Cycling Training Tips

Helping a climber to develop an aerobic engine

Here are the test results from Thomas Davis, who started on the Power Meter Project last week. Unfortunately, due to vacation, he starts a couple of weeks later than the rest of the participants.

Critical Power Tests5sec1min5min20minBody Weight
Week 1 (Watt)875W362W232W174W 55.3kg/122lbs
Week 1 (Watt/kg)15.8W/kg 6.6W/kg4.20W/kg 3,15W/kg 

Comments from Jesper Therkildsen: Thomas is a very light rider, which explains why his performance seems low compared to some of the other riders in the project. But when you look at the watts per kilogram, you will realize that he is a solid and powerful rider.

His training program for the next month will be 13 to 17 hours of weekly training, focusing on building a large aerobic engine.

Thomas has impressive sprint power compared to his low body weight, but I guess the absolute power is too low to win a bunch of sprints but strong enough to have a chance in smaller groups or steep climb sprints.

Thus, he will have to improve his VO2 max and threshold power to make him able to make winning moves (or reduce the group’s size) before he gets to the final sprint.

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