3 ms·

1.2 horsepower for a minute is a damn fine effort. A college friend of mine is a domestic pro. Last I heard his max power was 1100 watts and his 30 second pow

1.2 horsepower for a minute is a damn fine effort. A college friend of mine is a domestic pro. Last I heard his max power was 1100 watts and his 30 second power was 1050 watts. One horsepower is 732 watts so 1.2 * 732 = 878 which is an entirely reasonable number for a 60 second power test. Also remember that drag goes with the speed squared, so getting a cyclist who is 20% more powerful might cause less than a 10% increase in speed, especially considering that the power of the cyclist may not be the limiting factor but instead the ergonomics of the vehicle, getting the run exactly right (being at max speed over the right 200m rather than any 200m), or something else entirely.

darkmighty 11y ago
I guess he has also the advantage that he can train specifically for this kind of burst power. All his other projects were of this kind -- a minute or two of maximum possible power.
- msandford 11y ago
  It's actually a very specific power profile. It'll be 10-20 or so minutes of work for the actual run (at 30mph it's 2 minutes a mile and you'll spend plenty of time under 30), but perhaps with an hour or more surrounding. Some amount of warm up almost for sure possibly with some substantial efforts. The body has only a few kilojoules of oxygen debt that it can get into before the pain becomes too much and you're forced to slow down to stop the pain. It's important that you spend those kilojoules just right. So that means accelerating aerobically as long as possible, which is going to be a slow acceleration. You might not use all five miles, but I would wager a good portion of it. And using a power meter to ensure that the cyclist doesn't go anerobic before the critical portion is actually really smart (I don't know if they did this). The goal is to be doing 50-60mph aerobically (or whatever you can actually do) and then have a 30-60 second interval start at exactly the right point to lead to maximum speed over the 200m. But because the human body isn't as precise as our measurements, you'll never get it exactly right. Some days at the end of the 200m you'll say "I still had some legs left" and other days you'll start to fall apart before the start of the timed 200m.
  - msandford 11y ago
    A highly optimized pedaling plan might even include a coasting section with a strong focus on breathing after the initial aerobic acceleration but before the final effort. If your vehicle is slick enough you might only lose 0.5 to 1 mph but if you can trade that for flushing all the CO2 out of your system, that might be worth it.

darkmighty 11y ago

I guess he has also the advantage that he can train specifically for this kind of burst power. All his other projects were of this kind -- a minute or two of maximum possible power.

msandford 11y ago
It's actually a very specific power profile. It'll be 10-20 or so minutes of work for the actual run (at 30mph it's 2 minutes a mile and you'll spend plenty of time under 30), but perhaps with an hour or more surrounding. Some amount of warm up almost for sure possibly with some substantial efforts. The body has only a few kilojoules of oxygen debt that it can get into before the pain becomes too much and you're forced to slow down to stop the pain. It's important that you spend those kilojoules just right. So that means accelerating aerobically as long as possible, which is going to be a slow acceleration. You might not use all five miles, but I would wager a good portion of it. And using a power meter to ensure that the cyclist doesn't go anerobic before the critical portion is actually really smart (I don't know if they did this). The goal is to be doing 50-60mph aerobically (or whatever you can actually do) and then have a 30-60 second interval start at exactly the right point to lead to maximum speed over the 200m. But because the human body isn't as precise as our measurements, you'll never get it exactly right. Some days at the end of the 200m you'll say "I still had some legs left" and other days you'll start to fall apart before the start of the timed 200m.
- msandford 11y ago
  A highly optimized pedaling plan might even include a coasting section with a strong focus on breathing after the initial aerobic acceleration but before the final effort. If your vehicle is slick enough you might only lose 0.5 to 1 mph but if you can trade that for flushing all the CO2 out of your system, that might be worth it.