garysol1 

I have had my Powertap for about 2 weeks now and I think it is about to come off the bike. The past 2 weeks have been miserable on the bike. It has taken a lot of the fun out of riding for me. Guess I have found my line as to where I take riding to serious and I think it is time to back up across that line again. Anyone else found this out as well that you can take a fun sport and just make it way to serious?

UmneyDurak

Well for me I love the thing. Then again I am kind of a data nerd, and like to collect and look at bunch of data. Also I race and want to be CAT2 eventually, so I take cycling somewhat seriously.

garysol1 

I race as well and thought I wanted to upgrade but now I am not so sure. I just wanna have fun

spiderbike

I suggest you only use it during your training rides. When there is purpose such as intervals or training crits. If you just want to go on a enjoyable ride take it off the bike.

I went computer free for a year until I recently got garmin. It really helps for training purposes but I don't even look at the thing if my ride is just for enjoyment.

Cypress

Given the right price, I will remove you of your burden.

Turboem1

just curious what makes in not fun?

garysol1 

Just me personally speaking now and everyone is different. I feel like everytime I ride I need to make the numbers higher and improve. I thought I wanted to improve but I realized that I was pretty damn happy right where I was. Maybe it is just info overload....... Or maybe in a few days I feel differently.

Snuffleupagus

1. You don't. Every ride doesn't need to be, and can't be progressively harder. You have to beat yourself down to build yourself up...
2. Progress stops upon satisfaction.
3. Don't stare at the meter during your rides, especially now - because you haven't had it long enough to establish a good baseline for TT effort pacing.
4. Maybe, maybe not.

garysol1 

Good tips Snuffle......I think #3 is my biggest issue. You know what.....you actually made a lot of sense with all of your comments, thanks. I will give it a few more weeks and keep your comments in the back of my mind.

transplant

if it's burdening you so much i am in the market. (seriously)

jrobe

"I feel like everytime I ride I need to make the numbers higher and improve."

That is the problem. You are using it as a daily test device which would be a terrible way (and incorrect way) to have to ride.

Have you bought the book - Training and Racing with a Powermeter. This would be a big help.

'nother

Hmm, haven't had that problem at all. I've had my PT since April.

The key, I think, is to have some kind of structured training plan. If your plan is simply to "ride lots" or always do better than the last time out, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

Check out something like Friel's "bible", or trainingpeaks.com's Virtual Coach, or Coggan's book, and develop some kind of plan. I use Virtual Coach; I'm a cheapskate and did not want to shell out for a real coach. I find it very fun, it's a different workout every day, and not always "go harder". Some are easy days, and believe me it can be just as difficult to go easy as it is to go hard.

Snicklefritz

I have a powertap SL and at times it feels like a double-edged sword. There are days I go out and feel terrible, but the PT returns great numbers. Other days i go out, feel great but the powertap tells me that I suck.

I too have had feelings similar to yours. There have been times when I've worked hard, don't see the increases I thought I should and then feel like I want to scrap the thing and quit. It may help to think of the powertap like using a bathroom scale. If you check your weight everyday, you'll see fluctuations (most likely) that will make it seem as if there is no progress in weight loss. From one week to the next - maybe. Over the course of several weeks or a few months, yes definitely you will see weight loss if you are doing it properly. I think the power data is the same way. It can be hard to monitor progress from day to day. From one week to the next you may see small differences. More likely though you will see progress over several weeks of a couple of months.

don't forget to take recovery time. 3 weeks on, 1 week easy works for a lot of people. I didn't start seeing large improvements in wattage until I started doing this.

You may want to try riding according to RPE and then just take whatever wattage you get. Then, say if you are doing intervals, end the set when the wattage drops off to some percentage of the 2nd or 3rd one as per Hunter's book. Although I am not certain if this kind of structure was what was bothering you.
If it's pressure to produce certain numbers every day, it may not happen and possibly shouldn't.
Like Snuff said, you have to beat yourself down to build yourself up. If every day was a PR day, you probably wouldn't be pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. Done a bit of the latter is one thing that will help you improve.

i agree that you need to use it a lot more before establishing a baseline. A good month or so would be a minimum I would think. There is so much that can happen on a day to day basis that can throw the numbers off. How much you slept, what you ate, how well hydrated you are, how hot it is outside, stress levels...all these can affect your power numbers. Once you have a lot of data points however, you'll be able to see more stuff through all the noise.

I'd also encourage you to make notes in your power files. What was your RPE for the day or for the interval set? How did you feel in general that day and the day before? for myself, my best performances have typically come the day after a hard workout something that came out of analyzing my power data and my workout diary. Observations such as this, in combination with actual numbers will help you learn what your body needs in order to excel. Then if you decide to race or do some other event, the PT will help you figure out how much to stress yourself beforehand to maxmize your chances of a good day.

2Tired2Shift

I don't think it could handle the power of you massive guads. You might fry the hub.

garysol1 

Twice and still waiting. I ordered one the day I recieved my PT and USPS lost the package. I just ordered a second copy 2 days ago.

DrPete 

^^^The book is totally worth it just so you can start using the word "stochasticity" in a sentence.

Really, though, I think some of my recent burnout was partially attributable to it. I'm kinda glad I trashed the wheel for a while, because I went back to racing without the Powertap. It actually helped my psyche quite a bit.

Go over the book, and don't give up just yet. I think once you see that it's not always about pushing harder and getting higher numbers you might be happier with it.