I recall phrases around this sub-forum along the lines of "dailing it up to 400" to drop someone etc. Never really could put that into context until now.
One of the top end riders here said he'd look at my data and make some comments about it and offer some suggestions. This has been really valuable - I owe him!
He also sent me a picture of one of his rides - a ITT up a hill that we regularly ride here. I can tell the main landmarks from the shape of the various lines of the graph etc, so I have a good picture of what is going on.
The HR climbed nicely from 140-180 in a nice smooth curve. Cadence sat between 80-90. Speed sits between 22-24km/h early, changing to 15-20 later in the steeper parts. I go up this hill between 12-15 on a normal ride, might keep it over 15 on a TT (ie race pressure, going to destruction).
But what is freaky (to me anyway) is the power. His average power is (just an estimate from looking along the graph at his very constant power line) is about 420-440watts. The fluctuations every now and then have a range of 380-500. Peak in a couple of spots is 640+.
That just seems scary. He is training to represent his home country at the Commonwealth Games (trying for selection), so I'm guessing he's pretty damn good!
PS - and I did just look up the price on a PowerTap hub...not going to happen soon, but if any of the guys in my town want to upgrade to a new one and sell the old one, I'm waiting.