How many houses could all the riders of Tour de France power collectively throughout the tour

They average about half the number you stated. Maybe 250w tops. Let’s say 200 finish and they all average 250w that’s 50kw multiplies by about 80 hours. Total of 4,000 Kw, yeah? Average hike uses about 30kw a day so you’re looking at 5-6 homes for the duration of the tour I think.

They're practically being motorpaced. I saw a break where the rider took advantage of the scooter in front of him. Before the scooter noticed what happened a gap of 150m opened up and the guy behind who missed that motor pacing was mad and threw his hands up. This TDF is one of the first that they're looking into how serious the motopacing is. Even if the vehicle is 50m in front it has a huge difference in power savings. Then you have the riders in the peleton who are saving 40% of power by being shielded constantly.

that depends on whether the houses belong to real people who can live without AC, or sissies.

Motobaby wrote:

They're practically being motorpaced. I saw a break where the rider took advantage of the scooter in front of him. Before the scooter noticed what happened a gap of 150m opened up and the guy behind who missed that motor pacing was mad and threw his hands up. This TDF is one of the first that they're looking into how serious the motopacing is. Even if the vehicle is 50m in front it has a huge difference in power savings. Then you have the riders in the peleton who are saving 40% of power by being shielded constantly.

Yes. The motorbikes being used by riders can be an issue. Not the first time.

But...a motorcycle 50m in front offers very small benefits. Perhaps a percent or so.

And of course the riders in the peloton are shielded, that's the point . If its flat, savings can be 30% or so for a single file line and sometimes well over 60% deep near the back of the peloton.

KarlMarxist wrote:

I've always wondered. 214 riders in the 2019 TDF all probably averaging around 400 watts throughout 2,200 miles. How many houses could they power??

Typical average for a typical stage probably about 250w. Average stage let's say 5 hours. 170 ish riders. 21 stages.

A better way of looking at 250w is that each rider is doing 0.25 kW/h per hour.

So we have 0.25 kW/h × 170 × 21 × 5 = approximately 4.5 MW/h.

If we also want to consider thermal energy, which is usually 3-4x the actually work applied at the crank (efficiency is usually 20-25% for a cyclist) we could add an additional 13-18 MW/h for a total of about 18-23 MW/h.

LM wrote:

KarlMarxist wrote:

I've always wondered. 214 riders in the 2019 TDF all probably averaging around 400 watts throughout 2,200 miles. How many houses could they power??

Typical average for a typical stage probably about 250w. Average stage let's say 5 hours. 170 ish riders. 21 stages.

A better way of looking at 250w is that each rider is doing 0.25 kW/h per hour.

So we have 0.25 kW/h × 170 × 21 × 5 = approximately 4.5 MW/h.

If we also want to consider thermal energy, which is usually 3-4x the actually work applied at the crank (efficiency is usually 20-25% for a cyclist) we could add an additional 13-18 MW/h for a total of about 18-23 MW/h.

Is there some point in saying essentially the same thing I just did? Also, how do you propose transferring the thermal energy of these riders so the houses could use it?

Mathis ur friend wrote:

They average about half the number you stated. Maybe 250w tops. Let’s say 200 finish and they all average 250w that’s 50kw multiplies by about 80 hours. Total of 4,000 Kw, yeah? Average hike uses about 30kw a day so you’re looking at 5-6 homes for the duration of the tour I think.

Energy usage is measured in KWh. Watts is an instantaneous measure of power. I don't think you understand electricity or energy.

If a rider produces 250W of power for 4 hours they will produce 1KWh of energy. The average American home uses between 25 to 30KWh of energy per day.

So if the average tour stage is 6hrs and riders average 250W of power, I'm not sure if those figures are correct but they sound somewhat close, then it will 20 riders over the course of one stage to power a house. 6hrs X 250W = 1.5KWh X 20 riders = 30KWh. So the entire tour of roughly160 riders could power about 8 houses a day.

KarlMarxist wrote:

I've always wondered. 214 riders in the 2019 TDF all probably averaging around 400 watts throughout 2,200 miles. How many houses could they power??

This person has way too much time on his hands! way, way too much time.

Oh wow, so I put 4000kw instead of 4000kw/h. I clearly know nothing. Oh wait, except you don't actually know what you're talking about either because the average tour stage is NOT 6 hours and your final conclusion was essentially exactly what I said when you factor in that you used the wrong amount of time per stage since the actual average tour stage comes out to about 4 hours.

mathis ur friend wrote:

LM wrote:

Typical average for a typical stage probably about 250w. Average stage let's say 5 hours. 170 ish riders. 21 stages.

A better way of looking at 250w is that each rider is doing 0.25 kW/h per hour.

So we have 0.25 kW/h × 170 × 21 × 5 = approximately 4.5 MW/h.

If we also want to consider thermal energy, which is usually 3-4x the actually work applied at the crank (efficiency is usually 20-25% for a cyclist) we could add an additional 13-18 MW/h for a total of about 18-23 MW/h.

Is there some point in saying essentially the same thing I just did? Also, how do you propose transferring the thermal energy of these riders so the houses could use it?

You are...very aggressive.

I didn't see your post when I posted, but yea we reached the same conclusion.

As for thermal energy, no we cant use it. But was included as an interesting piece to consider as most dont realize mechanical power generated is a small fraction of total power produced.

Mathis ur friend wrote:

They average about half the number you stated. Maybe 250w tops. Let’s say 200 finish and they all average 250w that’s 50kw multiplies by about 80 hours. Total of 4,000 Kw, yeah? Average hike uses about 30kw a day so you’re looking at 5-6 homes for the duration of the tour I think.

Or one American McMansion