# What kind of power numbers can you throw down???



## BIGGNICK

Hey everyone, I was fortunate to have borrowed my friends powertap. I've been playing with the 1minute, 5minute, 20 minute efforts. It's frckin hard to keep that wattage up!!!
I was reading some of the numbers Fabian can hit, and other top pros, how crazy is that. I think one report was Cancellara at the Lndon Prologue averaged like 566 watts!!! I can't even do that for a minute, he rode that course in 8' 51". That's mind blowing power!

Anyway, I was just curious as to what are the kind of numbers are other people were reaching on their power meters. Let me know, I think it'd be kind of neat. Oh, and put your catgory down too.

Mine so far is:

Cat 3 racer
Peak power: 1120
30 second: 920
1 minute: 534
5 minute: 403
20 minute: 313

This is all with horrible fitness, having barely been on the bike for the past 2 1/2 months.


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## Wookiebiker

A bragging rights thread....oh such fun 

Here are my numbers from this year. I'm a CAT 3 racer who concentrates mostly on TT's, but have a descent sprint. Also, take into account I'm a larger rider (190 in race shape) so my numbers are not as high when you take a w/kg aspect to power. 

Most of these numbers are taken either from races or group rides and I've never done a full on 30 sec, 1 min, 5 min, 10 min, etc...interval to find my actual max. The closest was probably during my 20 minute power number since that was an all out climb...but was actually longer than 20 minutes...I held 390 watts for 22:30 on that effort.

1 sec - 1568 watts
5 sec - 1391 watts
10 sec - 1323 watts
20 sec - 1153 watts
30 sec - 947 watts
1 min - 651 watts
5 min - 434 watts
10 min - 404 watts
20 min - 391 watts
30 min - 373 watts
1 hr - 333 watts
2 hr - 301 watts
3hr - 280 watts

My goal next year is to get my 20 minute power into the 420 watt range since I'm going to concentrate on TT's more than road racing, and do a little MTB racing on the side as well.


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## BIGGNICK

Damn those are awesome numbers. At first I thought the sprint was the impressive ne, but those 5 minute and 20 minute outputs ae fast as hell!!


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## eddya

These numbers don't mean much for comparison purposes unless you also specify your weight. It's power per unit of bodymass that's of interest here.


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## Dream Plus

Unless you're talking about a flat TT. Then, they'd be pretty interesting numbers.



eddya said:


> These numbers don't mean much for comparison purposes unless you also specify your weight. It's power per unit of bodymass that's of interest here.


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## spade2you

How much ya bench?


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## den bakker

Dream Plus said:


> Unless you're talking about a flat TT. Then, they'd be pretty interesting numbers.


if we knew the frontal area


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## ::dyslexic::

So how big is your dick?


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## tomk96

last friday my powertap, well actually the software said i had max watts of 7973. that was during a 30 second sprint on my trainer.

my weight is about 163ish, so thats 107.71 watts/kg.

fyi, the powertap head unit only displayed 1999 for max watts.


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## Andrea138

I'll brag a little 
1 sec: 929
5 sec: 843
30 sec: 556
1 min: 439
5min: 306
20min: 265 

63.2 kg


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## muscleendurance

*New Thread: everything you wanted to know about RBR members but were afraid to ask..*

5 sec: 900w
1 min: 475w
5 min: 335w
20min: 310w
1hr : 295w

66kg


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## AdamM

Just to put things in a real world context, here are the average power numbers from Dan Schmatz that he generated winning the Gateway Cup Pro overall including three of the four races this year:

Friday 246 watts, 149 hr
Saturday 227 watts, 139 hr
Sunday 236 watts, 145 hr
Monday 220 watts, 144 hr 

http://stlbiking.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19364&st=0

Generating big wattage is fun for bragging, but it seems to me races are mostly won by smart riding and unfortunately that's not something most folks spend much time working on.


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## Wookiebiker

AdamM said:


> Just to put things in a real world context, here are the average power numbers from Dan Schmatz that he generated winning the Gateway Cup Pro overall including three of the four races this year:
> 
> Friday 246 watts, 149 hr
> Saturday 227 watts, 139 hr
> Sunday 236 watts, 145 hr
> Monday 220 watts, 144 hr
> 
> http://stlbiking.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19364&st=0
> 
> Generating big wattage is fun for bragging, but it seems to me races are mostly won by smart riding and unfortunately that's not something most folks spend much time working on.


Actually, that just shows the power of drafting :idea: and are average not peak power outputs.

Most road races I compete in my average wattage is usually in the 240 - 260 watt range, because I spend a lot of time drafting other riders, thus saving energy for when it's needed. However if a riders peak output is only 246 watts...they are not going to win any races...well, maybe kiddie races.

To win a race, you need to be able to generate large wattage outputs at the "Right" times, which does require some racing knowlede...but if you can't put out those high numbers, chances are you're not going to be able to hold the wheel when the pack takes off...and you are off the back rather quickly and out of the race.


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## MR_GRUMPY

Partial figures
These are from a Computrainer test I took a year ago.

Cat: Old Master

Peak power: 1340w
20 min : 280w

not so good for solo escapes. not so good for TT's. good for sitting in until sometin' happens.


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## chase196126

I'll toot my own horn  

Cat: 1 (soon to move up :thumbsup: )
Weight: 67 kilos

1 sec: 1450
5 sec: 1309
20 sec: 972
1 min: 638 
2 min: 522
5 min: 490
10 min: 430
20 min: 400
30 min: 383
hour: 370 

Hope to improve even more next year!


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## gormleyflyer2002

*dream game*

i dont have a PT.....tried my friends wheel on a tour we did once. I was pretty sore and tired, I have no idea how or what these numbers suggest. I would like to try it again when I'm feeling a little fresher.



Entire workout (257 watts):
Duration: 3:15:21 (3:45:23)
Work: 3016 kJ
TSS: 356.4 (intensity factor 1.046)
Norm Power: 330
VI: 1.28
Distance: 105.249 km
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1534 257 watts
Heart Rate: 73 109 83 bpm
Speed: 3.6 64.9 32.5 kph
*Peak 5s (1416 watts):*
*Peak 10s (1286 watts):**
Peak 20s (976 watts):*
*Peak 30s (792 watts)*[/B]
*Peak 1min (548 watts):
Peak 2min (472 watts):
Peak 5min (413 watts):
Peak 10min (355 watts):
Peak 20min (329 watts):
Peak 30min (314 watts):
Peak 60min (284 watts):*


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## Zipp0

39 Year Old Cat 5, soon to be 4

Weight: Currently fat by cycling standards

10 second power - pretty high, for 5 seconds
1 minute power - enough to stay in a breakaway.... for 30 seconds
5 minute power - garbage
20 minute power - who can turn the cranks for 20 minutes?

On the plus side, can only go up from here.


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## eddya

chase196126: Holy mackerel, with that weight and those numbers you are up there with Grand Tour riders. How long have you been training for?


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## muscleendurance

eddya said:


> chase196126: Holy mackerel, with that weight and those numbers you are up there with Grand Tour riders. How long have you been training for?


steady on there more like a div 1 Pro..


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## spade2you

muscleendurance said:


> steady on there more like a div 1 Pro..


....and listed as a "recreational rider" in the profile.


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## muscleendurance

Anyone know FOR SURE how the cyclingpeaks style software measures the 20min -60efforts? Does it search that particular file and find the highest numbers and then average them all based on the 20min selection (in other words does it line all your samples up from highest to lowest and then aversage them based on the length of sample you want to show 'peak power' for?


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## estone2

muscleendurance said:


> steady on there more like a div 1 Pro..


wtf is a div 1 pro?  

i know quite a few Cat1's with numbers like that.


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## Guest

1sec: 1423 w/kg: 20.04
5 sec: 1365 w/kg: 19.22
10 sec: 1249
20 sec: 1024
30 sec: 902
1 min: 709 w/kg: 10
5 min: 464 w/kg 6.5
10 min: 400
20 min: 369 w/kg: 5.2
1 hour: 327 w/kg: 4.6 (really hard for me to commit to a full one hour test, so I don't have a good number for this)

I weight from 70-72 kg throughout the season, depending on how lazy I get with me diet and I'm a cat 2, though I set most of these numbers earlier in the year when I was a 3, and the sprint numbers were from last season when I was a 5. This season my sprint numbers are down about 4-5% because I've been focusing on threshold stuff. Got my Vo2 tested last year and I was in the low 70s from what I remember.

Edit: Opps, 5 min is actually 434, i was looking at a different number. Comes out to 6.11 w/kg


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## kb1dqh

I'm a NorCal cat 4 rider, 156 ibs:

5 sec: 1249
1 min: 706
5 min: 397
20 min: 322
1 hour: drops off to under 300. 29x?

My bread and butter, if I can make it to the end, is a short finishing climb...


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## chase196126

I changed up my profile, now it says racer :thumbsup: 

Vo2 measured about 2 weeks ago was 83 ml/kg/min at altitude, with a VO2 wattage of 500. 

This past season was my 3rd year racing, I started when I was 16. I will be racing with a pro team next season and hopefully I will be able to make it to the protour level someday  .


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## Wookiebiker

muscleendurance said:


> Anyone know FOR SURE how the cyclingpeaks style software measures the 20min -60efforts? Does it search that particular file and find the highest numbers and then average them all based on the 20min selection (in other words does it line all your samples up from highest to lowest and then aversage them based on the length of sample you want to show 'peak power' for?


It takes your highest 20 minute (or 1, 5, 10, 30, 60 minute) continuous power output...where ever that takes place during your ride.


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## Wookiebiker

chase196126 said:


> I changed up my profile, now it says racer :thumbsup:
> 
> Vo2 measured about 2 weeks ago was 83 ml/kg/min at altitude, with a VO2 wattage of 500.
> 
> This past season was my 3rd year racing, I started when I was 16. I will be racing with a pro team next season and hopefully I will be able to make it to the protour level someday  .


Impressive numbers...Keep at it and good luck on the pro level next year. At 19 (I'm guessing by your posts) you have a lot of room to keep improving and who knows...We might see you in Europe before too long 

I see a lot of and have raced against some of the Land Rover/ORBEA guys...looks like a tough life, but if you love it that's a good thing


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## chase196126

I got to race a bit as an amateur in France this summer, and it was a blast! There is nothing like racing in a Paris nocturn, around a 1.2 K course with 120 other people. Winning a race there was also a truly interesting experience. Spectators actually care about you when you are up on the podium, rather than just clearing out as soon as the race ends. 

I'll be racing in Europe again for sure next season, but we will see how well I can do on cobbled roads. Racing over some very well maintained Pave in a town square was scary enough for me, i cant imagine racing on the Belgian stones...


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## Wookiebiker

chase196126 said:


> I got to race a bit as an amateur in France this summer, and it was a blast! There is nothing like racing in a Paris nocturn, around a 1.2 K course with 120 other people. Winning a race there was also a truly interesting experience. Spectators actually care about you when you are up on the podium, rather than just clearing out as soon as the race ends.
> 
> I'll be racing in Europe again for sure next season, but we will see how well I can do on cobbled roads. Racing over some very well maintained Pave in a town square was scary enough for me, i cant imagine racing on the Belgian stones...


Awesome :thumbsup: Follow the dream while you can, you never know where it will take you. We have some really good junior racers here...well, technically juniors but in reality about where you are I'd guess...who have raced in Europe on the cobbles  Sounds like fun, but at the same time....a whole lot of work.

I'm a geezer by cycling standards (38 years old)...so there are no aspirations for me going anywhere beyond a CAT 3, no use really. At your age, I didn't even realize there was such a thing as "Professional Cycling"...LOL.

Good luck with your career, hope you have a great year next year since it will be your first being paid...if you can call it that...to do it


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## iliveonnitro

chase196126 said:


> Cat: 1 (soon to move up :thumbsup: )


Congrats, dude! For who?


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## Undecided

estone2 said:


> wtf is a div 1 pro?


Before the tiers of UCI trade team registration were broken up as ProTour/Pro Continental/Continental, they were split into divisions (tiers) I, II and III.


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## muscleendurance

Undecided said:


> Before the tiers of UCI trade team registration were broken up as ProTour/Pro Continental/Continental, they were split into divisions (tiers) I, II and III.


ok then I meant Div II or III Pro , definately not Protour level anyways.


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## muscleendurance

*important info on your 20sec, 1min 20min, 1hr power.*



Wookiebiker said:


> It takes your highest 20 minute (or 1, 5, 10, 30, 60 minute) continuous power output...where ever that takes place during your ride.


deffinately only a continious effort? I find it VERY hard to believe that people ride for 2hrs non stop! without getting a 0w, so Im pretty sure it looks for all your samples which were the highest and averages all the ones which were the highest for whatever interval you want to show..say 20min, the point being its not a real average and is inflating your/their watts


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## Dream Plus

muscleendurance said:


> ok then I meant Div II or III Pro , definately not Protour level anyways.


Almost 5w/Kg NP for 3 hrs?!!! 
1.28 VI. Lots of variability in that file. Would like to see the NP for 1 hr. Either way. There are probably hundreds of riders with those kind of numbers going by avg but still pretty good.


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## muscleendurance

Dream Plus said:


> Almost 5w/Kg NP for 3 hrs?!!!
> 1.28 VI. Lots of variability in that file. Would like to see the NP for 1 hr. Either way. There are probably hundreds of riders with those kind of numbers going by avg but still pretty good.


I gotta tell ya Im totally confused  

1) whos nbrs are you quoting there  
2) wtf  were talking about chase196126 nbrs!


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## Guest

muscleendurance said:


> deffinately only a continious effort? I find it VERY hard to believe that people ride for 2hrs non stop! without getting a 0w, so Im pretty sure it looks for all your samples which were the highest and averages all the ones which were the highest for whatever interval you want to show..say 20min, the point being its not a real average and is inflating your/their watts


No normalized power is the stress that your body would have had to endure if you had ridden a steady state power for the whole duration. For example, if you ride an hour crit, you may only end up with 200 average, but if you go out and do an hour TT for the same effort you would have to do 300 (just making up numbers here, but those would be close). Now the crit was just as hard as the TT, and that's what normalize power tries to put in perspective. It takes into account the surges and zeros and tries to tell you the steady state power you could have done for the same effort. 
Same idea with longer duration stuff, though the formula is only accurate for 5 min and up.
Continous only refers to a straight 20 min segment, but includes everything in that segment.


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## muscleendurance

jains89 said:


> No normalized power is the stress that your body would have had to endure if you had ridden a steady state power for the whole duration. For example, if you ride an hour crit, you may only end up with 200 average, but if you go out and do an hour TT for the same effort you would have to do 300 (just making up numbers here, but those would be close). Now the crit was just as hard as the TT, and that's what normalize power tries to put in perspective. It takes into account the surges and zeros and tries to tell you the steady state power you could have done for the same effort.
> Same idea with longer duration stuff, though the formula is only accurate for 5 min and up.
> Continous only refers to a straight 20 min segment, but includes everything in that segment.


that would all be fine but were not talking about NP here were talking averages.


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## stewie13

Average power is average power... average power over a certain time. If you ride for 2 hours and coast some that is taken into account. 

A bigger question is why do people care so much about power numbers? I personally would be much more interested in knowing people's results than power numbers. If someone has really good power numbers then they probably are getting good results and upgrading to a Cat 1. If they have these real good power numbers and they are a cat 1, then how are they doing in the races that people have heard of?


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## Wookiebiker

muscleendurance said:


> definitely only a continuous effort? I find it VERY hard to believe that people ride for 2hrs non stop! without getting a 0w, so I'm pretty sure it looks for all your samples which were the highest and averages all the ones which were the highest for whatever interval you want to show..say 20min, the point being its not a real average and is inflating your/their watts


Actually...I find it VERY easy to ride 2 hours non stop if I want to. When I go out and do 2x20's I can ride to the hill I do them on, complete them and ride back without stopping and that gives me a little under 2.5 hours of total ride time.

The hill I use for 2x20's is 6.5 miles long (averages around 3.25%), has no stops and turns into a dirt road at the top. I start at the bottom go hard to the top, turn around, go to the bottom, turn around and go back up...no stopping and it's usually a bit more than 20 minutes to complete.

Where I to TT or TTT practice I can ride for hours without stopping or even slowing down if I want to. It's a flat loop that is just under 13 miles in length and you can just keep doing lap after lap if you want.

It's not nearly as hard as you might think.

Also, don't forget races....where some of this data comes from. Riding 3 hours without stopping is pretty easy to do there  

However...You are correct to a point. It takes your top continuous average, which may include 0 watts at times when you are coasting or going down a hill. That of course will drop your overall power total though...so it's better to keep pedaling


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## dontheclysdale

So I thought I'd throw in my numbers just for the fun of it. I just started riding road bikes 2 months ago so I'm a complete noob BUT I've been mtn. biking for years. Anyways, I'm 6'3 235lbs and have a pair of powertap hubs on my road bike...

1sec 1,584
5sec 1,458
30sec 956
1min 595 
5min 333
10min 280
30min 229
60min 212
120min 157

I can explode through the hills, switchbacks, and technical sections on the mtn bike but as you can see my power numbers fall off on the longer road sessions.


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## muscleendurance

Wookiebiker said:


> Actually...I find it VERY easy to ride 2 hours non stop if I want to. When I go out and do 2x20's I can ride to the hill I do them on, complete them and ride back without stopping and that gives me a little under 2.5 hours of total ride time.
> 
> The hill I use for 2x20's is 6.5 miles long (averages around 3.25%), has no stops and turns into a dirt road at the top. I start at the bottom go hard to the top, turn around, go to the bottom, turn around and go back up...no stopping and it's usually a bit more than 20 minutes to complete.
> 
> Where I to TT or TTT practice I can ride for hours without stopping or even slowing down if I want to. It's a flat loop that is just under 13 miles in length and you can just keep doing lap after lap if you want.
> 
> It's not nearly as hard as you might think.
> 
> Also, don't forget races....where some of this data comes from. Riding 3 hours without stopping is pretty easy to do there
> 
> However...You are correct to a point. It takes your top continuous average, which may include 0 watts at times when you are coasting or going down a hill. That of course will drop your overall power total though...so it's better to keep pedaling


[/sarcasm [/semantics  :wink5:


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## Undecided

muscleendurance said:


> Im pretty sure it looks for all your samples which were the highest and averages all the ones which were the highest for whatever interval you want to show..say 20min, the point being its not a real average and is inflating your/their watts


I'm not sure what you mean. To say that a rider's mean maximal power for a duration in some ride, or in some season, was, for example, 300 watts for 20 minutes, means that of all the many (overlapping) blocks of 20 minutes, 300 watts was the highest power that the rider averaged during any one of those blocks. 

Suppose your power meter is recording a sample every second and you ride for two hours. You'll have 7,200 (60 x 120) samples. The mean maximal power for 20 minutes (or 1,200 samples) is not the average of the highest 1,200 samples among those 7,200 samples without regard to when they occur, but rather the highest average power for any continuous 1,200 samples (which may include zeros when you were coasting, but would also presumably include some samples that are far above that mean maximal power).


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## chase196126

iliveonnitro said:


> Congrats, dude! For who?


Im not sure if I can say who in a public forum at the moment. Hopefully the team will make an official announcement soon. 

I can say this for you specifically Nitro, one (if not 2..) of their riders goes to your school :thumbsup: .


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## aussiebullet

Numbers game ooh me play too!

5sec 930
30sec 595
1min 463
5min 372
10min 350
30min 297
60min 292
90min 292
120min 278

As you can see my 30-90min peak watts are close but that will change in good time. Oh l'm 66kg so proly part the reason my 5sec max is so dismal compared to lots of you guys and gals, that and the fact l don't spend much time working on it.


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## rainbowjersey

Not great at anything but good enough at everything.

48yo old male 
5s 1017w 17.2 w/kg
1m 555 9.4
5m 337 5.7
1h 285 4.8


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## danahs

male 30 210lb (screen cap from my ride yesterday)


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## Dream Plus

That looks like some new personal bests from abot 15sec - 2min. Were you racing?


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## mimason

Wookiebiker said:


> A bragging rights thread....oh such fun
> 
> Here are my numbers from this year. I'm a CAT 3 racer who concentrates mostly on TT's, but have a descent sprint. Also, take into account I'm a larger rider (190 in race shape) so my numbers are not as high when you take a w/kg aspect to power.
> 
> Most of these numbers are taken either from races or group rides and I've never done a full on 30 sec, 1 min, 5 min, 10 min, etc...interval to find my actual max. The closest was probably during my 20 minute power number since that was an all out climb...but was actually longer than 20 minutes...I held 390 watts for 22:30 on that effort.
> 
> 1 sec - 1568 watts
> 5 sec - 1391 watts
> 10 sec - 1323 watts
> 20 sec - 1153 watts
> 30 sec - 947 watts
> 1 min - 651 watts
> 5 min - 434 watts
> 10 min - 404 watts
> 20 min - 391 watts
> 30 min - 373 watts
> 1 hr - 333 watts
> 2 hr - 301 watts
> 3hr - 280 watts
> 
> My goal next year is to get my 20 minute power into the 420 watt range since I'm going to concentrate on TT's more than road racing, and do a little MTB racing on the side as well.



Ok, Gotta question for you since I don't have a power meter. I can do a 15k TT in 20 minutes. So does this mean I'm pushing 400 watts avg.? I suspect it also depends on weight, right?


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## OldZaskar

Have you seen this site - http://cyclingpowerdata.com/ they're building a site - a brand agnostic site (not a company/brand owned site) to let cyclists compare/track/discuss power data. As I understand it, the site will soon (if not yet) allow the user to specify age, weight, zip code and other criteria to help establish a more relevant set of data.


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## upstateSC-rider

Cat4/Masters. The only numbers I remember seeing this past year are...
5 sec = 1433W
20 min = 330W


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## Cyclist123

chase196126 said:


> I'll toot my own horn
> 
> Cat: 1 (soon to move up 👍 )
> Weight: 67 kilos
> 
> 1 sec: 1450
> 5 sec: 1309
> 20 sec: 972
> 1 min: 638
> 2 min: 522
> 5 min: 490
> 10 min: 430
> 20 min: 400
> 30 min: 383
> hour: 370
> 
> Hope to improve even more next year!


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## Cyclist123

Bro those are some awesome numbers for 67 kgs


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## Cyclist123

Here's mine

1 sec 1845W
5sec 1763W
10sec 1654W
30sec 1130W
1min 836W
5min 507W
20min 426W
1hour 401W

For 76kg as a junior 1


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## Kerry Irons

Cyclist123 said:


> Here's mine
> 
> 1 sec 1845W
> 5sec 1763W
> 10sec 1654W
> 30sec 1130W
> 1min 836W
> 5min 507W
> 20min 426W
> 1hour 401W
> 
> For 76kg as a junior 1


 I'm sure those posting in this thread 12 years ago are highly interested in your numbers. Or not. At any rate, those of us in the "age enhanced" category can definitely state that over the past 12 years, our numbers have gone down.


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## aussiebullet

aussiebullet said:


> Numbers game ooh me play too!
> 
> 5sec 930
> 30sec 595
> 1min 463
> 5min 372
> 10min 350
> 30min 297
> 60min 292
> 90min 292
> 120min 278
> 
> As you can see my 30-90min peak watts are close but that will change in good time. Oh l'm 66kg so proly part the reason my 5sec max is so dismal compared to lots of you guys and gals, that and the fact l don't spend much time working on it.


Saw this thread was resurrected so 12 years on update
peak 1427
5's 1323
30's 997
1min 660

The rest is the same as last post more or less, but I'm 75kg, 45yrs old now and haven't raced in 4 years.
Looking forward to things getting back to normal here in Aus after all the relentless lockdowns and restrictions over the last 2 years,
It will take a while for clubs to rebuild comities and get decent racing schedules back on the calendar,
and we are along way off knowing what the future Corona mutations might mean for racing and large crowds!
It could improve or things could go even more pear shaped than they already have... the fear of the unknown!


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