Power in Play

It was almost like a Little Leaguer asking, "what is a bat?", or a swimmer wondering where the goggles go. I was stunned for an instant at the question.  Up to this point I had taken pretty much for granted that a cyclist heading to the CompuTrainer for a ten mile time trail had SOME experience with the sport of cycling, or at very least a casual familiarity with its recreational aspects. It was an innocent question and I needed a few seconds to cache my thoughts and craft a response comparative to the level of the inquirer. 

WHAT IS POWER? Was the question.

I don't even remember my answer. But as it was our third round of time trailing and I was grumpy, hungry and convalescing a lingering viral malady, I caught myself mid-sentence maneuvering a curt response into something resembling compassion and utility. Let me try to recreate, for your consideration.

For our purposes power represents work. How hard your muscles, primarily those often referred to as 'the big muscle groups', perform during the creation of force applied to the pedals. This is measured in watts and combines time, RPM frequency and distance. It is your total (already I was digressing into the mental) capability to generate energy and move the pedals efficiently and effectively over a predetermined distance and time. 

She looked at me with huge open eyes and pursed lips. I remembered that look from my first trip to Italy when I was just learning the language and asked a innocent local where the train station was. Same look. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

I tried again. 

Think of it as your ability to control your output. I asked her to empirically demonstrate the addition of 25 watts as she turned the pedals, her running shoes locked securely into the cages. This change displayed in real time on the CompuTrainer big screen, and I tried to make the correlation between what she was seeing and how her motor responded to the challenge. 

Ooooh, she said, that's hard. 

Yes, I quipped, and the measurement of that 'ooooh'  is what we call watts, and that rate or amount of difference is what we measure and subsequently manage. That number is your power. Real time, averaged or peak. You have just generated an additional 25 watts of power. Congratulations. 

The harder it is to turn the pedals the more power I have?

Precisely. Or accurately enough for now. 

She went at it again, joyous at the peak, crestfallen at the inevitable drop-off. 

I can't keep it very long.

That is why we train.

To get strong?

Yes, more powerful. More full of power. 

When I have more power and am stronger…will (gasp) it (hunker over bars) get (return to saddle and wipe forehead) easier?

No. 

Because I cannot help being a cynic, here are three excellent articles from people that tell the power story from varying points-of-view. My final response, was, of course, another subject altogether. 

Competitive Cyclist (history of training by power)

Flammerouge (the bridge between science and literature)

And Cyclistrules (very clever and a excellent intro)