The author in the 2008 Tour of Ireland
By former pro Stephen Gallagher, director www.formecoaching.com
As a coach and a rider I fully understand the importance of the science of training and the necessity to concentrate on your functional threshold power (FTP), Vo2max, and sprint etc. How this directly impacts on your fitness, and in turn enables you to gain results and performances in races can never be underestimated.
BIG REVELATION: Through experience in racing and coaching I can see there is not a solid correlation between a high pwr/kg ratio (power to weight) and the position you finish in a race compared to another cyclist with a less pwr/kg ratio.
To help explain what I mean, I have many examples of power files from riders in the same race who all have different pwr/kg ratio. What you would normally think is that the strongest rider wins or finishes in front? I.e. the riders with the highest pwr/kg ratio, WRONG!
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Having access to many riders’ files puts me in a unique position to be able to analyse training data from races. I have seen riders with a pwr/kg ratio of 5.10 watts per kilo (this number is derived from dividing their weight by their threshold power) on two separate occasions finish mid pack behind a rider who has either finished in the lead group or won the race with a ratio of 4.66 watts per kilo. You may say this is luck, but this is just one of many examples where I have seen riders in the same race finish in very different positions but who have similar pwr/kg ratios.
So what does this mean?
Well, it proves that there is a lot more to road racing than just science and watts. This is not a key indicator as to what position you will finish in a race. What is important to take into consideration are individual external and internal factors that influence ability and performance when racing.
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External and Internal Factors...what might they be?
These factors include having the experience to make the right tactical decisions and having the ability to cope with the psychology of a race situation. Being put under pressure, nerves, fear... all of these factors can influence how your race performance can unfold.
How often do we spend training our physical ability? Every day? Perhaps up to seven times a week on the bike? How frequently do we work on the other internal factors that have as much influence on our performance? Not too often I would suspect.
Everyone’s level of experience and ability to ‘read a race’ is vastly different, as is each individual’s mental ability to make decisions while under physical and mental stress. So you need to know your own mind.
Do you need to start training it to think differently? Are you mentally focused in every race? Do you believe and have the desire to achieve the results you want?
Open your mind to the many other variables that directly influence your performance and start the process of training to find out the best method for you to improve this.
Every detail counts.
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