Time Trial / Time Trialling / TT

I think it's one of those things where if you've not trained with power it's difficult to see how useful it could be, but once you've done it for a while you won't want to go back.

I think a certain kind of nerd can get sucked into a self-reflexive obsession with numbers which have no meaning outside his own little world. Who cares if you're making more Watts* than me if you still finish behind me in a race?

*or higher percentage of HRmax, or higher VO2max, or more W/kg, or lower CdA, or whatever new metric people come up with next year. Throughout the history of training snake-oil salemanship, the "need" to measure something always seems to follow the invention of a device to measure it; a case of invention being the mother of necessity :-)

You're missing the point -willfully, I imagine- that the numbers are a constant, so they apply to everyone.

If you make the same watts as I do, but finish before me then I know that something else needs work- position, placing, pacing, whatever.

And, as I pointed out, when you're in the race you tend to be focusing on the race.

The numbers are quite useful to review afterward to see if you could go harder next time, or if you truly were on the limit.

But again, we come back to the issue that you have never measured your training or racing this way, so it's a bit like me saying "this drink (which you have never had) is the tastiest drink in the world", you have nothing to compare but your own impressions- a bit like perceived effort, come to think about it.

So, all of this science and numbers tell us basically that hippy goes to 11.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MVLFO6wd5Qg/TLoVBX3DfmI/AAAAAAAABO4/JOLjViPO2c4/s400/these+go+to+11.jpg

Yes.

Ok then. Quit your sqabblin' and get back to weighing stuff.

No and no.

I'm entirely convinced that a power meter is a very useful (maybe the only useful) tool for measuring the effect of a training block. It's also a necessary tool if you want to know what effect position/equipment changes have in the real world, to back up wind tunnel testing.

I'm entirely unconvinced that anybody needs one for more than one day every 6 weeks.

That's ridiculous. If you're so convinced it's useful for measuring a training block why would you not measure everything? It makes no sense to ignore weeks of riding.

pics or it didn't happen hippy

Yep. So if hippy did 24 hours at 50 FTP he would have TSS of 1200. Got it.

"Greater than 450 - very high (residual fatigue lasting several days likely)"

This is why I still can't walk properly three days after the event.

You look like you want to eat the photographer

I'm guessing you didn't win the "Most Stylish Rider" prize.

Train on perceived effort, measure the effects later. There is no need to know how much power you're producing. You do your FTP test on PE anyway, don't you? So if PE is a good enough guide to how hard to try on the one occasion you actually need to measure power, why is it suddenly useless on the other 41 days?

Train on PE, measure the effects later? Measure them with what? Race times? That's useless as conditions vary.

Do you chart all your rides and their PE scores? Do you honestly think PE is as good as power for measuring a ride's intensity? Studies have been done that show PE is not good at all - in heat for example. Do you know how many days of x PE you can do before you're likely to get sick without rest? There's so much useful information in WKO I can't believe you've dismissed it. You must be one of Hunter Allen's jilted lovers or something? :P

Best to get an SRM and a Powertap, so that you can have a second-by-second analysis of your drivetrain losses.

Been there, done that. I really should've fitted the Polar power meter I had for completeness.

I'm guessing you didn't win the "Most Stylish Rider" prize.

Thankfully the closest I've ever got to style is tweaking the odd bit of CSS.

One for the ladies..

And the men.

Well I just splooged.

His heart is coming out..

One for the ladies..

Oh the suffering. Its like a wapha advert. Except its colour...and real.

Best I could do on paint:

No overshoes? Couple of miles lost there easily.

No overshoes? Couple of miles lost there easily.

Unlikely. I sacrificed a smidge of lower drag for blood flow to my feet.
Not an issue in a 10 or 25 but your feet swell in longer or warmer events and mine sometimes lose circulation. I'd lose more time taking off the covers to back off the straps.

Sorry Soul, Ricky from Grupetto already beat you to it..

hippy got his race face on

That's not a race face, that's my "this is fucked, why did I do this? why won't that other bastard just quit, i want to stop, this fucking hurts, i hate this, maybe I should just wobble in front of a truck, just keep riding you useless fuck, god this sucks, everything hurts, i wonder if I can win this? i wonder if my team will come and get me when i quit? ow, moan, sook, whinge, victory shall be mine, moan, ow" face.