Should I keep my PowerTap?

[Lewis Moon]

Earlier this season I bought a used Powertap as a training aid. While I like the ability to peg power numbers during intervals, I never raced with it and haven't had it on the bike in a month. Frankly, for me, riding more is the best training: more miles, more hills, more group rides.
I'm hoping desperately to snag a cross bike to use as a gravel grinder and put up some KOMs on gravel climbs here in AZ. Maybe I'll even race cross.

Should it stay or should it go?

PS: I know crowd sourcing a decision like this is lame. Flame away. I just need a kick to get in gear.

[45K10]

Join the Data-less revolution!

It's liberating

[Bruce K]

If you're not using it then send it on it's way.

A tool is useless if it's not used as intended

You'll get more use out if the new bike

BK

[pavel]

Frankly, for me, riding more is the best training: more miles, more hills, more group rides.

if you're training for long road racing or brevets, sure. However, if you are training for short, intense events (like cross) volume training is less beneficial than targeted intensity training, where power becomes very useful.

If on the other hand you dont race or plan to, why in the world would you care how much power you're putting out?

[RonW87]

Do you know your 20 minute FTP (and therefore your zones)?

If not, the PT is useless and you should sell it.

Ron

[FastforaSlowGuy]

A tool is useless if it's not used as intended


Agreed. Whatever the merits of training with power (I love my PM), they're irrelevant if you aren't using it and doing something with the data. I'd go further than others here and say if you aren't uploading the data to an analysis program - and using that program - you are wasting your money.

[Lewis Moon]

Do you know your 20 minute FTP (and therefore your zones)?

If not, the PT is useless and you should sell it.

Ron

280.
Yes I race.
I'm thinking the incremental improvement a PM makes isn't my style. atmo

[FastforaSlowGuy]

280.
Yes I race.
I'm thinking the incremental improvement a PM makes isn't my style. atmo

You don't need a PM to be a solid racer. Plenty of guys at the UCI level just carry it around to collect data for their teams to analyze. For a lot of riders - especially the more experienced guys - going by "feel" is damn accurate.

A PM used properly can be more than an incremental improvement. That's not the question, though. If you don't use it, why have it?

[oldpotatoe]

Earlier this season I bought a used Powertap as a training aid. While I like the ability to peg power numbers during intervals, I never raced with it and haven't had it on the bike in a month. Frankly, for me, riding more is the best training: more miles, more hills, more group rides.
I'm hoping desperately to snag a cross bike to use as a gravel grinder and put up some KOMs on gravel climbs here in AZ. Maybe I'll even race cross.

Should it stay or should it go?

PS: I know crowd sourcing a decision like this is lame. Flame away. I just need a kick to get in gear.

Sell it, be easy.

[pgrizzwald]

Just do whatever will get you riding more and enjoying it. If that's using a power meter to train smarter, keep it. If that's trying out cross/riding off the beaten path, then do that!

[Lionel]

had one, sold it. Too many good wheels out there to be tied with just one rear wheel.

[rinconryder]

I was a power junky for a while and when I was on it power was a great tool. When I got out of hard core racing (triathlon) I didn't use it much and frankly got sick of any kind of data. Get rid of it.

On another note, and in a totally different sport, the guy who just won that Western stats 100 ultramarathon running race does not rely on data much at all. Just goes by how he feels. Moral of that story is you can be a damn good rider without data.

SELL IT.

[rnhood]

If you don't need to benchmark numbers against someone else, its fairly useless. From a personal training perspective, using your HR is every bit as effective as with a PM.

[old fat man]

If you don't need to benchmark numbers against someone else, its fairly useless. From a personal training perspective, using your HR is every bit as effective as with a PM.

Spoken like someone who doesn't know how to effectively use power as a training tool.

I agree with others though, you might as well move on and invest in the cx bike. If you're not using the data as it's intended, then it is not giving you any value

[AngryScientist]

i have one and use it solely on the turbo trainer in the winter months. it's a good training tool for the doldrums of indoor training, when the only goal is to get better. i never ride with it outdoors.

[nm87710]

Riding makes you fit. Training makes you competitive.

[T.J.]

If you don't need to benchmark numbers against someone else, its fairly useless. From a personal training perspective, using your HR is every bit as effective as with a PM.

Wrong.


It has nothing to do with "bench marking numbers against someone else"

[unterhausen]

I want a PM, but I'm not sure I can dedicate myself to training with one so I don't bother. I started reading the book I have about training and then just gave up. My lack of dedication is appalling. A few years ago, I got sick and couldn't keep up with people and I found out that I actually like riding by myself. Hard to break out of that pattern.

Usually when people post threads like this they want validation of what they want to do anyway. All I can say is do what you think is right for you. Your belongings actually own you more than the other way around. If something is a weight on you, get rid of it

[wallymann]

...then the answer is: NO.

but i think youre asking the wrong question.

do you want to train with a powermeter, it doesnt seem so...so dont.

but that doesnt mean you cant keep your powertap...i think its still fun to have power numbers when out JRA, but it's important to not really care about those numbers when you're JRA.

[Lewis Moon]

Just to put this to bed: I'm selling it. Not so much because I don't think it helps in training, but because I really NEED a CX frame.

[shovelhd]

It's still useful for a JRA plan. In particular, it can help keep the TSS down on recovery days.

I say sell it and buy an SRM. Might as well have the best piece of useless crap.

[christian]

I have seen the power2max TA Carmina. I may move to crank based power.

[wallymann]

Just to put this to bed: I'm selling it. Not so much because I don't think it helps in training, but because I really NEED a CX frame.

now the TRUTH comes out! :-)

[aramis]

Riding makes you fit. Training makes you competitive.

9/10 PM users still ride rather than train. Their approach to riding is the same as before they had a PM. Yet they expect different results which rarely come and thus they give up on PM.

Using A PM without a PM training plan/coach/methodology is like buying a Porsche 911 and expecting it will make you a race car driver.

Spending money on equipment is the easy part. Getting better takes training hard AND smart. A PM helps you train smart.

IME working with folks it takes 12+ months of PM training to break out of old riding habits and see gains.

Good Luck

I never understand these posts making having a power meter require you to watch every watt and zone and have to use every ride for training.

What's wrong with using it to do some intervals a couple times a week, or do a more structured ride on the trainer? How about for pacing on the occasional time trial or letting you know your taking it too easy on a certain part of a climb? Seeing if you were really going harder or it was just the wind? Actually getting faster or just feeling faster? Seeing if a riding position is more aerodynamic?

It's not like they are that expensive. Cheaper than a set of carbon clinchers and far more useful.