More Data Analysis

Still trying to figure out what the best way to use all this data is. It's fun to play with and all, but if I can't use it for some type of good what's the point in having it?

It seems like some sort of relationship between power output and heart rate would be a very good way of quantifying one's fitness. Often times time trials are used to benchmark fitness, but that seems kind of narrow in that it doesn't really capture all the aspects of a real road race.

I used data from three different rides that I've done, all within the past week, to make the graph shown above. The data used was filtered to remove points where the power was calculated to be negative, which usually indicates braking. This could throw off the accuracy of the graphs, but I'm not sure.

The data sets do seem to be surprisingly consistent given that each ride was very different. One ride is a group ride where CdA is difficult to estimate, one ride is a hilly tempo ride where there are more gravity forces than aero forces, and the other ride is an interval ride both over hills and flats. That being said, I'm actually shocked that the trend lines are this similar.

Should every ride I do give more or less the same trend line given an equal state of fitness? In the ideal time trial, I think a rider's power output and heart rate would be perfectly constant. Of course that's not the case as hills, wind, and other conditions make the rider's power and heart rate vary somewhat. It wouldn't vary nearly to the extent of a road race, but I'd think that it could produce the same trend line, just over a more narrow range of heart rates.

If this is true that a single trend line of power vs. fitness can be used to represent a single fitness level, it would be a great way to quantify one's fitness and the effectiveness of various workout plans on an individual. I'll be trying to figure this out in the future.

If anyone knows a thing or two about this I'd love to hear about it.