I’ve managed to hit 2000W again so might look a bit funny doing races.
I’ve learned a lot through this discussion and realised that I’m not going to buy any new equipment just yet.
What I’ll do is try both 5 second power and 20 minute FTP on some other bike thats accurate to see how it matches up.
I think the issue here is that although that works pretty well for cadence. I remember back in the day when the only sensors most of us were putting on our bikes were speed/cadence - and I thought it was vitally important to know my cadence and fret about whether it was high or low.
Then you put the sensor on, look at the numbers for a couple of rides and thereafter you pretty much know what your cadence is without looking. if your cadence was particularly low maybe you spent a couple more rides adjusting to a higher one. After which it becomes moot, you spin your legs at whatever rate feels comfortable and the cadence sensor is next to useless - barring perhaps it use in measuring power.
I don’t think the same thing works for power. I don’t think I could tell my power within a couple of percent based on the feel of me riding even though I’ve spent a lot of time riding looking at my power numbers.
We’re probably all in the ballpark but that would defeat the purpose of the test which is to see how accurate this particular reebok fr30 is.
Every rider on Zwift sees the 2000 watts in the Zwift results list and anyone with a clue knows immediately that your performance is a joke and no one will take the numbers seriously. The strongest sprinters in the world can’t do 2000 watts. You can follow them on Zwift and see their performance. Find a mountain in the real world, ride up the mountain, then you’ll see how strong you are even without a power meter!
track sprinters can or are you just purely looking at road cycling ?
I am not referring to track sprinters. That is also a completely different category. I don’t follow any track sprinters on Zwift and I don’t know if they are active on Zwift.
Yes but is this after racing for an hour or whatever during the sprint at the end?
I’ve been trying fresh just to see what max power I can reach.
My understanding may have been off because I’m not aware of what the top end is in pro cycling but my cousin said he can reach 1800W.
How high level of a cyclist is your cousin? Is he competitive? A track cyclist? A weight lifter?
If they weighed the same as a typical tour de france pro, that amount of power at the end of a race could win against some of the best tour sprinters in the world. That said of course they are not fresh at that point since it’s the end of the race, but it does illustrate that it’s not a small number.
Anyhow, I think at the end of the day my suggestion given the equipment you have is to just have fun with Zwift, free-ride, collect road badges, use pace partners, do group rides, find climb portals, do workouts etc… whatever motivates you to get on the bike. Just don’t expect to compare numbers with other people and have it be the same when you move to a different trainer.
I would suggest that if you do race and put out 2000W at any point it will be noticed, so it’s probably good to not join races and blow everyone away at the end with 2000W of power since nobody else who’s there will be able to compete with that (Even Jasper Phillipsen would probably have trouble beating a 2000W sprint at the end of a race).
But outside of the race context I think you can have fun in any other aspect of Zwift.
This reminds me of the “mile” that my Army recruiter had us running to prepare for basic training. Get to my platoon telling the guys I can run a 6 minute mile. Turns out the recruiters had us running 3/4 mile loops. I cannot, nor have I ever been able to run a 6 minute mile, even in my infantry days. When I learned about pacing and had the correct parameters in place, I realized I was way off. I don’t mean this to be harsh, because at the end of the day, you’re getting exercise and hopefully having some fun. But if you want to see where you really stand, and want to be seated in a more rode bike position, investing in a Kickr and a cheap road bike, or the Zwift Ride package (which I absolutely love) are great options.
track sprinter doesn’t count apparently
there are a few about
one thing i will say about 2000w guys i know of is that they all look like they can do 2000w and everyone in a 50 mile radius can see it at a glance. no bikes or gym equipment necessary
Yeah it’s great just to feel fit and just do the training in your body and spirit because with the way it’s all gone with data now you can be up and down based on the numbers from the watch/meter. Then you’re training too much in your head. I guess it depends on the type of person you are. Pros have no choice but to be sucked into the world of data now I suppose. I’d love one of these expensive bikes because recently I’ve got more into this than running.
I think the Zwift Ride is a tremendous value. After having a son earlier this year, it was near impossible to get any meaningful time on the bike in, and this has been great for me, and more accessible than more tech-focused smart bikes. But you can pick up a Kickr Core on Facebook for usually half the new price, and similarly find an old road bike, and for well under a grand, have a pretty killer setup.
I think the data has helped me focus on what my weaknesses are, and really keep track of where things are going. I’ve never had a power meter before, and being able to track that metric, along with my cadence and everything else. I’m never going to make it to Cat A, but even at 39, this is helping me get healthier than I’ve been in ages, and tracking the data is a piece of that for sure. It’s not everything, but it helps quite a bit.
Why not, that is also indoors 
The track sprinters go over 2500w max power.
I used to train with a BMX rider who would put out 2000w. He would also do cadence over 180rpm and was smooth riding at that cadence. Just insane. Mind you, my 20 minute FTP was far higher than his and my weight much less.
Different kinds of training for different kinds of effort. If I was put out on a BMX race I’d be demolished. I watched some of his races… 
The data from my Coros running watch I’ve found pretty impressive and that’s helped me a lot when looking at it after runs, for like you say, seeing what I’m good or not so good at. It predicts my 5k/10k/half marathon times in a way that I couldn’t have imagined years ago.
Years ago in the 90s with cycling when I was into it there was just the speedometer and very few clubs or places here in the UK ( before lottery funding that kicked it all off ).
