I don't think there is any substitute for good training partners. After all, we are social animals, and TP's can get you out of bed early when you'd rather sleep, or go for an extra 20 mile loop you weren't planning on, or over the wall that you weren't going to ride, etc. Plus, training partners can be like a honing stone, sharpening all the riders in the group.

Also, there's no substitute for the solo riding if you race non-drafting Tri's an/or TT's. So, there's room for this.

Finally, I don't know of a better device, than PC's, for learning one aspect of the pedal stroke...that is, to at least lift the rising leg so the power leg's energy isn't wasted helping the rising leg to get out of the way, and, someday, to actually add power to the pedal stroke with that rising leg.

If I could choose only one of the above, I'd go with a great training partner group. PC's would be second. Solo rides would be third.

I don't have a great training group. They aren't fast enough to help me, except to keep me slowed down on the long rides. If you have such a group and add PC's to your training tools, I'd consider the first couple of weeks to be solo training weeks. You'll be back with the group sooner than you think. Honestly.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

hey tri-taiwan. "frequently wonder", you say? that is a good sign. ;) anyway, you have hit upon a valid topic. in my case, i had the things for a week and then had to go to madison wi to meet rich strauss and his partner/henchman/buddy and a fellow rookie tri-geek.....i was to give them a guided tour of the MOO course at IM race speed. these boys are fast as all hell, and i am not bad at sucking wheel so we did ok but i would have been shelled instantly on my new PC's. so, i switched them back and had a fine day. then, i put the PC's back on and returned home. once here i left them on and never regretted it once. i did not ride with the fella's - but in truth i've been riding with these guys for 17 years and i needed a change anyway. :) our local group[ ride is like a race, and there was no way i could stay in the small, inches apart, aggresive and attacking ride with them at the time. the handling issues were as much of it as the pedalling, i think. this coming year, tho, i think this would be different. i have the handling issues sorted and can now sprint and recover and generally motor as i wish on them i believe. ( it's winter here so i am not sure). in any case, the feedback i receive riding the things is/was worth it to me. but, a fella has to be willing to kinda trust the process and be patient. your buddies will drop you right off and if that is unlivable to you don't bother. in my case i am 42 y/o and having been riding for many years and iif i was gonna get better doing what i was it would have happened by now - this, plus the immediate positive feedback i got from the PC's - the feeling that this is how one should be pedalling a bicycle was more than enough to send me happily out PC-ing on my own. within 6 or 7 weeks or so i was running faster than my 1/2 IM race speed for 1.5 times the distance at the same HR. . . .and riding 1.5 times the 1/2 IM distance at the same speed as my race pace with a HR 12-15 BPM lower. i am certain, looking back many years, that 6 more "tuesday nite fights" would not have done that for me. hope this helps.

I saw this all the time. Customers were always saying they couldn't ride with their group, or they would go back to regular cranks to ride with the group on long rides, or hammer fests or whatever. And these people never saw the big improvements. It is part of how I came to recommend what i do now.

If your ego gets in the way and won't allow you to take a small hit in your performance for a short while, stay away from PC's you will hate them, until your training partners start riding on them. Then you will hate them even more when they start to drop you.

Frank

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

They seem to maintain a remarkably high price on the used market too.

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Well played.

dude, you resuscitated not one but two 16-year zombie threads?

I think he must be experimenting with edibles or something.