Minuteman Road Club

Question for all of you using power meters: have you found a good stretch of road to run your FTP test on? I hate riding on the trainer, especially when it's nice out, and have definitely seen a difference in my power output indoors to out. So I was hoping to find a good stretch of 10 miles with no traffic, no lights, and very little rolling terrain (though a slight uphill the whole way would certainly suffice). I know of some areas that might work but aren't optimal (they're either a hike to get to from Watertown or have lots of rollers along the stretch).

Thanks in advance!

Ray

Try this:
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=132696

It has nice rollers, only 1 stop light and smooth roads. I can generally keep the cadence nice and high and heart-rate nice and smooth along the entire stretch. It does pitch up a little coming out of Sudbury on Concord Rd, but not too bad. Generally speaking, it seems like the longest, flatest stretch of road around.

onegeardoug wrote:Try this:
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=132696

It has nice rollers, only 1 stop light and smooth roads. I can generally keep the cadence nice and high and heart-rate nice and smooth along the entire stretch. It does pitch up a little coming out of Sudbury on Concord Rd, but not too bad. Generally speaking, it seems like the longest, flatest stretch of road around.

That looks PERFECT, thanks Doug. Should give me just enough distance for a full warmup coming out from Watertown, too.

Of course! The Charlie Baker Time trial course in Concord is exactly 10 miles. Its all right hand turns. There's one roller that won't roll a few minutes from the finish, but other than that it's pretty flat.

Bruce

By the way, there is lots of evidence with respect to neurohormonal factors and power........riding indoors, especially long hard intervals, takes a lot of motivation and focus. Outdoors just seems to go a lot faster cause there is other stuff your mind has to focus on. Plus there are thermal factors as well. No wind coming at you, the body doesn;t cool itself as well and you use up a lot more energy. I personally find about a 5% difference, but then I haven't been able to bring myself to do a full indoors since early March!

The Time crunched cyclist program from Carmichael has you compute your FTP based on an 8 minute interval. Turns out oak hill rd. works great for that. Of course, it is a hill so that might be cheating a bit.

Related - I find riding power intervals to be quite hard unless you have a flat or a hill. Around my house I run into too many rollers and for me it is really hard to keep up the power on the downhills.

Bruce wrote:The Charlie Baker Time trial course in Concord is exactly 10 miles.
Bruce

Err....No it's not "The course is a 9.75-mile loop of gently rolling terrain." from the NEBC site http://www.northeastbicycleclub.org/home/events/?c=cbtt

ummmmm...don't turn right on Liberty road at the end, stay straight on Monument toward Conc Ctr.