chaadster

Maximizing speed does not mean the same thing as winning races. No serious training regimen is soley focused on making more speed, not one. The rider must be fit and strong to go faster, and that is why all pros train with power; ability to make more power will mean they will be able to go faster when they need to.

RShantz

Maybe his PM just isn't happy inside & decides to act up. Obviously his PM likes the feel of wind in it's hair.

rubiksoval

There's no question there.

rubiksoval

The assertion was that speed is useless, not whether or not people train with power.

As for your fit and strong comment, how is it at any given time trial you can have some people going so much faster than others on significantly less watts? I mean, if you just need to be fit and strong and all?

Doge

I spent the weekend with a collegiate bike team and their officer in charge, a former top elite college runner and rec cyclist.

He introduced the discussion on power meters contrasting cycling to running and training vs racing and that he just didn't get how they would help train better than another structured program.

We shared the view that training to perceived effort is as good of a tool as fixed power.
A rested rider in a familiar altitude, humidity, temperature can ride and train to a consistent power, but all those things change due to behavior, fatigue, environment etc.

I see this same debate with weight/body builder trainers. Some have set weights and reps (like training to power) and some are into training to failure/effort. I favor the latter in that to.

Effort, while subjective, takes change into account.

Doge

Source?
I know Sagan lifts weights, I had not seen he trains with power. I'd like to. That would be a good test case.

RChung

My thoughts are that surprisingly often people who are adamant that consistency is the only thing that matters in a power meter eventually wonder about accuracy.

Kopsis

I suspect the PM isn't actually reading lower, but that what you're seeing is the effect of measurement noise. Unlike the trainer where resistance is smooth and controlled, on the road there is lots of irregularity. The momentum of your legs will carry you through much of that without really even feeling it, but the effect is lots of little spikes (both up and down) in the power curve.

So if you're looking at your "max" for anything less than 3s averaged power numbers (and the fact that you say you see this in just a few pedal strokes tells me that's the case), the differences are "real" but meaningless. Set your computer to show you 10s averaged power and I it's likely the trainer and road "10s max" will match nicely. I never display anything less than 3s average on the road because below that the numbers bounce around too much to be of any use.

laf

My powermeter is at 3s average power. The readings inside are lower inside no matter what Im doing.

chaadster

The assertion was that speed is useless as a training metric, which is true. I've never heard of any training program soley built on speed targets, and I cannot imagine how such a program would work effectively, either.

My "fit and strong" comment was clearly indicated as referring to a given rider, not as a way to compare various or multiple riders one to another. A rider who is fit and strong will perform better than if they are not fit and strong.

Seattle Forrest

rubiksoval

You're getting all fallacious here. No one has said anything about what your focal assertion.

If you choose to ignore speed elementss in training, then that's your prerogative, but that does not in anyway undermine its importance.

Your fit and strong comment is misinformed and ignorant of how performance can be addressed and manipulated. Aero positions are a perfect example of that. As I said before, the only thing that matters in a race is speed. If you don't race, then that's not relevant, but if you do, it very much is. And even if you don't race, most every club rider and weekend warrior (with the exception of a touring group) know is interested in going faster. So relevant there, too.

Seattle Forrest

This is an interesting tidbit, not disagreement.

Runner's training programs are based on speed. Some on HR but most runners consider their pace to be a better metric and to make better training targets. Of course runners don't have access to a broad range of speeds like cyclists do, so air resistance is basically constant for them. They also generally choose flat courses with minimal traffic interruptions, which is a lot easier to do with such shorter distances, and they never coast. For a lot of people, running is an idealized and simplified kind of physics. And runners tend to use pace as if it's power. In fact, runners have a threshold pace and measure rTSS = (avg pace / t pace) * duration.

reggieray

Hey bro, you do realize that you completely reversed what I said, right?

I was talking about training: Speed is not useful as a training metric....

And then here you bring up racing, for some reason.


Then you bring up using POWER in training...which is exactly what I said in the first place.


What color is the sky where you are, homie?

Kopsis

Then either you have a defective PM (perhaps road vibration is causing erratic performance of an electronic component) or you're actually not able to put out as much power indoors due to some change in fit when your bike is on the trainer or due to performance psychology (perception of effort on a trainer can be much higher than on the road at identical power levels).

FWIW - I have both a Power2Max type S and a Power2Max NG and I see no significant difference between indoor and outdoor 3s power readings on max effort type intervals.

rubiksoval

You stopped reading too soon. Keep going.

reggieray

This is for the same reason that I KOM'd a forty mile segment on Strava with a 24mph avg @ 225w: I was on a recumbent.

Do you really think I train on my bent based on speed? Come on, man.

There were slight uphills and downhills on that segment; did I pace myself over them based on speed? There was wind, too; did I adjust my effort by looking at my speed?

Ridiculous, inane.

This forum causes me to lose hope for cycling.

reggieray

Shane Miller broke this down. Short version of the video is, "Power meters aren't useful without both."

chaadster

Current ride has 4iiii:



Sagan was riding SRM power meters back in the Liquigas C-dale days, and plenty of his power data can easily be found online going back to at least '12. Pictures of his '10 Liquigas-Doimo bike on which he won Tour of Romandie clearly show an SRM headunit, and the crank looks like Cannondale SRM, but it's hard to see that. Anyway, it would be unusual if he used an SRM head unit without the power element at the crank, so I think it's pretty safe to conclude Sagan has used power training since his World Tour debut days.

rubiksoval

This reply really has nothing to do with anything, does it? A single ride on a recumbent with a tailwind? As an attempted rebuttal to using speed as a useful element in training? Really?

It's replies like this that cause me to lose hope for logic and reasoning.

Doge

My kid has ridden with power since age 10 on and off. We don't use power for training. Just record it. He generally does not race with power.

Esp for a UCI bike that has to meet weight I'd expect a PM on every bike, but just like riding with a HRM does not mean the rider is using HR for training.

Training with a PM means the rider is going for a training ride and putting out an effort based on the numbers on that meter. I know pros - this weekend, that do not do that.

What is is your opinion of weight training/body builders that train to fatigue and also record how much they lifted vs
those that train to lift a certain amount?

Seattle Forrest

He'd be at a competitive disadvantage not to, and his job is competing.

There are a lot of contrarians in the world. But there's reality, too.

alathIN

This would be an extreme outlier opinion among cycling coaches.

RPE is a useful thing to pay attention to, but it's not objective and it is subject to many, many other variables.

My experience is that power is a useful check to RPE. Sometimes I feel great and I'm actually putting out watts that will not be sustainable for the intended training session. Sometimes I feel like I'm working myself really hard, and the "tattle tale" power meter tells me, no, I'm not working that hard, HTFU and get to work.

Power is also an objective way to compare progress over time. Sure, I can also see that I completed my 40k TT loop on a known course 1 minute faster... but was that the wind? Or my new tires? Or was I just super motivated and crushed it? If my FTP goes up, I know my training program is working.

Good article on this topic:
3 Ways To Measure Fitness - TrainerRoad Blog

Of course you can also get fitter just by riding a lot. But if you're using a structured training program to achieve specific goals, power measurement is an extremely valuable tool.

chaadster

Although the notion that power and HR would just be recorded just for piss-n-giggles and not used for training at the pro level is strange to me, I do not know World Tour pro riders as you do, and will accept the truth in that if you say so.

The one World Tour pro I'm acquainted with, is Alexy Vermuelen on Lotto-Jumbo, who did power based training with the same coach I use, and rode in the same club during his junior days. I do not know what he does with power now, if he uses it all.

Peter Sagan, however, apparently does train with power:

The secrets behind Peter Sagan's recent success | Cyclingnews Forum

rubiksoval

And another reason why speed is useful. Same power, less speed, why? Same power but more speed, or same speed but less power, again, why?

Positioning, equipment, pacing, can all be tuned and improved by utilizing speed measurement in training AND racing. Just saying, "Oh, ftp is up so I'm faster" isn't always true (a lot of the time?!) Relying on a singular measure to gauge performance is leaving a lot on the table.