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First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol
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I have the two books, I am just overloaded with info at the moment and looking for some quick / easy observations from people experienced in these things ... :-)

• First ride out with a power meter.
• PowerTap hub / new 88mm wheels.
• Windy as hell - bit nervous on the deep front - spent a little longer than I should sat up (although it was more stable in aero).
• Not done FTP test yet. Just set polar v650 at 250.
• Rode 'easy' - just a nice ride to get familiar with the wheels and the power screens on the computer - even spent some time chatting bike shit with another rider I caught up to.
• Reasonably hilly route (for the area I live in).

Polar splits into five zones based on inputed FTP. The zones can be fully customised but I just left them at default values (didn't see why I should mess until I know my true FTP).

Data from Polarflow :



Heart rate monitor decided to die :



Same ride data from golden cheetah:





So, can I take anything away from this or is it all meaningless until I know my true FTP ?

Any guesses / estimates of what my FTP may be based on the data above ? (Be honest, I am not expecting it to be great ... lol).

Thanks in advance for any replies :-)

WD :-)
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [WD Pro] [ In reply to ]
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Obviously if you have no set FTP, then the power zones are of limited value to you.

The "TSS" score, or the equivalent goldencheetah cumulative training load score, is also of limited value without a true FTP.

Your absolute wattage numbers are still valid and can be used for future effort comparisons.

The value of this data becomes more clear as you have multiple rides to compare - with a single ride it's harder to get an understanding of how it progresses with training.

But yeah, to get the most out of it, an FTP test is def needed, particularly since the main benefit of a powermeter is to GUIDE your optimal training power targets for optimal improvement.

Unfortunately, I bet the reality is that a majority of outdoor users don't use it as such - they use it as a glorified after-the-fact power record of their outdoor efforts, which means they aren't training BY power, but just looking at their power numbers in retrospect.

The indoor Trainerroad users don't have this problem - they're actually using legit power numbers to GUIDE their future training for optimal improvement.
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [lightheir] [ In reply to ]
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Thank you :-)

Just to be clear, I do plan on using the meter properly.

I am on the start of a very steep learning curve and this ride was really just to familiarise myself with the new bike setup and to give it a bit of a shakedown - it's just had new wheels, tyres, gearing, chain, pads, cabling etc :-)

WD :-)
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [WD Pro] [ In reply to ]
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You'll have fun with it - enjoy the new stuff - eventually as you get comfortable with it, learn about how to maintain it so you won't hvae problems down the road (like I'm having, having not maintained my bike for years...)
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [WD Pro] [ In reply to ]
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In Golden Cheetah, go to the "CP" tab of that ride. This is a great plot to learn about. There is even a floating box that will eventually give you an FTP estimate once you have a few more rides in. You'll see three lines:
  1. record power per time
  2. this ride's best power per time
  3. model for (1.)

If you ever hit a record power per time in a ride, the first line (1.) will grow a bump. More area under that curve (lots of bumps) is good. If the bump is big enough (or in a good place), the model (3.) will shift up. Model curve shifting up means a higher calculated FTP. Model curve shifting down (as a record elapses out of the time window for the curve) means it thinks your FTP has decreased.


So, as mentioned above...keep riding and recording data. Get enough rides so that you can get a handle on things, then start using it for training/racing.
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [WD Pro] [ In reply to ]
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Unless you're really strong I'd set your FTP to more like 200 to start. And you can run an FTP test at any point and correct that. Just that it's unlikely you're that high just starting training with power.
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [WD Pro] [ In reply to ]
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With this being your first ride with power I wouldn't put too much thought into it. I would ride for 2 weeks as normal with intervals, steady tempo, base rides, recovery rides.. and start to develop your own power duration curve. This will start to give you a pretty good idea of where you are across the board


At that point, I would push you to invest in WKO4 software... from there you can get very detailed with whatever you want to work on and it will update daily... its pretty nice.

Congrats on the Power Meter...you're going to love it.

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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [WD Pro] [ In reply to ]
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Here's what I tell everyone once they get their very first power meter:

Just ride normally for a couple of weeks on your usual rides. Record every ride but for now keep your usual training log (you do keep a regular training log, right?). Learn the button functions so you don't have to fumble. Make sure you know how to zero the torque. Download every ride but don't obsess about the data yet. Sprint if you want (everyone does). Try and set a max if you want (everyone does). Look at the pretty graphs if you want (everyone does). But don't change anything -- you don't yet know enough to change. You're just trying to get some baseline data so you'll be able to retrospectively evaluate your past rides.

After 10 rides or two weeks or so, you'll start to have enough data to understand what the books are talking about.
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [RChung] [ In reply to ]
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RChung wrote:
Here's what I tell everyone once they get their very first power meter:

Just ride normally for a couple of weeks on your usual rides. Record every ride but for now keep your usual training log (you do keep a regular training log, right?). Learn the button functions so you don't have to fumble. Make sure you know how to zero the torque. Download every ride but don't obsess about the data yet. Sprint if you want (everyone does). Try and set a max if you want (everyone does). Look at the pretty graphs if you want (everyone does). But don't change anything -- you don't yet know enough to change. You're just trying to get some baseline data so you'll be able to retrospectively evaluate your past rides.

After 10 rides or two weeks or so, you'll start to have enough data to understand what the books are talking about.

This is good advice. Also make sure your head unit is set to include zeros. This takes coasting and stopping into equation for your average power output. If you were on a hilly ride and didn't include them, then your average power will be overstated if you spend any time coasting down the backside.
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [WD Pro] [ In reply to ]
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keep your display of power at 10 or 30 sec. I use 30 sec so that the numbers don't fluctuate so rapidly. It'll be clear to you why after your first ride after setting your FTP when you are trying to do specific target wattage for your workout
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [WD Pro] [ In reply to ]
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Enjoy your first FTP test!

Scott
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [WD Pro] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, after a couple of weeks, watch these videos on FTP test to get a feel for it:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDsN73cQpWc
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzzDCd8xWcQ
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fDsrTo5Sf0
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [WD Pro] [ In reply to ]
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Most of the metrics are useless without a true FTP.

But I didn't reply for that - I'm going to guess your FTP: 245w.

Tell me how I do when you do your test.

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My Blog
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [GreatScott] [ In reply to ]
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GreatScott wrote:
Enjoy your first FTP test!

Said no one after their first .... or any .... FTP test!
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [WD Pro] [ In reply to ]
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Over time, learn what watts are appropriate for you at what levels of effort and heart rate. Then when your power is low for your given heart rate, you will know that you are getting dehydrated. And on the flip side, if your heart rate is low for your given power, you are bonking due to either not fueling enough, overfueling, overfueling to ratio of water you are drinking, or simply have biked past your level of fitness.

In the case of biking past your level of fitness, you can tell if there is a sudden split (decoupling) in your HR and power graphs of more than 5 percent when you look at them after your workout. This means that your power should fade about 5 percent per hour if your HR remains constant. If you see a separation greater than that, you have done something majorly wrong (fueling or drinking or biking way too hard) or you have biked too far for what you are currently able to do. Let's say that happens at 2 hours in. Your goal for your next long ride is 2.25 hours before that happens. Keep training to control yourself using the combo of HR and power until you are at 3 hours, 4 hours, whatever it is you need to do for your long rides until you quit screwing up your nutrition, hydration, and effort so that you'll have your best race.

My point being that it's the combo of power with HR that is the golden ticket. HR is your body's effort. Power is result. You want to figure out how to ride with the best result from your body's effort. Take away either one and the other is pretty useless. Use them together and you've solved the biggest mystery in how to train for longer stuff.

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com
Last edited by: ZenTriBrett: Apr 15, 17 5:36
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Re: First Ride With Power ... Help ... lol [WD Pro] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the feedback and comments everyone !

@dfroelich - thank you, at the moment it looks like this :



I will keep an eye on this - not quite sure I understand your descriptions yet but I will learn :-)

@Markalolo - noted and done :-)

@ddalzell and especially RChung - that was my initial plan, just watch and get familiar with it for a few weeks. Yes, I log everything (pool, open water, road, trail, MTB, spin and road). Everything is in polar at the moment.

@ChrisT - yes, I don't know where the setting is to alter, but it's counting zeros. I could see this when climbing and then the noticeable fall in average power when coasting on the decents. The effect got less the further into the ride - pretty much like resetting the mpg on your car at the start of a journey. Ride was reasonably hilly (1700ft over 28 miles). The polar chart doesn't show it well as it defaults to 'time' so the slopes are my rate of assent - which show the angle of the assent line to all be similar. If I flip it to distance the altitude plot looks much more aggressive / realistic, the main bump being the part of the IMUK course everyone moans about.

@IMStillTrying - yes, read a few threads on this. Currently set a 5 seconds but I plan on using the next ride (short loops) to alter this after each loop and then see how it translates to the reading shown on the display :-)

@sub-3-dad - that would be nice ... lol

@ZenTriBrett - Started to try and get a feel for that, seemed 'right' to be around 185 on level 'normal' riding, time will tell ... lol. The ride was a little low on speed compared to normal. Maybe the wind, maybe the chit chat with the other guy etc ?

To everyone that wished me well with my first ftp test, yeah, thanks for that ... lol

WD :-)
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