Originally Posted by
Doge
I appreciate hearing your data as a person that actually uses one in a race. I had not heard that much (can't recall at all) before. I found that while many use them for training, few changed how they road in a race because of what the number said.
To be clear, you are saying the number you see makes you ride differently than if you saw another number. Or...if aliens hijacked your display, you would do different things based on the number.
The pros do look at them and react / maintain based on the numbers. It increases the boring factor. They should be banned from pro races, as they are from track.
This only works if you know your power zones. If you're out there without guideposts on your power, the number is irrelevant. I've spent time staring at Golden Cheetah trying to understand what my body is doing. Think of power zones 1/2/3 as "save" and 5/6/7 as "spend." Zone 4 is threshold and can be either depending on how it is used. Strategies in a race against others (as opposed to a time trial) come down to "save a lot and spend wisely." In terms of that, then I can modify my strategy, so in that regard it influences my race.