Originally Posted by
chaadster
It depends on what you're wanting to train.
Cadence is great if you want to train your pedaling speed.
Heart rate is good if you want to train your fitness.
Power is want you want if you want to train to go faster.
But, that's simplistic.
Pull in as much data as you can for purposes of training analysis. Although you're clearly at a point where you don't know what you need or what it all means, you will soon be able to amalgamate all that info to paint a full picture of your ride efforts, strengths and weaknesses.
A basic cyclometer will give you speed/time/distance, and you can stake out a route on which you can compare rides. You push yourself to go faster, and make extra effort to cover the route in shorter time.
Add a cadence sensor, and you can start to look at your pedaling speed and optimize your output, but you still need time and distance.
Other metrics like elevation and current speed can help you further dial in your effort and to motivate you. Speed is simple, and variables like wind and position impact it greatly, but At the same time, it's the key performance metric. Going faster than before/everyone is the ultimate performance goal.
Well said! Very well said...
Only let me add: A heart rate monitor connected to my IPhone has made a big difference for me in two ways:
First: It showed me that I really wasn't going as hard as I thought I was. It pushed me to up my effort into higher zones. (Actually, my cardiologist was the one doing the pushing. When I showed him the results from the monitor he 'encouraged' me to increase my average to 75% max heart rate over an entire ride of 60-90 minutes -- I had been only averaging about 70%)
Second: It provides me with a history (even a bar chart showing each day) showing ride duration, distance, speed, heart rate -- and how many times I have ridden. Its a motivator. Actually, the biggest motivation are the holes it shows when I don't ride. So, on a day when I just don't feel like it, it motivates me to get out there knowing that, if I don't, the log on my IPhone will always show a hole for that day...
These days I mostly use the computer on my bike for the clock: "OK, I have to be back by 6:00pm, I can ride for another 25 minutes..." The other time I use it is when I ride with my little 8 year old buddy: "You're doing 15 mph!... 16mph!... 17... You better slow down! Hey! Slow up! Wait for me!" (Which of course only makes him peddle harder!)