when can i justify getting a power meter?
 

I've had my CAAD10 for a year (my first road bike) and i'm going to give the Time-Crunched Cyclist training guide a go. (if you're unfamiliar its largely interval based with rather specific tempos for different rides) I'm tempted to get a power meter but I need some help justifying it. First, I really like my Dura Ace 7850 C24 wheels so I don't care for the idea of a power tap / wheel based solution. that pushes me into SRM territory but i suspect that the BB30 might make it more difficult to find a used solution.

at this point i'm negotiating with myself - perhaps if i stick with the training for a month or two i'll start hunting for an srm. or maybe the garmin pedals will be a viable solution.

when should my training include a power meter?

When you can afford one.

+1

+2

+3 on affording it.

BB30 and SRM - you should be able to find some used. The wired are okay, but the wireless is better. Quarq (Ant+ Sport) works well too.

when you win a race?

Heart rate monitors are pretty cheap - why don't you do a round of structured training with an HRM, and then you'll know your own level of commitment to structured training. At that point, you'll have better data to "justify" the powermeter, above and beyond affordability. It's a pretty big time commitment, even the time crunched version, as you will have to give up some of your "fun" rides for "training" rides.

If you race it is a useful tool. If not - it's probably not that useful.

I waited a couple of years between wanting a PM and getting one.

Or maybe when you come in 2nd so someone who trains with a PM?

If you're not willing to geek out over the numbers and use it to guide your training or pay a coach to do it for you, I don't think it'll be much benefit to you, but you can justify it when you can afford it and want to give it a shot.

I had a PM for a while and found it just wasn't giving me much of anything for my Tri training but a $1900 crankset, so I got rid of it. When I was training for cries and RRs, though, it was incredibly helpful.

Have you looked at the new pedal based power systems? I think they are either already released or will be released soon.


And get it after you start racing..

So you can only buy a training tool if you're already winning races. Awesome.

Even my beach cruiser has a power meter bro. You behind on the times.

They're still very much vaporware, and considering the bug-related delays I wouldn't buy the first generation system from Polar OR Garmin.

+1.


Buy Allen and Coggan's "Training and Racing With a Power Meter" book. Read it. If you finish it all excited about the things you could do with a PM, you're ready for one. If you get bored with the book, then you won't get that much out of the PM unless you also have a coach to geek out on the numbers for you. There's nothing wrong with not being a power meter person. I know guys who win a lot who don't use a bike computer of any kind.

Given that SRAM owns quarq that would seem your best bet. (BB30 compatibility already)

Edit: to be more helpful, I just got a Powertap for the first time, and find it incredibly helpful to be able to relay numbers to perceived efforts and to a lesser extent HR zones. If you're used to judging your rides this way already, the power data will really enrich your both post ride analysis and real time metering of your efforts)

not only then, but certainly you can once you have.

Garmin's is due to be released this spring. It's ANT+ based and will be priced around $1500. and you need an ANT+ compatibile computer -- Garmin, etc. Polar is working on a pedal based system however it is not Ant+ based, but uses their WIND system used by Polar devices. They appear to be more interested in using it to sell more computers.

Um...

AFAIK it'll be in the summer.

I would consider buying one when you are truly willing to stick with a power based structured training program. I strongly agree with the above recomendation for spending $15 first on the Coggan book. Then study the book thoroughly to understand a power based training regimen. You will have a pretty good idea of your motivation for training like this after studying this book. There are lots of serious cyclists that wouldn't want to train like this.

For what it is worth, I am 54 years old and don't race but my two powertaps help make my training more fun and interesting. My younger brother is just as serious and still races some but he can't stand to do structured interval traing and would never have any use for a powertap. In fact, a powermeter would dramatically reduce his enjoyment of cycling.

Pending the next delay.

I bought a Powertap thinking that would be enough. Then I thought about wheels and hubs and such. Sold the PT, bought a new wired SRM bike (it only cost a bit more than the SRM itself). Bought a second wired SRM.

Although I race, that's in the strictest sense of the word. I enter races. I like racing.

However, I only have the power meter so I can look at the squiggly lines after the race. That's really what I bought it for, that and some tests (seems like I can finish a 20 minute test every couple years, I give up pretty easily). For me it's not much more than a quicker reading heart rate monitor.

Is it worth it? Sure, I like it. Can I ride without it? Sure, and I raced for half a season here and there without it. Did I miss it? Well, some of my hardest races I have no data, so I don't know how hard I went. I like knowing that information after the fact, although a lot of times I can't even read the screen of my SRM during the race (I often have straps over the face of the head unit).

Power meters are really what you want out of them.

For my car I bought a g-force meter. Do I race cars? No. Do I enjoy looking at the squiggly lines after a drive where I went through some turns/corners really fast? Yes.

When, "There's money on the table"?

My Powertap taught me that most of my training was at a lower intensity than it needed to be to prepare me for what I want to be good at. It also taught me that my recovery rides were a little too hard to really be recovery rides. It also taught me that my pacing was not up to much, and i regularly went out too hard too early and suffered later without really knowing why.

Within a month of getting my first power tap, I put in a personal best time on all of my training routes purely becasue I payed close attention to pacing myself better, and that was with minimal data collection. Now I dont ride without the powertap ever and I find the data very useful both for understanding my training load and fatigue and for pacing my best efforts.

Well worth it IME

Eddy Merckx never used a power tap. He also had five rear gears. My guess is with that setup, if he was 25 again he'd still beat the crap out of everyone.

Point? If you don't have talent, a power tap is expensive nice to know information. It will make you marginally better. But like I said in a fit thread, we had a guy work with a trainer for a year to increase power less than what we found in two hours fixing his "I know what I am doing" crappy setup.