tri808's Spring Pot Luck (CLOSED) (Page 37)

Well, I haven't posted for a while because I got sidetracked by horrible weather (for us).  Snow, ice, longterm freezing temps that resulted in broken water pipes.  We were without running water 5 days until my husband got to replacing almost every water pipe under the house (pier & beam).  It also kept me off the bike.  However, after reading Hamlet's post about the druglords and gunfire, I won't complain too much.

We've also just acquired our local taekwondo studio so now we are small business owners on top of having jobs!  However, we are getting beautiful spring weather, and I hope to take the bike out Sunday.  I've been getting in runs, but I need more practice on the bike.  I have found a tri for April 17 that is closer to home with a 1/2 m. swim, 23.8 m. bike and 3.1 m. run that I would like to do.  I need to start training actively for it.  Warrior Dash is coming up as a fun sidenote.

I climbed up what is called the ''saddle mountain'' this monday. Ive done it before but I always started out a bit slow and pushed near the end. this time some friends came from out of town and I was in charge of leading the whole way. make sure nobody got lost etc. it was tough. I went with the ones who start out fast and with the ones that push it near the end. on top of that I was carrying water for some of the girls we took with us. 9 liters of water in my pack. I had never carried so much. I am still tired. the last part is runnable and we run it at break neck pace. all in all its an amazing experience. the view up there just takes your breath away. and we went with some of the best friends this guy could ask for. wouldn't change it for anything.

this is me and my sister at the very top.

Got my 20 minute FTP test done today.  I thought I was going to die.  Then I thought I would quit at 3 minutes, then 7 minutes.  Somehow made it through holding 262 watts...which puts my estimated FTP at 249. 

The only other time I did the test was last June.  I did that test on my road bike, holding 248 watts for an estimated FTP of 235.  But this test I did completely on the aero bars of my TT bike...which is harder to produce power.  So a pretty big improvement for me all things considered.

Not to mention I'm 5 pounds lighter than I was last June, so my overall watts/kg has gone up from 3.21 to 3.49

NERD!! But no, seriously, that is amazing!!!! I know getting a powermeter is a great investment and will do wonders for my biking, but plunking down ~1000$ in one go makes me want to vomit. Especially because I know very little about powermeters and so I don't know which one would be best. Want to school us/me? 

Ahh...this could be a long conversation.

But for those who just want the bare minimum, without the nerd talk...LOL...here's the deal

IMO, a power meter, BY FAR...it the single best investment you can make towards improving your cycling.  It is literally like having a coach on your bike at all times.

2 caveats though

1.  You still need to put in the work.  Power meters don't make you faster.  Using them to structure your training makes you faster.

2.  You take the time to learn how to use it and evaluate your progress.  Using power is not very effective if you don't take the time to evaluate your power files.  Not everyone is into that.  Some people just like to ride.  That's fine...but you won't see the full value of a power meter unless you can make sense of your numbers.  Or at least hire a coach to do it for you.

If you want more info, ask away...I realized I could type about 10 pages worth of info about power...but it would be no good to anyone as nobody would bother reading the whole thing.

Oh goodie! Just like any other way of measuring your progress, a powermeter does what it does: measures your progress not in terms of speed or HR, but obviously in power units (watts). This I know. And I get the general concept of doing a test to determine your different power zones (just as you do a HR test, am I right?)

My question is more from a techie standpoint. What's the difference between all the different power meter models out there? Why get one over the other? How do I differentiate between all the specs?? (And write away, I love learning about this kind of stuff!)

you're right about how it's measured.  The reason why though that it's much more valuable (and also much more expensive) is because it's nearly 100% accurate.  Your HR takes time for it to adjust to your effort.  A power meter takes less than a second to notice differences in pedaling force.  You can also be going at the same effort for 2 hours straight, and your HR will slowly climb as you fatigue...aka cardiac drift.  A power meter will not vary.

Ok...on to your question.  The next year is an exciting time for power meters as more companies are entering the market.  Currently, the main two types of power meters available are hub based and crank based.  Meaning the power meter is in the hub of your rear wheel (powertap brand) or in your crank (SRM and Cinco Quarq brands).

Powertap - currently it's the most affordable.  Brand new, you can get a decent powertap built into a training wheel for about $1000.  Used, you can find it for $500-700.  The pros is that it's affordable, and it's easy to swap between bikes (if you want to use it on both your road and TT bike).  The downside is that if you use race wheels, you can't use it during your race.  The solution to that though is to buy a disc cover for this training wheel to turn it into a race wheel for tris and TTs.  But again the downside is that you can't use a disc in road races.  You could always get a powertap built into a race wheel and use it for both training and racing if you wish. 

SRM & Cinco Quarq - SRM has been considered the gold standard and is the most expensive.  The Quarq is relatively new to the market, but has a great reputation thus far and has a slightly cheaper price point.  A SRM will run you about $3k brand new...a Quarq...about $1800.  Used, hard to say because they don't come up to often...but you're still looking at $1800 for a SRM and $1200-1400 for a quarq.  What's good about them is that they are crank based...which means you can use both race and training wheels with them.  Swapping it out between bikes can be a chore, but it's possible. 

New players are also coming in.  Garmin just bought out a company called metrigear that was developing a pedal based power meter.  The great thing about that is that pedals are very easy to interchange between bikes.  And this solves the race wheel problem that the powertap has.  Nobody knows yet how much it will cost, or when they will hit the market...but rumors are that it will be in the same price point of the powertap (around $1k) and will come out sometime late in 2011 or early 2012.  SRM's patent on their power meter technology has also ran out, so there are other companies using their technology to enter the market soon as well.  Keep in mind that power meters are expensive because of the R&D used to develop them...not really because they are super expensive to make.

So when considering a power meter, you really need to think about what your needs are first.  Do you plan to road race?  Do you plan to use a power meter on more than one bike?  How often would you switch between bikes?  2-4 times a year?  Or 2-4 times a month?

For me, I went with the powertap in a training wheel because it was the most affordable.  I have a disc cover for it to use it for racing time trials and tris.  However, I do plan to road race where I can't use a disc...but I still plan to use race wheels.  In this case I made the decision that I do not need a power meter to do road races.  The reason being that road racing is more about conserving energy in the draft of the peloton and responding to attacks.  Meaning your power will be all over the place.  Not like a time trial or a triathlon where your goal is to ride steady at your goal power.

For now, I'm very happy with my powertap.  But if I had to do it all over again, I would strongly consider waiting for the pedal based meters to come out, and also see if any other crank based power meters hit the market at a lower price point. 

At this point though, you can't go wrong with looking for a used powertap wheel...see how you like it.  Honestly...it's not for everyone.  Like I mentioned before...you still need to put in the work. 

Welcome back Norma.  I thought you were lost and gone forever. 

It must be scary buying a business in this economy.  It sounds like you are going to be challenged with time to train even more so as an owner of a business.  And if you are planning on hitting that Tri in April you better giddy-up.  Congrats on being a small business owner and good luck.

Man I love running!!!  I just finished a 10 mile run and wish I could have done more.  Right now I am about 30 minnutes post run and I am feeling great.  It got dark on me while I was out and I didn't have my night running gear and I shouldn't increase my mileage right now anyway.  I have had a couple of increases recently and I haven't had a recovery week for a little while.  Next week will be my recovery week, although I don't want it to be.  I want to keep moving forward, but in the interest of my well-being I'll back it down for a week.

Did I mention I love running?

Don't rush getting out to train, you'll only prolong the illness.  Take the week as a recovery week and rest up to get ready for the next hardcore week of training.

The only problem is that this will be my 3rd "recovery week" out of the last 4 weeks... and HIM is a month away!  I guess I'll wait and panic if I dont get any workouts in this week... 

Yeah that kinda changes things a bit.  I think you'll be fine though.  This is your first HIM so you could think of it as a premier event.  Just kinda showin everyone whats about to come.

Speaking of races, I just entered 2 of the planned races for this season.  The first one is in June and  Sprint and the second in August is an Oly.  I did the Oly last year and I have been told that I "must" enter the same race this year.  My wife wants me to enter this one because she gets to see me so much during the race.  Both races are on my dashboard and I think I am already prepared for them.  I think the trainer has really helped my bike over the winter and I am anxious to check it out over the course of a race.

I feel for you I was sick for almost a month!

Here's what I'll be rockin tomorrow at my 10 mile TT.  404 front, powertap disc covered rear, and a computer.  NOTHING ELSE.  No cages, no bottles no bento box, no saddle bag, even stripped off the cadence sensor.  It's not a sanctioned race, so I'll be able to use my tri top, which is the tightest fitting top I have.  Flat kit will go in the rear pocket.

(P2 TT Race Mode.jpg)