We recently shared some power numbers of Matt Chrabot from the ITU San Diego WTS race, and there was quite a bit of heated discussion about this topic in our forum. So here now is a comparison to his non drafting effort at the Life Time Fitness Chicago Triathlon - a race he won in a 3-way sprint finish over Greg Bennett and Paul Matthews. Thanks to Training Peaks for their assistance here.

The power spikes and surges are quite obvious on this ITU San Diego WTS file of Matt Chrabot. Chrabot went above 400 watts 50 times aboard his Blue AC1 SL road bike.

A much more even effort in Chicago on his Blue Triad SL triathlon bike, with about 3% more power used total, but only 5 efforts over 400 watts.

With the numbers slightly smaller in the previous images here is a direct comparison of the power data, with ITU San Diego WTS on the left and the 2011 Life Time Fitness Chicago Triathlon on the right.

You can also check out the complete file on Training Peaks:

Matt Chrabot Chicago 2011
Matt Chrabot San Diego 2012