Friday, July 17, 2015

Climbing power estimates: Windbags II

No specific comment, I just wanted to create a public link to the following 2014 study investigating the accuracy of climbing power estimates and to include a graphic and quote the study's conclusion.

My earlier comments on this topic of estimation accuracy can be found in this post from two years ago:
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/windbags.html

The study is:
Accuracy of Indirect Estimation of Power Output From Uphill Performance in Cycling 
Grégoire P. Millet, Cyrille Tronche, and Frédéric Grappe
International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2014, 9, 777-782 http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/IJSPP.2013-0320 © 2014 Human Kinetics, Inc.

Link:
http://www.fredericgrappe.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Millet.pdf



Study Conclusions:

Aerodynamic drag (affected by wind velocity and orientation, frontal area, drafting, and speed) is the most confounding factor. The mean estimated values are close to the power-output values measured by power meters, but the random error is between ±6% and ±10%. Moreover, at the power outputs (>400 W) produced by professional riders, this error is likely to be higher. This observation calls into question the validity of releasing individual values without reporting the range of random errors.

1 comments:

Julie said...
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