Sep 9, 05:20 PM by Steve | What's in a Number, Anyway?
Posted in Cycling & Training
Some of you may have been following the thread on Bikeforums or seen Tom’s comments about the calibration issues I’ve been having with my new Quarq power meter. Tom has been helping me out with the analysis of the numbers and Quarq is sending me a new unit so that they can analyze mine. From all the tests (static torque) and calculations (OSM) I have done, it appears to be reading about 15% low, fairly consistently. It’s a little comforting, because it means my 895W sprint test on Saturday was really more like 1050W. Still pathetic, yes, but in my mind I figured I should at least be able to break 1KW. Maybe there’s hope for me yet. The new one is on its way and should arrive Wednesday. I’ll do a static torque test and then take it up OSM and calculate the difference.
The chart I had posted the other day that showed my performance vs. training stress was calculated assuming an FTP of 250W, which I had estimated by analyzing my performances on a long climb (Gibraltar), and by looking a few days worth of ride data. Of course I was considerably “in the hole” stress-balance-wise, so it’s not surprising that I was not able to reach my full potential. It has been made clear to me through much heckling that my FTP must be higher, so I bumped it up to 275W in WKO+.
Keeping in mind that everything is still 15% low, this is what I got from today’s “hammerfest” ride. I felt like I had decent midrange power but no jump and no stamina, which I attribute to coming off being sick yesterday… However, and this is the coolest part about having the power meter, is that even though I felt like crap, the numbers were actually pretty good, including the best 5m power I’ve seen so far:
Entire workout (201 watts)
Duration 59:30 Work 686 kJ TSS 75.8 (intensity factor 0.897) Norm Power 247 VI 1.22 Pw:HR 14.28% Pa:HR -7.45% Distance 20.253 mi
Channel Min Max Avg Power 0 778 203 watts Heart Rate 92 191 161 bpm Cadence 1 114 84 rpm Speed 0 49.3 21.8 mph Crank Torque 0 796 202 lb-in
Peak
Duration Watts Normalized 5s 711 10s 644 20s 533 30s 496 1m 438 2m 360 5m 304 342 10m 246 294 20m 228 279 30m 217 266
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