I’m a 44-yr old cyclist with a WPK of 3.83
I often here about the coveted 4.0 wpk goal, so I’m wondering what are some realistic expectations as I get older. I race Cat 3, and would love to know what are considered typical wpk’s for masters Cat 1-2 cyclists.
Also, I know that Vo2 diminishes with age, so I assume wpk does as well. What does science say about the trajectory for a master’s athlete?
Any anecdotal or scientific input is appreciated.
The pointy end of your age group is >= 4.5 work.
The power rankings on Intervals.icu will give you a pretty good idea of whats possible and where you stand relative to other Intervals.icu users.
Ignore the top line, every now and then someone turns off the power spike detection or enters a bad weight and rockets to the top of the chart. Currently I have to manually remove those.
Many variables such as genetics, consistency of training, life’s stress and any other obstacles can determine results. I started riding at 41 after a 12 year hiatus. Never raced and probably have no intention of it. Picked of TR at 43 and achieved 4.6 w/kg by the time I was 44. Wife enjoyed me at home with our daughter instead of going out “all the time.” Now at 47, Ive started focusing more on indoor again and doing SSB mid at 3.63w/kg. Also, I will be incorporating weight training for the first time ever. I know if I stick with the plan I can achieve 4w/kg. You have to love the process and the results will come later.
Couple guys on my team are fairly regular winners in 45+ and 50+ road races and crits - I don’t know their exact numbers but they are easily 4.5 w/kg+ based on riding with them. Both are competitive in P12 fields but tend to stick to the masters fields
As someone in the 35+ fields I can say the w/kg to be winning those events is roughly the same. Anything above 4.5 will give you the ability to get good results in a masters field in the US, but it usually comes down to repeatability and racing skill once you clear that threshold (and certainly on flatter courses you can get results with much lower w/kg - amazing crit racers can have shockingly low w/kg)
I’m a study of one (46 yo female Cat 1) racing since 2013. My w/kg has been 4.2-4.5 over the past 5 years. What has changed is my max heart rate is lower and while my ftp has been steady, if I want to be able to do hit vo2 max, I have to train for it and lower the overall volume. In other words, I need more freshness in order to be able to hit hard crit type efforts. Things that have improved over the past few year are: endurance (probably thanks to more miles in my legs), skill (esp on the dirt), ability to race well/smart and climbing ability. I think as masters racers, we have to look for advantages where we can: recovery, sleep, nutrition, strength training.
