FTP and cycle racing.

Seadin

dahat wrote: »

Had my first spin with a Stages Power Meter on today, normalised power came in at 286 with AVG power at 221.

Had a few 30 sec sprint's and max power was 800 watts or so (questionable). I have entered my FTP on my 520 at 215 but I suspect it is a bit higher so I must do my next FTP via the head unit on the TCR.

Does normalised power not give you a proper measurement of ftp?

nilhg

https://www.facebook.com/john.oloughlin.351/media_set?set=a.10155786477669688.1073741840.645774687&type=3

Should be public and available to all, any issues let me know

dahat

Seadin wrote: »

Does normalised power not give you a proper measurement of ftp?

I wish!!!

Just started using a PM so will be looking into it as I go.

CramCycle

nilhg wrote: »

https://www.facebook.com/john.oloughlin.351/media_set?set=a.10155786477669688.1073741840.645774687&type=3

Should be public and available to all, any issues let me know

Great pics, pity I seem to look either constipated or like the unhappiest man on earth in everyone. Now to work on my FTP after that performance

Harrybelafonte

dahat wrote: »

Nice to hear lads getting away tbh,all, i heard all winter was A4 breakaways never stay away etc etc.

A4 is changing. Thanks God.

Stevieg2009

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

A4 is changing. Thanks God.

It is for sure some quality riders prepared to go now and take a chance I was in that 1st group yesterday didn't notice the winner going but I was just tucked in trying to hang on legs blew at dunmurry the last time after 2 days of hard racing but good start to the season boyne next weekend which is no walk in the park..

InTheAttic

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

A4 is changing. Thanks God.

My first season racing (ever). In A4. I did cycleways last weekend and that was blown apart after a hyper start. It lulled a bit during the first drag and during the step. Then during the second drag, the break formed and stayed away. I did newbridge yesterday as I did not fancy a bunch A4 race at clonard. Again, A4 was ripped to shreds by a very strong group at the front. About 20 riders got away after dunmurray drag on the first lap. This group then split into 2 groups and there was another bunch of riders behind that again. Weather wasn't a factor. Have not got my racing legs yet, but it was a great day out. It was good training and felt nice and safe due to the smaller groups. Some very strong riders in A4 at the moment. Kudos to them.

InTheAttic

Stevieg2009 wrote: »

It is for sure some quality riders prepared to go now and take a chance I was in that 1st group yesterday didn't notice the winner going but I was just tucked in trying to hang on legs blew at dunmurry the last time after 2 days of hard racing but good start to the season boyne next weekend which is no walk in the park..

Tough circuit alright, but enjoyable! Boyne GP it is next weekend. I'm just looking at these early races as training. I'm no where near as strong as the lads in the breaks over the last 2 weekends, but I'm not weak either. Trying to build for a good club league so that should bring me on for the open races later in the season.

thekooman

the first 6 weeks of the season see the races dominated by breaks in A4. after that its usually bunch sprints. the stronger lads are weened out and have moved up to A3. Clonard was a bunch sprint on Sat and i heard there were some very strong lads in it but the bunch was well whittled down at the end.

InTheAttic

thekooman wrote: »

the first 6 weeks of the season see the races dominated by breaks in A4. after that its usually bunch sprints. the stronger lads are weened out and have moved up to A3. Clonard was a bunch sprint on Sat and i heard there were some very strong lads in it but the bunch was well whittled down at the end.

As for the strong lads, I'll have whatever training they're on

Sarz91

thekooman wrote: »

the first 6 weeks of the season see the races dominated by breaks in A4. after that its usually bunch sprints. the stronger lads are weened out and have moved up to A3. Clonard was a bunch sprint on Sat and i heard there were some very strong lads in it but the bunch was well whittled down at the end.

Clonard was handy for the most part. Myself and 4 others went on the drag on the way back. Got a gap but not enough. As soon as we were brought back another lad went. I chased and caught him with little to no help I think everyone in the group was on the rivet from chasing our break up the drag.

Once I caught I just stayed on the front with the lad I caught. He told me to start driving it and I really should have but it was too easy not to. He came past again and put in a decent acceleration. I jumped and managed to keep his wheel and we drove it on for a while but we weren't making a whole lot of ground.

I think the problem with Rás naomh finian is you can practically see the entire way up the road. A4 racing there's a certain out of sight out of mind element to it. It tends to be the first few lads of the group who see a lad head up the road and once they pull off the front or blow there's always a bit of confusion as to what's going on. Hope to get out of A4 before April but we'll see.

Glass Prison 1214

I also did the Newbridge a4 race, I'm really enjoying this more aggressive racing in a4 this year.

dahat

Advice given to me was to stay as handy as I can without getting too far up near the top early doors. Seems to be spot on if I'm to avoid early splits.

InTheAttic

dahat wrote: »

Advice given to me was to stay as handy as I can without getting too far up near the top early doors. Seems to be spot on if I'm to avoid early splits.

Everyone is given that advice. It's exactly what was said to me before newbridge - "try and get up around top 10-15 when the drags start so you aren't dropped". I did exactly that on the first lap and was out the back door of the front group during the second drag. I then watched the front group of 20 round the bend of dunmurray drag and disappear. Race over in the first few kilometers. A lot of people underestimate the power of some riders in A4. To me, it sounds like you're putting off the inevitable. Just get out and race and give it a go. Nearly all of us are dropped in our first few races.

tuxy

Yes, if you are not up to speed by now just use races as quality training sessions.
Hang in as long as you can. If you get completely dropped take a bit of a breather and do some good intervals as you complete the circuit.
There is no shame in getting dropped. If you are worried about what others think of you, you will not progress.

InTheAttic

tuxy wrote: »

There is no shame in getting dropped. If you are worried about what others think of you, you will not progress.

Well said. Training is indeed the operative word for the early races

crazy_kenny

tuxy wrote: »

Yes, if you are not up to speed by now just use races as quality training sessions.
Hang in as long as you can. If you get completely dropped take a bit of a breather and do some good intervals as you complete the circuit.
There is no shame in getting dropped. If you are worried about what others think of you, you will not progress.

Got dropped twice at Lacey Cup recently. Rejoined bunch on both occasions after a lot of suffering. Lost contact again on last 5km drag but was happy with effort. Over the 2 hours racing I averaged 197 watts at 63kg. This was my highest average recorded in a race probably because I was chasing so much.

I'm finding my positioning really poor. I tend to sit towards the back and don't really bother moving up until splits start happening. At the Lacey cup when the split happened I couldn't bridge the gap. How do others get good positioning and hold that position in the bunch?

dahat

crazy_kenny wrote: »

Got dropped twice at Lacey Cup recently. Rejoined bunch on both occasions after a lot of suffering. Lost contact again on last 5km drag but was happy with effort. Over the 2 hours racing I averaged 197 watts at 63kg. This was my highest average recorded in a race probably because I was chasing so much.

I'm finding my positioning really poor. I tend to sit towards the back and don't really bother moving up until splits start happening. At the Lacey cup when the split happened I couldn't bridge the gap. How do others get good positioning and hold that position in the bunch?

This is what I'm hoping to avoid if at all possible,I'm going to set off as handy as possible with a possible early push to maintain an advanced position and then hold as long as I can and see what happens.

dahat

InTheAttic wrote: »

Everyone is given that advice. It's exactly what was said to me before newbridge - "try and get up around top 10-15 when the drags start so you aren't dropped". I did exactly that on the first lap and was out the back door of the front group during the second drag. I then watched the front group of 20 round the bend of dunmurray drag and disappear. Race over in the first few kilometers. A lot of people underestimate the power of some riders in A4. To me, it sounds like you're putting off the inevitable. Just get out and race and give it a go. Nearly all of us are dropped in our first few races.

A club mates of mine was in that front group and he is strong as an ox and he had a job holding on a times. Still he got a Top 10 out of it.

Getting dropped doesn't bother me as I'm not the type to get the hump if it happens, I'll.knuckle down and get the best out of the race as best I can.

InTheAttic

dahat wrote: »

I'm going to set off as handy as possible

There is no handy setting off. These races go from the gun and you'll be sawing your nuts off. If you're not, then you're straight out the back. It's a shock to the system. Just checked strava there and the first 21km of cycleways, I averaged 40km/hr and 276 watts and I couldn't get on to the breakaway. I tried. It mustve been that TCR numpty from earlier driving it at the front! Either way try to enjoy it, no matter what happens and maybe don't try jumping to the front. Find a group you can get around with and with whom you can take a few turns and get some training. It is good fun!

Stevieg2009

InTheAttic wrote: »

Everyone is given that advice. It's exactly what was said to me before newbridge - "try and get up around top 10-15 when the drags start so you aren't dropped". I did exactly that on the first lap and was out the back door of the front group during the second drag. I then watched the front group of 20 round the bend of dunmurray drag and disappear. Race over in the first few kilometers. A lot of people underestimate the power of some riders in A4. To me, it sounds like you're putting off the inevitable. Just get out and race and give it a go. Nearly all of us are dropped in our first few races.

Spot on there today's A4 rider is tomorrow's A1 rider in a lot of cases never underestimate that....

tuxy

crazy_kenny wrote: »

I'm finding my positioning really poor. I tend to sit towards the back and don't really bother moving up until splits start happening. At the Lacey cup when the split happened I couldn't bridge the gap. How do others get good positioning and hold that position in the bunch?

Don't just go out and cycling at a steady speed for a few hours. But if you have been doing that it's ok this gives you a good base endurance level.

Now you must do intervals, you need high power for 1,2 and even 4 mins. And you need to have quick recovery after these efforts. It's not difficult but it just takes the right type of training.

harringtonp

Stevieg2009 wrote: »

Spot on there today's A4 rider is tomorrow's A1 rider in a lot of cases never underestimate that....

Yes you'd be pleasantly surprised at how things can calm down later in the year when both A4 and A3 are left with guys whose level is primarily that of the category. Most of your "A1 material" A4s and A3s have moved up at that point. Some guys go from A4 to A1 in a year and its not like they are typical A4 when racing in that category.

Did Broadford last Sunday and being an M50 was able to do the A4 race rather than the A1/2/3 (A3 license). And was it handy ? Not a chance, there was a guy from the chain gang cycling club in Kerry who was the only one in shorts on a savage day. He drove it hard from the go finishing 2nd in the end. Was waiting for him (and the 1 or 2 other helpers) to tire but they never did and even just following wheels the whole race I completely blew 3rd time up the climb.

This was a very different from my memory of A4 races some years back... then again I am older

Bambaata

To help with those jumps in intensity and short recovery do loads of 1min on/off where the 1 on is full gas on. You'll hate them but they're good. I try to do a few of them every so often and mix it up with 30s on/off where i've built to 30-40mins of them.

dahat

tuxy wrote: »

Don't just go out and cycling at a steady speed for a few hours. But if you have been doing that it's ok this gives you a good base endurance level.

Now you must do intervals, you need high power for 1,2 and even 4 mins. And you need to have quick recovery after these efforts. It's not difficult but it just takes the right type of training.

TrainerRoad is the answer.....

crazy_kenny

harringtonp wrote: »

Yes you'd be pleasantly surprised at how things can calm down later in the year when both A4 and A3 are left with guys whose level is primarily that of the category. Most of your "A1 material" A4s and A3s have moved up at that point. Some guys go from A4 to A1 in a year and its not like they are typical A4 when racing in that category.

Did Broadford last Sunday and being an M50 was able to do the A4 race rather than the A1/2/3 (A3 license). And was it handy ? Not a chance, there was a guy from the chain gang cycling club in Kerry who was the only one in shorts on a savage day. He drove it hard from the go finishing 2nd in the end. Was waiting for him (and the 1 or 2 other helpers) to tire but they never did and even just following wheels the whole race I completely blew 3rd time up the climb.

This was a very different from my memory of A4 races some years back... then again I am older

That guy from the chain gang won the Lacey Cup A4 the previous week. Similar story drove it from the start to finish. Probably upgraded now.

harringtonp

crazy_kenny wrote: »

That guy from the chain gang won the Lacey Cup A4 the previous week. Similar story drove it from the start to finish. Probably upgraded now.

Hopefully he'll get through A3 as quick as he did A4.

InTheAttic

dahat wrote: »

TrainerRoad is the answer.....

I dunno. I've been (I'm sure like many in A4 in this day and age) coached for months and have not peaked through coaching. In fact, my fitness has gone backwards as I spent too much time training on the turbo instead of out on the roads. Nothing compares to getting out on a long endurance ride with a few hard drags where you are willing to put the hammer down. Just remember to keep the power on when you come down the drag. If you can do that, it's a good start. I think data analytics is a bit overrated in the cycling game. I'll leave that stuff to the pros.

InTheAttic

InTheAttic wrote: »

I dunno. I've been (I'm sure like many in A4 in this day and age) coached for months and have not peaked through coaching. In fact, my fitness has gone backwards as I spent too much time training on the turbo instead of out on the roads. Nothing compares to getting out on a long endurance ride with a few hard drags where you are willing to put the hammer down. Just remember to keep the power on when you come down the drag. If you can do that, it's a good start. I think data analytics is a bit overrated in the cycling game. I'll leave that stuff to the pros.

Also dahat, I'm not out to get you by replying to your posts by the way! It's just a matter of opinions is all

dahat

InTheAttic wrote: »

Also dahat, I'm not out to get you by replying to your posts by the way! It's just a matter of opinions is all

I'd never think that, I appreciate all input as I'm a noob racer and any info etc is helpful.

I'm just mad to get going and as per normal.im over thinking the whole matter.