I'm a long time roadie and somewhat techno abhorrent but regardless, I'm thinking of taking the plunge and getting a Powertap as a motivational riding aid. What opinions do you have as far as user-friendliness and reliability. I'm not a complete techno newb but I am rather resistant to learn foreign programs - is there a big learning curb with this thing? Sorry if this has been addressed before but I never can seem to make the BF search function work for me. Thanks.

First buy the book Training and Racing with a Power meter by Allen and Coggan. That will help you decide if you will benefit from a p. m. Or if you are going to have a coach, ask your coach.

Also there is a thread in the racers forum.

Power meters are not very good motivational tools, they are good measurement tools if you are pursuing structured training. If you don't want to take the time to understand the data and how to use it, and don't have someone to do that for you, it's a waste of money.

+1 to what she said.

But past that, yes, PowerTaps are durable and easy to use provided you are good with riding with the same wheels whenever you want power.

Thanks valgrl. I'm not interested in what a coach says. For me, I know that this could be a motivational aid. If this truly is motivational then no, I would not call this a waste of money. While data is great with your coach and your structured training, I can see the Power results of a ride, whether recreational or serious training, to be valuable if not very interesting.

Thanks to canam73. Yes same wheel on the training bike. Apples to apples.

Maybe I should ask a racing forum?

You, could. But be prepared for more suggestions of structured training from the nicer people and s****y comments from the rest.

Even if you are just using it for fun and motivation, get the Allen & Coggan book. It's cheap, a good read and will answer all your questions and then some. Has some good workouts in it, too.

Thanks canam, for the type of comment I was hoping for. I'll look into it. And agree, I don't want the elite-type/racy/data-wonk/holier-than-thou comments. Been there, done that. Do you use it? How does it help you? Is it easy to use?

I have one, and I also have Quarq. But I do race and follow a training plan. No coach or plans for one though, I enjoy doing this on my own.

Between the two the PowerTap is easier to use and been more durable, although when working neither is difficult. In favor of the PT is that it's readings seem more stable in regards to temperature change and it has worked perfectly for 3 seasons. My quarq developed a battery eating issue and had to be replaced in less than a year. The quarq stays on my race bike so I can change the wheels out. The PT mostly stays one bike I use for training, long rides and winter riding.

If I didn't race but still wanted power I would stay with the PT. They are cheaper, reliable and give consistent data.

As for its usefulness in that capacity, I don't really know. They are most useful for comparing and maintaining output when interval training. If you aren't ever going to do that I think the novelty may wear off.

[MENTION=43262]Boat[/MENTION]ail71 I'm a recreational cyclist who rides a fair bit and also wanted to work on quality along with quantity so invested in a power meter (stages for me).

i would say it's only motivational up to a point, even once you have some decent baseline data there's still a ton of variation depending on how many days you've been riding, weather, etc. so at times if just looking at the numbers while riding you can just as easily be demotivated when seeing the numbers and comparing to perceived effort.

the training with a power meter book that valygrl recommends is definitely a must (although I would not personally call it a good read ). Once I slogged through it it gave me a ton of direction in building a power profile, understanding fatigue, and more. To be fair I'm still learning and getting through the book but I would say that it is now both a measurement tool that I use for guidance as well as a motivational tool (I love getting an email from trainingpeaks telling me to raise my FTP).

good luck!

I'm not a coach, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night :-)

If you are going to make the investment in a power meter, then you should definitely learn how to use it. The training and racing with a power meter book as suggested above is a great book to get, although parts can get fairly technical.

The main thing the power meter helps with is pacing for intervals, motivation to keep pushing, and quantifying a training load. Too many people say they train with power, but they basically ride around with a power meter on their bike. If there's no structure then you are missing out on a lot of the benefits.

In interval training you are basically shooting for a target average wattage and holding it there for a specified time. My favorite is the 2X20s. 20 minutes on, 5 minutes off, 20 minutes on. It gives a great workout in just about an hour.

At the very start of the interval you'll notice it's pretty easy to go above your target wattage. Let's say you are shooting for a target of 300 watts average. The first couple minutes if you were going by feel you would probably average 340 or more watts, and then barely be able to hold 250 at the end. So the power meter helps to throttle back the effort at the start. Then in the last five minutes of the interval (especially the second one) you can use it for motivation when your legs are on fire and you want to give up. To take advantage of these situations you need to display current watts and average watts only for that interval on the same screen. Most units that can be user configured have this option. That is pretty much the best starting out point. Find out what your max watts that you can hold for 20 minutes and then perform intervals at 87-92% of that number.

Prepare to start crushing souls.

Hey OP,

I used a PowerTap for about 5 years before switching to a Quarq.

Anyway, a PowerTap is very easy to use. You sync it with your computer and it gives you a power reading. It's as simple as that.

As far as what value it provides, here is what I will say: It is a neat tool, but that is all it is. It gives you a piece of information. How you use that information is up to you. If all you want it for is to see what power you can put out, well, that is fine and cool, but then it is kind of just an expensive toy - again, nothing wrong with that. But if you want to maximize the value of the tool, you can use a power meter to set your training plans.

The real learning curve comes in figuring out how to use the power figures the PowerTap gives you to improve your cycling. And that has nothing to do with technology, so you should be good.

Robby,
Addressing motivation or de-motivation just a bit based upon what you wrote in bold above. What has been the biggest disconnect for you. You seem a bit surprised by the power data based upon some of your rides. How does weather affect your power output for example? Obviously wind and cold slow down speed relative to power output...have to ride in a shorter gear.
What surprises?

For me, power training is done on the trainer. Power from outside riding is just to quantify load and check power used for climbing, or similar. That, and triathlon pacing. It's too hard to find clear roads for interval training outside.

I just started cycling last December and bought a Power Tap in June/July. The first thing that I noticed was how I really wasn't trying as hard as I thought I was. The Power Tap clearly lets you know when you are not putting out the effort that you should/could be. I think I was taking too many breaks during my interval work & not even realizing that I was taking the breaks. In the end the Power Tap did increase my rate of progress.

I also have the books mentioned above and try to use the Power Tap to maximize the benefit.

Finally, the Power Tap has helped me on climbs at events. I now know what wattage I should be able to hold over a certain xx minute climb so I don't start out too hard or too soft. I don't hear people talk about this aspect of the power meter very often, but it has helped me.

What he said. Another thing it does is give you an objective measure of your output. It doesn't matter if you feel great or lousy, X watts is X watts. You can't BS your way around it.

I've got a Powertap Pro+, a couple of generations old, and it's reliable and simple to use. I also have a coach and follow a training plan. The PT can be motivational in the sense that you can set a baseline of where you are now and see the positive results of your work as you improve. It could be useful for you in CO in that you can get a concrete idea of how many watts you can hold for a given time climbing a long grade, so you can measure your output and not blow up before the top...but in my experience, a heart rate monitor can do the same thing.

IMO, its best use is as a tool to measure output during structured training. When I'm not doing structured training, I'm usually on a bike without the PT.

Good insight.
But your first point...how can you give more than what you think is your max effort? Some days you are going to have more to give than other days.

Your second point is excellent. You have trained and know what wattage you can sustain on climbs and so a PT gives you feedback if you are exceeding that value and are going to bonk.

As far as making riding and training with the Powertap more user-friendly, consider using the Golden Cheetah software. The user interface is really inuitive/clean, especially compared to the Poweragent software that Cycleops distributes.

[QUOTE=Campag4life;16279199]Good insight.
But your first point...how can you give more than what you think is your max effort? Some days you are going to have more to give than other days.

QUOTE]

My point on the perceived effort is hard to explain & is somewhat psychological I guess. Here's an example for when I first started using the PT. I'd do a 20 minute interval as if I didn't have the PT and look at the data when I got home. The data would show what I consider to be significant drops in power for a minute or two during the interval (most of the time on very slight decreases in grade) when I know that I still had the energy to put forth a better effort. The PT keeps me honest during an interval. This probably has something to do with me being so new to cycling.

[QUOTE=mike12;16279256]In bold. Maybe not. The PT is giving you more insight than your perceived power output. Makes sense. I guess at the end of the day however, how much does this matter? I suppose it may matter incrementally to the nth degree, but is the objective of the average amateur who trains? To some who want every scintilla of improvement, it may. To others, this slight let up maybe some accommodation to your large effort.

Makes a lot of sense...thanks for that.

Similar to what Mike mentions above, for me it's been a disconnect at times between perceived output and actual. from a variation stand point, there have been some rides where I've ridden hard lets say 3-4 days in a row, on the last day wind is increased and perhaps my heart is feeling the affects of the previous days' efforts. My perception was that I was going hard, but then I'd look down and see that my actual wattage was way below my feel hence the comment about losing motivation. BUT, as soon as I started understanding the book and various discussions on how best to use power information I was able to get over this mental hurdle and use data for what it was intended. I'm still extremely new with it, but as has been said in this thread so far, it's been great for pacing and growth purposes, it's been very positive to turn my miles into quality miles, especially now that I'm having to do shorter rides that during the summer/fall.

Ultimately my point is that using it purely to look at the numbers is a disservice to the tool, even as a recreational rider.

Thanks. I have resisted getting one because I believe the added structure and feedback may detract...for me...from the riding experience.
Some days I like to go hard and some days, not so much. There maybe a correlation between those that own PT's and those with a type A personality.

For someone who is tech averse, the value of a power meter isn't likely to offset the cost. Power data is an incredibly useful tool for structured training, but it doesn't sound like that's what the OP is looking for. It can be useful for unstructured rides, but not without detailed analysis. Instantaneous power numbers don't mean much, it's sustained power over time that gives you an indicator of your fitness. That's not something you can easily assess in real time while riding. Average power isn't much more meaningful than average speed (especially if you frequently train the same route). So if the idea of studying power histograms, critical power charts, training stress graphs, etc. makes your eyes glaze over, a power meter is not a good investment.

Disclaimer: I race and train with a PM

For me, the powermeter actually helps MORE on days I don't want to go hard. Keeping things in zone 2 can be hard, especially if your legs are feeling ok and you're riding with a partner or five. It's easy to not notice you're pushing too many watts for a rest/z2 day. Then you pay for it later on in the block.

OP, pretty numbers on your strava profile will only be exciting for so long before it's just another 'avg speed' chart for you. The power of a power meter (I'm hilarious) is using it for structured training plans; whether that means intervals, rest weeks, tracking fatigue and stress, or flipping to a blank garmin page and just riding around.

Just my $0.02 but if you're going to drop the money for a PM, you should use it for its intended purpose. Otherwise that's an awful lot of money to pay for a new graph to stare at.

Good point..in bold and something the non PT owner like me wouldn't think of. I likely go too hard on days I shouldn't after hard effort days.
Thanks

But isn't...in bold....readily accessible with a computer interface? Plug and play isn't it?...to access power over time?