Wednesday 28 May 2014

Wattclub

What is Wattclub?

Wattclub is a special place, a group more secretive than the Free masons. A guild of middle aged men who, for a multitude of reasons, have acquired a power meter for their biclismo obsession.
It is a place where guys sit around in their lycra and talk in codes of NP, TSS, W/KG with some added chat about CTL, ATL and PMC's added on for effect.

For me, it all started when I was still getting smashed at the start of every single XC race, despite kidding myself that I had been training for the intensity and mayhem of an Ulster Senior 3 race start. I soon realised after moving up to S2 that I could no longer rely on my aerobic fitness to drag me back into a race that I had let slip off into the distance in the first minute every week.

So I started doing some real hard intervals. Except I would go so hard I couldnt last more than 20 seconds of a 1 minute effort without collapsing over the bars exhausted. So I tried to pace the interval a little more controlled but would get to the end of the minute and feel ok - where I was aiming to have the over the bars collapsed feeling. I decided I needed help. I became the proud and secretive owner of a powertap. Secretive until I finally decided I was keeping it and had the courage to tell the wife I owned it.

What is the first rule of Wattclub?

In my best Tyler Durden voice... "You do NOT talk about Wattclub".
Unless to a fellow member.
Nobody outside the ring wants to know how many watts you averaged in the inter-club 10 mile TT to the turn, or what your normalized power was for your latest A4 smash-a-thon road race. Honestly. Their eyes will glaze over and you will get labelled as another WATTMAN. A stem Starer. A person obsessed with numbers rather than the ability to actually race.
Just Don't Do It. OK!?

What Can Wattclub do for you?

Nothing but inflate or crush your ego.
No longer will you wonder if you were quick because of the wind, or whether you are suddenly superman. You should already know anyway, if you KOM'd it on strava, it was a tailwind.
You can compare your W/Kg with the pro's and realise just how useless you actually are in the grand scale of things.
On the positive side of the coin... The Powermeter is the ultimate training tool. Once your time is limited you can stop wasting time on training rides and make the most of the limited bike time granted by your other half. Those vouchers don't last long. Make them count.

Of course nobody "needs" a powermeter. But in my opinion, it will have a greater impact on the average Joe than the average Pro. The man who is prepared to learn and actually use it rather than learn and use excuses for the rest of their life is the man who can move from being a nobody to an S4 contender!



Man I love talking about watts... You better be in the club...