Road Cycling - Training with Powertap - any tips?

So I just got my Powertap wheels from CC (and thereby just doubled the price of my Trek 1.2!). I've also ordered the book "Training with Power" but it will take a month or so to get here, and patience isnt exactly my strong point.

So for all y'all that have been training with Powertap - any tips, etc that helped you get the most out of your Powertap?

At present, I am doing the Bicycle Magazine 10-week training program to ride a century. My general training goals are to get faster and ride longer, and especially improve my climbing (am planning to enter a couple of high-altitude mountain biking races next year).

TIA,
V.

If you post this is the Racing subforum you will get much more educated and enthusiastic replies.

There's even a thread dedicated to people who have questions about training with power.

Check it out you will get good advice.


EDIT: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=488667

Also check out the google wattage group. There is a page called "Where to begin?": So you just bought a power meter and subscribed to the Wattage Google Group (http://groups.google.com/group/wattage) and you're ready to train with power. But you have one important question, "Now what do I do?"

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/power411.aspx

Good program to purchase too. WKO has good info.

TMonk - i had checked out that link earlier but it has a lot of very specific, detailed type of content. Am looking for general pointers, etc (stuff that most likely the book "Training with Power" will answer, I suspect).

UMD - thanks for that link. That page you mentioned sounds like just the ticket. Have already applied for group membership.

Cheers,
V.

vkalia, read the power411 page that Hunt-man linked to, the where to begin page on the google group, buy WKO, do your regular rides for a week and look at the data but don't worry about testing, FTP, ATL, CTL, TSS, or any of the other alphabet soup. Once you have a week's worth of data start to look at it for patterns, apply some of the concepts for estimating FTP, then pick a testing procedure and try it.

Along the way ask any questions that come up in the thread tmonk linked to. The thread is more like an ongoing discussion rather than a "read this whole thing". The first page or two has some useful stuff but if you don't find what you want to know there or by searching that thread, nobody is going to get upset if you ask a question that has already been asked. That's what the thread is for, so that those questions don't keep popping up as new threads :p

Super stuff... am heading over to read the Power411 page. And maybe after that, some of those other acronyms will start to make sense (I know LTHR and stuff, but some of the other TLAs were making my eyes cross over :) ).

Thanks again, guys!

EDIT - Any recommendations on Basic vs Premium? I dont particularly care for stuff like mobile access, sharing with others, etc. but if the Premium version has training features which are worth it for someone relatively new to this whole thing (as opposed to Cat 1/2 types looking for that extra little edge), I'll pony up for it.

V.

Buy the book Training and Racing with Power.

Buy the book Training and Racing with Power.


So I just got my Powertap wheels from CC (and thereby just doubled the price of my Trek 1.2!). I've also ordered the book "Training with Power" but it will take a month or so to get here, and patience isnt exactly my strong point.

:innocent:

Any recommendations on Basic vs Premium? I dont particularly care for stuff like mobile access, sharing with others, etc. but if the Premium version has training features which are worth it for someone relatively new to this whole thing (as opposed to Cat 1/2 types looking for that extra little edge), I'll pony up for it.

Not sure what is basic or premium. Maybe you are talking about the training peaks website? WKO is software that you download and install on your computer. I believe that there is an "athlete" and an "ultimate" version. Unless you are going to be coaching people just get the athlete version. It's $99.

The Basic/Premium thing is for the TrainingPeaks.com online subscription. You don't need that to use WKO+.

All you need is to buy the athlete version like umd said.

Oops, yeah, I realized that soon after I posted it, actually. Was coming back to edit my edit, actually :)

Also realized that WKO+ is not Mac-compatible.... :crash: I guess I need to find a copy of Windoze somewhere and set up Bootcamp after all.

V.

Also you can manage 3 people with the "athlete" version of WKO, but it can only go on one computer. I manage myself and my wife and use the third slot to look at files people send me. I bought a second license for $50 for work. You can actually upload to trainingpeaks for free but you can't slice up your data like you can in the paid version.

Edit: For macs, some people use bootcamp or emulators. Some people use other programs like Golden Cheetah. It has similar concepts as WKO but calls them different things.

I'll try out Golden Cheetah and also install a demo of the WKO on a friend's laptop to see how they compare. All else being equal, anything that avoids me putting Windoze on my computer is a plus.

I am not too fussed about standardized terminologies, ability to share, etc. This is primarily a tool to help me push myself harder and get better (no group rides or anyone else to compete with, unfortunately). Going to sit down and really play with the GC software, and see how it does.

Thanks again for your help, UMD.

V

Any other good Mac applications? I'm using Ascent right now, which is doing a great job, but is more of an "all around" data program then a true cycling one.