FTP and cycle racing.

dahat

Sarz91 wrote: »

How many points do you need for an upgrade? Tour of Omagh and the Wexford 2 day are coming up which seem like pretty good opportunities to score points.

10, waiting for a glorious win to go up in style! If I reach 10 at season end I'll be happy and lookmto get upgraded as early as possible next year.
Wexford 2 day is out of reach, family commitments.

CramCycle

Sarz91 wrote: »

How many points do you need for an upgrade? Tour of Omagh and the Wexford 2 day are coming up which seem like pretty good opportunities to score points.

Wexford only suits slow and unfit riders, if your neither I wouldn't bother going :pac:

Seadin

CramCycle wrote: »

You would be the first person I have heard saying that prize money in A4 is important.

Not going against your argument at all but all I was trying to say was its nice that prize money is there to be won in all categories. Sure what harm is a few quid? I prefer to win medals myself as they are always there with you forever but nice to win some cash as well for the effort.

sullzz

Well done to dahat taking the win in Athlone today with a strong ride .

dahat

sullzz wrote: »

Well done to dahat taking the win in Athlone today with a strong ride .

Thanks man, pleasure to meet you.

Delighted to actually win a race. Still in a bit of shock.

sullzz

dahat wrote: »

Thanks man, pleasure to meet you.

Delighted to actually win a race. Still in a bit of shock.

Well deserved dude . I lost my position when we went around the ambulance . Couldnt move back uo then .

dahat

sullzz wrote: »

Well deserved dude . I lost my position when we went around the ambulance . Couldnt move back uo then .

Same incident actually worked in my favour, small margins make such a difference.
Now I hope I only get 8pts for the win not 10pts.

Miklos

Great result man! You must be buzzing.

dahat

Miklos wrote: »

Great result man! You must be buzzing.

Thanks!A bit surreal but I'll know all about it if I'm A3 now.
Waiting to see if the video appears on Facebook at some point.

Raymzor

dahat wrote: »

Thanks!A bit surreal but I'll know all about it if I'm A3 now.
Waiting to see if the video appears on Facebook at some point.

Well done. So what's your FTP!

dahat

Raymzor wrote: »

Well done. So what's your FTP!

Unsure, i use 280 but a few different things I use for data reckon it's 320-340 but it's watts/kg is my downfall (100kgs I weigh)

nilhg

Well done dahat, horse of a man, when I spoke to you on the road outside Horse and Jockey that night and you were disappointed you didn't quite get the 40km/hr average I knew you'd go far, or at least A3...

dahat

nilhg wrote: »

Well done dahat, horse of a man, when I spoke to you on the road outside Horse and Jockey that night and you were disappointed you didn't quite get the 40km/hr average I knew you'd go far, or at least A3...

Thanks!
Was with a few of your club mates today, sound lads. I now get to chase A3 Juniors if I'm upgraded, seems like punishment rather than reward.

StevieGriff

dahat wrote: »

Thanks!
Was with a few of your club mates today, sound lads. I now get to chase A3 Juniors if I'm upgraded, seems like punishment rather than reward.

Well done fella. If you're not keen on upgrading, I'll happily take your points for you
Win it in a sprint? Give us the dirty data details!

dahat

StevieGriff wrote: »

Well done fella. If you're not keen on upgrading, I'll happily take your points for you
Win it in a sprint? Give us the dirty data details!

Sprint finish, looks like 1152 watts at around 53km on a slightly uphill finish, just 1 beat below my max hr of 180 as well in the Sprint.

Nothing amazing there but it won a race so I'm happy.

Sarz91

dahat wrote: »

Thanks!
Was with a few of your club mates today, sound lads. I now get to chase A3 Juniors if I'm upgraded, seems like punishment rather than reward.

Spent the day doing exactly that. There was a break up the road and coming onto the third lap I decided to try bridge across. Didn't think too much of it to be honest. On the "Kom" section I hopped off the front and was away by myself for all of about 2 minutes when I see this Aaron Doherty from nrpt come up alongside me with another junior on his wheel. "Great" I thought "2 lads willing to work". They were willing to work alright but they absolutely destroyed me. As they came past me they upped the pace. I was already doing about 350 watts and had to bang it up to 700 odd just to hop on their wheel.

You never got a rest. Every time the Doherty came through the pace would lift. We'd brought the gap down from about a minute to 35 seconds in no time. The lead car dropped back to tell me. Doherty asked what the gap was. I looked and saw he wasn't even out of breath and here was me, my eyes filling with lactic acid. I took another turn on the front, put my hand in the air, wished them luck and rolled in with the bunch.

For reference I'm 71kgs and have an FTP of 308 watts so nothing to write home about but I certainly didn't expect that to happen. The 2 juniors went on to take 1st and 2nd. Honestly I'm pretty disappointed. I still feel like my head just gave in and that I should have just at least tried to keep with them in the hopes the pain would ease somewhat.

dahat

A3 is a far bigger problem and challenge than being a crash test dummy in A4. With some luck I may escape with 8pts and avoid the upgrade for another while.

Your race report only enforces the above point and makes the challenges ahead daunting given the weight I currently sit at. There A3 Juniors are a fearsome lot this year and you did well to stay with those lads.

harringtonp

Sarz91 wrote: »

Spent the day doing exactly that. There was a break up the road and coming onto the third lap I decided to try bridge across. Didn't think too much of it to be honest. On the "Kom" section I hopped off the front and was away by myself for all of about 2 minutes when I see this Aaron Doherty from nrpt come up alongside me with another junior on his wheel. "Great" I thought "2 lads willing to work". They were willing to work alright but they absolutely destroyed me. As they came past me they upped the pace. I was already doing about 350 watts and had to bang it up to 700 odd just to hop on their wheel.

You never got a rest. Every time the Doherty came through the pace would lift. We'd brought the gap down from about a minute to 35 seconds in no time. The lead car dropped back to tell me. Doherty asked what the gap was. I looked and saw he wasn't even out of breath and here was me, my eyes filling with lactic acid. I took another turn on the front, put my hand in the air, wished them luck and rolled in with the bunch.

For reference I'm 71kgs and have an FTP of 308 watts so nothing to write home about but I certainly didn't expect that to happen. The 2 juniors went on to take 1st and 2nd. Honestly I'm pretty disappointed. I still feel like my head just gave in and that I should have just at least tried to keep with them in the hopes the pain would ease somewhat.

I appreciate your suffering. I was one of the 2 up the road and was flat out. Got word there were 3 coming across and was wondering where the 3rd guy was when we were caught just after the top of the little drag 11km from the finish. As you said the nrpt rider was riding well hard and at that point I just sat on the other three as my biggest fear was been dropped too far out from the finish and been swallowed by the bunch. The nrpt guy flew off a few km from the end leaving the 3 of us in a sprint finish.

harringtonp

dahat wrote: »

A3 is a far bigger problem and challenge than being a crash test dummy in A4. With some luck I may escape with 8pts and avoid the upgrade for another while.

Your race report only enforces the above point and makes the challenges ahead daunting given the weight I currently sit at. There A3 Juniors are a fearsome lot this year and you did well to stay with those lads.

The A3 bunch today travelled more than 1km/hr on average slower than the A4 bunch ! Check Strava.

Sarz91

harringtonp wrote: »

I appreciate your suffering. I was one of the 2 up the road and was flat out. Got word there were 3 coming across and was wondering where the 3rd guy was when we were caught just after the top of the little drag 11km from the finish. As you said the nrpt rider was riding well hard and at that point I just sat on the other three as my biggest fear was been dropped too far out from the finish and been swallowed by the bunch. The nrpt guy flew off a few km from the end leaving the 3 of us in a sprint finish.

Fair play mate. Unbelievable to think he's only 16/17. Some amount of power for a skinny lad. Well disappointed not to have been able to stay with them.

dahat

8pts for the win it seems, still an A4, 2 pts needed.

Stevieg2009

harringtonp wrote: »

The A3 bunch today travelled more than 1km/hr on average slower than the A4 bunch ! Check Strava.

That's true I know the A4 was shorter but 3/4 of us really drove it hard trying to break it up as much as we could got away a couple of times but always dragged back a couple of lads spoke about trying to get away most never appeared for any effort that's racing I suppose

Stevieg2009

dahat wrote: »

8pts for the win it seems, still an A4, 2 pts needed.

Well done on your win yesterday very strong

dahat

Stevieg2009 wrote: »

That's true I know the A4 was shorter but 3/4 of us really drove it hard trying to break it up as much as we could got away a couple of times but always dragged back a couple of lads spoke about trying to get away most never appeared for any effort that's racing I suppose

A course like that yesterday was never going to allow an A4 breakaway imo. While draggy in places nothing significant to allow a decent gap appear. Another factor was not enough turns so any lads that did get a few yards away were always in sight and this is why I just stayed handy all day.

Stevieg2009

dahat wrote: »

A course like that yesterday was never going to allow an A4 breakaway imo. While draggy in places nothing significant to allow a decent gap appear. Another factor was not enough turns so any lads that did get a few yards away were always in sight and this is why I just stayed handy all day.

I know most circuits are like that these days another lap might have just put a few more in the hurt locker I think at this stage the A4 race should be of equal distance to the A3 race but I suppose it won't happen

dahat

Stevieg2009 wrote: »

I know most circuits are like that these days another lap might have just put a few more in the hurt locker I think at this stage the A4 race should be of equal distance to the A3 race but I suppose it won't happen

I am of the same opinion, would definitely shake a few off late on.

harringtonp

Stevieg2009 wrote: »

I know most circuits are like that these days another lap might have just put a few more in the hurt locker I think at this stage the A4 race should be of equal distance to the A3 race but I suppose it won't happen

If they were the same length and A4 bunch may well have caught the A3 bunch. It would have been interesting pulling the A3 race over to let the faster race through :-)

Raymzor

dahat wrote: »

Unsure, i use 280 but a few different things I use for data reckon it's 320-340 but it's watts/kg is my downfall (100kgs I weigh)

You obviously have a good sprint.

Well done also to Mr Harrington on his place in the A3 race.

Stevieg2009

harringtonp wrote: »

If they were the same length and A4 bunch may well have caught the A3 bunch. It would have been interesting pulling the A3 race over to let the faster race through :-)

Oh lord the shame caught by the A4s 🙀🙈

harringtonp

Raymzor wrote: »

Well done also to Mr Harrington on his place in the A3 race.

Thanks, was a very happy chappie last night. Six years racing and had never picked up a single point. Took the voluntary upgrade from A4 to A3 a few years, never got on the board in A4 either.

Was half thinking of giving up the racing lark, guess I'll have to carry on for a bit now