Getting power on the bike

If only using one set of wheels... Powertap

If multiple sets of wheels... Cinqo

If multiple bikes but same set of wheels... Powertap

If multiple bikes and multiple sets of wheels... Cinqo and Powertap  (my situation)

I have both and they both work very well.  There really aren't any cheap options but I think this is the single best upgrade you can make to improve your performance.

Simply riding more is the real key. I didn't have any real background in cycling when I started four years ago. I initially bought a road bike and was happy when I could ride 15 miles at 15 mph. Over two years I slowly built up to where I could do that distance at around 20 mph. A year ago I bought a tri bike, and over the winter I hit the trainer hard. I also bought a powertap rear wheel and did lots of intervals in the 10-20 minute range, testing my FTP/CP every month or so.

I'm now at the front of the pack on the bike and my latest FTP test resulted in pretty high wattage, putting my w/Kg for an hour in the 4.6 range, pretty good for a triathlete.

I'd highly recommend getting a powertap. The numbers don't lie and you can't hide from watts. It's beneficial in non-ideal weather, especially on a windy day when you may not go that fast, but you still see the watts you put out. Another benefit is pacing in longer races.

If you want the most basic powertap, I know that Competitive Cyclist has wired wheels with CPU for $700:

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/product-accessories/2011-cycleops-power-tap-compdt-rr-465-complete-wheel-5905.44.1.html

i can only see this as an option for someone that is on a REALLY tight budget.  a pm like pt and quarq would work on a trainer also and you can use it outside where it will really makes a difference.

riding a trainer with a pm is almost useless for me at least.  i normally use trainer 30 miles a year TOTAL and even then i go by RPE. this is partially due to climate in miami so i understand if you live in snow land.

getting a wired PT is an option. 

this is true also.  there are plent of VERY fast folks on this very site that only use HR and are smoking fast.  but a PT helps with one thing for beginner especially dialing things in. 

I know what you mean, but a PT really isn't that limiting.

Ihave a PT hub built on a dtSwiss rim. I train with it and the stock Shimano front that came with my P2.

My race wheels are a Hed3 front and my PT rear with a disc cover. Add low Crr tires and latex tubes.

I really don't see how I can improve on that if I had a different type of powermeter like a cinqo.

YMMV.

When I was shopping around, it was rare for it to include a cassette.  I just moved mine over from my existing wheel.  Are you looking to get a wired one or wireless?  If wireless, you may want to consider making sure it is an ANT+ model in case you want to use a different computer (Garmin 310XT, Edge 500, Joule, etc) other than the little yellow one they come with. 

Agreed, the PT with disc cover is really not any trouble.  Only takes a few minutes to put the cover on and off once you have a bit of practice.

...only limiting if you want to use more than one rear wheel and have power measurement for all  rear wheels.  I think you have chosen the best cost/performance balance.

True. It depends very much on individual circumstances. But it is still a big price difference. You can pick up a KK fluid trainer for <$300 by looking around, and even on ebay the PTs seem to be going in the $800-$1000+ range. Since I started riding again last August after a collarbone break, I think I've done only 5 outdoor training rides, plus races (& commuting); everything else has been indoors. For hard intervals, fitting around family constraints, minimizing 5-hour trips etc. it works out great for me. But that just happens to fit my circumstances (... and squeamishness about riding hard in traffic).

Powertap will accept either a campy hub or a shimano/sram hub, so it can be compatible with any cassette needed. You can pick up hubs for $60-100.

However, as a personal thing, I wouldn't recommend a PT until you need it to really coax every last bit of speed out of your legs. It's hard to tell since your logs aren't filled in, but I think you would probably benefit most just from more saddle time, and making it hurt a good portion of that time.

I've upped my pace by ~ 3mph since February simply following my coaches workouts and putting the time in. Now a 4 hour ride on the weekend is fairly standard, whereas in Feb it would have left me on the couch for a few days. (I did a 30 min quasi TT test last week, and held 24+ mph pretty solidly).

John

This would depend on what keeps you motivated. Raw speed on a bike can be so varied, depending on road conditions, gradient, wind, heat, etc. etc. that it can be rather difficult to gauge progress from speed alone. However much you know that the wind is slowing you down, it can be quite discouraging to be going eyeballs out and barely maintaining [insert slow speed here]. Power measurement gets you around that, and make it easier to see incremental progress. Which is a great motivator for continued training.

This is a purely personal thing and not directed in any way shape or form, but if you need power numbers to motivate you, then you are finished anyway. The only motivation that lasts is internal.

John

Fixed that for you

its really hard to quantify training on the bike without a power meter.  since ive started training with power i raised my FTP by 50 watts and refined my race strategy.  do you have to get a power meter?  of course not, but when they can be had for under ~300$ it makes getting a powermeter top priority on the "buy list."

with a rather in expensive wheel cover, you can turn your tool of accurate pacing and fine tuned training into one of the fastest wheels on the market. the power data means so much to me i would rather use non aero training wheels in a race than give up my powertap.  the only athletes that should be worried about different wheel options are the ones who race kona and cant use a disc (or other non disc courses) as the disc is the fastest option for non ITU draft racing.

agree 100% here.  I think that's where many guys burn-out...lose motivation.  It's fun while having the latest and greatest gadgets but don't stay with riding for all that long.  They just don't enjoy it as much as they enjoy watching the data.  Not sayin there is anything wrong if that gets someone out to be more active.  But it's not necessary to get stronger and faster.

I did my first road race and tri back in the late 80s.  I didn't even ride with a cyclometer back then.  I have know idea how many watts I pull and honestly, would not recognize a powermeter if it was right in front of me.

Hmm, interesting. I guess this is just another reminder of the wide range of different things that motivate us all. I've been doing competitive running for 30+ years (with some long-ish breaks in there; just restarted about a year ago), and always was a numbers geek when running. So it seemed like second nature to transfer that over to the bike and the pool. 

Yet you use a HR monitor. To each his own.

"If you can't measure it, you can't improve it." - Lord Kelvin

I don't know much about power meters, however, one team in senior aerospace engineering design class did a validation/comparison on the iBike Aero Power meter (which is around 150 they said). The results gathered from their experiment showed that there was not much difference between that meter and the Cinco and Powertap. 

http://seniord.aere.iastate.edu/teams.py

Click on this link and the second team down one can see CYBIKE in the Project ID line. Take a look at the report and presentation and judge for yourself I guess.

I just cant see paying for something to judge power. I would just start biking some routes with more hills and some power weight training to build up the quads (i.e. snatches, power cleans, deadlifts and squats).