hac4 or powertap?

beerco

Why not ask Ric Stern, or Hunter Allen, or Chris Carmichael or any other coach who's "seen the light" wrt power which training tool they prefer?

Instead of re-inventing the wheel, I'll steer you to this link: http://www.midweekclub.com/powerFAQ.htm also check out: http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/power411.html

If you still don't see it*, only time and further reading on your part can help.

(again, this is only if your goal is to get the most bang from your training buck.)

WINGNUTT

Beerco... those articles were pretty much irrelevant to this discussion- all they talk about is how good of a training tool a power meter is. I didn't say that power meters weren't good training tools. I just disagree that it is more important than a Hac4. I have not used a power meter, so I am kind of talking out of my ass, but I do know that the cadence and computer analysis features of the Hac4 have made a huge difference in helping me improve. Without the foundation that I have built using the HAC4, I don't think the PT would be of tremendous use to me.

ric_stern/RST

Once you have an accurate and reliable power meter on board, pretty much all other variables become meaningless. measures such as cadence don't really tell us much, and i find that it only becomes vaguely useful when working with track riders, and even then if yoiu know the time taken to do a lap and the gear they're in, cadence is irrelevant or can be calculated.

Heart rate is more useful and i do use it as an approximate guide if no power meter is available. if one is available it can't tell you anything you don't already know.

speed is completely meaningless, because it's so dependent on the topographical conditions involved in your ride. on the other hand, if you know the velocity at which you're travelling and the altitude you're gaining then you can work out by hand your power output.

altitude is a neat little function, which i sometimes find fun and use my S720 for.

given a choice, power is way more important than the sum of all the other metrics by a long way, as it tells you exactly what you need to know. obviously, you need to be able to interpret the data and that may be a different issue. i find the other functions are just there as a fun value.

ric (been collecting and analysing power data since 1993)

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Aztec

I concur. In my short experience with power training (about a month), I have found power to be so much more revealing than any other measure. I've learned a lot from it -- for example, during intervals my HR slowly creeeeeeeeeeeeps up, as much as 10bpm over a 20 min interval. Were I training by HR only, I would be slacking off as the interval progressed (note: I could be overtraining by NOT slacking off!... we'll see).

I have a HAC4 on another bike, which I train on about half the time. WOW, do I miss the power reading when I ride it!

I think the bottom line is that power is everything. It's the root of all training. HR is just an indicator of what your body perceives as effort. HR in itself pretty meaningless.

Back to the HAC4 v. Powertap... Sometime within a month or so, I'll have a chance to have both on the same bike (swapping wheels around). I'll report on how similar the power readings are.