Originally Posted by
chasm54
Well, he's not completely incorrect. I'm glad you are happy with your PM, but if you're not doing a structured training plan and are just paying attention to riding in zones, you'd probably have seen very similar results with just a HRM - and they're a lot cheaper.
Of course, lots of people like data. But if one isn't using it systematically that's all it is, just data.
I train systematically, I just don't bother with regimented workouts that require timing every movement down to the second nor hours of research/preparation/study beforehand. Would I get better results if I used the power meter for more regimented workouts? Probably! Do I care? Not really. I've already achieve results that most in this forum would kill for...
As far as heart-rate monitors, I've been using HRMs for far longer than the power meter and find that they're a relatively poor way to mesasure performance or effort. They're also entirely useless at predicting how many calories you've burned during exercise. When I got the PowerTap and realized just how far off my HRM had been with respect to calories burned, it made a dramatic change in my weight loss.