to accept that they're in the other 99.9% so there's no point in trying.

My suggestion is to focus on what you're capable of, given where you're starting and what time you have to train, and say how large your lawn is...