April 20, 2007
OK, let’s browse the Web again. Cycling and power.
A great place to start… Machinehead Software. Power calculator is here but there’s lots of great stuff.
This looks interesting… a running-based anaerobic sprint test... not exactly cycling but interesting, and a useful way to calculate power over a 35m run… annoying yellow advert takes the eye, too. Uuuugh. Aaahh but it links to this Wingate test… all is not lost. Not a bad site, actually, full of info. Like this chart on “Percentile norms for Relative Peak Power for active young adults” – especially interesting, if you happen to have a power meter handy! An average sort of club racer, IMHO, would fall into the 90th percentile, surely? Having said that I’m neither young nor average (who is?) and I go right off the scale… remembering this is PEAK power, not sustained… and I’m not particularly overweight (nor skinny).
| Male | Female | |
| %Rank | Watts.Kg | Watts.Kg |
| 90 | 10.89 | 9.02 |
| 80 | 10.39 | 8.83 |
| 70 | 10.20 | 8.53 |
| 60 | 9.80 | 8.14 |
| 50 | 9.22 | 7.65 |
| 40 | 8.92 | 6.96 |
| 30 | 8.53 | 6.86 |
| 20 | 8.24 | 6.57 |
| 10 | 7.06 | 5.98 |
Maud, P.J., and Schultz B.B: 1989
And this…“Percentile norms for Peak Power for active young adults” is :
| Male | Female | |
| %Rank | Watts | Watts |
| 90 | 822 | 560 |
| 80 | 777 | 527 |
| 70 | 757 | 505 |
| 60 | 721 | 480 |
| 50 | 689 | 449 |
| 40 | 671 | 432 |
| 30 | 656 | 399 |
| 20 | 618 | 376 |
| 10 | 570 | 353 |
Maud, P.J., and Schultz B.B: 1989
Looks like they surveyed some pretty average active people… perhaps non cyclists?
How about the Human Powered Vehicle association? Or look at this technical exercise in analysing the forces at work on a bike. Or this interesting exercise by FLAcyclist in comparing the power required to overcome a hilly bike course vs a less hilly but longer one… and Analytic Cycling is a treasure trove that will have you staring at the computer for hours… STOP IT! Go outside and ride!
Still here? Ok, how about Aerodynamics for cycling? If you are getting into the maths, try this Human Power eJournal for size. And last but not least the informative guys at CyclingPeaks software discuss reading and comparing power outputs at different durations.
