Tour of Elk Grove – Stage 2 Power and Heartrate

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Summary for the weekend: 15th place (Stage 1), 18th place (Stage 2), 17th place overall for the GC. The top 8 places on GC were people who had gotten any time bonuses at all for either stage and then the rest of us were tied for time so they broke the ties by adding your placings together from the two days.

Stage 2 was an 80k criterium (50 miles) on a longish course (1.7 miles) with a sharp 180 degree turn at one end, and yet we still averaged close to 27.5 mph for the race just like Saturday’s race. Saturday’s race (stage 1) was also 80k, but was run on a longer version of the same course by extending our route on Elk Grove Blvd before making a 180 degree turn at a different intersection.

I was much more active in this race considering how fresh I felt at the end of Saturday’s race, and nearly grabbed a $200 prime. I was also in several failed breaks, including one that lasted for a lap and a half or so. I fought hard for good position at the end of the race, attacking up the side anytime I moved back farther than the top 10. Unfortunately, I ran out of water with 4 laps (6.8 miles) to go and I had been rationing water even before running out. I was fine until the last lap when I started to cramp. I had to coast at a couple critical moments and try to relax as best as I could and that cost me a few places. Still, the cramp never fully materialized so I was able to ramp it up for the sprint. I had a bit of a lucky break as a rider nearly fell about 10 riders in front of me when he somehow unclipped from both pedals and was sitting on his top bar. Everybody (including me) thought he was going to go down and most people went around him on the left but this opened a clear shot at the line for me by passing him on the right and I was able to take back 5-10 spots to put me into the top 20 for the sprint.

Here is my power and heartrate data for the second stage of the two-stage race.

2008 Tour of Elk Grove, Stage 2
2008 Tour of Elk Grove, Stage 2
  1. First prime that I went for – a time bonus sprint where I got 5th. I was also recovered enough to go with a break that launched itself after the sprint, but we only survived half a lap
  2. First of three break attempts, either initiated or bridged to
  3. Second of three break attempts
  4. Third of three break attempts – the $500 half-race prime – went with a counter move that lasted a little less than a lap
  5. This is the $200 prime I almost got. Attacked before the first of the four finishing corners to bridge to two guys already up the road. I caught them with 500 meters to go and blew right by them as they eyed each other. Unfortunately, Luke Servedio (Krystal) had also attacked the peloton in the finishing straight (after all the corners) so he was fresh enough to catch me 50 meters from the line. So close!
  6. The finishing laps

And here is the graph for the last lap. Check out the average power for the last lap: 414 watts for 3.5 minutes with an average speed of 29 and a max speed of 39.3 on this table-top flat course.

2008 Tour of Elk Grove, Stage 2 - Last Lap
2008 Tour of Elk Grove, Stage 2 – Last Lap
  1. The 180 degree turn near the beginning of the last lap
  2. The first of the four finishing corners
  3. The second corner
  4. The third corner
  5. The fourth corner
  6. Coasting for a second and deciding which way to go around the guy who looked like he was about to fall

Finally, here are the power and heart rate summary statistics for the race.

Duration 1:49:40
Sampling Rate 5 s
Cycling Efficiency 25.8 %

Energy Expenditure 755 kcal
Minimum Heart Rate 109 bpm
Average Heart Rate 163 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate 188 bpm
Standard Deviation 9.4 bpm

Minimum Speed 8.5 mph
Average Speed 27.3 mph
Maximum Speed 39.3 mph
Distance 49.8 miles
Odometer 1855 miles

Minimum Cadence 31 rpm
Average Cadence 87 rpm
Maximum Cadence 118 rpm
Coasting Time 0:04:15 (3.9 %)
Coasting Distance 1.5 miles (3.0 %)

Minimum Altitude 522 ft
Average Altitude 558 ft
Maximum Altitude 587 ft
Ascent 33 ft
VAM 18 ft/h

Minimum Power 13 Watts
Average Power 309 Watts
Average Power (0 W incl.) 289 Watts
Maximum Power 891 Watts
Pedaling Index Average 19 %
Pedaling Index Maximum 89 %
Left Right Balance Average L53 – 47R Left – Right
Left Right Balance Maximum L92 – 8R Left – Right

Comments

3 responses to “Tour of Elk Grove – Stage 2 Power and Heartrate”

  1. […] the full details with power/heartrate data on my personal blog: Stage 1, Stage […]

  2. johnkcoyle Avatar
    johnkcoyle

    Fascinating – I’ve never owned a power meter so I’ve had to guess watts based on my trainer and what others report. I assume Day 1 Watts were similar?

    What is interesting to me is how average Watts can become so high through interval work via corners, the draft etc. I suppose in a time trial the same method of interval work is less efficient than just cranking out a steady pace… I can only sustain about 250 watts steadily, but can average over 300 during a race due to the intervals…

    -John

    PS: I saw you almost get the $500 prime – man that was a nice move – thought for sure you were going to get it

  3. kartoone Avatar
    kartoone

    Thanks John. Day 1 wattage was similar, but I was a little more conservative and with the longer course you don’t see as many power spikes representing the hard accelerations coming out of the corners or attacking. I actually posted it in an older post that has scrolled off the home page. Here’s the direct link: http://toonecycling.wordpress.com/2008/08/03/tour-of-elk-grove-12-stage-1-powerheartrate-data/

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