A little moisture made Firetower Road easier to ride this year, but the dirt and wind were still more than I could handle. My power output was much higher than last year, but evidently so was everyone else's.
Here's some 2007-2008 comparison data for those who are interested. This is for the Competitive 35 and under field (I weigh 149 lbs):
My NP for the first 45 minutes of the race in 2007 was 224 watts; in 2008 it was 270 watts. My NP for last 8 minutes prior to losing the group in 2007 was 204 watts (remarkably low, even considering that my FTP was only 235 or 240 at the time). In 2008 my NP for the last 8 minutes before catching the autobus was 301 watts, which makes more sense - that's about 15 watts above my current FTP. I can only hold 4.44 watts/kg for a while before popping.
The climbs were tougher this year, too. Here are my average power numbers (with watts/kg) for the two short climbs on the front part of the course for the first two laps (L is lap, C is climb):
---------L1/C1------- L1/C2--------L2/C1--------L2/C2
2007---298(4.4)-----378(5.6)----233(3.4)-----307(4.5)
2008---371(5.5)-----376(5.6)----347(5.1)------362(5.3)
1 Comment:
So I take it you had a similar result to last year despite the power improvements? That's discouraging. But it is early in the season.
I'm also bringing a higher FTP into this season as a Cat4, and I'm hoping to upgrade by season's end. Lets hope that those early season all-stars fade out as we come into form!
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