SpongeDad

It won't make your smarter, but was it instrumental in boosting a race specific physical limiter, like FTP or VO2max?

hammy56

yes.

Psimet2001 

Yes. Hells yes.

brian416

My FTP is up 20-30 watts since I started riding with power in November. I'm not 100% sure on how much though since I switched from a powertap to SRM, and the powertap read a bit low.

efficiency

Yes. I got the powermeter, I realized I was training completely wrong. I corrected it this season. Still no results, but I'm faster.

ZeCanon

Yes, mostly because it 1) keeps me from cheating during intervals, going to hard or to easy, 2) kept me honest about how much work I was really doing during base season

It has also been a motivator in a number of ways.

bdcheung

Yes. And the results this season give testament to that

rruff

Nope... not even a little bit. But I'm sure this is highly specific depending on how you trained before and after.

The main thing it has done for me is show me how prone I was to going far in the red at the beginning of an effort.

bdcheung

@rruff I'm sure it's highly specific depending on how you train with a power meter.

mattm

Including drivetrain losses is reality, it's not reading a bit low.

To answer the OP, I think it did make me faster. First thing I noticed was how little I was putting out during training, how little work you can do on the same course if you want to.

It helped me train enough not to get dropped in my first crit, or any so far after that. Might sound stupid but I made sure I was at least reading Cat 4 levels on WKO's e-wang chart (well, minus 1-minute power) before I made the jump to finally get into a race. It worked.

Which is not to say I couldn't have raced and done OK without the device/data, who knows.

Hida Yanra

these
Doesn't lie about how much work I'm fooling myself into thinking that I'm doing (training gets harder)
Doesn't lie about how much work I'm doing on recovery days (I actually recover on those days instead of doing too much)

I'm super-excited to get a PT going again after two years of not having one... two weeks left to wait (or so)

Psimet2001 

Meh....I do OK as an "Untrained Woman" categorization on the e-wang.

With a powermeter i was able to really get a lot out of my training 2 winters ago. i am now able to see how that went away - almost as important, and how far I am still below it.

without it you just lose a major frame of reference. You could be doing well in your mind and then get your butt kicked by a guy you were recently devastating. Naturally you would go home thinking you're doing something wrong or your form is off, etc.

with a PM you can see if that's actually true or if it's just - hey that guy got better.

Hocam

Using a powermeter won't make you faster. Training will and using the powermeter will enable to you measure improvement and train smarter.

mattm

True the e-wang isn't everything, but lacking "fast group rides" to gauge how good I was, or wasn't, it was really all I had to go from.

So I think I came into racing being faster/well-rounded than I would have been otherwise, but would probably be just as fast/slow today without it, given just plain racing.

Bob Dopolina 

This.

aham23

yes. i was never going hard enough and i never went easy enough. until i got power. later.

Psimet2001 

No doubt. Just saying if I waited to get to a Cat4 level on that chart I would still be on the side-lines.

I have a weird power profile though. Pretty raw and untrained short duration power. Not much in the middle. A pathetic ftp, but the ability to suffer enough to do better in TT's than crits or road races. Crits....

wait...this is about powermeters. me likey.

Looking forward to getting a Quarq to test and then running the group buy on here. Keep your eyes peeled guys.

NomadVW 

Well, the debate is really in the word "using."

You could use a powermeter with the CPU turned off and never download powerfiles or analyze them. You won't see any benefits over not using one.

If by "using," you mean objectively analyzing your power files and training more efficiently based on the objective data displayed/collected, then it would be a pretty hard case to say you won't improve "using" a power meter. Under this definition, I believe I train smarter and therefore improved faster.

bitterken

I'll let you know this cross season, T.

I just got a used Powertap and started to learn how to use it. But honestly, it in itself will do nothing for me. However, I think the coaching and structured training plan to go along with it, and my newly found motivation, will help me get faster.

Racer Ex 

Yes. It also has helped me manage my training load, which might be even more important.

rruff

Or how you trained before you got one.

I've never had a problem with being lazy on my hard days... and the evaluation and measurement of intensity *can* be done in other ways, though with less accuracy.

Psimet2001 

Mine helped me gain amazing length in no time at all. It also chopped vegetables for me, keep my wife warm while watching TV, acts as a speaker phone in my car, and allows me to fish anywhere at any time. I just set it....and forget it.

waterrockets 

Not only has it plainly made me faster, but it's made me a smarter racer too.

I had been training and racing for the better part of 15 years before I got the PM, and was totally stagnated with respect to form. With the PM, my power profile, and some race-limiter analysis, I was able to completely transform my fitness in about 6 months and started winning races after only winning one race, 13 years prior.

Once I saw my power profile, aside from training changes, I completely overhauled my racing strategies to match, making me a smarter racer.

Grumpy McTrumpy

+1

and the ability to pace a TT cannot be overstressed

bostongarden

Ding ding; my answer too. One makes oneself better (or worse). The tool can help with in this process.