Mike's Bike Blog

I've wanted a power meter for my training for quite some time. However a new PowerTap is $1,500, well out of my bike budget. I had been cruising eBay for a used PowerTap, even placing a few bids on a few. All the auctions went well past my limit. Until one fateful day I played it cool, waited for the last 15 seconds and placed my bid. Low and behold I won and well within my budget!

I received my new training device last week, it included everything I needed, the PowerTap hub was already built on a wheel. I do find it funny that I have a piece of equipment that retails new for more than I paid for my bike. The only draw back to this PowerTap is that it is an older model and the download cradle is serial based. I've been PC free for a couple years now, so it's taken me awhile to find a PC with a serial port that still works (I'm Mac based). The first system I hooked it up to is in the final stages of a hard drive meltdown, I couldn't get the Link software to recognize the device. I did try a serial to USB cable but couldn't get that to work. Today I finally found an old laptop that had a serial port that everything works on. Now I can download and analyze my workouts while I wait for my USB cradle to come in.

There are several different tests you do to gauge your power levels that is the basis for your training. One of the tests that the Chris Charmichael system uses is a Field Test. This is a 3 mile time trail that is performed on a relatively flat course. Finding a flat 3 miles that does not have stop lights or stop signs is somewhat tricky to find, at least near my house. I have carved out a 3 mile course that I use to for this purpose, there is 1 small hill and there are some sharp turns. In the past I've only been able to test with Heart Rate.

The full training session includes:

WarmUp 10:00

PowerInterval 01:00
Recovery 01:00
PowerInterval 01:00
Recovery 04:00
Field Test Effort 08:00
Recovery 10:00
Field Test Effort 08:00
Cool Down 10:00

This morning I set out to test my power, the conditions were perfect. After the warm ups and the intervals I started my field test. I was flying, I turned in my best time yet (8:51). I rode back to the start for recovery, I didn't look at my power readings, I went to set the computer to another interval which is a press of the 2 buttons on the computer. Here's where my day went south, the PowerTap computer only has 2 buttons, to clear the unit you press and hold the 2 buttons until CLR is displayed on the screen. In the process of trying to get a new interval I pressed and held to long and the CLR showed up on the screen. At this point I panicked and released the buttons. It cleared my data. I stood there dumbfounded, I hoped that the device would have an internal storage that would keep the ride data until I download it, like my Garmin. No chance, when the PowerTap clears its memory it doesn't mess around as I later found out when I got home and didn't have any data except the recovery ride home. So all I can report back is my max power on the recovery ride was 801 watts.

I'm not sure if the newer models are a little more user friendly or if they have onboard storage so more than 1 ride can be stored on the computer. Anybody with a newer PowerTap know?

Other Miscellaneous Stuff

I won't be riding this weekend, I took my bike in for it's yearly tune-up. Hopefully the knocking in the bottom bracket will be fixed as well. I know Jared will appreciate that. This is also the weekend I'm heading over to College Station and playing hockey.