topflightpro

I too do not look at power when racing.

rkwaki

Oh really?!?!?!

topflightpro

Gets the heart rate up.

spectastic

and the blood flowing

Creatre

Power is extremely important in races to me. If I'm attacking or following an attack I need to know where I'm at. If I just attacked and looked down and I'm doing 600w, I realize I'm gonna blow up in 45 seconds, so I gotta back it off a notch if I want to last longer. Very important for pacing if you are working the front of the pack for the team, or rotating in a breakaway as well. There are a LOT of times where it is not used though, and I need HR in order to gauge the effort my body is seeing. Power is also extremely important to me in post race analysis.

So all-in-all, I would definitely not want to race without a powermeter.

rkwaki

But do you know yourself self well enough to race without it?

Fat Boy

I don't. I'm the guy that will ride himself right out of the break. I'm just stupid like that. Having some numbers to look at makes me a _little_ less apt to be stupid.

mattm

Yes. I won an RR and some crits in the 3s without any data at all, totally jedi.

Blindfolded too!!

Even my recent p/1/2 podium was sans computer since I forgot it.

That said I'm addicted to analyzing the power data after the race. During the race the only thing that's really interesting is time or a lap count.

thechemist

I could see that for crits does that apply for RR as well for you?

mattm

In RRs, yeah just time. I have power showing but rarely really get time to look at it.

Then again I'm not a breakaway kinda guy, so I'm generally just waiting for the field sprint, hiding out of the wind, and trying not to get bored in RRs. Even when I'm in breaks I just go off of feel - looking at the numbers just scares me at that point!

mollusk

I am guessing the "no and no" gets you tossed for being too normal. Any other answer would make someone weird enough that they might be taken into the cult that is Apple.

rkwaki

It was a loaded question. One of the key things guys should work on is understanding themselves. THe reason? If something goes wrong (headunit, power unit, magnet drops, etc) you still have all the tools you need to do well.
For example: I used to run cadence on my bike years ago, coach said to ride at 95 rpm. Years later, no cadence on my display and my cadence? 95 rpm. My body/brain learned....
This would apply to effort and power as well

Ygduf

sounds like 2 steps toward boredom, and one step "trying not to get bored".

Fat Boy

I knew what you were getting at. I was just being honest. If you're gonna be dumb, ya better be tough and all that. The funny part is that even with power I'm still prone to blowing myself up. It's not that I don't know I'm in over my head, it's that I balance that with trying to make the move stick. It's one of those deals where if you and your new buddies can snap the rubber band, then you can start pacing yourself smartly. Up until that point, I just pedal hard and hope for the best.

mollusk

+1

Way back in the 1980's I coveted a cyclometer that had cadence and saved my nickels and dimes and bought one.

Within a week of having it I could tell you my cadence +/- 1 rpm by feel.

I then felt stupid for buying it.

A few years ago I was out on a ride with a friend and my cyclometer battery had failed. We were on a composite of typical routes, so it wasn't one that I had ridden hundreds of times. Out of the blue he asked me "How far have we gone and at what average speed?" I got both right to within 1%. He couldn't believe it.

When you do this crap long enough you just know those things.

That being said I wish that I didn't have kids in college and could afford the luxury of a PM. I'd rather have the occasional bottle of very good wine with the discretionary income. I will admit that I have gotten fooled a few times using perceived effort, but never very badly.

Creatre

Yes, power is just a tool. First race of the year last year my power meter battery died. Did just fine. But it's like losing a tool in your shed. You can likely find other tools to use, but it may allow you to not finish whatever you needed to do as properly or efficient.

edit: I'd also much rather lose my powermeter for a day in a race, than a day in training. Especially if it's a threshold training day.

mattm

From what I gather "yes and no" was the wrong answer.

Sounds like he just didn't want any "HP/IBM suit types" to get in!

furiousferret

We all can't be Jedi's like you...

JohnKScott

Hi guys. Been a bit busy with my daughter's basketball season (could be a whole 'nother post with some of the highs an frustrations for her this season) so I haven't been here for a while.

I'm getting a little fat. Didn't train a whole lot during daughter's basketball season (2-3 hours a week at tempo or so mostly on the trainer). Didn't make the time for it. Looking at a knee surgery as soon as I get up off dead center and schedule it. Started "You Are Your Own Gym" strength training. Starting week 3 of the first 10 week program. I'm really weak. I'm intending to work on over all body strength for a while at the expense of some bike time. Especially since I won't likely be racing this summer. I will, however, keep the bike in the program just to keep some base fitness around for when I want to ramp it back up again.

I could have had knee surgery already in the last week of 2013 but I'm looking for a second opinion. My meniscus is torn once again in my left knee. This will be the third surgery on that knee. Doc wants to trim it up again. Worked fine last time. The catch is he is saying I shouldn't be doing sports with much impact. So he says I shouldn't be running, playing basketball, singles tennis and stuff like that. The thing that really hacked me off is that he said, "Well most guys your age aren't out doing that kind of stuff anymore." Well, he must hang around with a different group than I do. I wasn't quite willing to accept that just yet. So I started doing a little research.

I stumbled across a meniscal allograft procedure. Basically they take a meniscus from a cadaver an implant it. The kicker is, though, that I have about a nickle sized bone chip in that joint (that caused all of this problem in the first place). So they would probably need to take bone from my hip and implant it to my femur before the meniscus transplant. My current orthopedic guy just wants to get snipping and is discouraging this procedure on the grounds that the rehab might be too demanding . So I'm doing some more research and getting a second opinion. If I can find a way to get 10 more years where can still do most activities that I want to do before a knee replacement (which is likely in my future at some point anyway) I'd be willing to put the work in. Any of you old codgers been through any of this? I'd love to hear any experiences/advice.

hack

Heck...I don't know myself well enough to race with a computer. I'll use HR (since I don't own a PM) as a guide to time when to fall back into the group or reduce effort. Typically, the sequence goes something like "i'm feeling really fatigued, glance down at HR and see it is super high, fall back or reduce effort". My body is telling me to ease it up, but right now it helps to see that quantifiable value to trigger a response on my part. I'm sure that with time and experience I'll just react, but now it's a bit of a comfort/aid to have it right there.

mollusk

I never would have guessed that the "suits" would be virgins. Maybe I am wrong about that.

Inquisitor.

As an alternative to Stages, I've ridden over 2500 miles on a Power2Max powermeter and I'm completely satisfied. It compensates for temperature changes, auto calibrates if you stop pedaling for 2 seconds, and only costs about $800. It is extremely consistent, and I have never experienced any drift. Also, I have ridden in huge rain storms with no issues.

rkwaki

Hahaha
A lot of times I may come across the wrong way but my goal is to try and make you guys think from a different perspective and incorporate things.

I said a while back that my goal (as I am no longer racing/training) was to help y'all continue to develop and if there was any way that I could do that I would

Inquisitor.

Awesome job Matt.

Homebrew01

I had a bone chip in my femur many years ago. No idea what caused it, but I felt a little "pop" one day at work while getting something out of a cabinet. Had micro surgery where he took it out, and drilled holes in the bone to promote regrowth. Was on crutches for 4 weeks or so to keep weight off it. Good as new.