"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - confession: I'm addicted to power numbers...

I love those dang numbers on the little screen... they make me feel so good.

Round numbers are particularly nice. 300 watts is just so much better than 299.

I love the feeling of good legs and big numbers.

Power numbers are like a warm blanket on a cold night.

I'd be lost without them. Numbers, that is.

-Ldesf, Confessions of a Power Numbers Addict

It's easy to become addicted to something you possess.

I'm too afraid to find out how little I have.

"It is better to remain ignorant and be thought a weakling, than to buy a powermeter and remove all doubt ."

I'm waiting for the day that during a race, I crash head on while I'm looking down at my Powertap.

Just you wait.

My powertap should be coming soon......I fear I may end up like you, Leo.

See, the only time I see 300w is when I'm right near 5.0w/kg. That's not fair. You seeing 300 is like me seeing 220, which is a way lamer number. 300 is a fun number.

no pity.

the numbers rule all.

they do not lie.

i love them.
:thumb:

Hell. Even I see 220!

I dunno, I've been thinking about selling the PT and going 'euro'. I think last season I was too obsessed over CTL ramp rates, TSS, and unrealistic wattage expectations that I burned out early on. Granted, I could just not make the same mistakes this season but the powermeter at this point just makes me feel anxious.

I just like seeing the sprint numbers ;)

But if like me, you had no sprint, what would there be to like?

I was for a while - but then my PT broke and I haven't gotten around to replacing it yet.
That was over a year ago now, and I'm mostly over it. I'm training by feel this year and enjoying the lack of numerical evidence to my suckitude.

I think a year or two from now I'll go back to being power obsessed - possibly with a Quarq?

There's power in numbers :)

But if like me, you had no sprint, what would there be to like?

Average power? Leo seems to do fine with that.

Heck dude, I just liked being able to go at 280W for 20 mins and know that I was spent. I'm pretty motivated by numbers.

Or finish position in a race, you could just go by that too.

And now back to studying so I can get get numbers.

I was much more obsessed in my first year with the PM when every month I was making huge gains. Obviously, it couldn't continue. Now that my power is cyclical, I feel much less attached to the power numbers. They're a tool in the toolbox. Probably my favorite tool (like a nice table saw), but not something I obsess over any more.

Come to think of it, I'm probably due for some power testing now that I've started a new season. It's been a while since I tested (another sign that I'm less obsessed). I know pretty much where I am though. It's easy to feel it and see the evidence in the ride data.

Power overwhelming!

I was much more obsessed in my first year with the PM when every month I was making huge gains. Obviously, it couldn't continue. Now that my power is cyclical, I feel much less attached to the power numbers. They're a tool in the toolbox. Probably my favorite tool (like a nice table saw), but not something I obsess over any more.

Come to think of it, I'm probably due for some power testing now that I've started a new season. It's been a while since I tested (another sign that I'm less obsessed). I know pretty much where I am though. It's easy to feel it and see the evidence in the ride data.

Same here, WR.

The numbers give me a great sense of where my body/CNS is in the "cyclical" world of "good form".

I rarely test, as I'm getting familiar with what type of numbers I should be putting out for a given day/week/month in the scheme of my macrocycles.

It becomes easier to decide when to back off a bit and when to push just a bit harder.

It's also taught me how to ride without coasting for 3 hours. which is pretty weird.

I dunno, I've been thinking about selling the PT and going 'euro'. I think last season I was too obsessed over CTL ramp rates, TSS, and unrealistic wattage expectations that I burned out early on. Granted, I could just not make the same mistakes this season but the powermeter at this point just makes me feel anxious.

There's something to it. I'm not getting a PT this year because I want to be damn sure that I'll stick to a training plan before I lay out the money.

I record just about every ride. But unless I am doing some very specific intervals I stick a piece of tape over the control head and look at the numbers after the ride. I get a much better sense of how my body is feeling. Doing tempo based on perceived effort is more telling than hitting the number. IMO

I record just about every ride. But unless I am doing some very specific intervals I stick a piece of tape over the control head and look at the numbers after the ride. I get a much better sense of how my body is feeling. Doing tempo based on perceived effort is more telling than hitting the number. IMO

I find tempo by numbers is much more of a workout for me than if I just went off of PE.

I find tempo by numbers is much more of a workout for me than if I just went off of PE.

It is, but I have watched the numbers over a couple of years and now I just want to "feel" it. When I want to dial in on a workout I jump on the CT. That is a strict workout. No give.

I was much more obsessed in my first year with the PM when every month I was making huge gains. Obviously, it couldn't continue. Now that my power is cyclical, I feel much less attached to the power numbers. They're a tool in the toolbox. Probably my favorite tool (like a nice table saw), but not something I obsess over any more.

Come to think of it, I'm probably due for some power testing now that I've started a new season. It's been a while since I tested (another sign that I'm less obsessed). I know pretty much where I am though. It's easy to feel it and see the evidence in the ride data.

This is why I wish that I could rent a P-tap for a week every now and then. It would be solely for a calibration of the personal perceived effort meter. The truth is that I can get that by matching weather conditions and speeds on a route that I ride a lot, but then I can't post numbers on BF to lament/brag about.:lol:

It was cool at first, but became a lot like stepping on a scale every day once I knew where I stood. Still use it for training where I want and need the feedback, but don't race or go on group rides with it (and haven't for a long time).

This is why I wish that I could rent a P-tap for a week every now and then. It would be solely for a calibration of the personal perceived effort meter. The truth is that I can get that by matching weather conditions and speeds on a route that I ride a lot, but then I can't post numbers on BF to lament/brag about.:lol:

I don't know about you, but for me, the RPE meter varies dramatically depending on my state of physical and mental freshness. The PM never does.

This is why I wish that I could rent a P-tap for a week every now and then. It would be solely for a calibration of the personal perceived effort meter. The truth is that I can get that by matching weather conditions and speeds on a route that I ride a lot, but then I can't post numbers on BF to lament/brag about.:lol:

This is one of the things holding me back from getting a powertap...I ride a traffic free paved 7 mile loop (in a state park) regularly, and my current fitness test is a TT around the loop. Sure, the atmospherics play a role as the winds in FL sometimes do kick up, but when I'm able to consistent winds this gives me a pretty good test. I really think the power test would be most helpful for sprints and the sub 5-min intervals. I do find that, when on the rowing ergometer at the YMCA, I get fixated on besting my last average wattage output.

I don't know about you, but for me, the RPE meter varies dramatically depending on my state of physical and mental freshness. The PM never does.

+1 especially true during challenging blocks of training. Carry-over fatigue throws my RPE meter in the garbage.

I don't know about you, but for me, the RPE meter varies dramatically depending on my state of physical and mental freshness. The PM never does.

I don't have a PM, but I do have a cyclometer. My RPE meter and cyclometer are HIGHLY correlated over the same course under similar weather conditions without regard to "freshness". I have been riding long enough over these same routes to also be able to factor that in. I often use http://www.noping.net/english/ as a reality check and it is always spot on.