40 Goals

Nuff Said. Did an eyeballs out FTP test on a majorly breezy day. The wind helped to neutralize the terrain and made it hard work in every direction. The only dips in power were unavoidable due to turns, lights or steep descents. FTP Test results of NP 292 and AP 281.

FTP 284w - 3.8w/kg - "Good" Rating! Average 284w which moves me from Moderate to Good according to this . Max 304, Min 277, Cadence 97. After a complete botched attempt yesterday I concentrated on maintaining a good cadence, working hard but not pushing too hard and burning out (like I did last night) and tried to be consistent for the whole 60 minutes. Overall very happy with the test - it represents the best I can do right now and is much better than the road test I did last month. Still falls short of of the 292w that is needed for July but not by much.... Its worth noting that I put the turbo in the back garden for the test - the high winds for once were a real advantage - keeping me cool as I toiled. It started to rain as I hit 59 minutes into the test - the gods were smiling on me today. There is no power data as I did this on the turbo and relied upon the Tacx display which was carefully calibrated and tested against the powertap - I didn't want to muck about chang...

"Monthly" RAMP Test Protocol Pump up turbo tire to 100psi and pedal comfortably for 15 minutes, to allow me to warm up but more importantly the turbo to warm up. Then calibrate the turbo to 0. Warm up for another couple of minutes in case the calibration takes a while. The test proper can then begin, maintaining a comfortable cadence gradually increase the power output by moving through the gears. Target power output for 3 minute intervals are: 180, 210, 240, 260, 280, 300, 320. Finally, drop back to easy pedalling at 180w and wait for heartrate to return to level seen at the beginning of the test. I also used the Powertap to validate the Tacx values and they both displayed roughly the same power data, although the powertap jumped about a bit. Results I've plotted them against the first test I did on March 18th. Results Amateur Analysis I appear to have become more efficient in my aerobic zones with no real change in my anaerobic zones. This kind of makes sense since this...

FTP Test - 263w Watts per kilogram 3.5 - a disappointing 'Moderate' rating Ok, so the route was undulating making a sustained effort difficult when descending, I had to stop at some roadworks (!) and hit a bunch of junctions. Oh and I didn't really warm up. But apart from that it was ok. Lets face it this is a baseline test and 263w is definitely not my maximum potential, I'll do the next test on the turbo, or find a flatter 33km+ route which is quite a challenge around here. Definitely helped to be outside. An average heartrate of 154bpm isn't too shoddy given the number of times I had to slow up. Polar Data Power data

On a scale of one to ten where ten is Lance and two is a couch potato, I scored 4. So last week I had a fitness test with Cyclefit and the results were relatively encouraging, for a 39 yr old, 6' 1" male ... Weight: 85.5kg, 21.4% body fat. Well actually this is from my dodgy tanita scales. 85.5kg is pretty reliable, the 21.4% seems a little flattering. I enjoy Marks and Spencers wine gums, Dunking biscuits and Crunchy Crisps Selection a little too much - they are gonna have to go. Heart Rate Min: 47 Max: 181. I was most disappointed with the max heart rate, having taken all that time and effort during the test to get an accurate measurement (ie. terrible nausea with screaming lactate pain) it was most disappointing to find out my maximum is exactly 220-my age!!!!! Maximum Power Output: 4w/kg. I also found my max power output is woefully low at 343 watts, my watts per kg is 4.0. I need to seriously work on this. We reckoned anything above 5 would be good. Fortunately, I can im...