Today's Bike Ride

[Hanneke]

Nikalas, have you tested/reviewed any power meters? I am not seriously thinking about investing in one mind, as I think they are too expensive and aren't necessarily useful training tools for road racing, but been having discussions with tester friends about them... I like the idea of the Look/Garmin vector pedal one, but they seem to have trouble actually producing it?

[ZootHornRollo]

No worries... shouldn't be too difficult, they offer a good amount of adjustment.

so if I reset the meters on the wattbike before the start of my TT, at the end it will give me average power for the 20 mins?

[nikalas]

so if I reset the meters on the wattbike before the start of my TT, at the end it will give me average power for the 20 mins?

Should do... I had some lab monkey set it all up when I was tested but I know people who have self-tested... might be worth dropping the guys at WattBike a line, they're really helpful and will probably give you a protocol.

[nikalas]

Nikalas, have you tested/reviewed any power meters? I am not seriously thinking about investing in one mind, as I think they are too expensive and aren't necessarily useful training tools for road racing, but been having discussions with tester friends about them... I like the idea of the Look/Garmin vector pedal one, but they seem to have trouble actually producing it?

Yep, have tested most of the current systems and all have their pros and cons... The crank based systems (SRM and Quarq) are the industry standards but are the most expensive and obviously swapping them between bikes is not really realistic. Hub based Powertap is probably the cheapest and easy to swap from bike to bike but do you train on a race wheel or race on a training wheel? Personally, if I was going to spend cash I'd wait for the Garmin Vector.. it's annoying that they've bumped it back... again but it's going to offer the greatest flexibility. Polar are going to get their pedals out first but the Ant+ compatibility of the Garmin and the fact they'll talk to Garmin bike computers makes the wait worthwhile.

[Hanneke]

Thanks for that feedback, I had come to the same conclusion! I shall wait for the Garmin Vector system and see how much it costs... by which time I may have given up racing in favour of audaxing anyway

Yep, have tested most of the current systems and all have their pros and cons... The crank based systems (SRM and Quarq) are the industry standards but are the most expensive and obviously swapping them between bikes is not really realistic. Hub based Powertap is probably the cheapest and easy to swap from bike to bike but do you train on a race wheel or race on a training wheel? Personally, if I was going to spend cash I'd wait for the Garmin Vector.. it's annoying that they've bumped it back... again but it's going to offer the greatest flexibility. Polar are going to get their pedals out first but the Ant+ compatibility of the Garmin and the fact they'll talk to Garmin bike computers makes the wait worthwhile.

[nikalas]

Thanks for that feedback, I had come to the same conclusion! I shall wait for the Garmin Vector system and see how much it costs... by which time I may have given up racing in favour of audaxing anyway

They're going to be around the £1000 mark and, if you haven't already got a Garmin computer, you'll need to budget that in too.

[nikalas]

60 mins just spinning the legs easy on the turbo @220W

[ZootHornRollo]

Hard two hours' spinning last night, intervals all the way.
Felt a bit emotional afterwards.

[Hanneke]

No cycling for me yesterday, or today for that matter... no time

[nikalas]

Nudged it up to 2X20 mins @360W tonight.... if I can hit the magic 400W mark and be down to 80kg for Oulton Park duathlon I'll be a happy camper.