Originally Posted by Drew Eckhardt

Many cyclists want to maximize speed and increase endurance.

If you're riding the 6+ hours and 4+ days a week it takes to be in decent shape and have the disposition for it, following a structured training plan is the most effective way to do that.

A power meter is the best way to follow a plan, adjust it to suit how you're doing, and quantify your fitness.

You an also use one to determine CdA and rolling resistance (via RChung's virtual elevation model) of you, your position, and equipment; although the gains there are a lot less significant than you get from training the rider so you don't need to bother when you're not doing that.

Originally Posted by TobinH

Well I certainly wouldn't have one if I didn't race and want to improve. In fact I don't run it for the fun rides and take it off around this time of year because the races I care about are over. Well except Cascades, but rather tragically I can't make it down there.

Anyways, I find gadgets don't improve the experience for me. My structured training rides to power are...not that fun. I can't imagine putting myself through them if I wasn't going to race.

Originally Posted by Bah Humbug

It can also be good to increase power and fitness just to have a better time on a group or club ride, or increase the range you an visit on a ride.

Originally Posted by bmcer

"Worth it"? That's one of those questions whose answer depends entirely on the inquirer's perspective. Most folks on this forum are of a competitive bent, and for them "Worth it" means it can be used to improve performance in a competition. I understand that and respect it. That said, there's a host of other reasons that could make a power meter "Worth it". Just plain curiosity for one. How much power does it really take to hold this speed or climb that hill? What does my heart rate do when I hold that power level for this amount of time? It may be purely academic, but there's no end to these kinds of questions that can only be answered with a power meter. Then there are the fitness folks who are only competing against themselves and need some relatively objective way to manage their work load and document even incremental improvements. And this doesn't even cover the flock of bike geeks who are some blend of both the above.

And finally, there's the odd duck like myself. I got back into cycling 6 years ago (after a 25 year hiatus) as part of a healthy living program I started after my first heart attack. 2 years later, I was in great shape, had lost ~60 lbs, and had a resting pulse of 52. But I was stressing my body to the point that one morning after an uneventful 7 mile ride for an early morning hot cocoa, I turned up my toes in front of the local Pete's and went into total cardiac arrest. It's a long story, but the reader's digest version goes like this. I was successfully resuscitated and underwent an equally successful double bypass graft. My cardiac surgeon, however, was at a loss to explain 1) the lack of myocardial damage he saw while in my chest and 2) why I survived at all. Thinking it might help, I gave him a batch of my Garmin data. He took one look and told me he was not only able to now understand my "durability" as well as why I infarcted the second time. His advice... 1) Do not, repeat DO NOT stop riding 2) (and this is the part he emphasized as a "must do") find some way besides chest pain and tachycardia to accurately gauge the intensity of my rides . First thing I did after that was buy a power meter and learn how to use the data it made available. Four years later, I'm still more fit that about 80% of men 10 tears my junior, and I haven't shown any signs of "blowing up" again because of it. Is it worth it for me? Ya' think?!

Bottom line, see if you can find a way to rent a power meter for awhile. I have no idea how common this might be, but there is at least one shop in my area that does this. Try it out for a month or so. If the data is useful to you for whatever reason and you have the disposable income to cover it, go for it!

Originally Posted by Billy1111

Ive been riding for a year, i dont race and dont plan on it or anything (maybe race myself sometimes )but was curious on getting a power meter.....would it be a waste of money for me? is it only used for racing? or can it help me just becoming a more efficient better rider?

Originally Posted by merlinextraligh

What I don't understand is why hr and perceived effort wouldn't serve the same purpose in that circumstance. In fact HR would seem to be a more direct indicator

Originally Posted by merlinextraligh

What I don't understand is why hr and perceived effort wouldn't serve the same purpose in that circumstance. In fact HR would seem to be a more direct indicator

Originally Posted by bmcer

One of the sequelae of my cardiac history is a significant disconnect between heart rate and level of effort. I have what is know as chronotrophic latency

Originally Posted by exime

6+ hours a day to bike? Who could bike all week for 6 hours a day unless you're retired? Anyway I think that's a bit excessive to be in "decent shape".

Originally Posted by RChung

Woah. While they had you open did they stick in any sort of cardioverter?

Sounds like for you, a power meter ain't overkill at all and that now that you have a way to know your power, at best heart rate is redundant but at worst it's misleading.

Good result.

Originally Posted by TobinH

Sure, but for those times of year I just sort of think of a ride that sounds kind of hard. I think it's a lot more fun to do something like 'okay I'm going to climb that mountain three times in a row' than do a gazillion laps of some route that allows you to ride to power. It's useful to avoid stop signs and stuff if you're doing that, so usually routes like that are not that common, and end up very familiar.

I feel like a power meter is not really useful for 'increasing power and fitness' in a general sense. Any kind of structure will let you improve early on, just ride and have fun. Don't waste precious ride time staring at your stem until you've committed to hurting yourself on a regular basis.