maxim809 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 6:35 am
spartacus wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 5:36 am
Interesting information. I was on a touring bike with 32c tires (lol) not a racing or track bike, does have a power meter though, I was surprised how fast I was going. I was just cruising around though at those speeds and staying towards the bottom.
Yes it actually doesn't take "too much" power to hold ~20mph once you look at it on a closed circuit like a velodrome. I think often what happens out in the real world, is there are lots of stops and goes which kill average speed. And also the safety and management with traffic and pedestrians -- all of which can tank average speed for an inflated average power with zero's removed, once you look on Strava.
Those who ride quiet country roads and never have to brake for gravel or potholes will probably have closer experiences to the one you had at the velodrome, compared to say someone trying to get out of downtown Sydney/New York/Sydney/Tokyo proper.
spartacus wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 5:36 am
I could go out on my fastest bike and try for 32mph but nothing will satisfy anyone here because the conditions can't be known apparently, I believe the math I suppose.
You should!
Here's an actual checklist of additional data that should be enough to get rid of a tough crowd:
1. Average Power of run
2. Date & Time the sample was taken
3. Avg Wind speed and direction information sourced from Wunderground for the location of your outdoor run
4. Rough temp & Weather conditions at time of run (can also be sourced from Wunderground)
5. The direction you traveled 32mph into (need to reference against 3)
6. Tire brand/model/size/psi
Those should be the big ones, and the minimum needed to get a rough estimate. There are other things we can look at if the data looks off, but I would start with these 6.
That said, Tobin back-calculated your CdA as 0.30 with the data you already provided. This is a very, very realistic coefficient of drag number for the nominal sized, nominal roadie. This can either be a very small rider sitting up, an average sized rider starting to get low, or a larger rider in an aero position. If you were doing loops in a velodrome, then as long as the wind wasn't blustering crazy, we can squint and hand-wave the conditions out.
spartacus wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 5:36 am
but nothing will satisfy anyone here
Put differently, for a first glance with minimal data I'm pretty satisfied with the analysis! The rabbit hole can of course go as deep as you want.