Mortal here. Started Olympic tri training in January, ramp test 157, weight 204lb, I was completely untrained off the couch. I do have a history of training, but took a year or so off during covid while completing college. Currently at 185lb, AIFTP of 203 in mid may, have another test coming up in early July.
So I went from 1.7 to 2.4 w/kg on two rides a week. Pretty happy with that so far.
“Comparison is the thief of joy” - or something like that
We’re all chasing something. Be that speed, weight loss, a PR, the meditation of a solo ride on a beautiful day, the comradery of a coffee shop ride, or whatever else might get you out there.
Don’t compare to others if it demotivates you - find your own joy on the bike!
I’m in the 3.3 w/kg range depending on my donut consumption. But I’ve done some gravel races recently where I been crushed in my age category. But last one even though I finished way down I set all sorts of power number PRs. So I just keep training and see what happens
Started with an 1.7w/kg in feb '22 and am now slowly reaching 2.7w/kg. I’ve been doing the Climbing Road Race High Volume though, but will now start the Criterium Build phase 1, before going on planed vacations.
50+ yo mortal here - at 3.0w/kg and have been for some time (well, since I started measuring it a few years ago).
Main issue is the 90kg (198lb) of weight which sees me getting slowly dropped on hills in D-Grade by riders who may (or may not) be lighter. On the plus side I plummet down the descents and easily catch up
Slowly trying to shave that weight down to around 80kg (176lb).
I back calculated my FTP and watts/kg from when I was 25 years old (30 years ago now). We used to do this fondo / fun ride up a mountain. It takes about an hour if you are decently fast. My time was an hour on the dot. Using the profile of the mountain, my time and weight, I come up with a 300-320 ftp and 4 watts/kg on the dot. Back then, that made me a decent cat 4 racer on the cusp of cat 3.
Fast forward 30 years and my FTP has been around 230-250 and my watts/kg around 2.7. With that wattage I can hang in group rides with some heavy hitters but I’m never got to dominate them. Unless you are climbing mountains, pure watts helps more than watts per kg.
In any case, I don’t give a crap about other people numbers. Some people are young, some are genetically gifted, and some are both.
Thanks for posting this. I am your buddy at around 3.4 wkgs. Mid-pack, just riding for fun at this point. The training program keeps me focused and committed.
This thread is fantastic! Thanks everyone! I’m glad there is a lot more of us on here than first meets the eye. I guess there is a tenancy to be a bit quieter in the posts when they are mostly filled with super fast people (at least for me).
FTP is really overstated. It’s a great way to set training targets, but repeatability and race tactics are 10x more important. I have an FTP of 340, and about 4.1 w/kg. Yeah it’s maybe impressive to tell people that, but I am just horrible at utilizing that power. I really struggle to ride at a high IF for any extended period, and I blow up really easily. I’m pretty new to racing, having only done one gravel race and one xc mtb race, so hopefully that improves. But I get absolutely tooled by smarter racers!
There is definitely something to be said about being able to race smart. I think gaining experience by racing even if that means blowing up helps. Even at small gravel races I always see teams and/or friends of 2-4 people who show up with a plan to work together. It makes it harder if you’re solo as you need to find that group. And I’ve find with many small gravel races they just do a mass start so you need to really start near the front or else the race will be over quickly when you’re stuck behind people just riding strictly for fun. One race I did actually split it up by asking who was racing and who was just riding for fun. So they let the racers go first which I thought was a good idea