Ben King's Breakaway Ride
Worlds. Amazing. You had to be there. Thousands of people, incredible course, the
best riders in the world and stellar bike racing. Richmond Virginia shined and really laid out
the red carpet for everyone and it was heart warming and reassuring to have
drivers honking at you with “Thumbs up” and taking pictures of cyclists as they
rode around the outskirts of town for the week, instead of giving you the other
finger. Ben King, local boy makes
good. Ben not only rode in the
breakaway for 90+ miles, but not was he only one from the breakaway to finish
the race, but he in the front group at the base of Libby Hill on the last
lap. Only then, did he lose contact with
the front group, finishing in 53rd place, 55 seconds down on
Sagan. Let’s have a look at this
amazing power file from the World Championships.
First off, one of the differences between the World Tour
level and all the rest is the sheer amount of work that has to be done in the
race, just to complete it. Work is
kiloJoules and 1 Joule is a watt per second, so 1kJ is 1000 Joules. Ben did 6,402 kiloJoules of work in the 6
hour and 24 minute race. For those of
you that regularly get crushed after doing 3000 kJ of work, can you imagine
doubling that? This is equal to over
7000 kCalories burned and that’s a lot of burritos. A normal Continental pro race here in the US,
is between 2500-3000kJ, and this is a
critical difference between abilities of the Continental pros and the World
Tour pros. Translate this into Training
Stress Score and reminder that 100 TSS equals the same amount of training
stress as 1 hour at FTP and Ben did 418 TSS for the race, so the equivalent of
4 hours back to back at FTP. Some
other highlights include 7,838’ of climbing, an Intensity Factor of .81(81% of
FTP for 6 hours 24minutes), an average
power of 276watts and normalized power of 323 watts. Yes, 323 watts for 6 hours 24 minutes. Three. Hundred. Twenty. Four. 6 hours. 24 minutes. Can you do 323watts for 20 minutes? An
hour? How about 6 hours? Oh yeah,
he weighs 148lbs. So that’s 4.88
watts per kilogram for the entire race.
Those are the statistical highlights of an epic world championship
race. Let’s dig into some of the finer
points.
There
were three main obstacles in the Richmond Worlds’ course, the first being Libby Hill with its’
cobblestones and serpentine route up the hill, the second being the super steep
15% gradient cobblestone climb up 23rd street and then the third was
the drag up Governor’s hill, right beside the Virginia Governor’s Mansion. Each of these were not long hills, but all
were hard with the addition of cobblestones, and gradient. Libby Hill was certainly the most packed for
spectators and ignited the fireworks for the riders, with a stinging one minute
and 20 second sprint over the top of the hill and then a charge to the second
obstacle, the 23rd street hill, which was the launching platform for
Sagan’s winning attack. Ben’s climbs up
Libby hill were hard, but consistent.
The hardest was second climb up the hill, while the breakaway was being
established and Ben averaged 471 watts.
Laps 12, 13, and 14 were the most aggressive as Ben put out over 900
watts for a maximum on each of these trips up the climb.
The
Sprint up 23rd street came on the heels of Libby Hill and to add
insult to injury, the hill was at a 15% grade and cobbled, with thousands of
people cheering at the top of their lungs.
This climb was done using in single file in the peloton and in the small
breakaway, the width of the road still only allowed them to go up two
abreast. This hill while hard in the
breakaway, wasn’t that decisive until the final lap, when Sagan launched his
winning move.
The
difference in his wattage between when he was in the breakaway and when he was
back in the peloton is significant. As
you saw in Figure 1, the time Ben was in the break had much lower maximum watts
with a lot more smooth and steady power output.
This is classic of a breakaway and the ability to keep your power smooth
and minimizing the bursts of power contribute significantly to the conservation
of energy. The difference in
Variability Index (normalized power/average power) is only 5% between the two
time periods, but that is significant in a race as long as this one. Clearly, the last 5 laps of the race were
difficult for anyone in the peloton, but to survive the breakaway for 90 miles
and then sit in the peloton having to respond to all the surges in power,
really goes to show you just how incredible Ben King is as one of the best pro
cyclists in the world.
The
World Championships in Richmond were a real spectacle and Ben King put on a
show. What a great ride by a good ol’
Virginia boy that made all American cyclists proud, not to mention the
thousands of Americans watching the race.
This was a special day and a very special ride by Ben. The power that he released on this day is
equal to any of the classics in Europe and goes to show that he has what it
takes to win a big, big race.
I predict his 2016 season will contain one of
these wins.
Hunter Allen has online training programs available at www.TrainingPeaks.com/hunter
including some great winter plans. Hunter attended the Richmond World’s with some
of his Peaks Coaching Group coaches and got to cheer on Ben King up all the
hills. You can contact Hunter directly www.PeaksCoachingGroup.com
for personal coaching and camps.
Reprinted with
permission from Road Magazine November 2015 Issue
