PT pro should arrive today.....then?

Well, I will share one suggestion for your initial uses of your new toy. When I first got my PM, I think I found myself going "watts hunting." This led me to push a bigger gear than I would otherwise have used, and a lower cadence. This is because you can get watts with resistance or with cadence and resistance seemed a little easier. I think this contributed to some sore glutes I got shortly after I got my PM, by pushing too much gear on some hill repeats. I now go "gear hunting," by which I mean that I find the gear and cadence that gives me the approximate watts I want and then just ride by cadence until the road grade or wind changes (which is instantly revealed by a change in watts).

flapsupcleanup said:

Ok guys, get ready to be peppered with questions. I shouldnt have any problems getting it going (electrical engineer in my spare time) but then what? My plan is to just go out and do some of my regular rides, but push it a bit and try to get an idea of what I can put out normally. Did a club ride here yesterday and wasnt happy with my performance (too damned hot) but I wish I'd had the PT then cause hopefully I could get an idea what went wrong. But I will have to develop a training plan using the thing. Got my fingers crossed..

i found, when i first started using an SRM just to see what sort of power i produced on one of my 'normal' rides -- just to get a feel for the numbers and what it may mean.

Of course now, i'd suggest doing some tests to establish baseline figures to work on improving so that you can see if your training is having the desired effect. Coaching is always highly useful as well - to make sense of the numbers (assuming of course the coach understands the numbers) and to help develop a training programme and provide feedback.

ric

flapsupcleanup said:

Ok guys, get ready to be peppered with questions. I shouldnt have any problems getting it going (electrical engineer in my spare time) but then what? My plan is to just go out and do some of my regular rides, but push it a bit and try to get an idea of what I can put out normally. Did a club ride here yesterday and wasnt happy with my performance (too damned hot) but I wish I'd had the PT then cause hopefully I could get an idea what went wrong. But I will have to develop a training plan using the thing. Got my fingers crossed..

Read the first six articles from the midweek club web site on training with power before it gets there. Check the calibration using a stomp test.

Thanks guys....the midweek club web site? Where's it at??

And dangit, it didnt show up today. Here's a tip: When ordering from performancebike, use ups or fedex. It was mailed 9 days ago and still isnt here. grrrrr

flapsupcleanup said:

Thanks guys....the midweek club web site? Where's it at??

And dangit, it didnt show up today. Here's a tip: When ordering from performancebike, use ups or fedex. It was mailed 9 days ago and still isnt here. grrrrr

If you order from Performance, it comes from North Carolina. If you live on the West Coast, just go to a local store.
http://midweekclub.ca/articles/

Ok, FINALLY it arrived!! The PT pro is installed and working! No problems at all in getting it working. I've only ridden it around the block so far, but next im off for a ride this afternoon with one of my riding partners. Hot and muggy here. Soon we shall see.....

Allrightee, boys. One ride down and now I'm staring blankly at the data. It's a good thing I'm a bit of a geek that way. The ride was intended to be an easy one and it started out that way, but some other riders showed up and we pushed pretty hard through the middle and the last third was easy/moderate. Since I was always with other riders the power was just what it was rather than me being able to put out what I wanted to. Lots of hills on this ride also.

My thoughts? I was a little surprised the average power for the ride was so low 152W. It was a pretty tough ride, quite hot and humid. But I was not particularly rested or prepared either. On the other hand I was also surprised that some of the short time power averages were so high (for me, I'm a wimp) 10s: 634W 30s: 402W.

Tomorrow's going to be an easy spinning day, but the next one I'm going to try to figure out some sort of baseline and a game plan. So far I'm pretty happy with the PT. It's definitely going to open up a whole new world of training!

flapsupcleanup said:

My thoughts? I was a little surprised the average power for the ride was so low 152W. It was a pretty tough ride, quite hot and humid. But I was not particularly rested or prepared either. On the other hand I was also surprised that some of the short time power averages were so high (for me, I'm a wimp) 10s: 634W 30s: 402W.

Yeah, one of my biggest shocks when I got my PM was how little power it takes to sit in on group rides. ~150w is typical unless the group is going pretty fast.

RapDaddyo said:

Yeah, one of my biggest shocks when I got my PM was how little power it takes to sit in on group rides. ~150w is typical unless the group is going pretty fast.

wha dya mean...? i've done 1st cat road races at > 40 km/hr with less average power. having said that, and more importantly, one of the Rabobank riders in the TdF a few years ago recorded 98 W average power to stay in the lead group. Sure, you need some good power, but it can also help to be able to draft well, and "save" the power for an important part of the race so that you can put the smack down.

ric

flapsupcleanup said:

Allrightee, boys. One ride down and now I'm staring blankly at the data. It's a good thing I'm a bit of a geek that way. The ride was intended to be an easy one and it started out that way, but some other riders showed up and we pushed pretty hard through the middle and the last third was easy/moderate. Since I was always with other riders the power was just what it was rather than me being able to put out what I wanted to. Lots of hills on this ride also.

My thoughts? I was a little surprised the average power for the ride was so low 152W. It was a pretty tough ride, quite hot and humid. But I was not particularly rested or prepared either. On the other hand I was also surprised that some of the short time power averages were so high (for me, I'm a wimp) 10s: 634W 30s: 402W.

Tomorrow's going to be an easy spinning day, but the next one I'm going to try to figure out some sort of baseline and a game plan. So far I'm pretty happy with the PT. It's definitely going to open up a whole new world of training!

It's great to have the data available 🙂

best thing you can do is to do some testing over the next few days and establish some baseline figures to work off. check out http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=powerstern if you haven't already seen it!

cheers
ric

ric_stern/RST said:

wha dya mean...? i've done 1st cat road races at > 40 km/hr with less average power. having said that, and more importantly, one of the Rabobank riders in the TdF a few years ago recorded 98 W average power to stay in the lead group. Sure, you need some good power, but it can also help to be able to draft well, and "save" the power for an important part of the race so that you can put the smack down.

ric

98w, huh? That's pretty cool. Well, I knew I needed to get more aero. That's why I dropped my bars 6 cm yesterday. And, I've still got 3 spacers to go. But, it is pretty amazing how little power it takes to draft at speed, especially if the group is 2 abreast or more.

RapDaddyo said:

98w, huh? That's pretty cool. Well, I knew I needed to get more aero. That's why I dropped my bars 6 cm yesterday. And, I've still got 3 spacers to go. But, it is pretty amazing how little power it takes to draft at speed, especially if the group is 2 abreast or more.

my saddle to bar height difference is 18 or 19 cm, so that i can be as aero as possible on my road bike

Thanks, guys. This 152w average ride was not easy for sure. I sat in the pack towards the back a lot and of course there you get see-sawed quite a lot so there were lots of shots of pretty high power and then lots of coasting. I was whipped at the end. At the same time if I went out and rode for a couple of hours at a 152w I doubt I would break a sweat. Obviously there's a lot for me to figure out here!

Ric, thanks for the link. I had seen that before but couldnt find it. Also on your saddle to bar height measurement. Where do you take that? Obviously on the bars it would be the top of the center part, but the saddle? Due to the shape, mine is higher at the rear but thats not where my [censored] rides either 🙂.

flapsupcleanup said:

Thanks, guys. This 152w average ride was not easy for sure. I sat in the pack towards the back a lot and of course there you get see-sawed quite a lot so there were lots of shots of pretty high power and then lots of coasting. I was whipped at the end. At the same time if I went out and rode for a couple of hours at a 152w I doubt I would break a sweat. Obviously there's a lot for me to figure out here!

Ric, thanks for the link. I had seen that before but couldnt find it. Also on your saddle to bar height measurement. Where do you take that? Obviously on the bars it would be the top of the center part, but the saddle? Due to the shape, mine is higher at the rear but thats not where my [censored] rides either 🙂.

from where i sit on the saddle to top of bars if i recall correctly. i ride a compact frame with the saddle up high and the bars slammed down low, with a vaguely negative rise stem

ric

[quote="flapsupcleanup"]Thanks, guys. This 152w average ride was not easy for sure. I sat in the pack towards the back a lot and of course there you get see-sawed quite a lot so there were lots of shots of pretty high power and then lots of coasting. I was whipped at the end. At the same time if I went out and rode for a couple of hours at a 152w I doubt I would break a sweat. Obviously there's a lot for me to figure out here!


I'd highly suggest getting CPS and using normalized power:

http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/

Read "Power 411".

I've got the trial version of CyclingPeaks running. So far it looks good. It sounds like it's worth the investment over the link program that comes with the PT. Do most of you run CP?

flapsupcleanup said:

I've got the trial version of CyclingPeaks running. So far it looks good. It sounds like it's worth the investment over the link program that comes with the PT. Do most of you run CP?

We use Link or SRM software and Excel with some macros

Ric

flapsupcleanup said:

Do most of you run CP?

I considered that a 'must have' when I bought my PT. Have only used it for a few weeks now.

jws said:

I'd highly suggest getting CPS and using normalized power

I agree wholeheartedly. NP, TSS and the automatic bucketing of training time by training zone makes CP worth the price alone. I've never even taken my PT software disk out of the sleeve.