Such is the benefit of training with power...doesn't matter if there is no wind and I can cruise along at 25-27 or if its 20-30mph winds, gusting to 40 or 50 where doing 15 is hard...I just ride at the wattage, time, and cadence I'm supposed to be riding...and I'm getting pretty much the same workout either way...sometimes its nice to be sitting up, even with wind in your face...

Great, now you've ruined it for me. I was smugly enjoying my aerodynamic superiority and now it turns out I'm just technologically inferior. Oh well, I think I'll just pretend I never read that and that I remain less affected by this crazy wind thing. If the list of crap to buy wasn't long enough, I'd add powertap to it, but realistically thats 2 seasons away.

On my way to pout for the rest of the day...

Kevin

.

People are becoming too technologically dependant nowdays.. Did Mark Allen have a power meter? Did Eddy Merckx even have a speedometer? Just go out there and f*cking ride.. sheesh..

Well, my young apprentice...I'll bet you a heaping box of donuts that Allen and Merckx would have used a powermeter if they'd been available. Do you know how much Eddie paid attention to the technical aspect of cycling? And Mark Allen certainly did use a heart rate monitor with his training...portable powermeters were just barely emerging when he hung up his GT from active competition...they didn't really explode until about 95-96 with Bjarne Riis's adoption of the SRM system. Still, though, you have to know what you're doing with these sorts of trinkets or they're nothing but so much bike bling...in which case you might be correct...it would be better to leave them at home and just ride.

hammydad...didn't mean to spoil your gloat...while I'm certain that freestyle was off base with his comment...there IS merit to his statement. There is merit to just training. There is a certain freedom to not being laden with all this techno stuff...besides...I'll bet ANOTHER box of donuts that those roadies didn't have a powermeter either...and probably WERE suffering more than you... so quit pouting...gloating is much more fun!

;->

I think all of those gadgets (personal LT kit, Powermeters etc) are a wonderful idea if you are at the peak of your fitness and want to get those extra 2-3% out of yourself in preparation for a big race. People who are new to the sport don't know what it's like to just go out for a run or bike without having something to monitor themselves (whether is be HR, speed etc).

I think people should just go out and JFT hard and consistently and not worry about watts/lactate etc until they really need to. I've taken this approach this season and I'm seeing great results after a few short weeks. I highly recommend it.

It the roadies were in a group it doesn't matter, but if riding solo it's a different thing.

You can always distinguish the "pure" roadies from triathletes when riding road bikes by the absence of a simple pair of clip-ons. About half a dozen of us in our group rides have clip-ons on our road bikes although we don't ride on them in group rides. Our club does a couple of TT's every summer and the most stubborn roadies don't even have clip-ons then. One bull headed guy is even very argumentive that he is just as aero on the drops as on clip-ons.

freebasestyle, of course, you are right. Don't worry about all the gadgets until you need them to squeeze the final few percentage points of improvement out of your training.

BUT, at your age, you SHOULD improve each and every year for over the next decade. Your endurance capabilities shouldn't peak for maybe 15 years, and, with the intelligence gained from training consistantly from now until then, you may be able to squeeze many more years of good results after that!

Keep working consistantly and intelligently, and you'll keep improving.

---

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