Bike test - in aero or sitting up?
When you bike test, do you sit up or stay aero?
I make more watts sitting up but of course we race aero. So do I test like I race or sit up so that I can make a big number to impress strangers?
0
When you bike test, do you sit up or stay aero?
I make more watts sitting up but of course we race aero. So do I test like I race or sit up so that I can make a big number to impress strangers?
Comments
Test the way you're gonna *train*. EG, in the OS, on the trainer, I am on the horns more than the aerobars, so I test on the trainer working as hard as I can, meaning mostly sitting up on my TT bike.
Within the race build, last 12 weeks before an A race, I want to be spending 90+% of my time in the aerobars on the road, so that's how I test. (The other 10%, I am on the trainer doing an interval set each week for maybe 20-40 minutes of work time). In truth, though, I don't test much if at all in those last 12 weeks. In truth, I'm more interested in getting better and better at holding steady watts for hours on end, be it 80% for two hours, 75% for 3-4, or 70% for 5, than I am in increasing my FTP.
Take a look at this thread...there is even a link to another prior thread...same question.
http://members.endurancenation.us/Forums/tabid/57/aft/15590/Default.aspx
When I asked this a while back, the answer I got from most people (esp vets and several strong/fast cyclists) was that they do whatever they can to get as much power as possible for the test.
I've found that even though I could not hold my FTP (tested sitting up) in aero position, I can hold 0.8 or 0.7IF based off that same FTP, in aero position. I look at it like, "I can get enough blood flow to my legs in aero position to maintain a lower level of effort (70-80% for example), but I could not maintain 1.0 IF in aero position for very long".
My $0.02.
Given my other priorities, if I am going to test next tuesday, it will be on the trainer in the dark. I think that for me for this test, Im just gonna go for it on the trainer. And if the results are a little low relative to outside, then fine. I have only done 2 IM's but I did not find myself at mile 20 of either of them wishing I had biked a little harder.