Confused about setting Threshold Power

biker-linz

My mistake Paul, I thought the algorithm needed a figure for threshold; that's actually just helped answer another problem I thought I had (but now I don't)!

L.

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RapDaddyo

As an aside, Lindsay, I can't even estimate how long it took me to understand what's going on with NP. I was hung up for what seems like forever on the issue of power relative to FT. I was somehow trying to make FT into some sort of line of demarcation for the weighting of power -- that power levels >FT were weighted in a different way vs. power levels <FT. I realize now that I went down this path because of the blood lactate/power chart, which appears to be two distinct relationships: relatively linear below FT and exponential above FT. And, it didn't help that IF and TSS raw use FT in the algorithms. It was only after I built a spreadsheet to replicate the computation algorithms of NP, IF and TSS against actual CP files that I was able to see what's going on. As I learned, NP has nothing to do with FT, but FT has everything to do with NP, if that makes any sense. FT's role in NP is not in the computation algorithm but in one's ability to produce a given NP. And, of course, FT is a function of duration. The opportunities to exploit these relationships is huge and we have not even scratched the surface. And, do you know what I find most interesting? UCI rules are absolutely silent on the issue of data available to the cyclist. The only limitations at the moment are our imaginations. Cheers.

RapDaddyo

I now recall one of the reasons that I do the 2-step selection method that I use. I'm not ready to state this categorically, but I think the Peak xx Min ranges in the summary stats do not have to be continuous ranges. I first noticed this on my weekend rides, because my ride club has a rest/regroup stop about midway on the ride. So, if the peak 10 minute range happens to be, say, 5 minutes before the stop and 5 minutes after the stop, I think CP will count this as the Peak 10 Min range. That's misleading.

frenchyge

I don't think I'd be worried about my Peak Power figures on a club ride with regroups, so that wouldn't bother me.

RapDaddyo

Maybe not, but it's a little computational idiosyncrasy that one should be aware of when looking at charts such as mean maximal NP over a period of time.