Young Luddites in Tri?!?!

eta this is written by the guy with the bike with 105 components and a $90 wheel cover on a 32 spoke training wheel. Fun to pass $10k bikes with my rig.

Edited by ChrisM 2016-06-14 10:42 AM

No, there is no resurgence.......really fast young riders use PM's....at least the ones I know do.

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to NOT use a powermeter (intentionally) for training, even while seeking to be the best. 

A surprising number of top pros do exactly this. They could easily get the latest/greatest powermeters but they've often found they train better without them. 

Negatives to the PM:

- You get 'tied to the number.' Rather than paying attention to your body, you pay too much attention to the powermeter number. Countless AGers have blown up on the bike leg on race day because the religiously followed their PM target and not paying attention to the reality that they were not feeling in top A form, racing in hotter temps than usual, gassed on the swim more than expected, etc. 

- You might not push as hard. I know, most here will say 'well Trainerroad and powermeters made me train harder', but for a lot of young fast athletes, they'll push harder than ever with a fast group and guys they have to chase. Without the powermeter, you just gun it - you don't start freaking out when the numbers are higher than you imagined you could hold. 

And just as importantly - the cold, hard reality of powermeters is that the (vast) majority of well intentioned AGers who get powermeters intending to take their bike splits to the next level, never end up doing that. They stay pretty much the same speed, but now they can tell you their TSS, VI,  FTP, target race FTP, and all sorts of arcane-sounding numbers with frightening objectivity. If you're into that, then def get a powermeter -you'll love it. If you're into getting faster though - the powermeter is merely a tool, and it's your hard work and not the powermeter than will make you faster.

At least you were somewhat objective. it's always interesting to me why this question always devolves for some to a judgment about the people that use them rather than an objective fact based discussion of PMs.

Carry on

Edited by ChrisM 2016-06-14 8:25 PM

Yup I in fact totally realized that. 

PMs can be both good and bad - even simultaneously. 

I have a power meter and all that stuff, and I'm faster than you.