The Cycling Thread

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Does anyone use a power meter? If so, please relate your reasons for getting one, if it helps and how you use it. What benefits did you see, especially if you are non-competitive?

No, I don't really understand the science of it and without being able to interpret the numbers I'm not sure what benefit I'd get from it.

I ride with a guy who has stages one which he swears by and seems to spend alot of time watching his average power output on his garmin.

I think it might help going to hard on a long ride though as you can ride to a percentage of threshold so you dont go into the red...

Like I said not really sure how it works...

[7755matt]

I'm very tempted with a power meter. I use trainer road which has a virtual power meter using ant+ transmitted speed and cadence related to certain types of turbo trainer. I'd love a stages power meter and will save for one once I've moved house.

The indigogo one looks interesting but will alter what I believe is called Q factor which may affected along and bike fit.

I am led to believe training and riding to power is much more effective than training to heart rate

My brother has just got one on a dura ace crank. A few people have them in the group I ride with - they get told to p*** off if they start talking numbers or try change the group pace to suit their training though lol

I just purchased a power meter 2 weeks ago. I've wanted one for years. I'm coming back from injury and have put on over 5 stone. Since coming back my first ride was at around 14mph. I did a 50 mile ride at 13.7mph.

Straight away when I put the power meter in, I did an FTP test. (I assume you know what this is, but in case you don't, there's loads of good articles online, but essentially it is the power you can hold for 1 hour).

Having done that you set your training zones much as you would for heart rate, but there is of course no lag and you know exactly what effort you're putting out and when you're doing it.

The first ride with my power meter was this: https://www.strava.com/activities/304002141

16.4mph average. This was with a group, and it was quite fast, but I was able to pace myself a bit better on the efforts seeing the power figures.

Then came the following:

https://www.strava.com/activities/307463583 This was supposed to be an 81 mile ride (hence the average of 13.2mph) but I was feeling really good when I finished and was just picking the pace up. Given my longest ride in the last two years was about 52 miles, the power meter no doubt completely helped my pace myself, especially up hills because as 19 stone it can hurt! Unfortunately mechanical issues meant a £70 cab ride home.

https://www.strava.com/activities/310025757 This was again a group ride and could pace myself getting an average of 15.1mph, much improved on the early times.

https://www.strava.com/activities/311573143 This was the first ride where I was trying to train in 'power zones' properly. It hurt - a lot. The power meter really gave me a lot of motivation to push myself for the last few intervals and I think I got a lot out of the workout. Given that I had a headwind for a significant portion, the average speed on a solo ride of 16.7mph really shows how fast I have improved (as you'd expect), but also that the power meter really did spur me on.

In terms of long term benefits, I can't tell you, but I am right now really impressed with it. I'm also particularly impressed with the performance management charts you can access.

I'm using Golden Cheetah - free software for the Mac which isn't the most pretty interface but gives you lots of good information.

If you really want serious training tools - get a Wahoo Kikr as I hear they are absolutely fantastic. The idea of spending all that time inside riding just doesn't swing with me, so I got the hub power meter to help in my 'non-competitive' road training.

So far, its good, if you have any more questions, feel free to ping me a PM.

[pookie]

which one did you get EssexDave? Sounds like it makes training a bit more fun.

[maviczap]

Training & fun does not compute

I went for the Powertap rear wheel with the hub built it. It was £630. I was doing two things - buying motivation, and trying to give myself a training tool that would help me improve faster.

Of course, the power meter in itself does not in fact make you faster, its a tool that you have to use right. I like the numbers, I like the graphs and what you can do with it. I like knowing how hard my intervals need to be and see whether I'm getting there or not.

It also allows me to identify my weaknesses. So, my FTP of 234W is quite low for my weight, but my power to weight is so incredibly low (at 19 stone) that I struggle up hills. I have to put out between 600-950W to get up the medium hills we have here close to the back of my group. If I'm in my lowest gear turning the pedals over, I'm putting out 350-500W to get up them. That tells me, I will always really struggle to keep up on a hilly ride because I can't put out the power for long enough.

I don't know if the price tag is worth it, but I think it was a better purchase than £630 of upgrades on my bike.

The other thing to add is as a weight loss tool it is helpful. It provides a much better reading of calories burned because it calculates the figure from the watts produced and so is much more accurate as it ignores time spent not pedalling and makes an assessment of the energy spent turning the pedals.

The second use in weight loss is I want to ride quite a bit to burn off the lard, but I also don't want to burn myself out. It allows me to make sure my long slow rides are really easy enough to expend a few extra calories, without putting a huge strain on my body.

[pookie]

good stuff.. I'm all for buying motivation after all the figures dont lie!. I assume the powertap links with the garmin and it just records the data for later. Keep up the good work .. you'll get up those hills in no time!

It does connect just straight to the garmin and you have a choice of what to display. Zones, % of FTP, pure power for that second, or an average over 3s, 10s, minute, lap etc.

Its surprising how much power varies over a short time.

anyone recommend a reliable courier? just bought a specialized roubaix

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