FT Power/Weight Ratio

There's a table in the Allen/Coggan book that gives a breakdown for cycling (ranges for Cat 1, 2, 3, etc.)

Mine is currently 3.3 and raced at around 3.6 last year (current represents the results of 6 weeks off from cycling and several pounds for the holidays ).  Trying to get to 3.75+ for this race season (mostly a return to form on the numerator with some extra work this year on the denominator).  I think anything over 4.0 puts you in pretty good company as a triathlete.

Edit:  You can find the info here:  http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/power411/profile.asp

I use this linky for all my power questions, including the power profile stuff:

http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/power411/

I have a problem with those tables because they don't take age into account.  I'm not saying they aren't a good general guideline to be used as a comparison over time to see your individual progress.  But I have a hard time believing my power/weight ratio at 60 years old is comparable to the same numbers of a 25 year old.  My numbers have constantly dropped over the years and yet I can still be reasonably competitive in my age group on the bike.  But to compare my data to a Cat I, II, III racer makes no sense.  If mine comes out at 2.6 does that mean I'm in terrible shape for a 25 year old, or great shape for a 60 year old?  There's no way to tell.

If you use your numbers as a guideline for your own progress, then maybe it's a usefull tool.  Are you reading this Jorge...what do you think?

Yes, which is why I think Coggan and Allen should have put that disclaimer in their (otherwise) excellent book on power training.  Instead they leave it as on open-ended statement that you can use these charts as a comparison from rider to rider, which may not necessarily be true.

They are only rough guidlines anyway to guage yourself against.  The best measure is to race your competition. 

And you also have to remember that the book is geared almost entirely towards cyclists, not triathletes (despite some references to IMLP, etc.).  So it might still be a useful benchmark to an 'older' rider.  They might know, for instance (no idea if this is true or not), that if they can hang with some of the Cat 3 or 4 cyclists in their group that they are doing pretty well against their age-competition.  So then they can use those ranges as goals in their own training.

I don't know if there is enough data easily available to construct such a chart across AGs (especially since cycling is largely driven by Cat, not age).