Road Cycling“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway
Exactly. That goes for your power as well. HR will tell you something about how fast you are burning your matches on that given day, taking into account you immediate physical state. A PM does not. Power assumes You are the same every ride, but you are not. A PM tells you what you do, not what you Can do. Imo, There is room for both.
I would agree there is room for both. They inform each other. Power is power and does not care about HR, a potential problem. I have used HR for years and it tells me how my supply of matches is doing. I have been using Assiomas for a few months now and it is interesting to see the relationship between HR and power. Today, after a leisurely 45 miles and 4’000’ yesterday I thought it would be good to do some hill repeats as yesterday’s ride was not super hard. I was looking at my power but HR was the more important number, as my hardest efforts would barely put me into Z4. After a few repeats I knew it was time to stop, as inability to get higher HR usually tells me it is time to back off. Obviously perceived effort would tell me the same thing, but not as scientifically!
For indoor riding power meter pedals are great. I finally did the Sufferfest 4DP test and have a good snapshot to tell me what to shoot for indoors. I pretty much just use power and cadence, occasionally looking at HR. I find I am pushing bigger gears than I used to depending on which Sufferfest ride I am doing. The biggest problem indoors is boredom and discipline. Programs like Sufferfest take care of that and using power helps a lot.
Also, like many here, we occasionally need new toys to keep our interest, and this one gives you plenty to analyze!
03-24-19, 12:56 PM
