Power Tap Pro

these things go for about 900 bucks with a mavic wheel. the power tap (original model) and the power tap pro (improved model) are the hub of your rear wheel. a computer attaches to your handles bars and you route it to the rear seat stay and the rear chain stay on the off-chain side. the first attachement picks up wattage, speed, cadence, torque, distance from the hub and the other is a back up for detecting cadence (off the left crank arm). the sys can be set to update at various speeds ranging from every second to every five seconds - for each function. there is also a heart rate strap and monitor so your cpu display can show you various combinations of hr, wattage, speed, cadence, distance, time, etc. and avg's of hr, cadence, wattage. pretty cool. the bike leg is only one element of a triathlon so its prob not worth the investment unless youre super committed and have some extra cash around. if you also to road races then its even more appropriate. wattage is a huge advantage in cycling training - as ive discussed before - and the power tap is the most cost effective way to harness this advantage (in one man's opinion). similar wattage tools out there are the polar system which is inferior and the srm system which is very expensive - ie - couple thou - the power tap's cpu software is also easier to use than the srm system which is quite complicated unless youre a mathematician. being able to download your workout and compare them to other similar workouts from last week, month, year is pretty awesome.