Adam Cotterell

On Wednesday 15th December 2010, I attended the Surrey Human Performance Institute, accomanied by Dr Alex Higham, one of my new team mates on the WyndyMilla Test Team. Physiological testing has become a main stay of a riders resume in this day and age. While I am not currently training using a power meter, this informaion is still highly valuable as if I can demonstrate positive progression in the results from these tests, it will only help in the 'pursuit of professionalism'!

The testing was overseen by Dr Hubert Bland, and performed by Joe Wainwright and Laura Phillips. Before I had even gotten on the bike, I'd given blood, urine, shoe size... Thorough, yes. So after I finally had all my vitals measured, and the ten million point ECG attached, I was on the bike. Well, two of the ten million ECG pads wouldn't stick to my chest because of the hair, apparently I'm going to have to shave it next time!

So, the bike. Here's my big opportunity for excuses, or, sandbagging as cyclists sometimes refer to this practice... The bike, which you can see in the picture, its not what us roadies will consider to be an efficient position! While I am pleased to say I was able to use my own shoes and pedals, the saddle was far from road specific! It was big, soft and fat, and not very comfortable. So I was probably too far forward compared to my road bike, and thus we can add 40w to each of the above right numbers! Ahem.

Ok, so the protocol was a ramp test to failure. 3 mins easy, then the wattage cranks up 35w per minute from then on. You pedal until you can't pedal no more. All while ten million (-2) ECG, blood pressure, and mask measure you're body's response. The result is, the watts you bail at are you're max watts, anything around 500w and over is pro levels. If you're known as WIGGO, you'd probably hit closer to 600w!!

All the while the dual screen super computer does the maths, this is what tells you that your anaerobic threshold is 338w. This is the tipping point between aerobic, and anaerobic. Meaning at 337w, I could in theory ride all day, thats not a bad figure, especially given the lack of training so far this winter. So come the racing season next year, it should get somewhere closer to 400w, where it needs to be for that elusive pro contract.

It also tells me that while my V02 max is not anything extraordinary, it is not going to be a limiting factor in my progression as a cyclist. V02 max is the amount of oxygen you can deliver to your lungs, in a nutshell.

So there we have it, check back in February for Testing Part 2, lets hope the figures go in the right direction... Big thanks to Alex, Hubert, Joe and Laura for sorting me out.