Power Talk Part Two: Indoor options 1/14/13

Disclaimer

I consider myself to be a baby athlete, if an athlete at all, and writing and sharing particularly on the subject like training with power is definitely unprofessional. I would like to present this as a record of learning process. If my friends can relate to what I share and find something informative or prove a start of discussion, I would be happy. For this reason, I would like to ask the readers to take what I write with a grain of salt and I would reserve the right to re-write and update as the time goes along. This edition of Power Talk follows Power Talk Part One: Journey just begun 12/28/12 and will go on for many years to come. In this particular edition of Power Talk, I hope to describe how my journey before I came to settle with the PowerTap and discuss some rudimental elements regarding training with power to lead up to the next in the series, maybe during spring break.

References

I would like to thank DC Rainmaker for his in-depth review in his blog and I would like to direct readers who are interested in any particular set up that appears in this blog to search his blog. And please consider using his Amazon link when you make a purchase. How complete and helpful of his reviews are unbelievable. Also TrainingPeaks Webinars are free and cover various topics that are likely to be interest of the readers and archived.

At the gym

As you can see from the above confession blog, I came to cycling as part of exercise option, rather calorie burning. For that reason, heart rate monitor was an indispensable tool and I always brought it to gym spinning classes. Usually instructors mention what heart rate zones to shoot for and the room often displayed a heart rate zone chart that Coach Troy has in his web site. I wondered why instructors could tell distance covered sometimes and sometimes cadence sounded just as important as heart rate zones. One day I noticed a lady next to me was staring at the display. I caught the name StarTrac and it would have been similar to something like this. (Present day, the gym uses Schwin spinning bikes and top of the line A. C. Performance displays power and lets you download data to USB memory stick.) At home, Tony was thinking about maybe buying a spinning bike so that I can train indoors easier than his college day rollers. I was apprehensive about brining in a heavy equipment that takes up room in the home gym and probably had never thought about training with power. However when I started metabolic testing, I noticed that the equipment that they only use for testing, not put it on the floor to general use, LeMond G-FORCE UT. On the head unit, there were so many numbers to read and I mentioned some variation of power and mentioned it to Tony. He mentioned getting power numbers from spinning bike could be the most accurate way as the measuring mechanism is built in.

Starting to explore power meter options

I think about this time, I got myself a Kinetic Road Machine for my birthday and started to get serious with Spinervals. Inevitably I hear Coach Troy mentions power numbers occasionally. I may have even written to Coach Tory for power meter recommendations. I don’t remember his answers because he probably could never tell. Now I know, the answer to this question is not straightforward at all. Budget is only to start and the goal of training, kinds of rides/training/races you do inside/outside, existing equipment you have, how accurate you want the data to be and the list goes on. There were a couple of possible set ups I passed on. The first occasion was when I returned Tacx videos because I could not run it in DVD player nor my computer. Now I know, with right kind of set up, with their spin bike, not only you can enjoy and train with real race footage, but you can get power numbers and compete with friends virtually! Another near miss was Kinetic power computer. I forgot if I bought Wireless or Wired version, but noticed from the research, it is not popularly distributed and noticed that at some point disappeared from Spinervals catalog as well. I actually received the product, but reading online reviews didn’t exactly convince me. When Tony mentioned the power number is just estimate (from vibration, now I understand), I put it back in the box and returned it without ever installing it. Among Spinervals friends, I know quite a few use it: Sue and Rick Sobona, Susan Thomas, Adam Bachmeyer and Kelly Mendoza use it with some learned tricks and understanding of possibility of inaccuracy.

Watt bike and sneak preview of Power Talk Three

Fast forward to Fall 2012. I was used to see Garmin Connect or Training Peaks workout graphs with power graph by friends and took the second look of Geordie Watson’s post. I got to the point to identify the interesting graph came from Wattbike and upon request, he kindly sent me more explanation on how to read this data and more about the product, Proud of British Cycling! What interested me most was that shape of the graph, called Polar View and it shows the force applied to the pedals and the position of the pedals when applying this force. Geordie’s further information showed the computer unit shows this polar view and left/right power distribution in real time! His information further revealed that Polar View resembles Figure 8 for beginning cyclists indicating little force at the start of the drive phase and in the recovery phase. However as the skills of the rider improves, Polar View goes through peanut like shape and eventually looks more sausage, indicating the rider is using the correct muscles delivering the force with the least effort. This blew my mind. But a while later, it made sense because I learned another very elite athlete Spinervals friend from Europe, Rene Goedhart, also trains with Wattbike. Now here is a little sneak preview of Power Talk Three. Once we talk more about options that we could take outside, we will have to power meters that physically are placed in different parts of the bicycle. In order to get this right/left balance power information, your first option is pedal based system, such as Polar Look Keo Power System or upcoming Garmin Vector. Second option is crank based power meter, such as Stage One. I hope to learn more about different power meter in general more and hope to include as many as options and some analysis of different types.

Current inside only options that Spinervals friends use

Tony surprised me with PowerTap, my option was (finally came out) Kinetic InRide. iPad I use is the first version and would not run it, but Tony’s is newer, so we were going to switch them. It also reads all ANT+ devices I already have and of course, I use Kinetic trainer. So this was a cheap and more accurate alternative to the old Kinetic power meter I returned. Currently my friend Steve Pratt and Alicia Chase use it and they are basically happy. Steve and DC Rainmaker (again, please search his blog) report cadence problem.

The second option that I would like to point out is TrainerRoad. I first heard of this when Nancy Hill asked the community if anybody is familiar. She announced that Competition 33.0 - The Pain Cave was one of their preloaded workouts and if the feedback was good, Spinervals would add more. At present point, Competition 27.0 - Threshold Test & Suffer Fest is available. Brad Ellis used it for Threshold test the other day and reported for the first time, he was able to figure out FTP. Earlier I learned Doron Preker uses it along with his Edge by creating workout when he does other Spinervals titles. He explained that $10 a month is well worth the investment and later I noticed Brad said exactly the same.

I caught other friends with power data and some happy testimonials. Derek Couse uses LeMond Revolution that measures power, like Team Garmin, and he sounded very happy with it. I have not confirmed, but I have suspected, Pat Morris, uses Keiser M3 that displays power output. And I can’t imagine what fun Bill Burrell is having with Pro Form Le Tour De France bike! Not only it shows power output, but he gets to ride Tour stages!

Concluding remarks to Part Two and thoughts for Part Three

If you do a little clicking and researching to suit your needs, some options can be expensive depending on what you already have. And with exceptions of pedal and crank based power meters mentioned, these are all indoor only options. By the time I write Part Three, I hope to be more versed with training with power meter and training with power.