Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
Not sure where you are getting your wattage info from. Exercise bikes can be dreadfully terrible at giving good estimates on that. The exercise bike I use at the gym this year (they have some new bikes this year) told me yesterday that I was doing 150 watts for much of the hour that I was on the bike. I am 71 years young, I really wish that I could do 150 watts that easily, but no, it is not going to happen. Their older bikes usually had me struggling to maintain 120 watts.
The only wattage data that I trust is based on timed hill climbing. I am an engineer (retired), thus the math to calculate the watts needed to lift the weight of me and my bike X number of feet in Y minutes is based on formulae that I worked with in college, assuming no friction losses, etc.
I've got 5 years on you, returned to recreational road biking mid-'23. In SW Wisconsin now, I'm interested in whether you're willing to share your formula? I mounted a 4iiii-augmented crank arm a couple weeks back 'cause I don't trust what my Wahoo trainer feeds me for power #'s. Figure closer to the source'd be more trustworthy.