I was given an ergomo to use a few weeks ago and I have yet to really enjoy having the thing on my bike. My riding has always been a strength…my Half IM bike times are around 2:15-2:20. I usually run a 1:25-1:32. I really just don’t like having all that info staring back at me every ride. I know I can tape over it, but I have always just used a standard computer and most times don’t even ride with that unless riding with a group. I ride a lot for a half IM triathete(250-350miles a week) and I’ve noticed that despite what anybody says…if you want to ride faster, you have to ride more. I know that a power meter is a great tool but is a lot of it more about having some super expensive bling on the horse? So let me know your thoughts. Cheers.
No, but with the proper info and training plan it is very valuable.
Mark Allen didn’t have a power meter… We may not have as much physical talent, but it’s not REALLY necessary. What’s necessary is a bike, helmet, running shoes, and a speedo.
If you’re that lost on the value of a power meter, please drop that puppy in the mail to me and I’ll use it.
A power meter will not make anyone faster, it is the information and its use that help people make themselves faster. Power meters are only useful if a person will invest the time to understand the data it provides and then to use that information to make your cycling better. The key to the power meter is that it allows you to genuinely know how much work you are doing, and then to figure out ways that you can safely and effectively do more. Training at the end of the day is often about doing more. A power meter provides the best means to understanding the how and the why of how you are going to do more.
Mark did some IMs with no helmet too
so that isn’t necessary
.
I agree with your point of view. I like to say that things like power meters and heart rate monitors “put numbers to things that you already know”. Tim
A power meter is an absolute necessity if you want to know how much power you are putting out. If you don’t care how much power you are putting out, then no, it’s probably not necessary.
Your point that if we want to improve we still have to ride a lot ought to have been obvious. No one ever said a PM makes you faster, it just tells you exactly what you’re doing. For some of us, that makes it the most valuable bike training tool that could ever exist.
No, but then for most people neither is a 5+ grand bike but it doesn’t stop them buying.
I ride and run about the same as you and considered getting a power meter earlier in the year after a good tax return. My coaches response was they are a good tool but he no longer used one because it took away some of the joy of cycling, turning every ride into a science experiment.
if your goal is to turn any bike ride into an exercise in statistics and numbers, then yes, a power meter is definitely a necessity.
sorry jack, nowadays it’s in the “necessary” category… some stupid rule about safety 
“My coaches response was they are a good tool but he no longer used one because it took away some of the joy of cycling, turning every ride into a science experiment.”
Really???
I have trained, raced, coached with power meters since 2000 and have never heard anybody say that.
I think the data POST workout is where the “science” part comes into play. For me (and my athletes), it is all about executing proper workouts within the constraints of their abilities, and thus getting the most from said workouts.
Funny quote from your coach…
To some extent, it is like going to the track for runners. Regardless of how good or bad you feel at the track, the split times never lie. They tell the real story. A powermeter, is like perpetually being at the track, in that it gives you continuous feedback on how much work you are doing (joules) per second. It is much more granular than a track because at a track at best you only know your splits every 100m. Having a powermeter gives you continuous feedback. I don’t own one simply because I don’t like numbers dictating all my training. The days that I want real quanititative feedback, I hit the track, the treadmill or the TACX ergo trainer where I get feedback on my power output.
However, I can certainly see huge value in taking “power to the road”. I do concede that it would help bike pacing a lot better as well get caught up in 'racing others" in the first hour out of T2 and remove those 300-450W spikes going up short steep hills…or dogging it with a tailwind when I see 45 kph on the computer (and likely putting out sub 200W)
As for “how much biking you do”, it is no wonder that your bike and run splits in half Ironman are strong. This is the prerequisite to doing a fast bike-run combinations.
No, but then for most people neither is a 5+ grand bike but it doesn’t stop them buying.
I ride and run about the same as you and considered getting a power meter earlier in the year after a good tax return. My coaches response was they are a good tool but he no longer used one because it took away some of the joy of cycling, turning every ride into a science experiment.
I have more and more fun riding my bikes every year, and the PM’s (Ergomo and SRM; in use since 2004) don’t seem to get in the way of it. Sometimes the PM’s just provide information (JFR); sometimes they act as a whip (focused training), and sometimes they act as a stupidometer (IM/HIM racing). But I have never once had the thought that I was having less fun because of them.
To each their own.
But Kurt, not everyone wants to get the most out of each workout. Sometimes, I just want to be a slacker and take in the scenery from nature like on this morning’s openwater swim. Sometimes, its about hammering your buddies into submission (or being the recipient of this) regardless of what the program says. Frankly I could care less about getting a lot out of workouts. For me, getting out the door and being out training is the achievement. Sure beats sitting in an office, or mowing the lawn.
I fully understand the immense benefit of the tool, however, not all of us train exclusively for performance. For some of us, we just train to train…racing is a nice outcome, but frankly if someone hypothetically asked me would you “prefer to break 9:30” and never be able to train 5 years from now, or never race again, but train for the rest of your life, I say I’ll take the latter…of course, most of us want to break some insane fast time and also train forever 
um ok, thanks Dev.
I am not saying that going out, being a slave to the PM is what you have to do…but what if you went out, hammered with those strong dudes you ride with, looked at the file a week later and found out you had set a new PB for 1mim power, or maybe you get dropped eveytime you ride with those guys and you find out it is because everytime you get above xxxwatts and yyycadence this happens. You can then address this “problem” in training and that makes these rides all the more enjoyable. No?
I am not saying that you cant “just ride”, but for someones coach to talk them out of a PM because said coach felt he had become a slave to the devise makes me wonder if said coach knew how to use the PM as it could/should be used.
See ya in Placid.
My coaches response was they are a good tool but he no longer used one because it took away some of the joy of cycling, turning every ride into a science experiment.
Interesting - my coach is the opposite. He said I would get more value from a power meter than he does because I was (am?) not a strong cyclist. My power has increased trememdously in the 3 years since I got a PT.
Kurt, excellent points. I see where you are coming from. Synthesize the data after the fact and use it to fine tune things. That certainly makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately for a guy like me, every time I have some sort of a “meter” in my vicinity, it turns into some sort of a test. I can’t go to the track and run easy…I’ll invariably want to check out pace times for 400-800-1600m…same for my treadmill…every treadmill run becomes a hill workout or an interval session and same thing on my TACX trainer. Aside from meticulously recording the “synopsis” of these workouts (which I do, because they serve from time to time as benchmarks of progress in controlled conditions), I rarely use the outcome to fine tune what I do next. If nothing else, it either serves as a ego boost cause I felt studly at “X” output…or a kick in the pants cause I felt like at dog at X/2 output :-(.
For this reason, the bike that I commute to work on has nothing…no bike computer no nothing. I just ride.
I think if I had a powermeter, for some workouts, I’d just have to put electrical tape over the display to avoid testing myself. But I totally see where you are coming from.
…or, if you just want to go out for an EZ ride, you could leave the CPU/Powercontrol at home!
Mike
Hey Kurt, to your point, yesterday I competed in a 2K swim-90K bike Aquabike. The report is here:
The conditions were very windy and rolling hills. I would love to have seen my power file from this race to see where my execution was dodgy. Also, I experimented with a “less aero position” by swapping my 120 mm stem for 110 mm. I thought it would actually be a more “powerful position”, but by the end, my neck and shoulders were killing me from the tighter stem…I’m back on 120 mm, but yes, seeing the power file would have been great. Even though I was not going “all out” and more like Half Ironman pace (ie, a pace that you’d use if you had to still run afterwards) It seemed like a lot of work on that course to do a 2:31 bike (includes T2…we had to rack out bikes and then shuffle to the run finish of the tri). So yes, the post event analysis would be excellent…plus I am sure that there were some 400W surges hammering over a few rollers that were not required…but when you see a guy up ahead, this is what you get sucked into :-).
If you want to lend me a powermeter of some type at IMLP, I will be glad to ride it and then we can post my file on ST and we can all have a field day viewing where I f&*^ed up!
Dev