chinotex

I've been riding for about a month and a half, and I have a computer without cadence or heartrate. I feel like I'm plateauing a bit, and I think it might be because my training is a bit haphazard. I don't know where my HR is at, how my cadence is, so workouts are only so-so. Can anyone suggest a computer with cadence, heartrate, and is also wireless for under or around $100? I have a cateye now and like it, but want the extra features.

chinotex

one other thing... how are watts figured into keeping an eye on how you train? and do many cyclocomputers measure wattage??

redtires

I would check around places like performance, nahsbar, cambria and for sure do a google search. I must ask though, after only riding for six weeks (I'm assuming that you are new to the sport...yes? no?) what is leading you to believe that you are at a plateau in your condition? I don't think that you should be experiencing a "plateau" after only six weeks. But maybe it's because of the type of riding your doing. It's only my opinion, but perhaps your just needing some adjustments in diet, sleep and fluid intake, plus your body could be asking for a easy day of spinning for recovery, which is very important. FWIW and IMHO, while being able to monitor your heart rate is a good thing, I don't know if I would worry so much about actually monitoring your cadence per se. After a while, and after your pedal stroke improves and becomes more efficient, you will learn if your cadence is adequate. The only reason why I say that is that everyone is a bit different. I like to have a seperate HR monitor however, because your resting HR and your waking HR are important to know as a gauge to how you are recovering after a ride and overnight. Although, these can be easily taken by pulse as well. Now, when it comes to wattage, there are a few systems that will measure how many watts your are producing, however they are expensive and usually consist of replacing either your cranks or rear hub. Wattage can be used as a training aid by tracking, over a period of time, how many watts you produce at a maximum effort for a given distance/terrain. The more fit you are, the more watts you can produce for a longer period of time without blowing up. Dang, that's a lot of info, I didn't mean for it to be so long, but hopefully that gives you some good info for your research.

chinotex

I guessed I used "plateau" when I shouldn't have... I don't mean the physical plateau, where you stop losing weight after consistently losing, or you reach a fitness level and don't improve any more. I live in the epicenter of suburban sprawl, Houston Texas, and the roads I feel comfortable riding on safely are limited, unless i get in my car and drive a ways. I want to have a method to my training, and not just go for a ride and measure my time and distance, which don't give a very accurate picture of what level of training I am doing.

I have only been riding for six weeks, but I have been an (overweight) athlete for all of my life. I've done conditioning programs in high school for lacrosse and wrestling, and for rugby in college. I want to have a defined program, and at this point I don't feel that I have that.

redtires

Ahhhhhhhhh....I know exactly how you feel. I've always been a chubby guy and had to work very hard when I was younger to get in great race shape with a low body fat %. A HR monitor will be a good tool for you as you will be able to stay in that fat burning mode for as long as you like. And you'll be able to "kick it" to improve your anaerobic performance as well. If you really want to get scientific here, look into macro and micro cycles in training and develop a very specific training schedule. Make sure to have fun with it though, you can burn yourself out fast if you don't. Also, keep a training diary to include your waking heart rate. I found a great deal on a polar monitor on Amazon.com of all places and can view all my HR info on my laptop. So, if I wanted to I could see the same ride on different days to see where I was that day as far as recovery and fitness.

chinotex

So do you think all i need is a wrist-watch style HR monitor? I've already spent a few paychecks in the past six weeks on my red riding machine, and am trying to keep the costs down... although a Garmin 305 would be so cool! And the charts and graphs I would be able to make!

Gosh, I'm a gigantic dork.

tsl

Blackburn Delphi 5.0 has cadence and heart rate for $80 at Nashbar, $85 to $90 elsewhere.

chinotex

Which model did you get? I think being able to download the info and track it is one of the most important parts for me.