Dave Zabriskie is one of the fastest time trialists in the World. Here is video filmed from the Team CSC service car of the Tour de France Prologue 2006:

Dave Zabriskie video

Comments

The Power Meter Project 2007 started this week with a couple of critical power tests. Before we can publish the results, you can enjoy reading some of the older articles about power meter training:

Studies about power output
If you want scientific data about power output then look at the results of study of the agreement between Polar and SRM or jump to the analyses of power output during stage race.

Cycling training with power meter
If you are considering how to train with a SRM or Power Tap, have a look at one of these posts:
Introduction to training with a power meter or How to improve performance with power meter training

Comments

Today is the first day in the Power Meter Project 2007. The next 12 weeks are dedicated for wattage controlled intervals for the 6 participants. This week the riders will perform four critical power tests that will be used in the calculation of intervals. These tests will be repeated in week 6 and 12, and used as an objective evaluation of their progress.

Critical power tests in week 1
The riders will do critical power tests at 5 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes and 20 minutes. These tests are done to get a picture of their respective sprinting power, anaerobic endurance power, VO2 max and threshold power. These parameters can be trained selectively with a power meter if you know how to do it. I will make the training programs based on their personal goals in combination with the test results.

Predictions for the Power Meter Project

I hope that this project will help the riders to a better understanding of their potentials as riders. Wattage controlled training programs are in my opinion the best way to control training intensity. Also it is a perfect way to train for specific physiological qualities, e.g. anaerobic endurance.

I predict that all the riders will make progress compared to the four tests performed in week 1. I have three reasons for this. These reasons should be considered when you evaluate the project:

1. Motivation - I guess that a part of the predicted progress can be explained by motivation. A motivated rider trains harder and makes better results than a non-motivated rider.
2. Structure – I don’t know how the participants’ training structure were before this project, but it is not uncommon that getting a little structure on the training program (or just having a training program) improves performance.
3. Wattage – Power meter training helps the riders to train at the right intensity. Training at the right intensity does a difference and will significantly improve performance.

Comments (2)