A fast bike leg is crucial to a good triathlon performance. The bike is the longest leg of any race, so the winner is likely to be the person who can produce the most power, or at least the most power relative to their weight, while on two wheels.

Top triathletes now base a lot of their cycle training and racing on power. Power is the rate of work being completed. The work is the effort it takes you to move from one point to another and overcome friction and drag. How fast you do that work is referred to as power and is measured in watts.
Remember, the purpose of improving fitness is to produce more power for a given level of exertion, in other words more watts for the same effort. Power on the bike involves speed . If you want to ride quicker on the bike leg you need to produce more watts at your race pace. The concept is the same regardless of race distance.

Before you hang up your cycle shoes after a long season give the following bike power test a go. This will give you a good idea of the shape you are in now and will give you something to work towards throughout the winter months.

Even without power measuring tools you can still perform a meaningful self test by riding a specific route over a known distance. Make sure this is circular or out and back to ensure that you are riding through even weather conditions, and try to do the test on a calm day. After a thorough warm up, ride the route to the best of your ability and record your time, average speed and average heart rate. Alternatively you could do a 15 min time trial on an indoor trainer. Aim to ride flat out but try to pace your effort over the full 15 mins.

As you get fitter your average speed will increase, which means your sustainable power output rises. Along side this, your average heart rate shouldn’t be significantly higher, meaning you’re producing power/speed for the same effort. While you’ll notice improvements in your average heart rates and speed, you won’t be able to put a figure on your increased power output without a specific power-measuring device.

Doing this test once a month during the off season will help you monitor your training and also provide a quality effort session. During the season, race times will provide a platform to monitor your improvements. However it is a good idea to repeat this session every now and then to keep an eye on your progress.

Happy training!!

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