I’m just curious as to what variations everyone experiences based on each of these settings.
Almost always 3s. Smooths out the jumpiness from most power meters, quick enough to respond to shorter intervals/efforts.
I’m just curious as to what variations everyone experiences based on each of these settings.
Use for what? If the wheels in front of me are receding, I’m not doing enough power.
As far as training display goes… what makes sense depends on how you naturally respond to feedback. Some people respond very aggressively to differences in display and target, and need to use very short averaging so that they don’t oscillate their power around the target. If you’re not prone to that, you might like the smoother display of longer averages.
3s for training and road riding, 3s on zwift. 10s on IM race/race recce coombined with lap average (not lap NP). And then I break the race into 4 laps, normally the outbound and inbound legs of each of the 2 laps. So I’m targeting an average power for the race, the lap average shows if I’m on course for that or over/under. The 10s lets me really focus on hitting that when on long steady state stretches. In a race then short hills or descents I am good enough to go by feel and not blow up.
I use 3 but I’ve been considering jumping up to 10, just haven’t given it a try yet. 3 still seems too jumpy for my liking, I think I would love 5 or something around there but no custom options unfortunately.
10 seconds for me. 3 seconds I find too much variability
How much jumpiness do you see with 3 sec? 10W? 20? more?
How much jumpiness do you see with 3 sec? 10W? 20? more?
That depends on the source power meter and the amount of smoothness it applies. There’s no exact answer.
5s avg on my Elemnt Bolt has worked well for me.
10 sec. No reason to use anything quicker, as it just jumps around too much.
3s power right next to avg overall power. So if I’m above/below target avg, I use the 3s to bring the avg up/down
3 sec and 5 mile lap average
.
Doesn’t it depend on what information you want?
I usually want to monitor my going over or above the desired watts. So the faster that I get that feedback (3 seconds) the faster I can dial it back.
What are you doing? An IM? A TT? A road race? Training?
Training, indoors I use erg mode a lot. So doesn’t really matter, set it and suffer/cry/complain/puke until you get it done.
Outdoors training? 3sec.
Time trial? 5 sec for the first maybe 1/2 mile, then mostly go by feel and make sure you’re wasted when done.
Road race? Are you on the wheel or not? Pedal less, pedal harder. Are you bridging or not?
If I did a 1/2 IM or something, or maybe a 25mi TT…I’d probably use 5 or 10 sec and a 5 mile lap avg power, or at least a mile lap distance corresponding best to important course segments.
3s average and normalized power.
Like most others, it depends.
For interval training I have set up 3s, 10s & lap power. Those 3 plus cadence & lap time are all that matters during those sessions.
For general riding or racing I use 3s & lap power and will hit the lap button when it makes sense.
Im asking mostly because I see 10/20w variations using 3 sec power and wondering what everyone else sees based on the model of power meter that’s used.
I always use instant, but I’m a road cyclist who occasionally does time trials and triathlons. Therefore, I’m doing a lot of 30 sec-5 minute intervals where I need to know right away what my power is and be able to make slight adjustments quickly. I like the immediate feedback.
If the road was perfectly flat with no wind I might be able to hold +/- 10 watts.
That’s why I use lap power as well to see the trend.
Yes, that’s exactly my experience. If there are other conditions, the variation is significantly larger. Thank you!