Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
To expand on this in a more general way:
Most people don't hold a steady power when they ride. That's why almost everyone prefers to see the avg over the last X seconds instead of just at that instant. It jumps around a lot. It's like you benched 100 lbs, then 120, then 97, then 20 for a second while you changed your position on the saddle sightly, then 140, etc. Except on a bike, it's like you're benching whatever is on the bar at that moment, but the plates don't have numbers do you don't know how much you're lifting. Each pedal stroke has a different amount of force. (Not usually huge differences.)
I've just started using a power meter in the last couple of weeks. Although it should have been obvious, I discovered this fact -- instantaneous power is constantly and quickly fluctuating. One of my Garmin Edge screens shows instant power and average power. How many of you find instant power a useful metric during the ride as opposed to, say, 3 second average? I want to learn how to better control and smooth out my power output. I think my choices for the data field are instantaneous, 3 second average, 10 second average, and 30 second average (which is obviously too long).
Separately, does anyone make use of Garmin's proprietary "Normalized Power" or "Intensity Factor" metrics?