Who has a power meter?

[Hacienda71]

There are a few companies developing and in some cases close to producing cheaper pm's. You may find the prices becoming a bit more competitive over the coming months.

 

[Citius]

Prices will certainly come down as more become available, but the basic premise will still be the same - ie unless you plan on interpreting and acting on the data it gives you, it's still effectively a waste of money. But if you do plan on going technical with your training, then it could be money well spent.

 

[Rustybucket]

I think when the stages meter gets to under £300 I might get one!

 

[lukasran]

well mine was 600 quid, which is nearly 3 times what i paid for my 2nd hand 06 spesh allez. but i would take that combo everytime. get on trainer road with it and you can easily quantify your improvements and follow some level of structured plan. i dont have the book but its certainly not a waste of money without it. like buying a nice carbon beauty wouldnt be. but i got a pm instead and enjoy my cycling all the more for it.

 

[Citius]

The book is not essential (although it is useful) - but unless you are using the data a PM gives you with some kind of purpose, you might as well just use Strava's power numbers and pretend..

 

[si_c]

Been looking at power meters of late, as I got to thinking about one, Powertaps seem to be on ebay second hand consistently around the £300-£400 mark, some with a wheel some not. Worth taking a look tbh.

I'm a numbers person, so like the idea of knowing how much effort I have put in, irrespective of how tired I am, or what the prevailing wind is. I currently use HRM as a proxy, but it's imprecise.

 

[midlife]

There's a book someone wrote called (i think) "how to train and race using a power meter". Might be helpful?

Shaun

 

[Citius]

There's a book someone wrote called (i think) "how to train and race using a power meter". Might be helpful?

Shaun

I already linked to it on p1.

I currently use HRM as a proxy, but it's imprecise.

HR won't work as a proxy, because it is no measure of output. Speed is about the only other proxy worth considering.

 

[huwsparky]

Little did I know but a guy I regularly ride with uses a Stages unit. Never even realised! I found it quite interesting looking through some of the rides we had done together to get a rough estimate of what my power would be.

We did exactly the same 70 mile loop today as last Sunday and went 0.5 mph average slower today but the watts was pretty much the same, that would probably be down to totally saturated roads, early breaking and his jacket acting like a parachute!

 

[poynedexter]

Little did I know but a guy I regularly ride with uses a Stages unit. Never even realised! I found it quite interesting looking through some of the rides we had done together to get a rough estimate of what my power would be.

We did exactly the same 70 mile loop today as last Sunday and went 0.5 mph average slower today but the watts was pretty much the same, that would probably be down to totally saturated roads, early breaking and his jacket acting like a parachute!

your mates power will be irrelavant to yours. different rider weight and size, bike differences and where you rode in the group will mean the power output is individual even if your av speed was the same.

as a training tool, your numbers are yours.

 

[huwsparky]

your mates power will be irrelavant to yours. different rider weight and size, bike differences and where you rode in the group will mean the power output is individual even if your av speed was the same.

as a training tool, your numbers are yours.

That's pretty obvious really.

According to Strava I once made 500w for 5 miles (never going to happen).

I had no idea at all what I could make. Now I do, that's all I was saying. I'm quite aware that his figures won't tally with mine exactly but I bet I could guess mine to within 10watts knowing what I now know which a lot more than I did before.

 

[Citius]

Does your mate know his FTP..??

 

[huwsparky]

Does your mate know his FTP..??

Nope, just a toy. He knows less about power meters than I do! He can do what he likes with his money I suppose but If i were to get one I'd at least give it a go at going about it properly. I told him to have a look at that book you linked me to and training peaks to get started. Told him to have a look at YouTube to sort his zones out as there were a few guides there on how to get readings when I was looking earlier last week.

I found it quite interesting just seing the different powers for different rides we had done together knowing some were hard rides and some were easy. Didn't mean anything to me but interesting all the same.

 

[si_c]

HR won't work as a proxy, because it is no measure of output. Speed is about the only other proxy worth considering.

It won't be a proxy for the power you are putting out no, but it will allow you to gauge the intensity of your ride, and when used with speed it can be used to compare roughly with other rides you have done. But as I said above, for this it is imprecise as there are many variables for which you have no control, hence my looking into getting a power meter myself

What I'd like to do is be able to use the HRM as a stress indicator, i.e. how much stress is my body under for a given power output, and compare that back to previous rides, and hopefully see some improvement as time goes by.

 

[Citius]

What I'd like to do is be able to use the HRM as a stress indicator, i.e. how much stress is my body under for a given power output, and compare that back to previous rides, and hopefully see some improvement as time goes by.

Trouble is, the higher the strsss/effort level - the less reliable HR is as an indicator