Hi Dr. Lim

I've been reading on the internet about TDF champions of the past having the magic power to weight ratio of 6.7 watts per kilo at threshold and vo2max's in the 85 to 90ml range. My question is are these numbers for real or have they been tweaked a little for the press and where do the average tour guys like Danny Pate, Trent Lowe, Will Frischkorn stack up against those numbers?

Also I hear you also do Nutella rice - any chance of posting the recipe?

Sam
Australia

Sam,

All I’ll say is that 6.7 watts per kg at threshold is not physiological or humanly possible, unless you’re a hybrid human horse or a grey hound human dog or another species. I don’t even think Frankenstein could hold 6.7 watts per kg at threshold. Though, I must say that, unlike most artificially manipulated creatures of science, Frankenstein did have a uniquely low carbon footprint as he was made of recycled body parts and was activated with a clean bolt of lightning. But that’s a totally different story.

To win the Tour de France you need to be able to hold 5.9 to 6.0 watts per kg for 30 to 45 minutes at a time, 3 to 4 times over the course of a 5 to 6 hour day in the mountains. My sense is that if you can do more, something is wrong.

At this year’s Tour, Christian is holding about 5.5 to 6.0 watts per kg on the long cat 1 to HC climbs when the smack is going down and 5.0 to 5.5 watts per kg when the teams are setting the hard tempo.

The guys in the grupetto are doing anywhere from 4.0 to 4.5 watts per kg to make time cut.

1 Kg risotta rice. 1.75 liters of water. A jar or maybe more of Nutella. A jar of jam or maybe less. Mix it all up, cut in squares, and voila.

That said, I’ve stopped making the Nutella rice cakes here at the Tour. The two flavors cracked me hard. So now I just do the savory bacon and egg. The guys like that flavor better anyway.

Allen

Allen,

I have loved your inside look at the Garmin riders power and their "care and feeding" during the tour. How about some power data on the sprinters?

You showed us a view of the new ANT+ PowerTap hub for use with the Garmin 705. Is it working as consistently as the PowerTap SL 2.4? More importantly, when is it likely to be available on the retail market?

Thanks
Andy

Andy,

I'll try to find some time to break down one of Julian's sprint profiles before the Tour is out. Haven't had much time lately to pull it all out for general consumption. If it gets crazy, and I forget, sorry. I'll try to revisit it one day. Long story short, however, Jules is putting out peak 5 second power outputs in the 1200 to 1400 watt range. Most impressive is that he's holding 800 to 1000 watts for almost 20 to 30 seconds in these sprints. They haven't been big short pops for him, they've been long gnarly drags.

So far so good with the Garmin Edge 705's paired with the PowerTaps. We worked out a lot of issues in the weeks leading up to the Tour, and right now they are pairing nicely. When this will all be available to the general public, I do not know.

Allen

Hi Allen,

I was interested to read that the guys weigh-in after the stages still wearing their kits. Any concern that a soaked kit will add enough weight on the scale to make the measure for lost body weight inaccurate? Curious as to your thoughts...

Thanks for the all the writing!

-Matt
Tucson, AZ

Matt,

We’ve changed the protocol a bit since I wrote that piece. The guys are now just in their bibs or totally naked. Yes, we’ve all gotten pretty close. That said, the jerseys we are wearing at the Tour are a new lighter weight fabric from Pearl Izumi that holds very little to no water. You keep on licking and it keeps on wicking. So it wasn’t a real concern to begin with as we’re talking only grams here and the real issue with the guys is to keep them from losing kilos.

Allen

Allen,

I have read mention of the use of balsamic vinegar in several articles about you but with no explanation as to its benefits for the team.

Please enlighten me.

John

John,

First and foremost, it tastes great. This is the primary reason we use it. The guys also consume mass quantities of Sriracha hot sauce -- you know the red stuff with the rooster on the bottle and the little green tip. That all said, there are a lot of theories on how to enhance glycogen resynthesis.

They range from adding protein to the carbohydrate ingested immediate post exercise, to adding caffeine, to adding acetic acid. Check out the study by Takashi Fushimi, titled Acetic Acid Feeding Enhances Glycogen Repletion in Liver and Skeletal Muscle of Rats published in the Journal of Nutrition, volume 131, pages 1973 to 1977 in the year 2001. Yes, the study was done on rats, but it still makes you want to eat sushi or put more balsamic vinegar from Modena on your Basmati rice after you finish a stage of the Tour de France.

Today, Julian took a bunch of berries and mixed them with his rice then dumped yogurt on top. I suggested he add some hot sauce to create a cool but hot effect. He thought about it for a bit, but using his own best culinary judgment decided against it as I had no scientific evidence supporting my case. Christian had rice with honey, eggs, and Sriracha. Will had rice, eggs, prosciutto, parmesan cheese, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and sea salt. Danny had basically what Will had plus cantaloupe and berries plus a beer. Ryder had basically what Danny had plus ketchup. Weird, I know. But then I made Ryder's mix and it was sooo good.

Anyway, I could go on, but the basic lesson here is that taste is as important as science at the Tour and that all the guys are unique.

Allen

Allen,

What would the relative speed difference be if one of your guys (let’s assume it’s Ryder because he’s Canadian) was cranking out 500 watts at sea level vs. 500 watts at 2600 meters above sea level. Everything else being equal – flat road, no wind, same bike, etc.

Larry
Ontario, Canada

Larry,

The answer is: 28% faster at altitude. Read below if you want to know why. If not, then it’s all good in the hood. Except for the fact that it’s almost impossible to hold what you can hold at sea level at altitude.

Anyway:

Power for a moving bicycle is equal to the Total Resistance x Velocity.

Total Resistance is made up of different components including, aerodynamic resistance (Ra), gravitational resistance (Gr), rolling resistance (Rr), frictional resistance in the drive train (Fr), and resistance due to changes in speed or kinetic energy (Kr).

Focusing on aerodynamic resistance:

Ra = Air density x Shape Coefficient x Frontal Surface Area x Velocity Squared, where Air Density is determined by factors such as the relative humidity, temperature, and to your question, the BAROMETRIC PRESSURE or ALTITUDE....

So this is where I actually answer your question:

All things being equal, the difference in speed at sea level versus altitude just comes down to the difference in the barometric pressure. To calculate the difference in barometric pressure between sea level and the altitude of interest you can use the formula:

Barometric Pressure (Pb) at X meters above Sea Level = Pressure at Sea Level x 2^(-X/1800).

Normally, the barometric pressure at sea level is 760 mmHg. Using the equation, I get that at 2600 meters the new barometric pressure is 547 mmHg. That’s a 28% difference. So the answer is:

28% FASTER AT SEA LEVEL

If you plug everything, since the altitude or barometric pressure is the only thing that changes, the percent difference in barometric pressure is exactly equal to the difference in speed.

Allen