hhnngg1

For all you PowerMeter users who are actually using it to train by targeting specific power targets: ( and not just as a high-priced monitoring tool)

Do you find you're training a lot more on your own to hit those power targets?

I don't have one myself, and have been happily using a trainer as a poor man's PM by using the Cycleops Fluid2 power curve (obviously can't take that outside so it's only to compare trainer vs trainer efforts from day to day) but have been using HR for longer rides outdoors, and would definitely find it hard to stay in targeted ranges if on group rides due them being either too fast or too slow at parts of the ride.

Creatre

I already prefer to train solo, so getting a powermeter didn't really change anything in my case. One of the main reasons to get a powermeter is so that instead of just going outside and riding, you are training your body in certain zones for certain reasons, during certain carefully thought out times of the year. Sometimes it is nice to go out with a group though, and then you have your power data to look at afterwards to see how you responded to certain ranges. The biggest thing to me is being able to see my TSS per ride, and the ATL and CTL to see if my body is being stressed enough, or too much from my training. In the end though, it's up to the user whether or not they want to take advantage of having a power meter as a training tool for solo riding or not.

svtmike

Specific interval workouts are best done solo, unless you have group agreement on intensity/duration/etc. and are well-matched.

I'll use my PM and knowledge of my power zones during group rides for other things: to help keep a constant effort when pulling that everyone in the group can maintain, to figure out if I'm going too hard up a hill to be in play for the hilltop sprint, to figure out if I should reverse drop the group, to stay in a range for a recovery paced ride, etc. etc.

hhnngg1

I agree that the PM can be helpful for monitoring purposes, but I'm actually more interested in those using it to target specific numbers in training while still doing enough riding to race in crits or other draft-legal situations where pack riding skills are important.

I have a hard time reconciling hitting specific power targets with being at the mercy of the speed of the group you're riding with. Seems mutually exclusive in the vast majority of situations.

svtmike

I agree that monitoring and targeting applications are pretty mutually exclusive. They are both applications of a power meter.

Understanding your power outputs in a crit will help you to craft more meaningful targets (what does it take to hang? to win? 10s sprints every 20s? or something else?) and interval workouts, and will help you understand your true pain and power thresholds better than just doing intervals on the trainer.

hhnngg1

I can understand how it could be helpful to see numbers like "I got dropped after the group pulled away at 380 watts" in a race, but I still think that it's far more useful and reliable to use numbers from actual controlled field tests that are not dependent on the presence of others, and repeatable, to determine workout zones. A TT would be a good race where you could use the numbers for zone-training, though, since there's no drafting to confound the numbers.

calamarichris

Riding alone, yes.
The bicycle is made for pain, not for socializing.

HMF

If I'm riding solo and doing intervals I have it there so I can pace my efforts. If I'm riding with a group I have it there so I can look at it after, not during. Having it doesn't influence who I ride with, but rather how I ride with it.

Gluteus

+1

hhnngg1

Are you using it as part of a regimented training program with power-based rampups over weeks/months? Or are you just riding?

valygrl

I am very lucky that my training partner and I are really similar, so we sometimes are able to do our interval workouts together with our power meters. She weighs about 3 pounds more than me and her threshold is 20 watts higher. She's a bit faster at threshold. Sometimes we can ride side by side, other times I have to stay in her draft to meet my number, or I fall off the pace, and we regroup on the rest intervals. Mostly what happens is she's riding 90% and I'm riding 95% of LT, and then when we do over-unders I get dropped.

I think this is an anomaly, though. I don't think I could do this with anyone else (except maybe my twin sister). I have to ride my tests alone, though, or I end up blowing up and failing the testing protocol.

There's no way I could do my training program on a regular group ride with out being OTB or OTF for parts of the ride. It can work if ONE person is doing their workout and the other people on the ride take their pace from that person. I've done that before, with another friend, when she's doing at tempo workout, i just ride her wheel.

kimconyc

Yes. I also find I don't go on the normal routes on the open road for kicks as much now but more structured workouts in isolated areas (park, airstrip, trainer).

gregf83 

Whether or not you have a powermeter, training is more controlled and effective when done solo. Group rides are great for adding intensity in a fartlek type workout but probably best limited to once or twice a week.

hhnngg1

A lot of racing road cyclists, including Powermeter using ones would disagree with this. I rarely do crits due to crash risk and prefer TTs, so this philosophy definitely works for me, but ask most racing roadies, and they'll swear by group riding - even though I can't see how they can hit optimal training zones while doing mostly group rides. (I obviously understand the importance of tactics/group riding that are essential for success for roadies, which they must practice.)

ilvwhtgrls

did you ride north thru Camp Pendleton yesterday? I'm pretty sure I saw you but I can't remember exactly where. We road from Huntington to Solana Beach.

gregf83 

I very much doubt you will find many successful racers doing more than 1 or 2 group rides a week. Group rides are fun but not the same as focussed intervals.

hyhuu

In one of the training books I read, the author(s) said that the pro-cyclists spend most of their time training solo because everyone has different strenghth and weakness to work on.

jmX

When I'm on a training schedule with very specific workouts planned, it is 100% solo. Often i do them on a trainer just so I don't have to worry about the environment and can simply concentrate on the work to do.

The weekend rides in most training plans I've seen allow for 1 or 2 group rides. The weekdays are for the highly structured work.

AdelaaR

This.

petalpower

Yes. This was my first season training and using a powermeter for that matter, and 99% of my rides were solo training rides. I think I hit 2-3 Tues/Thurs night Worlds group rides.

calamarichris

I wish. That is indeed one of my staple routes, but I was stinking up the Tour de Poway yesterday with my disgraceful lack of fitness and choppy, Parkinson's-afflicted triathlete pedaling form.

ilvwhtgrls

Lol, I'm sure you did great. I remember reading your sub 5 hour century up to HB and back... Pretty damn strong in my book.

phee

Sorry, but what does this mean?

caloso

I do solo structured training rides. I also do group rides because I enjoy yelling at the guys who can't handle their bikes worth a damn because all they do is solo structured training rides.

svtmike

Reverse drop = let them ride away. Tongue in cheek way of saying "be dropped".