Rás county man sets out how much power is needed to survive

Gareth McCormack rode his first Rás after returning to cycling in his 30s. In this excellent piece he sets out his power outputs during the race and works out what he believes is the minimum power required to survive the Rás and even race a little at the front (Photo: George Doyle)

Many riders will compete in the An Post Rás for the first time in a little over a week from now. It’s a daunting challenge that requires an enormous amount of fitness, luck and race craft to simply survive the eight days.

However, with the advent of power metres and improvements in technology, riders have more access to training tools than ever before – and are arguably better-prepared.

But the bottom line is; the work still must be done. That means months and months of hard training and racing.

Here, Gareth McCormack, a county rider from Mayo who rode the An Post Rás last year, outlines how he got around the race.

For all of the debate over the positive or negative influence of the Rás on the domestic cycling season, our marquee stage race remains the ultimate goal for many top club riders.

For the newbie county rider facing into his first Rás, the feasibility of completing it is traditionally assessed using some pretty subjective metrics.

You weigh up your performances in open road races, advancement through the grading system, and ultimately performance in our other major stage races like Rás Mumhan and the Tour of Ulster.

However with the increasing uptake in power meter usage, it is perhaps now possible to gauge a rider’s potential in the Rás by looking at their power output.

Just as the infamous Michele Ferrari could accurately judge a rider’s potential to win a Tour de France by their power output in watts per kilo (w/kg), so we can also determine the potential for a county rider to take on and complete a Rás.

A Rás Newbie

Back in 2013 I was a Rás newbie. I’d ridden at a decent level as an U16 and first year junior but then drifted away from the sport, only returning to it properly in 2012 at the age of 39.

Oddly enough it was my wife Helen who suggested I try to do the Rás; a comment she’d have plenty of time to rue over the following 12 months.

An anonymous finish in Rás Dun na nGall and the Ballinrobe Two Day in 2012 may not have sounded like a great foundation on which to build a Rás season.

But given the modest preparation I’d had for them I felt I had a fighting chance of getting fast enough to survive it.

Using a Power Meter

I started training in early September, 2012, as I felt I’d need quite an extended period to adapt to a much higher training load than I’d been used to.

I’d also decided to use a power meter and WKO software to control the progression of my training through those winter months.

The advent of the power meter has transformed the sport of cycling.

Technology that was once the preserve of a few top pros has been adopted widely, especially in the last couple of years with an explosion in cheaper and easier-to-use models.

Training can now be dialled in, giving precise and repeatable control from the shortest sprint intervals to the appraisal of the training load for an entire season.

Although I drew encouragement as my power output gradually climbed for a given heart rate, I still had no idea what output would make it feasible to ride a Rás.

Instead, it was those old school metrics of ability that counted: some good race results and points earning me an upgrade to the A1 ranks, and a reasonable performance in Rás Mumhan (29th) and the Tour of Ulster.

Yet I still held a fear of the Rás stages. In my mind the effort required would be a league above all these races I’d completed in the build-up.

As it transpires, my power outputs on individual Rás stages have been nothing exceptional.

In fact they’ve been similar to, and often lower than, my numbers from one-day races and stages of Rás Mumhan.

After all, you can only race so hard eight days on the trot.

To make it to the end of the An Post Rás requires an enormous amount of fitness – but it is not beyond the realm of possibility.

The Magic Number

So what is the magic number, or is it even possible to say there is a magic number?

Well, let me first say that I did survive that first Rás, finishing a very modest 110 of 182 starters with no crashes or serious mechanicals.

I started into the race that year with an FTP of 330w at 68kg (4.85w/kg).

In my second Rás in 2015 I finished 113 of 157 starters, but suffered two crashes including one on the last stage that saw me lose over 20 minutes. Without the crashes a position just inside the top 100 was likely in 2015.

I started that race again with an FTP of 330w but at 67kg (4.9w/kg).

In neither race was I ever dropped early or in trouble at the very back of the race.

Neither, however, was I ever really racing at the front. I was never in a break, and my best stage result was a lowly 69th.

So when I calculated the average daily Normalized Power (an average calculated after removing periods of freewheeling) from each Rás I found that they were virtually identical: 275w in 2013 working out as 4.04w/kg, and 280w in 2015 (4.17w/kg).

Other rider’s figures seem to come in at a very similar level.

My own figures suggest an FTP of 4.8-4.9w/kg is a good bet, with my average output at around 80-85% of this.

It’s probably safe to say that unless you are unusually efficient and good at finding shelter from the wind, you’re going to really struggle in a Rás if your FTP is less than 4.6w/kg.

Equally if you’re FTP is upwards of 5.1w/kg then you may be able to look at a higher finish and more involvement towards the front of the race.

Hard Days and Easy Days

Of course not every day on the Rás is equal and there is a big variation in average power output from day to day.

My easiest day on the 2015 race came in at an average of 259w on stage 4. The highest output was on stage 5 into Ballina at 292w.

Incidentally this stage didn’t feel the hardest, that honour went to the first stage where I put out 273w but was on my knees crossing the line in Carlow.

The easiest period of the race was the 2-3 hour period of stage 2 to Tipperary where, into a block headwind, the average power required to sit in behind the steady pursuit was a mere 230 watts. All of these figures are for Normalized Power.

Other significant stats include a max 5 minute output of 377w on the Glen of Aherlow climb on stage 2, and a 351w 10 minute max on stage 5.

Incidentally the insanely quick opening hour of the penultimate stage to Drogheda where the peloton averaged almost 50km/h without a tailwind only required a very manageable 300w to sit in.

Anatomy of a Lineout

To the guys racing the An Post Rás, prepare to be lined out! You’d better hope the power in the engine is there when this happens because if not, your day becomes longer when you let that wheel go.

The lineouts of the Rás are legendary and it is these intense periods of racing that ultimately decide who survives in the front group, who ends up in the gruppetto, and worst of all, who ends up with the broom wagon.

We can look at a power file of mine from the 2015 race to see what kind of output is required in a critical lineout that blew the race apart.

Stage 4 from Barna to Newport started out into a stiff headwind for the first 20km.

But an abrupt change of direction after that meant we’d be racing the next 20km with a strong crosswind and little or no shelter as we raced through the treeless Connemara landscape.

Despite a scrap for position coming towards the directional change, the power output required in the bunch and out of the wind for the first 20km was a measly 230w – Sunday training ride effort for many riders.

After the direction change the hammer went down and the race lined out splintering very quickly as riders, already fatigued from three hard days of racing, began to let wheels go.

After 5-10 minutes a group of 20 or more riders had formed at the front with a 15-20sec gap to a large group of 50 or more riders, with the rest of the race being rapidly distanced.

I was hanging gamely onto the back of this second group. The power output needed to make it into this group was a very achievable 330w.

Over the next few minutes, however, the asking price of remaining in this large chase group escalated as the NFTO team rode hard in pursuit of the front split.

After a further 4 minutes I was ejected having put out around 360w for that period.

Normally that kind of output for that duration would be well within my compass, but it came on top of an extended period at threshold and contained a number of big spikes in power: one of over 900w and several in excess of 600w.

The last surge before I blew clocked in at over 700w!

It’s not straightforward, there are caveats

So in theory, it’s pretty simple for any rider to see if their numbers are going to be good enough.

But there are quite a few other variables at play here. There is the CdA (aerodynamic drag) of a rider, both in the wind and in the bunch.

There is the skill of the rider in maximizing shelter and avoiding unnecessary efforts through smart positioning.

There is the nature of the race: difficulty of terrain, wind, and efforts required by mechanicals or crashes.

All of this can have a big influence on how much power is required.

Really smart, low drag riders who ride the bunch well and constantly maximize their shelter will likely require a significantly smaller output.

Similarly, riders who are less skilled at seeking shelter and good position, or who have had to make big efforts to get back into the bunch after crashes or punctures will find they need much higher outputs.

Thanks for reading.