deacon mark

Ok so I am almost 57 way past any racing age. I don't race and would not ever but do like to ride fast and as quick as I can at least sometimes. I am runner too and at one time could run a decent marathon but those days long gone with age and wear. I still run but on the bike I still have goals and can ride with a faster group for awhile.

So I have been thinking about getting a power meter just to see statistics. I am real stat person by nature and record my rides by time and MPH, pour over useless date for sure many would say. Do you think I am nuts wanting a power meter and should I just get over it and remain where I am and put the money to better use? I can see it basically as a toy to see how things are going, not for any serious training but at least it might keep me focused. All my focus these days seems to be I go out for a run and wow did I go slow.

Aubergine 

Nothing wrong with getting toys!

Iride01 

As long as the accumulation of toys doesn't require you to be working 80 hours a week when past retirement age, then there probably isn't anything wrong.

I'm thinking of adding a power meter to my inventory too. Leaning toward the Garmin Vector 3's.

Mountain Mitch

I’m not a stats guy and Strava or these power meters would destroy my pleasure in riding. But As far as I’m concerned, ‘whatever floats your boat’! So if you like them you should indulge. Keep it fresh!

caloso

Even without a serious training plan, it's a very useful data tool. If you're already poring over data, this will add tons. You'll need to get a data analysis tool (Strava Premium, Training Peaks, Golden Cheetah, Cycle Analytics).

Also, a PM will allow you to use Zwift with a dumb trainer, so there's that.

caloso

False.

FrenchFit 

Different people see it differently I'm thinking.

I eschew all such gadgets, they're black hole of needless information for neurotics.

I am a runner too, though significantly older than you. But I have to admit, keeping tack of pace and distance has improved my 'training' this month as I prepare for 10K next month. It's made me a little more appreciative of the benefits of objectively monitoring progress day to day, week to week. So, I guess tracking progress on a bike makes similar sense if it relates to some goal.

Each to their own.

bogydave

Tools that will keep you active are not toys !

Yea
your nuts,, Keep it that way !!!!

The benefits will out weigh the costs.

RChung

It's an unnecessary toy but as long as you can afford it there's nothing wrong with unnecessary toys.

I learned a lot from looking at data from a power meter. Some of what I learned even helped me get faster.

OldTryGuy

Gentleman I rode with today is 70+ and is preparing for National Road and Time Trial coming in May.




Far from being "BLACK HOLE OF NEEDLESS INFORMATION FOR NEUROTICS" in my opinion.

RIGHT ON

jon c. 

Unnecessary toy is such a subjective concept. If it's fun, buy it. Life is too short not to have fun.

Retro Grouch 

If you don't buy the power meter, what do you think you will do with the money?

OTOH, the first time I typed that sentence I accidentally hit an "s" rather than an "w". Might be a message in that.

ColonelSanders

For you to create this thread means that you are already too far gone.


Now it is time to work out which power meter you will be getting.

canklecat

Do it. I would if it were in the budget.

I didn't resume cycling until I was 57, in 2015. Lost a bunch of years and fitness after a car wreck broke my back and neck. The back healed reasonably well and only gives me problems if I try to do too much lifting, or during t-storms when the barometric pressure drops. The neck is permanently damaged and always aches.

In 2015 I started on a heavy comfort hybrid with suspension fork, slack frame, big tires and heavily padded saddle with springs. it took a month just to ride 400 yards without stopping to catch my breath. It took a year just to recover basic fitness.

In 2016 I got a flat bar hybrid. Rode that for a year. Got stronger and faster. My neck still limited my distance and aggressive riding position.

In June 2017 I got a road bike, an '89 Centurion Ironman, and got more serious about testing my limits. Got even stronger and faster.

At age 60 now I know I have only a brief window of time to maximize my fitness. After that, it won't matter what I do. My fitness, strength and speed will decline due to age rather than any other factor.

My neck still limits saddle time and distance and always will. The C2 is splintered in three pieces. Can't do much about that. So on the road bike I focus on rides I can manage without stopping, or with only brief rests to stretch, around 20-40 miles.

I've cracked the top ten on a few Strava segments contested by some of the strongest local riders. KOMs on those segments are probably out of my reach. The closest I've gotten was second spot, and that's 50 seconds behind the leader over a 5.5 mile distance. Hard to make up that time in that distance.

But those are just gauges to give me an indication of my progress. I'm not competitive about Strava, just using it as a gauge and motivation. I'll never be a strong climber, and that will always limit me. I have improved from dead last on every climb to middle of the pack. I'm fair on flat terrain, pretty fast on downhills mostly because I'm a little reckless and sprint down hills rather than loaf-pedaling or coasting. I need the momentum for the next climb.

Realistically, I'm still slow even in my age group. I've tagged along on B-group rides by a local fast club. I get dropped every time, even when the other participants are all age 50 or older. Sometimes I can hang on for 20 of the scheduled 50-60 miles. Last year it was always on the hills. So I went off on my own and worked on hill intervals until I improved.

A couple of weeks ago I managed to hang on for only 6 of the scheduled 25 miles. I went off on my own to work on my speed on flat terrain into the wind, the very thing that got me dropped that day when I let a gap open and lost the draft.

I've scored higher on some Strava segments than those fellows, but that's because I cherry pick my goals. I wait for favorable wind conditions, no matter what time of day or night. I warm up carefully -- it takes me up to an hour just to warm up. I pace myself very carefully so I'm peaking at the Strava segment. Then I loaf-pedal home afterward. So my overall average speed over 20-40 miles isn't very impressive. I conserve my strength for the segments I find most challenging. (Protip: Every Strava segment worth pursuing is dominated by assistance from tailwinds or leadouts from a partner or group. Very few exceptions, and those exceptions should rank higher in a weighted system.)

If I was genuinely fast, I'd be able to hang with that B-group. And maybe I will this year. We'll see. I'm tackling it one step at a time: hill climbs; into headwinds to improve my ability to close gaps after losing the draft.

Why bother?

To be honest, in 2015 I never expected or planned to be goal oriented about cycling again. I was still walking with a cane in 2014, more than a decade after the car wreck. So my goals were pretty modest -- ride a bike again. Then ride a bike longer than 400 yards without an asthma attack. Then ride 10 miles no matter how long it took and how many times I had to stop and rest. Those goals took a year.

But now I'm more aware of the limits of mortality. Perhaps that's due to just finishing a 25+ year stint as a caregiver for three consecutive elderly family members (my background was in nursing, among other related careers). Now my mom has transitioned full time to a nursing home after her disabilities exceeded what we could provide at home even with assistance from Medicare/Medicaid. My kids are grown. I'm not married. I have no other immediate responsibilities other than to keep a roof over my head and feed the cats I inherited from my mom.

I'm not sure I'd benefit enough from a power meter to justify the expense. Frankly, I'd get more benefit from a somewhat newer, lighter bike. I enjoy the old Centurion Ironman, but downtube shifters make for awkward transitions on climbs and sprinting out of the saddle. That's where I usually see gaps open in group rides -- with newer bikes riders can shift easily with brifters to maintain momentum. With downtube shifters I'm constantly needing to sit again to shift, then stand to sprint and close the gap. After doing that enough times I'm spent.

I check my data carefully after every ride to see whether my perceived effort matched the data. I'm pretty honest with myself about where I could have pushed harder. A friend who's only a little younger but much stronger and faster watched a video of my fastest recent ride and gave some useful feedback. I was fairly satisfied with the overall performance, but he correctly observed that I could have pushed harder because I wasn't really gasping for breath after the 6 mile segment -- and he knows about my struggles with asthma, recovery from the wreck injuries, etc., so he knows what I'm capable of. An honest friend is a pretty good power meter.

Anyway, do it now. You still have a generous window of peak conditioning opportunity ahead of you. And you've said you enjoy the challenge and going fast. You'll benefit from it.

Hondo Gravel

Buy whatever toy you want to. No need to try to validate it, heck I’m replacing all my AC/DC cassettes with CDs. If a power meter inspires you and keeps you motivated then by all means it is good.

TimothyH

A heart rate monitor is still a very useful tool for training and much less expensive than a power meter.

Training with heart rate can be very effective and is very easy to do. Heart rate monitors are also portable across multiple bikes.

Precision Heart Rate Training by Ed Burke is an excellent book, short and very practical. Deacon Mark may like it because it covers multiple sports including running, not just cycling.




-Tim-

KraneXL

Very false. Lots of octogenarians race. I'm speaking more of runners since I'm more familiar with them.

ericy

It wasn't until I got the Kickr that I had access to any kind of power data, and I have to admit that I have gotten accustomed to it. I have toyed with the idea of getting something I can use outdoors, but so far I have been put off by the price.

qcpmsame 

In cycling, using the term "Unnecessary Toy", can generate a lot of interest, and sales. Kind of like telling a child they cannot have any of the cookies, now they are constantly thinking of how to get into that cookie jar.

If you want to get a power meter, and use it for your cycling, by all means get one and use it in good health (puns intended) There are much worse ways to spend money I can come up with. Maybe something like the Stages power meter system, which involves a crank arm matching your current crankset, and the associated sensor and head unit/smart phone/GPS would be a great way to delve into the PM thing. I watched one being calibrated and set up on a local riders Specialized Allez, at our LBS. He is definitely a 50+ cyclist, and he does use the meter as it is intended.

Best of luck on using one, should you decide to get one.A follow-up post would be nice to read.

Bill

Wildwood 

A 'Poser Meter'?

Hey i like it.

To the OP - Not training, not into data = your money might be better spent on nicer wheels, upgrading pedals/shoes, improved clothing. I would make my ride better, not analytical.

edit: re-read 1st post, you ARE into data. Buy tubular wheels + supple tires and see how much time you save.

rm -rf

I got a Garmin for following mapped routes. Then I found I liked looking at the ride recordings -- seeing my efforts on climbs, how long the ride took, etc, and totals over time.

Last year, I got a power meter, a 4iiii left crank one. It's tiny and stealth -- I don't think most riders know I have a power meter (not a "poser meter", heh). It's great for pacing and very interesting to see the ride data and seasonal trends. This early spring, I hadn't been riding enough, and felt very slow. But my recent rides are fairly close to last summer and fall's efforts, so I think I'm okay.

It's inspired me to work a little harder when riding, too.

Cost
The power meters are getting cheaper. And there's a lot more companies making them now. One-leg meters can be a bit inaccurate if you have more power in one leg than the other. Dual sided crank meters are finally getting cheaper. So I wouldn't be surprised if the single sided ones get even less expensive to compete. Maybe down toward $200 from the $350 to $450 current prices? If costs are a factor, you might wait until late summer to see what's new.

~~~

Stats!
So, you also like stats. Golden Cheetah is free software, with tons of charts and trend graphs. You can use it for formal training, or just to look at your riding. It's easy to get started, with lots of auto defaults, then you can modify the charts later as you want.

GC will automatically calculate your FTP after a few rides. And track it over the season, too. (FTP is essentially the best power you could put out on a hard one hour ride.)

The most useful to me is the CP (Critical Power) chart. This tracks your best power for all time periods from a few seconds to the longest ride you've done. It fits a curve to a few best effort points to show a theoretical max effort curve. Your current ride is shown as a line on the chart, too.

This chart is helpful to give me an idea of my power numbers for about 30 seconds, about 60 seconds, and about 5 minutes, to pace my all-out efforts on short steep climbs.

Example:



More charts:

Power vs ride time. Each dot is a one-second power recording, but with 3-second averaging to smooth the chart slightly. It's interesting how much power changes from second to second, even when trying to be smooth and consistent. My Garmin shows 3 second averaging and 30 second averaging.



~~~~


From a different ride, stacked charts. Intervals can be manually added, by dragging on the chart, or by selecting on the map page, or by a lookup of the highest power for a selected time interval. You can double click the interval from a left side list, and this chart zooms in to that time period.

Power in watts
W' balance. This estimates how much of my immediate reserves have been used up on strong efforts.
Heartrate
Speed
Cadence
Altitude

off the bottom of the photo:
Grade %
Normalized Power

KraneXL

I think the above acknowledges both the pros and cons of a power meter: the copious amount of data.

WNCGoater

It's an unnecessary toy.

Well, that's what you asked for!

Me? Meh...I like keeping up with mileage, rides, routes, average mph and to a lesser extent, maybe getting a new personal record on a Strava section. But that's about it.
As far as power meters, watts, etc. , they mean nothing to me. I like keeping stats, but I get to a point and it becomes a distraction and burdensome to me.
^^^I personally would have no interest nor get any enjoyment from all those ^^^charts and graphs above. But if that's your thing and it enhances your sport or enjoyment of riding, then sure, go for it!
I have toyed with the idea of a GPS. But considering the cost of one, I can mostly the same thing and certainly get everything I really want from an iPhone app. for free. @TimothyH posted above a heart rate monitor. I could see that being more useful to me than a power meter. But then when I seriously consider one I think, "Why?" I could see it getting left behind after the novelty wore off. @Wildwood posted, "...your money might be better spent on nicer wheels, upgrading pedals/shoes, improved clothing. I would make my ride better, not analytical." That would be something I would gravitate toward, more so than another gadget.

So I suppose what it comes down to is, what do YOU think you could spend a few bucks on that would enhance your ride or your overall cycling experience? If it's electronic gadgets, go for it! If it's gear or upgrades to existing gear, go for it!

RChung

You left off the most clever chart, the Aerolab-Chung chart.

woodcraft

Go for it.

Quite useful IMO having used one for several years. Pacing, evaluating conditioning, check on RPE, even seeing if you could keep up w/ a group.

I also use a heart rate monitor, but as far as 'precision'- about as precise as trying to hit a target by throwing a ball over your shoulder.