Does anyone have an estimation for that?
I was wondering how many people out there are actually training with power outside…
Any estimations on how many SRMs \ Quarqs \ Powertaps are sold yearly?
Raw guesses with an explanation will be happily greeted!
Thanks,
Tom
With the kona bike count being my logic I’m going to say 27.99%
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How many people are using an outdoor PowerMeter?
I have one installed on my house. The power company put it there. It has this horizontal disc that goes around and around and around. When my wife runs the hair dryer, the disc goes faster. Now that I think about it, I think I got an upgrade last year - no disc, digital, AND wireless.
How many people are using an outdoor PowerMeter?
I have one installed on my house. The power company put it there. It has this horizontal disc that goes around and around and around. When my wife runs the hair dryer, the disc goes faster. Now that I think about it, I think I got an upgrade last year - no disc, digital, AND wireless.
My folks have that too in their house in LA and that disk (with the black line) turns around fast when my mother bakes. MMMmmmmm… baked chicken and ribs…
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Training with power outdoors where I live is pretty pointless in my opinion since it’s so hilly. That being said, I train almost 100% indoors on the Computrainer and race with a powertap. That combination has served me well so far.
To put a different slant on your question, after having a powermeter for only a few months now, I have found that it is difficult to “train with power outside”. I have found that training inside, where conditions can be duplicated ride to ride, is valuable and more consistent where I can concentrate on meeting the prescribed interval wattage goals etc. So far outside, I have done fairly little “training” with it. Yes, I have used it to maintain a certain wattage for a specified amount of time while riding outside when it’s possible to do so, but for threshold work and interval work, I have found it better to do inside. This leads me to a further question regarding how many people purchase a powermeter over a computrainer etc. so that they can still see power whilst outside.
Not answering your question I know!
Not many around me. There are 2 others in my club of 200 that use one.
jaretj
The question is for business purposes, and I’d like to get and estimation of how many users are there.
If anyone has a good way of finding out I’ll also pretty happy 
By the way, I love training with power especially outside. inside I believe you can estimate the power quite easily (once you have a sense of power), but outside this thing is priceless…
Tom
To put a different slant on your question, after having a powermeter for only a few months now, I have found that it is difficult to “train with power outside”.
one of the mistakes that I think people make is to primarily “chase a number” when riding with the PM. To me that isn’t a great usage of the tool.
As others have said, the power levels are meant to be descriptive, not prescriptive. You don’t have to always be spot-on at ‘xxx’ watts to get the benefit of training at a particular level.
I do agree that some road courses are harder than others for certain types of work. If I were going to do a 2x20 threshold interval it wouldn’t be too fruitful to do it where I was continuously going up and down 3 minute, 8% grade hills.
But I don’t see a problem with doing that over rolling terrain especially if that is what you race on. For me, that sort of situation becomes an over/under workout (a little over FTP up the rollers, a little under over the top of them). Same thing with tempo rides or L2 rides. The terrain and wind can dictate when you go a little harder and a little easier but overall it seems to me that if you’re in the general vicinity of the power level and system that you’re targeting, then it’s fine.
I used to have one of those. But they upgraded it and now I have a fancy one that doesn’t spin just has digital numbers on it! Maybe it is something like ANT+ compatible.
LOL
Thanks for your insight Brian. The few times I have been able to ride outside so far with the new powermeter I have tried to make a point of not chasing numbers, realizing that could quite easily become too distracting.
Training zones are descriptive, but fooling yourself that riding 250 watts is OK when you really should be riding 240 watts - is a whole different story.
Not many around me. There are 2 others in my club of 200 that use one.
jaretj
similiar here… two powertaps and a quarq… until i sold my quarq. and the two powertaps, one is on a race wheel (so doesn’t get used much) and the other is on his winter bike so gets used in the winter and on the trainer mostly.
so pretty limited %wise. not a good business venture in my area
Wait – I should be hitting numbers in the triple digits?
I have some work to do…
Training zones are descriptive, but fooling yourself that riding 250 watts is OK when you really should be riding 240 watts - is a whole different story.
Well I think the overall context was that training outside with a PM is difficult because you can’t keep a constant and precise wattage like you can on the trainer (because of variability of terrain, wind, etc.)
My argument is that if your plan calls for doing a 90 min tempo ride, then you don’t have to ride exactly at 82.5% (or whatever) of your FTP the entire time. You just have to be in that level.
Using your example, if someone’s FTP is 300 then 240w is 80%, and 250w is 83%. I would argue that whether you average 240 or 250 over that ride is not terribly significant.
In training sure - in a race - I’m not so sure.
I know that my long bricks are completely runs after a 5hr 70%FTP ride vs a 5hr 72%FTP.
At 70, I click along like a wild mustang.
at 72, I am curled up under a shade tree.
Just so this post has some relavance to the OP, we have a small group of 50-ish regular cyclist in our club. I have onl seen 4 of us use a PM outside. I do know a few more of them use it on the trainer.
In training sure - in a race - I’m not so sure.
I wouldn’t disagree with that … depending on where those numbers fell with respect to FTP. But even in a race, over most terrain, optimal pacing isn’t iso-power.
As for shooting for a particular number outside, it is definitely possible. It just requires a bit of prep work. For me, I have certain routes that I will revisit for certain types of workout. A long level loop for intervals, a route with multiple hills for tempo work, etc. With my power meter I am then able to compare previous rides with more recent rides to determine what “zone” I should be shooting for.
Sure, riding on the trainer makes pacing (with power or speed because they are functions of each other on the trainer) very easy. If you want to do a really scientific test with fewer variables, the trainer is the way to go. The trainer elilminates stop lights, traffic, hills, etc., etc.
The problem is that the trainer eliminates hills, corners, etc., etc. These are the stresses that can kill you during a race. Using the PM and learning to pace the hills and your accelerations out of corners can really pay off during a race and will affect your running ability.
As an example, I have a 25 mile route that I often shoot to do in an hour. Riding it at average power A with a normalized power A+1 leaves me tired, but able to still run at pace R. But, riding the same course at AP of B with a NP of A+5 leaves me unable to stand let alone walk or run.
These are the kinds of numbers that you can look at and adjust in training/racing that just are not created if you only use a PM indoors.
So, yes outside numbers create a different data set than inside does. But, they just require a bit more studying and a bit of thinking to be used in training and then in racing.
Oh, while I am on it, group rides and road racing don’t count as data points. You just have to ride whatever power does not get you dropped. They both give you good ideas of what you are capable of and maybe where your interval zones should be for TT efforts. But I have seen data where AP=150 and NP=300+ from crits.
iso-pacing - 100% agree.
you just need to be cognizant of your fitness limits and the matches burned.