My wife just revealed that she was going to get me a powertap as a Christmas gift. While I am most appreciative of her thought I am uncertain of the utility of this device. I see that it will provide me with a massive amount of detail but to what benefit. Especially when I factor in the cost of this gizmo. Maybe I am just old school for thinking that I just need to train more/better to get faster.
If anyone out there has used one l would like to get your take on the benefits.
I feel that a powermeasuring device has two main functions.
The first is it can teach you something about pacing. When you ride with it enough you will find what your maximum wattage for a race or a hill is. When you first get on the bike after the swim or start up a long hill you will find that your initial perceived pace is way too hard. The PT will teach you to ride steady.
Secondly, if used correctly it can be a training aid. For intervals it can tell you how hard to go so that you aren’t starting to hard. For instance 2 20 minute intervals with a 5 minute break. You know from your past rides that the hardest 20 minutes is 234 watts. You now aim for say 225-230 for your intervals.
Also, on really windy days it will keep you from getting to discouraged at how slow you are going.
Ultimately it is a tool and is only as good as the mechanic using it. If you are good at self coaching or have a good training plan it will enable you to implement that plan. If you are a “just ride as much as possible guy” you will get a lot of useless data.
Thanks for the reply. As far as deteriming pacing levels wont a heart rate monitor provide similar (albeit less data) information?
As far as the intervals, I can see that it would be a beneficial tool if used consistently. However that assumes that I have the discipline to do intervals on a regular basis and pay attention to the readings. Hmmm maybe it would force me to.
Heart rate can be used, but its not as good. For hills and pacing, by the time your heart rate is telling you you’ve started out to hard the damage has been done. For long intervals HR will work ok, but for short intevals (5 minutes or less) the lag between your HR stabilizing is too great.
Styrrell
PS One good thing is that PT tend to hold their value well on ebay, so if you decide its not for you, you can get most of you money back.