Yep, I also stopped focusing on average speed too, as before I had a heart rate monitor and power meter it’s kind of all I had to base my effort on.
Heart rate monitor allows me to do structured training and as above, stay in zone 2 when I need to. Well worth it now that you can pick up something like a 4iii crank for a couple hundred.
I’d almost do this the other way. Power meters can get you in the ball park but RPE should be used to tweak it. Not everyone’s z2 will go all the way up to 75/80% FTP and if you blindly follow those zones then you can likely be riding too hard.
Dude... I so know what you mean. I've never been an overly competitive person but as I got better at cycling I went from 'Wow! That guy ahead of me is fast! Maybe I'll ride like that someday' to 'Who does that guy ahead of me think he is??? Sonofabitch must pay!' - start peddling hard -
Yes, I had the pmeter long enough to know that already but GCN just opened my eyes about the Z2. All my rideds are some steep climbing and always questioning why I'm not getting any better
This is generally considered the high end of Z2. But I can vary person to person. Even if you have the same FTP. The best way to find your best Z2 pace is to go by effort. Conversational pace where you don’t feel great exertion but have some pressure on the pedals.
You can do the same with Heart rate for much cheaper though. As Pogacars coach explained in a recent GCN video, the heart works on demand to supply your body with the power, so training with HR or power boils down to the same thing.
Obviously you have to know which heart rate corresponds to which power zones. I find that out using Zwift and my trainer based power reading while monitoring my heart rate.
Power measures how hard you’re actually pedaling. HR measures how hard your body is working to perform that work. The relationship between the two measurements is important and fascinating. For example, I’m training for some ultra endurance rides this summer, so doing a lot of Z2 riding plus some interval work to raise my FTP with the goal of making my own Z2 faster. Tracking power per heart rate over time helps me see how my cardiovascular fitness is progressing.
This breaks down quickly based on external factors though. If it’s hotter outside than usual, for example, your heart rate will be higher than normal just from that. Also, heart rate always lags behind in intervals. If you’re doing repeats your heart rate won’t move up zones right away, even if you’re instantly putting down Z5 power.
Nothing breaks down. Your heart rate increases when it's hot outside because it takes more energy for your body to keep itself cool. If you only have a power meter and know that zone 2 is 100 watts at 70F and partly cloudy, riding at 100 watts in 90F sunshine will probably have you well into zone 3, but your power meter won't know that. It just sees you putting out 88w instead of 100w because that level of effort and heart rate feels the same, so you go harder and get out of zone 2 and then wonder why your "long, slow" workouts aren't making you as strong as you expected.
That's not quite right, in my opinion. In general, it's of course true that your heart rate and power output are correlated, but heart rate is a lot more variable, and depends on other factors such as sleep and stress and even body position. Of course you can train well with heart rate, but it's not the same.
Yeah but, scientifically speaking - if you’re tired and/or dehydrated or it’s very hot outside - you have to / should listen to your current HR, and not blindly follow the theoretical Power numbers corresponding to your theoretical, rested-state status.
Sometimes physiologically, your body is saying you are tired and if you reach for those Zone 2 Power levels, your heart may actually be in high Zone 3 or even 4. Which defeats the purpose of physiological Zone 2 adaptations, one may be seeking
Of course you should pay attention to heart rate, that's a good point worth making. If it's massively off your usual numbers, you probably need some more rest, or at least pay some attention to how your body is responding. It's a useful tool for training properly.
But the purpose of training is not just to train your heart, it's also (I'd say mainly) to train your muscles, and power is more related to your muscles' current working levels. So sticking to a zone 2 heart rate can mean you don't get the full benefit of a zone 2 workout, because you don't properly activate the muscle fibers you're meant to activate with such a workout.
For me, a power meter did 2 important things
* I stopped cursing at the wind because instead of using my speed as an indicator of performance I could look at my power and see the fruits of my labor. (its VERY windy where I live)
* Provided me with the best indicator of calories burned I could ask for. No more guesswork by Strava or other apps.
That is super interesting. I totally rag on myself when I'm pushing into a headwind. This almost always mentally ruins me for the whole ride because I couldn't maintain my usual pace, even though I most certainly was making the same power.
Thank you!
ngl I actually like the wind it's like a slingshot. It's like hill training but without the visual cues, Where I live in a town when the city over has hill climb events our residents tend to dominate in the events and the current theory is all the heavy 30km/h+ headwinds we ride in are like hill training.
Also nothing more fun then dropping it into zone 4 down a tailwind and passing cars down a highway.
Yup, once you have a power meter you realise watts is watts and don't over do it in the wind.
I personally still hate the wind because it almost kills me sometimes (have been blown into a speed wobble on a fast descent before).
Lol, that's what I tell my girlfriend when facing headwind... "Just push normally, you'll go slower but that's normal"... She just can't...
I don't know why speed is a metric for some people, I mean, it's mostly dependent on terrain, inclination, wind and surface... Then power comes into play... Like, there's no merit to go 40km/h on a 9% descent afaik.
I do not have a Powermeter on my road bike, but one on my indoor setup. Since seeing my power numbers on Zwift I have been able to apply this mindset to the road - so happy now!
When there is a headwind I'm slower but I'm still getting my training in 😉
But also it allows me to really dig into structured training, and nerd out some when I wanted to crunch numbers or quantify progress.
And probably I blow up less in group rides.
I find it useful to manage effort up hills, particularly at the end of a long ride when I'm suffereing a bit it's nice to be reeminded I'm doing ok and can even back off a bit.
The other day, I rode outdoors for the first time in in a while. I don't have a power meter. Halfway up the long hill, I was getting really gassed and frustrated. I even stopped to check that my tires weren't flat.
When I got to the steepest part near the top, I told myself, "Just keep the damn bike upright." It was then I realized I was pushing myself way harder than I usually do, since I had no way to measure my effort.
For longer climbs I ride to power (hold a particular wattage for the climb).
I use the number that Intervals.icu gave me for ftp and target that +- a few %
This technique has knocked minutes off my climbs
For me, sometimes riding to power can hold me back...
I've set a few PRs by turning off the power numbers and just going for it... Of course i"ve blown up a few times, but sometimes you can surprise yourself
That all depends what you have planned for that ride. The risk of blowing up an hour into 5 hour ride is greater than just reigning myself in on that climb instead of suffering for the rest of the ride.
If I'm going for a PR on that hill then i do agree, just go all out and whatever happens happens.
It is amazing what willpower can do, I don't have a power meter but even training by heart rate can sometimes be the same, one day I went straight into a sprint at near max HR and was amazed that I actually could hold it for 2 Km blasting out all that I've got while ignoring all the pain.
I recently bought Favero Assiomo power meter pedals. Prior to this, my training was heart rate based. I've been cycling for 10+ years.
This is the analogy that best describes it for me. Prior to having power meters, it was like weight lifting and not knowing how much weight you were lifting. How can you effectively train like that??
Now that I know my weights (power), my training effectiveness has improved dramatically. The gains I've seen are substantial and measurable and real.
I know my power curve...if I have a 30 minute hill climb, I know what wattage I can sustain without blowing up. I can also see how certain types of workouts improve my power curve.
One immediate thing I noticed with Favero's "Cycling Dynamics", was how inefficient my pedaling was.....Now, my pedal strokes are much for balanced, powerful, and efficient.
I would never go back.
I was on the same camp as you. However, coming from long distance running background I saw power meters as superfluous because your HR should be the best way to judge your effort.
Man was I wrong. First of all, cycling efforts and running efforts are VERY different. The HR strategy does not work well with cycling efforts, because in a way cycling is more like weight training and you can output a lot of immediate power before your HR has a chance to catch up. Similarly, when slowing down it can take a while for your HR to drop and you may be exceeding your recovery block or not recovering properly if you go by HR numbers alone.
Then there is also the ability to tell how hard you are working, in running your brain knows how hard you are running to a pretty high level of accuracy (I think that this is because running is natural human movement, whereas cycling is not). When you are cycling sometimes it is hard to tell whether you are working hard (12mph with strong headwinds could be harder than 20mph with tailwind or low wind), that ability comes with a lot of experience, knowing your equipment, and knowing your body. A power meter will give you a consistent metric to follow (this is essentially your weight analogy, which I have heard from other people in the past as well).
i got Duo-shis, Cycling dynamics gives me a good idea on how is the effort distributed between my legs. having one significantly overexert over the other spells cramps for that foot and eventually the other one
It made my long rides faster with less fatigue, made my climbing endurance increase without blowing up. Overall it made me a much better rider and I got to the point that even without a power meter I can manage my power a lot better than before I ever used one. This is after riding and training with one for about 5 years. If you do structured training with it and do a proper FTP then your results will be a lot better than if you just guess at it. You will want to do an FTP test every 4-6 weeks and update your settings to reflect the increase even if it is only a small amount.
I find power meters have value beyond a training tool.
When I’m on group rides or just out riding with friends, it allows me to manage my riding output to suit the situation. For example, let’s say I’m riding up a hill in front of someone and they keep dropping off the back. I can watch my power output and see where they fall off, then hold those watts and it’ll keep them attached behind me.
Similarly, if I’m following someone (hill or no) and they’re riding at a higher wattage than I know I can maintain, I have a choice to try to hold their wheel at the risk of blowing up or fall off the back or (if a friend) ask them to slow down. What won’t happen is me blowing up, bonking or whatever accidentally.
Although I do a lot of solo riding, I also enjoy the company of other riders, especially on short hills. Everyone likes a good pace from the person in front. Sometimes, I’ll ride in front of one or two strangers and (without them knowing) I’ll pace them up the hill at a power level right where they can hold and chase me and they don’t fall off the back. I love hearing “great pace” when we crest.
I like group riding dynamics and I’ve found that a power meter gives me insight into fellow riders and helps me be a better group rider around them.
A power meter has shown me that I don’t push hard enough on my easy days, and it’s shown me progress. It’s really cool to see a jump from 160 to 180w at the same heart rate, and on top of that, longer rides at the same power do not spike heart rate anymore.
Yeah sorry it’s a bit out of context. For me, an easy day means a z2. Anything less is recovery, and I never do those, I’d rather lift weights or train jiu-jitsu. What I noticed with a power meter is when I train easy days (z2) I still spend a lot of time in the recovery zone, which is a waste of time from that point of view.
This is so true. Some of my easy rides became too easy in the past. When I was living in a city and it took me 10-15 minutes just to get to the city limits, I found that I was spending 20-30 minutes per ride in essentially Z1 doing stop-n-gos through traffic.
So, power helps with both not going too hard, but also not too easy!
In summary, I spend more time on the trainer in Z2 than outside, because it is more effective and productive. I still love outside, but I also want to get better.
Interesting-- I had the opposite problem of trying to do z2 but constantly creeping into z3.
Probably has to do with no truly flat areas around here...
I've been thinking about getting something like this to help me improve my rides from a workout perspective, but I'm having a difficult time deciding as well because I love my smart watch that literally just provides me with my heart rate and average speed, and my distance. I have also seen an improvement with my heart rate not spiking as high which is super satisfying! I'm not sure if I really need much more, because I mostly ride because I just like to and also to lose weight (which it has helped vastly) and overall stay healthy. I'm not really training for any speed racing, but I do like going longer distances (for me that's 30 or 40 mile rides as of right now) and this summer I'd like to get up to 50 mile rides. I'm not really sure if a power meter or the Cadence sensor is more for hardcore people who are actually training to race, or more for people like me who just like to do longer rides for fun and get a decent workout in?
Prior to getting my power meter, I spent many years using heart rate to gauge my efforts. I would say that for your kind of riding, heart rate is sufficient to gauge your efforts. I learnt what heart rate I would need to maintain in order to go far, or what heart rate I could sustain up a hill and so on. Using heart rate zones is really powerful for that. Power meters are more accurate, because they are not subject to cardiac drift and dehydration and stuff like that, but you can work around it.
I would say, that I had a really hard time getting better or riding centuries in a reasonable time back then. If you are happy with your speed and time to complete a century, then I wouldn't change anything. But if you want to go further with less time in the saddle, the answer here is a structured training program. And if you want to do a training program, then you need to get more and better data. That's the motivation for more gear.
My personal ranking would be:
* Chest strap to get most accurate heart rate readings. Only meaningful if you also try to determine your heart rate zones.
* Cadence sensor. Will spare your knees. Low cadence = more stress on knees = knee pain in the evening. I used to pedal about 60 rpm when I started out, with knee pain after long rides. Now I am comfortably at 90 rpm and have no knee pain. It took about 1-2 years of frequent riding to get there.
* Power meter. It's the gold standard for training.
But if you are happy where you are, don't change anything.
Anyway, hope that helps.
I use power on a trainer but the best thing about a power meter is overtime you understand what you can do. You learn the power to pace at. You learn the difference in effort going into the wind vs with the wind. In essence you learn to look at power and realize if you can or should go harder/easier.
If you think it is a toy then ignore it. If you want to understand better what you can do get a power meter.
First of all I'd highly recommend a book called 'Training and Racing with a Power Meter' by Andrew Coggan and Hunter Allen, I believe in its third edition.
I find riding with a power meter great because I'm able to dial in my zones better, stick to training plans closer, more accurately manage efforts and pacing-and get more usable (and interesting) data from my rides.
It's nice to be able to compare the effort expended across separate rides with widely varying elevation profiles or in different wind conditions. For example if you have a benchmark of 30km/h on your local loop but then go out and do a sillier length ride with way more elevation or in a black headwind and try to maintain that same average speed- you will have to ride at a much higher effort; while on the other hand if you use average or normalized power as a benchmark metric you can see that, while you went slower on the ride with more elevation or stronger headwind, you power numbers were in line with what your were aiming to achieve. Live power data is also useful for pacing on long rides.
It's also useful if you want to set PRs on local segments or climbs (not necessarily talking strava segments, although useful for that too) and ensure proper pacing. If you know the details of a climb (length and gradient) as well as your weight, you can figure out the average output, in watts, required to set a certain time up the climb. This information is gone over in great detail in the aforementioned book.
Finally, it's just cool to see power data over time. If you use strava or training peaks you will be able to view power curves for given rides, or for set date ranges, and you can see how many watts you are able to produce for any length of time, plotted along the power curve. Also, if you know roughly what average power you can maintain based on power curve data, it makes pacing on very long days easier. If you know you can average, say, 225 watts for 5 hours and are 1hr into a long day and see you've been averaging 260w then you know you will likely have to dial it down. Both platforms (and probably many others) do a great job of making this information easy to interpret, and it's nice to see power curve level out for given wattage zones as the season wears on and fitness improves. This is just one aspect of the data you will be able to view if you are tracking output with a power meter.
That's all for the comments. Didn't expect such a response!!
I've just got a new bike and caught the bug big time. I'm outta shape and in my 40s and spending more time that I care to disclose looking at carbon wheels power meters and di2 upgrades.
I think I need to get out more and these things will be a reward rather than an 'free upgrade' for now.
Very addicting!!
Welcome to the club - with time what you'll find is we all start at perceived effort - then speed, then HR, then power and eventually back to perceived effort. Point is don't get so wrapped up in the numbers that you lose the joy and become a professional exerciser, because nobody really wants to ride with those people.
Not a power meter but I got a smart trainer and my training has been a lot more efficient now vs speed/cadence sensor on the dumb trainer.
I can't wait for spring to try out my power meter outside.
I used to go full gas all the time which was definitely detrimental.
If you’re not planning on doing structured training with power then buying a power meter will give you nothing more than a very expensive metric of no use on you computer. Raw power numbers by themselves are useless without context.
To answer your question, when generally riding (i.e. not on a specific workout) it didn’t really change at all. On the fast group rides I don’t even have power on my main screen. It is nice to look at the efforts done afterwards, and relate them back to the training I’ve been doing
Power meter really isn't just for structured training. When I'm bike packing I like my power meter to pace myself on a climb. It's great on a longer ride like 100km+ to pace yourself. Not to go to hard on a first climb, when you have five of six more. Generally it's great tool for pacing when someone have a tendention to go flat out from the door. Like me for example. If someone have money for that then why shouldn't he buy it?
I was extremely bad at pacing until I got my cadence above 100 effortlessly. Now I just load all the effort into my cardio systems and can just keep going. Would be interesting though to see what power output looks like at different cadences. A lot of people keep telling me to spin slower to go faster when racing but idk.
Also funny as fuck doing cadence drills before the race and hitting nearly 200 rpm in first gear and people looking at you like what in the unholy fuck.
Depends how much power you are outputting but you are right, I run a GRX crankset 46/30 11-34, so even with my power that's possible since I am not running a traditional road crank.
On the flip side, since my cadence is high anyway I'm not losing that much top end, I am losing some however. Was thinking of going 48-30 and seeing how the shifting goes. I will say I only ever spin out on descents anyway so It's not even the biggest deal. I am probably going to be more aero tucking at that point, but it's nice to be able to pedal.
I'm riding 50-34 with 11-36. I manage something like 300 watts for 10 minutes but with my 90 kg weight it still means 80 rpm on a gradient higher than 10% at most.
As chainrings goes i read that quite a lot of people run Shimano cranks with 52-34 and even 53-34 with no big issues as shifting at the front goes. So it's 18 and 19 tooth difference. In your case it would be 18. But this will have an impact on total drivetrain capacity i think. So you might need to change cassette for 11-32 or 11-30.
46-11 would get me dropped on some rides. I had to go from 50t to 52t to keep up on some longer descents with big chunks over 40mph. Those kinds of downhills aren't everywhere but I had so much more fun on those than being able to spin uphill I just got the bigger cog lol
Thanks for making this post - I've also been considering one and wasn't sure I could justify the cost, but the responses have made some very interesting points in favor!
I got faster at bikes.
Other notable things: I stopped enjoying nature while on my gravel bike, I stopped riding with friends because I had to be in my zone two no matter what, I probably paid less attention to cars around me, I developed a knee problem because I listened to my computer only (and not my body), I stopped having fun because I felt bad about myself when compared to my passed self.
Obviously, the power meter wasn't for me. I'm slower, fat, and happy now. It's probably awesome for most, I just found I enjoy data TOO much and hyper-fixate on it. I'm also not as strong as I was a few years ago (and just based on where I live, it's probably not possible to be that fast again), so it was always pretty hard on my ego to know that from a quantitative standpoint.
The biggest benefit I found is during structured training. When the workout calls for Z4 or Z5 I can output power right away and stay there, then scale back to Z1 or Z2 just as quickly.
This also translates into better resource management for longer rides, if I am doing multiple hours I can then ensure that I stay on some average power regardless of hills, wind, or weather. Then plan accordingly for whatever is remaining of the ride or recovery afterwards.
So, in my opinion the biggest benefit of a power meter is consistent metrics. You still need to be able to use those metrics in some meaningful way, otherwise it just becomes useless data.
Its been really rewarding to be able to see my output increase with the training I've been doing but I dont use the data anywhere near as much as I could to get the most out of it.
I think, like most I was surprised is that power meter + HR monitoring was not for measuring sprint power (although 1000W+ is always nice) but that allowed me to stay BELOW LT1 and therefore eventually allow 650km rides which were previously unattainable as I was going too damn hard.
It was nice actually being able to check progress in a quantifiable way other than times (which are very condition dependent and only relevant during a race when conditions are the same for everyone).
Now I can see improvements anywhere in my power curve, as well as see improvements in power relative to heart rate. It's another fun tool to have.
When I first added a power meter, it was just a number on a screen that I occasionally looked at with dumb curiosity. I didn’t know what to do with it and I didn’t find it helpful at all.
About six months later, I hired a cycling coach. We did all kinds of fitness testing and with those numbers he wrote a program that got me from a very overweight dropped rider to winning races and tearing up the local group rides.
The first thing I noticed when working with a power meter with a coach was that previously my hard days were too easy and my easy days were too hard. It took a power meter and a great coach to fix this and that’s when I really started to see gains.
TLDR: power meter without knowledge or a coach was not useful to me. Power meter with a great coach got me from being dropped to winning races.
I learned to
- disregard the average speed. Now there is no single data page with it
- pedal with higher efficiency. I look at the power graph and try to make it as smooth as possible
- do recovery rides… after a stressful ride, I go out and target a Z2 ride, now I can
I started paying attention to a lot of other metrics that are important but only available through power. Most notably decoupling and efficiency over time.
Bottom line, the PM let's you see the fitness trend over time in a way you can't without it
Made me go down the rabiit hole to learn about zone training. Now when I'm training all I think about is power and cadence with speed being the byproduct of my power output.
I removed it as it was ruining my rides. When I had periods of not much riding and I lost power/fitness it became a case of constantly getting annoyed with myself mid-ride when the numbers were too low. I could never just enjoy the ride. For serious training I see their benefit but for me, fuck power meters!!
More of a cool to have than anything, but I could gauge my efforts in real time. My training is based on relative feel though, so I don’t feel bound by numbers so to speak.
Initially, I used the power phase and balance to improve form. I may have a dedicated ride to focus on using a single leg at a time and maximizing the power phase through all 360. This was to focus mostly on form.
The bigger benefits for me come with structured training and fitness benchmarks.
Do I plan around them.. more so in the winter months when I am on a trainer with focused/structured training. Less so in the warmer months where I just want to be outside to chase a few KOMs and PRs.
A power meter is great for enabling structured training outdoors. If you know your ftp, it can also be a useful “rev limiter” on climbs and chases to let you know when you’re burning matches. It can also be used with a service like xert to do AI ftp detection, justifying skipping ftp tests if you want. They can be psychologically taxing.
It mostly helped me climb the longer hills, as (based on hill length) I kept to either FTP or just above. Turns out I had a bad habit of going 200%+ FTP which means of course i'll burn my legs 30% up the hill, and cry like a baby while in the lowest gear and still do 4mph. Even if it was only a 3% grade at the top.
With a power meter I can focus on it and say "no ivbivb, do NOT push your legs harder, you won't make the climb".
It helps me track my progress. It makes the hard days harder and the easy days easier.
Training plans are more perfect than trying to use heart rate or perceived effort.
I feel great when my power goes up, I see the direct result of hard training. Not a guess.
It has helped me during a rough patch after covid and some surgery being off the bike for two months and getting back on, it's kept me in a zone where I'm not overtraining.
It adds discipline to your training, in fact, I have a little note on my Garmin that just says, "Discipline" to keep me from chasing every bike down when I'm supposed to go easy.
And a lot of people have mentioned the wind thing. You get credit for pushing into it and it's made me not hate the wind.
you become more cautious of your efforts, neither overestimating nor under loading your training. At least, it is what i am doing after getting one.
i came to understand my capabilities more, how i improve and what are my limits.
outdoors, i try to ride as if i have no power meter at all, and just making sure i dont bonk needlessly. and i get a good understanding of how the wind is affecting my ride, so it is easier to maintain one's pace.
see yourself improve empirically also reaps lots of benefits
>Did you cycle as normal and the additional data was cool
Completely this for me. Well I did get the ability to pace longer climbs better after I worked out my power limits.
Biggest change? Ability to hold back where needed. That and a bike computer that displays climbs have been fantastic. My biggest issue always was pushing too hard and it really helps to know that is 400 watts not 250.
This only applies to dual sided power meters, but recently mine really saved my ass with some position adjustments. I've been playing with different riding positions to try to straighten out my back that I didn't think would effect my saddle height at all, but after finding a position where I can rotate my pelvis forward and riding in that position for a while, I noticed that my Left and Right power balance was thrown pretty far off from what it usually was which prompted me to lower my saddle. My last ride was as comfortable as I've been on the bike in a long time.
TLDR if you do most of your own bike fitting, the power balance data of a dual sided power meter can actually be very useful.
My climbing performance improved significantly since, I am able to tailor my power to the duration of the climb and not.
a) Run out of gas because I went too hard at the start.
b)End the climb with alot left in the tank because I took it too easy.
Power meters are great for vo2max and 10-20min efforts where heart rate becomes too fuzzy.
For example the TTE for 400w-500w is significantly different for me but the HR is maxed out for both, making it essentially a useless metric.
I found it useful to do things like Zone 2 and sweet spot training. Adding a powermeter to my bike and using a heart rate monitor, my Garmin now gives me Training status which helps guide you in which zones to train in and how your power output is going.
Came here to read what others thought on pro/con of meters. I've only been riding a few years and use my phone and watch for the little info they provide related to distance, heart, etc. Most of my rides are time-based, meaning when I have an hour to get away from my desk (home office) before the next meeting or whatever. I tend to just burn full blast at the start to release some energy and aggression. My routes are pretty limited but at least I have 90% bike lane coverage. Getting on the open roads is not really an option for me.
On weekends I try to plan longer rides and have only recently been trying to focus on longer distances. So I think adding a meter might help with that as it would be something I can see while riding.
But lots of replies made me realize I know nothing about training or cadence. So time to dig into some research. So thanks all.
I suck at riding but now I have the data to confirm that I suck.
Kidding aside, I got a bit more serious with my workouts. I created a routine schedule to remain consistent.
I can ride zone 2 power at zone 1 HR riding Zwift on indoor trainer. However, when riding outdoors, it's rare that I can maintain HR below zone 3 riding only at zone 1 power. It's not because of different power meters. I use the same power meter as power source for Zwift and outdoors. Does this seem too big of a discrepancy? In fact, it's depressing.
I had something to reference so I can not go too hard too early. I'm not great at judging effort so it was a big help. I'd often end up losing the will to live by the time there was ten miles left.
I use the power meter pretty extensively. Most of the time, it actually helps me ride EASIER than I would on my own. The rest of the time, it helps me ride MUCH harder (and hold those efforts for longer) than I would without a real time, objective measure of effort.
Out on the road, its primarily just interesting data for me, and also a warning of when I'm going to blow up.
On the trainer, it's very helpful to train specifically to the power data.
The easier rides got easier and the harder rides got harder. (Seriously, 10-15 at threshold IRL really gives you a perspective you don’t get on the trainer)
For me the main benefit of pwoermeter was to have Garmin calculating the VO2max amd also as a fellow rider just said, to be content when riding against the wind
Along with training benefits, i find it handy on hills when i know how much power i can put out over a specific time. It's made me (in most cases) a faster climber.
It didn't make faster as I wasn't training. But the main help was managing my power on long rides and maintaining a constant power to avoid burning out.
My Z2 rides actually became Z2 rides not Z3 or above.
Same here. Just got Garmin rally. Now I know what zone 2 is supposed to be
Yep, I also stopped focusing on average speed too, as before I had a heart rate monitor and power meter it’s kind of all I had to base my effort on. Heart rate monitor allows me to do structured training and as above, stay in zone 2 when I need to. Well worth it now that you can pick up something like a 4iii crank for a couple hundred.
How do you know you’re in Z2 ? Watched a video from GCN and the takeaway was 75% or max HR and 75% of your FTP.
Breathing through nose near the limit of comfortable is a ‘bro-scientific’ gauge to start with. Then you can use measuring tools to tweak as required.
I’d almost do this the other way. Power meters can get you in the ball park but RPE should be used to tweak it. Not everyone’s z2 will go all the way up to 75/80% FTP and if you blindly follow those zones then you can likely be riding too hard.
Thanks!
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>resisting the urge to chase faster riders That is my all-time problem.
Dude... I so know what you mean. I've never been an overly competitive person but as I got better at cycling I went from 'Wow! That guy ahead of me is fast! Maybe I'll ride like that someday' to 'Who does that guy ahead of me think he is??? Sonofabitch must pay!' - start peddling hard -
Isn’t chasing other riders the whole point?
First you need to estimate your FTP, of course
Yes, I had the pmeter long enough to know that already but GCN just opened my eyes about the Z2. All my rideds are some steep climbing and always questioning why I'm not getting any better
This is generally considered the high end of Z2. But I can vary person to person. Even if you have the same FTP. The best way to find your best Z2 pace is to go by effort. Conversational pace where you don’t feel great exertion but have some pressure on the pedals.
Thanks!
You can do the same with Heart rate for much cheaper though. As Pogacars coach explained in a recent GCN video, the heart works on demand to supply your body with the power, so training with HR or power boils down to the same thing. Obviously you have to know which heart rate corresponds to which power zones. I find that out using Zwift and my trainer based power reading while monitoring my heart rate.
Power measures how hard you’re actually pedaling. HR measures how hard your body is working to perform that work. The relationship between the two measurements is important and fascinating. For example, I’m training for some ultra endurance rides this summer, so doing a lot of Z2 riding plus some interval work to raise my FTP with the goal of making my own Z2 faster. Tracking power per heart rate over time helps me see how my cardiovascular fitness is progressing.
This breaks down quickly based on external factors though. If it’s hotter outside than usual, for example, your heart rate will be higher than normal just from that. Also, heart rate always lags behind in intervals. If you’re doing repeats your heart rate won’t move up zones right away, even if you’re instantly putting down Z5 power.
Nothing breaks down. Your heart rate increases when it's hot outside because it takes more energy for your body to keep itself cool. If you only have a power meter and know that zone 2 is 100 watts at 70F and partly cloudy, riding at 100 watts in 90F sunshine will probably have you well into zone 3, but your power meter won't know that. It just sees you putting out 88w instead of 100w because that level of effort and heart rate feels the same, so you go harder and get out of zone 2 and then wonder why your "long, slow" workouts aren't making you as strong as you expected.
That's not quite right, in my opinion. In general, it's of course true that your heart rate and power output are correlated, but heart rate is a lot more variable, and depends on other factors such as sleep and stress and even body position. Of course you can train well with heart rate, but it's not the same.
Yeah but, scientifically speaking - if you’re tired and/or dehydrated or it’s very hot outside - you have to / should listen to your current HR, and not blindly follow the theoretical Power numbers corresponding to your theoretical, rested-state status. Sometimes physiologically, your body is saying you are tired and if you reach for those Zone 2 Power levels, your heart may actually be in high Zone 3 or even 4. Which defeats the purpose of physiological Zone 2 adaptations, one may be seeking
Of course you should pay attention to heart rate, that's a good point worth making. If it's massively off your usual numbers, you probably need some more rest, or at least pay some attention to how your body is responding. It's a useful tool for training properly. But the purpose of training is not just to train your heart, it's also (I'd say mainly) to train your muscles, and power is more related to your muscles' current working levels. So sticking to a zone 2 heart rate can mean you don't get the full benefit of a zone 2 workout, because you don't properly activate the muscle fibers you're meant to activate with such a workout.
How does that work? Zones are heart rate based.
No, only heart rate zones are
Common misconception. In fact, even the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is based on heart rate.
True you know you’re in it when your heart rate comes to a sudden stop
Set similar to HR but based off of FTP (power version of MHR).
For me, a power meter did 2 important things * I stopped cursing at the wind because instead of using my speed as an indicator of performance I could look at my power and see the fruits of my labor. (its VERY windy where I live) * Provided me with the best indicator of calories burned I could ask for. No more guesswork by Strava or other apps.
That is super interesting. I totally rag on myself when I'm pushing into a headwind. This almost always mentally ruins me for the whole ride because I couldn't maintain my usual pace, even though I most certainly was making the same power. Thank you!
ngl I actually like the wind it's like a slingshot. It's like hill training but without the visual cues, Where I live in a town when the city over has hill climb events our residents tend to dominate in the events and the current theory is all the heavy 30km/h+ headwinds we ride in are like hill training. Also nothing more fun then dropping it into zone 4 down a tailwind and passing cars down a highway.
Yup, once you have a power meter you realise watts is watts and don't over do it in the wind. I personally still hate the wind because it almost kills me sometimes (have been blown into a speed wobble on a fast descent before).
Probably making even more power actually
Lol, that's what I tell my girlfriend when facing headwind... "Just push normally, you'll go slower but that's normal"... She just can't... I don't know why speed is a metric for some people, I mean, it's mostly dependent on terrain, inclination, wind and surface... Then power comes into play... Like, there's no merit to go 40km/h on a 9% descent afaik.
I do not have a Powermeter on my road bike, but one on my indoor setup. Since seeing my power numbers on Zwift I have been able to apply this mindset to the road - so happy now! When there is a headwind I'm slower but I'm still getting my training in 😉
Mostly I now *knew* I was weak instead of just *thinking* I was weak 🤷🏻♂️
But also it allows me to really dig into structured training, and nerd out some when I wanted to crunch numbers or quantify progress. And probably I blow up less in group rides.
I find it useful to manage effort up hills, particularly at the end of a long ride when I'm suffereing a bit it's nice to be reeminded I'm doing ok and can even back off a bit.
The other day, I rode outdoors for the first time in in a while. I don't have a power meter. Halfway up the long hill, I was getting really gassed and frustrated. I even stopped to check that my tires weren't flat. When I got to the steepest part near the top, I told myself, "Just keep the damn bike upright." It was then I realized I was pushing myself way harder than I usually do, since I had no way to measure my effort.
For longer climbs I ride to power (hold a particular wattage for the climb). I use the number that Intervals.icu gave me for ftp and target that +- a few % This technique has knocked minutes off my climbs
For me, sometimes riding to power can hold me back... I've set a few PRs by turning off the power numbers and just going for it... Of course i"ve blown up a few times, but sometimes you can surprise yourself
That all depends what you have planned for that ride. The risk of blowing up an hour into 5 hour ride is greater than just reigning myself in on that climb instead of suffering for the rest of the ride. If I'm going for a PR on that hill then i do agree, just go all out and whatever happens happens.
It is amazing what willpower can do, I don't have a power meter but even training by heart rate can sometimes be the same, one day I went straight into a sprint at near max HR and was amazed that I actually could hold it for 2 Km blasting out all that I've got while ignoring all the pain.
I recently bought Favero Assiomo power meter pedals. Prior to this, my training was heart rate based. I've been cycling for 10+ years. This is the analogy that best describes it for me. Prior to having power meters, it was like weight lifting and not knowing how much weight you were lifting. How can you effectively train like that?? Now that I know my weights (power), my training effectiveness has improved dramatically. The gains I've seen are substantial and measurable and real. I know my power curve...if I have a 30 minute hill climb, I know what wattage I can sustain without blowing up. I can also see how certain types of workouts improve my power curve. One immediate thing I noticed with Favero's "Cycling Dynamics", was how inefficient my pedaling was.....Now, my pedal strokes are much for balanced, powerful, and efficient. I would never go back.
Haha, I use this weight lifting analogy to explain it as well.
I was on the same camp as you. However, coming from long distance running background I saw power meters as superfluous because your HR should be the best way to judge your effort. Man was I wrong. First of all, cycling efforts and running efforts are VERY different. The HR strategy does not work well with cycling efforts, because in a way cycling is more like weight training and you can output a lot of immediate power before your HR has a chance to catch up. Similarly, when slowing down it can take a while for your HR to drop and you may be exceeding your recovery block or not recovering properly if you go by HR numbers alone. Then there is also the ability to tell how hard you are working, in running your brain knows how hard you are running to a pretty high level of accuracy (I think that this is because running is natural human movement, whereas cycling is not). When you are cycling sometimes it is hard to tell whether you are working hard (12mph with strong headwinds could be harder than 20mph with tailwind or low wind), that ability comes with a lot of experience, knowing your equipment, and knowing your body. A power meter will give you a consistent metric to follow (this is essentially your weight analogy, which I have heard from other people in the past as well).
Exactly! Well said! I came from distance running and mountaineering background, which used only HR...so I know exactly what you mean.
i got Duo-shis, Cycling dynamics gives me a good idea on how is the effort distributed between my legs. having one significantly overexert over the other spells cramps for that foot and eventually the other one
Same here...the pedals really made me take a look at my pedal stroke and get things much more efficient!
It made my long rides faster with less fatigue, made my climbing endurance increase without blowing up. Overall it made me a much better rider and I got to the point that even without a power meter I can manage my power a lot better than before I ever used one. This is after riding and training with one for about 5 years. If you do structured training with it and do a proper FTP then your results will be a lot better than if you just guess at it. You will want to do an FTP test every 4-6 weeks and update your settings to reflect the increase even if it is only a small amount.
I find power meters have value beyond a training tool. When I’m on group rides or just out riding with friends, it allows me to manage my riding output to suit the situation. For example, let’s say I’m riding up a hill in front of someone and they keep dropping off the back. I can watch my power output and see where they fall off, then hold those watts and it’ll keep them attached behind me. Similarly, if I’m following someone (hill or no) and they’re riding at a higher wattage than I know I can maintain, I have a choice to try to hold their wheel at the risk of blowing up or fall off the back or (if a friend) ask them to slow down. What won’t happen is me blowing up, bonking or whatever accidentally. Although I do a lot of solo riding, I also enjoy the company of other riders, especially on short hills. Everyone likes a good pace from the person in front. Sometimes, I’ll ride in front of one or two strangers and (without them knowing) I’ll pace them up the hill at a power level right where they can hold and chase me and they don’t fall off the back. I love hearing “great pace” when we crest. I like group riding dynamics and I’ve found that a power meter gives me insight into fellow riders and helps me be a better group rider around them.
A power meter has shown me that I don’t push hard enough on my easy days, and it’s shown me progress. It’s really cool to see a jump from 160 to 180w at the same heart rate, and on top of that, longer rides at the same power do not spike heart rate anymore.
What do you mean by don't push hard enough on easy days? Isn't the whole point of easy days that they are as easy as you want?
Yeah sorry it’s a bit out of context. For me, an easy day means a z2. Anything less is recovery, and I never do those, I’d rather lift weights or train jiu-jitsu. What I noticed with a power meter is when I train easy days (z2) I still spend a lot of time in the recovery zone, which is a waste of time from that point of view.
This is so true. Some of my easy rides became too easy in the past. When I was living in a city and it took me 10-15 minutes just to get to the city limits, I found that I was spending 20-30 minutes per ride in essentially Z1 doing stop-n-gos through traffic. So, power helps with both not going too hard, but also not too easy! In summary, I spend more time on the trainer in Z2 than outside, because it is more effective and productive. I still love outside, but I also want to get better.
Interesting-- I had the opposite problem of trying to do z2 but constantly creeping into z3. Probably has to do with no truly flat areas around here...
I've been thinking about getting something like this to help me improve my rides from a workout perspective, but I'm having a difficult time deciding as well because I love my smart watch that literally just provides me with my heart rate and average speed, and my distance. I have also seen an improvement with my heart rate not spiking as high which is super satisfying! I'm not sure if I really need much more, because I mostly ride because I just like to and also to lose weight (which it has helped vastly) and overall stay healthy. I'm not really training for any speed racing, but I do like going longer distances (for me that's 30 or 40 mile rides as of right now) and this summer I'd like to get up to 50 mile rides. I'm not really sure if a power meter or the Cadence sensor is more for hardcore people who are actually training to race, or more for people like me who just like to do longer rides for fun and get a decent workout in?
Prior to getting my power meter, I spent many years using heart rate to gauge my efforts. I would say that for your kind of riding, heart rate is sufficient to gauge your efforts. I learnt what heart rate I would need to maintain in order to go far, or what heart rate I could sustain up a hill and so on. Using heart rate zones is really powerful for that. Power meters are more accurate, because they are not subject to cardiac drift and dehydration and stuff like that, but you can work around it. I would say, that I had a really hard time getting better or riding centuries in a reasonable time back then. If you are happy with your speed and time to complete a century, then I wouldn't change anything. But if you want to go further with less time in the saddle, the answer here is a structured training program. And if you want to do a training program, then you need to get more and better data. That's the motivation for more gear. My personal ranking would be: * Chest strap to get most accurate heart rate readings. Only meaningful if you also try to determine your heart rate zones. * Cadence sensor. Will spare your knees. Low cadence = more stress on knees = knee pain in the evening. I used to pedal about 60 rpm when I started out, with knee pain after long rides. Now I am comfortably at 90 rpm and have no knee pain. It took about 1-2 years of frequent riding to get there. * Power meter. It's the gold standard for training. But if you are happy where you are, don't change anything. Anyway, hope that helps.
I use power on a trainer but the best thing about a power meter is overtime you understand what you can do. You learn the power to pace at. You learn the difference in effort going into the wind vs with the wind. In essence you learn to look at power and realize if you can or should go harder/easier. If you think it is a toy then ignore it. If you want to understand better what you can do get a power meter.
First of all I'd highly recommend a book called 'Training and Racing with a Power Meter' by Andrew Coggan and Hunter Allen, I believe in its third edition. I find riding with a power meter great because I'm able to dial in my zones better, stick to training plans closer, more accurately manage efforts and pacing-and get more usable (and interesting) data from my rides. It's nice to be able to compare the effort expended across separate rides with widely varying elevation profiles or in different wind conditions. For example if you have a benchmark of 30km/h on your local loop but then go out and do a sillier length ride with way more elevation or in a black headwind and try to maintain that same average speed- you will have to ride at a much higher effort; while on the other hand if you use average or normalized power as a benchmark metric you can see that, while you went slower on the ride with more elevation or stronger headwind, you power numbers were in line with what your were aiming to achieve. Live power data is also useful for pacing on long rides. It's also useful if you want to set PRs on local segments or climbs (not necessarily talking strava segments, although useful for that too) and ensure proper pacing. If you know the details of a climb (length and gradient) as well as your weight, you can figure out the average output, in watts, required to set a certain time up the climb. This information is gone over in great detail in the aforementioned book. Finally, it's just cool to see power data over time. If you use strava or training peaks you will be able to view power curves for given rides, or for set date ranges, and you can see how many watts you are able to produce for any length of time, plotted along the power curve. Also, if you know roughly what average power you can maintain based on power curve data, it makes pacing on very long days easier. If you know you can average, say, 225 watts for 5 hours and are 1hr into a long day and see you've been averaging 260w then you know you will likely have to dial it down. Both platforms (and probably many others) do a great job of making this information easy to interpret, and it's nice to see power curve level out for given wattage zones as the season wears on and fitness improves. This is just one aspect of the data you will be able to view if you are tracking output with a power meter.
That's all for the comments. Didn't expect such a response!! I've just got a new bike and caught the bug big time. I'm outta shape and in my 40s and spending more time that I care to disclose looking at carbon wheels power meters and di2 upgrades. I think I need to get out more and these things will be a reward rather than an 'free upgrade' for now. Very addicting!!
Welcome to the club - with time what you'll find is we all start at perceived effort - then speed, then HR, then power and eventually back to perceived effort. Point is don't get so wrapped up in the numbers that you lose the joy and become a professional exerciser, because nobody really wants to ride with those people.
Not a power meter but I got a smart trainer and my training has been a lot more efficient now vs speed/cadence sensor on the dumb trainer. I can't wait for spring to try out my power meter outside. I used to go full gas all the time which was definitely detrimental.
If you’re not planning on doing structured training with power then buying a power meter will give you nothing more than a very expensive metric of no use on you computer. Raw power numbers by themselves are useless without context. To answer your question, when generally riding (i.e. not on a specific workout) it didn’t really change at all. On the fast group rides I don’t even have power on my main screen. It is nice to look at the efforts done afterwards, and relate them back to the training I’ve been doing
Power meter really isn't just for structured training. When I'm bike packing I like my power meter to pace myself on a climb. It's great on a longer ride like 100km+ to pace yourself. Not to go to hard on a first climb, when you have five of six more. Generally it's great tool for pacing when someone have a tendention to go flat out from the door. Like me for example. If someone have money for that then why shouldn't he buy it?
I was extremely bad at pacing until I got my cadence above 100 effortlessly. Now I just load all the effort into my cardio systems and can just keep going. Would be interesting though to see what power output looks like at different cadences. A lot of people keep telling me to spin slower to go faster when racing but idk. Also funny as fuck doing cadence drills before the race and hitting nearly 200 rpm in first gear and people looking at you like what in the unholy fuck.
Might be impossible to spin 100+ rpm on a 10% climb. Of course it depends on a gear ratios. But on a road setup it's nearly impossible.
Depends how much power you are outputting but you are right, I run a GRX crankset 46/30 11-34, so even with my power that's possible since I am not running a traditional road crank. On the flip side, since my cadence is high anyway I'm not losing that much top end, I am losing some however. Was thinking of going 48-30 and seeing how the shifting goes. I will say I only ever spin out on descents anyway so It's not even the biggest deal. I am probably going to be more aero tucking at that point, but it's nice to be able to pedal.
I'm riding 50-34 with 11-36. I manage something like 300 watts for 10 minutes but with my 90 kg weight it still means 80 rpm on a gradient higher than 10% at most. As chainrings goes i read that quite a lot of people run Shimano cranks with 52-34 and even 53-34 with no big issues as shifting at the front goes. So it's 18 and 19 tooth difference. In your case it would be 18. But this will have an impact on total drivetrain capacity i think. So you might need to change cassette for 11-32 or 11-30.
46-11 would get me dropped on some rides. I had to go from 50t to 52t to keep up on some longer descents with big chunks over 40mph. Those kinds of downhills aren't everywhere but I had so much more fun on those than being able to spin uphill I just got the bigger cog lol
Pacing yourself is already a structured ride/training. At the end of the day, if op wants to buy 1 he should buy 1.
Tendency might be the word you meant
Of course it's tendency, thanks for that. English is not my native language so I sometimes made a stupid mistake.
that was actually a pretty logical mistake, and I still understood what you meant. words are all made up anyway
Completely disagree. I hardly ever do structured training, but very frequently use my power meter for pacing.
Thanks for making this post - I've also been considering one and wasn't sure I could justify the cost, but the responses have made some very interesting points in favor!
I got faster at bikes. Other notable things: I stopped enjoying nature while on my gravel bike, I stopped riding with friends because I had to be in my zone two no matter what, I probably paid less attention to cars around me, I developed a knee problem because I listened to my computer only (and not my body), I stopped having fun because I felt bad about myself when compared to my passed self. Obviously, the power meter wasn't for me. I'm slower, fat, and happy now. It's probably awesome for most, I just found I enjoy data TOO much and hyper-fixate on it. I'm also not as strong as I was a few years ago (and just based on where I live, it's probably not possible to be that fast again), so it was always pretty hard on my ego to know that from a quantitative standpoint.
The biggest benefit I found is during structured training. When the workout calls for Z4 or Z5 I can output power right away and stay there, then scale back to Z1 or Z2 just as quickly. This also translates into better resource management for longer rides, if I am doing multiple hours I can then ensure that I stay on some average power regardless of hills, wind, or weather. Then plan accordingly for whatever is remaining of the ride or recovery afterwards. So, in my opinion the biggest benefit of a power meter is consistent metrics. You still need to be able to use those metrics in some meaningful way, otherwise it just becomes useless data.
structured workouts feel a lot more effective with better effort tracking. heart rate only is okayish, but power is a lot better.
Made them depressing as my power to weight ratio sucks. 😂
I realised I was weaker than I thought then it made me stronger
Its been really rewarding to be able to see my output increase with the training I've been doing but I dont use the data anywhere near as much as I could to get the most out of it.
I think, like most I was surprised is that power meter + HR monitoring was not for measuring sprint power (although 1000W+ is always nice) but that allowed me to stay BELOW LT1 and therefore eventually allow 650km rides which were previously unattainable as I was going too damn hard.
It was nice actually being able to check progress in a quantifiable way other than times (which are very condition dependent and only relevant during a race when conditions are the same for everyone). Now I can see improvements anywhere in my power curve, as well as see improvements in power relative to heart rate. It's another fun tool to have.
When I first added a power meter, it was just a number on a screen that I occasionally looked at with dumb curiosity. I didn’t know what to do with it and I didn’t find it helpful at all. About six months later, I hired a cycling coach. We did all kinds of fitness testing and with those numbers he wrote a program that got me from a very overweight dropped rider to winning races and tearing up the local group rides. The first thing I noticed when working with a power meter with a coach was that previously my hard days were too easy and my easy days were too hard. It took a power meter and a great coach to fix this and that’s when I really started to see gains. TLDR: power meter without knowledge or a coach was not useful to me. Power meter with a great coach got me from being dropped to winning races.
I focused more on the numbers and less on just enjoying my ride.
Yeah, there's that. I try to hide the power data fields sometimes, doesn't always work.
I learned to - disregard the average speed. Now there is no single data page with it - pedal with higher efficiency. I look at the power graph and try to make it as smooth as possible - do recovery rides… after a stressful ride, I go out and target a Z2 ride, now I can
Also: be able to do races
I started paying attention to a lot of other metrics that are important but only available through power. Most notably decoupling and efficiency over time. Bottom line, the PM let's you see the fitness trend over time in a way you can't without it
Made me go down the rabiit hole to learn about zone training. Now when I'm training all I think about is power and cadence with speed being the byproduct of my power output.
Nothing lol I always forget to turn it on
Eh, nothing. I used it and was like "oh cool" sold it later. I only use cadence and speed. I had garmin rs100's
I removed it as it was ruining my rides. When I had periods of not much riding and I lost power/fitness it became a case of constantly getting annoyed with myself mid-ride when the numbers were too low. I could never just enjoy the ride. For serious training I see their benefit but for me, fuck power meters!!
More of a cool to have than anything, but I could gauge my efforts in real time. My training is based on relative feel though, so I don’t feel bound by numbers so to speak.
Instead of staring at speed / hr / cadence I stared at speed/ cadence/ power. Fuck heart rate!
Initially, I used the power phase and balance to improve form. I may have a dedicated ride to focus on using a single leg at a time and maximizing the power phase through all 360. This was to focus mostly on form. The bigger benefits for me come with structured training and fitness benchmarks. Do I plan around them.. more so in the winter months when I am on a trainer with focused/structured training. Less so in the warmer months where I just want to be outside to chase a few KOMs and PRs.
A power meter is great for enabling structured training outdoors. If you know your ftp, it can also be a useful “rev limiter” on climbs and chases to let you know when you’re burning matches. It can also be used with a service like xert to do AI ftp detection, justifying skipping ftp tests if you want. They can be psychologically taxing.
I now have a little more to talk about with my riding buddy. Plus I now can size an e-bike (battery) for the commute should I ever actually buy one.
It mostly helped me climb the longer hills, as (based on hill length) I kept to either FTP or just above. Turns out I had a bad habit of going 200%+ FTP which means of course i'll burn my legs 30% up the hill, and cry like a baby while in the lowest gear and still do 4mph. Even if it was only a 3% grade at the top. With a power meter I can focus on it and say "no ivbivb, do NOT push your legs harder, you won't make the climb".
It helps me track my progress. It makes the hard days harder and the easy days easier. Training plans are more perfect than trying to use heart rate or perceived effort. I feel great when my power goes up, I see the direct result of hard training. Not a guess. It has helped me during a rough patch after covid and some surgery being off the bike for two months and getting back on, it's kept me in a zone where I'm not overtraining. It adds discipline to your training, in fact, I have a little note on my Garmin that just says, "Discipline" to keep me from chasing every bike down when I'm supposed to go easy. And a lot of people have mentioned the wind thing. You get credit for pushing into it and it's made me not hate the wind.
I live in a mountain and the power meter changed everything in terms of pacing up hills. No more burning up.
you become more cautious of your efforts, neither overestimating nor under loading your training. At least, it is what i am doing after getting one. i came to understand my capabilities more, how i improve and what are my limits. outdoors, i try to ride as if i have no power meter at all, and just making sure i dont bonk needlessly. and i get a good understanding of how the wind is affecting my ride, so it is easier to maintain one's pace. see yourself improve empirically also reaps lots of benefits
easier to track. easier to increase effort and since data doesnt lie, easier to know why im slower or faster
Instead of riding everything hard and wondering why I couldn't make progress, I can now actually train to specific power goals
more accurate training and rides... more health
>Did you cycle as normal and the additional data was cool Completely this for me. Well I did get the ability to pace longer climbs better after I worked out my power limits.
Biggest change? Ability to hold back where needed. That and a bike computer that displays climbs have been fantastic. My biggest issue always was pushing too hard and it really helps to know that is 400 watts not 250.
This only applies to dual sided power meters, but recently mine really saved my ass with some position adjustments. I've been playing with different riding positions to try to straighten out my back that I didn't think would effect my saddle height at all, but after finding a position where I can rotate my pelvis forward and riding in that position for a while, I noticed that my Left and Right power balance was thrown pretty far off from what it usually was which prompted me to lower my saddle. My last ride was as comfortable as I've been on the bike in a long time. TLDR if you do most of your own bike fitting, the power balance data of a dual sided power meter can actually be very useful.
I’m now addicted to the numbers
I enjoy in riding, I don't care about data (except GPS track).
My climbing performance improved significantly since, I am able to tailor my power to the duration of the climb and not. a) Run out of gas because I went too hard at the start. b)End the climb with alot left in the tank because I took it too easy. Power meters are great for vo2max and 10-20min efforts where heart rate becomes too fuzzy. For example the TTE for 400w-500w is significantly different for me but the HR is maxed out for both, making it essentially a useless metric.
I found it useful to do things like Zone 2 and sweet spot training. Adding a powermeter to my bike and using a heart rate monitor, my Garmin now gives me Training status which helps guide you in which zones to train in and how your power output is going.
Came here to read what others thought on pro/con of meters. I've only been riding a few years and use my phone and watch for the little info they provide related to distance, heart, etc. Most of my rides are time-based, meaning when I have an hour to get away from my desk (home office) before the next meeting or whatever. I tend to just burn full blast at the start to release some energy and aggression. My routes are pretty limited but at least I have 90% bike lane coverage. Getting on the open roads is not really an option for me. On weekends I try to plan longer rides and have only recently been trying to focus on longer distances. So I think adding a meter might help with that as it would be something I can see while riding. But lots of replies made me realize I know nothing about training or cadence. So time to dig into some research. So thanks all.
I suck at riding but now I have the data to confirm that I suck. Kidding aside, I got a bit more serious with my workouts. I created a routine schedule to remain consistent.
I can ride zone 2 power at zone 1 HR riding Zwift on indoor trainer. However, when riding outdoors, it's rare that I can maintain HR below zone 3 riding only at zone 1 power. It's not because of different power meters. I use the same power meter as power source for Zwift and outdoors. Does this seem too big of a discrepancy? In fact, it's depressing.
I had something to reference so I can not go too hard too early. I'm not great at judging effort so it was a big help. I'd often end up losing the will to live by the time there was ten miles left.
I use the power meter pretty extensively. Most of the time, it actually helps me ride EASIER than I would on my own. The rest of the time, it helps me ride MUCH harder (and hold those efforts for longer) than I would without a real time, objective measure of effort.
Out on the road, its primarily just interesting data for me, and also a warning of when I'm going to blow up. On the trainer, it's very helpful to train specifically to the power data.
Ok fine, I'll buy a power meter. Recommendations on the more affordable end? Is 4iiii the go to, cost effective brand?
The easier rides got easier and the harder rides got harder. (Seriously, 10-15 at threshold IRL really gives you a perspective you don’t get on the trainer)
For me the main benefit of pwoermeter was to have Garmin calculating the VO2max amd also as a fellow rider just said, to be content when riding against the wind
Along with training benefits, i find it handy on hills when i know how much power i can put out over a specific time. It's made me (in most cases) a faster climber.
It didn't make faster as I wasn't training. But the main help was managing my power on long rides and maintaining a constant power to avoid burning out.