Didn't win but don't care

After yesterday's ride, I was feeling really confident and had only one goal: an average power of 260 watts. I didn't care if I was in last place as long as I got that power. That also meant that I might have to sacrifice my first place finish in order to keep the pace high.

Right from the start, we were pushing the pace. It was Rob, Mike, and I pushing the pace. No, let me correct that: it was me pushing the pace with Rob and Mike drafting me. That's pretty much how it was for the first 40 minutes. Then Mike dropped off the group. For the next hour, it was just Rob drafting me.

A few times Rob took a pull, but my power was dropping in his draft, so I had to stay on the fron almost the whole time. Keeping my average power high, I didn't have a lot extra to drop Rob.

On the final climb, just 400 feet long but at 7.5%, Rob sprinted by me and beat me by about 18 seconds. I just maintained a steady pace into the finish, quite happy to see my average power: 263 watts, which I maintained for 1:43:46. We even beat the group in the other bank by about 3 minutes.

I've gotten a few questions from people about wattage and how that translates to speed. The short answer is: it doesn't directly, and that's why we use it. Power is an absolute measure of how much force I'm putting out on the bike. 250 watts could be 24 mph on flat road but only 10 mph on a sleep climb or 45 mph on a steep descent. All of this is ignoring wind, of course where 250 watts on flat road could be 28 mph with a tail wind and 21 mph into a head wind.

Below are examples on relatively flat roads from my training records last year:

• Blueberry Time Trial, Avg Speed: 23.08 mph, Avg Power 222 watts
• 42K on West River Drive: Avg Speed 23.4 mph, Avg Power 232 watts
  
• West River Drive Time Trial, Avg Speed 24 mph, Avg Power 241 watts
• One-way on West Rover Drive, Avg Speed 25.7 mph Avg Power 256 watts
• 5 minute power test, Avg Speed 26.4 mph, Avg Power 299 watts

There's also a bit of a difference between the Computrainer and riding outdoors. My Powertap usually reads 8 to 10% lower than the Computrainer, but sometimes it reads the same or higher. Whether that's actually a difference in accuracy/calibration or just a difference in the way the Powertap reads the trainer vs. the road, I don't know.

So what's next? Maybe I will hit 270 watts before I start serious speed work for the spring. I only have a couple more weeks, but it is a definite possibility.