SRM Chain Gang Sprint April

Here we have the datalog from the last forty-five seconds up to and including the sprint at the end of the chain gang from Gorey to La Mare. 

Through La Rocque, Commonwealth Games Rider Richard Tanguy said he'd give me a lead out.  Now, Richard cruises at the speed I sprint, so there's no pressure there then!  Still, he asked so I had to oblige. 

At 100 yards from Green Island Richard moved to the front of the group and built up the speed.  You can see we're running at 32 mph at the 10 second mark, this is where I changed up a gear and dropped from 118 rpm to 103 rpm. 

Maintaining speed we came around the corner, past the Spar shop and into the block headwind finish.  I waited and waited then as we hit the end of the car park, I change up again and launched a vicious attack that saw me go from 32.5 to a dizzying 33.6 mph.  A whole 1 mph!  How sad's that?

Luckily Richard had ridden everyone off his wheel, except me that was too scared to let it go, and we had a handsome margin at the finish.  I know it's not a race but it's still satisfying.

The main point of this futile meandering is to prove the concept of the law of diminishing returns.  Look at the graph lines.  At 40 seconds, the blue (cadence) line drops a bit as I change up; the green (power) line leaps from 440 watts to 637 watts; and speed goes up just 1 mph!  One hundred and ninety seven watts for one bloody mile an hour!  There's a lesson there somewhere.

The vital stats for the sprint were, 45 seconds at an average speed of 32.6 mph, with cadence at 105 rpm and a heart rate of 205 bpm.  Power averaged 437 watts.  To return to the ride click here.