Computrainer 41k!

So I finally took a spin on the computrainer @ Kozy's on Milwaukee.  Long story short, I want to do a sub hour 40k... and since its freezing cold outside/I live in the middle of an urban environment I can't just go out and hammer it for a full hour... its more like stoplight to stoplight.

I wish I didn't have to ride 15 miles to get there, but I suppose this is good for a "warmup"... although in this weather its more like a "freeze".

 I asked for a flat course... and I got a course with 2 BIG hills and a handful of smaller rollers - the rolling hills were still bigger than anything around Chicago!  The big hills each with at least a mile climb @ 5%+ grade... this was killing me!  The decents threw off my power average, I kept running out of gear and had to pedal like crazy to try and keep my power numbers up (I wanted to try to maintain a high average power).

Well, I ended up with a 244 watt average, and finished in one hour ten minutes... but then I decided to look into the profile I was riding under.

I am about 77kg... the profile was set to 133kg!  The computrainer uses the weight input to adjust resistance, especially in the climbs.  This means I would have gotten through the climbs much faster, and overall been quicker... thats 170lbs compared to 293!!!  Thats like running the 40k with someone riding on my handlebars.

Exactly the difference, I duno, but given the size of the hills, I can imagine it may make up for the 10 minutes and get me under an hour.  I'd also bet my average power numbers would be higher since I'd be spending less time in the climbs and overall less time on the course.

After the 133kg 40k, I setup a profile for myself @ 77kg... and did a quick 3 mile course (my hour was up at this point + I was totally beat!)... In this 3 mile course I averaged 290 watts, and didn't have too much trouble holding in the 300 watt range.  I was told weight doesn't matter to the power numbers, maybe I just got a second wind?

Next time I'm going to do a truly flat course and get a real FTP measurement with the parameters setup properly.  My goal is to get into the 4.0 watts per kg range, which would be 308 watts.  I know what it feels like to hit 300 watts and hold it, and I'm certain I can hold it for 20 minutes... and with some more training I know I can get to a point where I can pump out that sort of power for an hour or more... which I think becomes more of a reality when I can get more into the 350 watts for 20 minutes range - which I really hope I can, a 5 watt per kg (385 watts) reading would be amazing!  Not sure how long I could hold that much power now, probably just a few minutes.