Two Wheel Blogs

It looks like the rest of the world is starting to wake up to the benefits of using a power meter on a bicycle. A few days ago this article posted on the LA Times.

First off I have to rant just a little. He calls it a wattage meter. Why not a BTU meter or a horsepower meter? It's a power meter. OK, if this is what it takes to get power meters into the mainstream then call 'em whatever you want.

It was good to see this technology some of us have been using for years take a giant step forward. It's the LA Times! And they wrote about power meters and how you can use them on your bicycle to improve fitness. That's cool. Like I said, I've been a bicycle power meter user for almost three years, which happens to be as long as I've been riding a bike in this chapter of my life. Tonight was no exception. Want to know the kind of cool stuff you can gain insight to if you use a power meter on your bike?

How's this for example: I've been hammering on myself pretty good lately. Pushing hard, looking for limits, and knowing they're out there. (Don't we all?) At the beginning of the season just one really hard day will do it for me. As I get further along it takes more. The further I go the more it takes.

The more you train the more you can train. -- Andy Coggan

When I approach the limit of my ability to recover from day to day things get interesting. I may or may not feel like riding, but if I do ride I almost always can make some decent watts - up to a point. Then the bottom falls out. Game over. Thank you for playing. When that happens I know I'm due a day or two off. Nothing but easy riding, or maybe no riding at all. Tomorrow is that day for me. I know this because I thought today might be that day but it wasn't. Today I thought I'd go down in flames but I didn't.

Today I hammered on, suffering, knowing the end was coming. As I neared the end of my workout and began to realize I'd make it after all I really pushed it. When I finished I was triumphant - endorphins and the thrill of victory and the smell of napalm in the morning - I was king of the bicycle.

Here's where the power meter thing comes in. Upon analysis of my ride today I learned that despite digging deep and suffering mightily I was not able to make as many watts for any single 3, 12, 20, or 60 minute window as I was able to make yesterday.

• Perceived Effort: Way up
• Watts produced: a bit down

Anyone without a power meter on his bicycle would naturally conclude, having completed the workout I completed today, that he was fitter (probably true) and ready for even more hard work in the next session. See, I know it ain't gonna happen. When it takes a Herculean effort to produce a smaller result today than yesterday with an effort in line with the watts produced, I know the end is in site. I'll sleep better tonight. I know this block has finished me.