Power Pedals or Indoor Trainer WAHOO FITNESS
 

Hi all, I use the Wahoo Elmnt Bolt on all of my bikes and was looking into the Wahoo SYSTM for indoor training.
But one of the things I saw was, to get a training program set up properly, you should do a test to see what your current physical condition is.
I am all about the Wahoo ecosystem and want to do this right...but I do not have a wahoo kickr or power pedals.

The question is, Should I get a Kickr, or buy power pedals that will work in the Wahoo ecosystem? They are looking to be about the same price and I was wondering if anyone here is using either, and what would you recommend?

I also plan on doing indoor riding with apps like Zwift and I imagine power pedals or a kickr would be advisable there, too...
TIA.

I have PM pedals: deprecated PowerTap P2 dual pedals (orig. P1 until one glitched within the first year and SRAM replaced under warranty) and have gone through a whole gamut of indoor trainers: rollers, fluid trainer, Kickr, and Kickr Bike.

Having power available for outdoor rides is quite useful if you are expecting to log a lot of outdoor training time. If you're using the same bike indoors and out then you have cheaper power meter options besides pedals, which are mainly nice to have for the purposes of swapping between bikes.

A smart trainer makes indoor training much more palatable for most people by providing more realistic simulation of varying resistance when riding virtual routes, alternately ERG mode makes it easier to hit interval power targets if you do structured training.

I trialed Sufferfest (the precursor to SYSTM) a few years back but don't remember them having any outdoor riding component, so if your main interest is in tracking indoor fitness and expect that you can go on RPE outdoors then a trainer would fit your plans better. If you expect to have a significant part of your training involve outdoor rides and want power readings for tracking training load, managing pacing, etc. and think you have enough discipline to hit SYSTM workout targets on your own (without the benefit of ERG mode), then getting some kind of PM and initially getting a cheap, used dumb trainer would be a budget alternative. That is what I started with and it was totally fine. I decided to splurge at the beginning of the pandemic because I foresaw a whole lot more time was going into indoor riding and the expense for both PM and a smart trainer have been worth it to me.

I'm not great at it, but have raced road, TT, and cross for a few years now. In a group ride or a race I don't really look at the power, maybe once in a blue moon in a TT to check on pacing. I can get a 1.01 or so IF for a TT on feel alone. I say that to say that I've tried to do intervals outside with power and personally unless you're really really good at it or have a nice steady slow long climb to use, I don't find outdoor intervals that easy to accomplish within that tight target window of power. Our roads aren't long enough, stop signs, etc....

So the on-bike meter largely tracks training stress and is a convenient check once in a while on what you're doing.

If I had to own ONE thing, it would be an indoor smart trainer.
If I had to do my idiotic ideas, I'd do both by getting the smart trainer new and just a cheap left-only crank meter for outside to track rides as "good enough".

Especially as if you plan to Zwift, smart trainer. I tried it with a dumb trainer and my on bike meter......so freaking boring. The resistance changes of terrain is what makes it more interesting.

You are going to need an indoor trainer anyway for both SYSTM and Zwift, so a Kickr is the way to go for this. Then you can ride Zwift with realistic gradient simulation and use erg mode for intervals in SYSTM. There are cheaper smart trainer options, but a Kickr is a solid choice that you are unlikely to regret.

I agree with the replies above that a smart trainer is a much more beneficial tool than power meter pedals, particularly as you want to use SYSTM and Zwift. I say that primarily because it’s much easier and faster to execute structured workouts and hit targets while riding stationary compared to the road, which means you get more effective training in a given time period.

I started training with power 11 years ago riding stationary, then added power meters out on the road; I like both, and while I definitely prefer riding IRL with power, it’s not essential, not like having power for my stationary training is.

So again, I’d definitely suggest spending on a smart trainer before power meter pedals, but you’ll almost certainly want power on the road at some point, so plan on having both at some point!

Yeah, power meters outside are interesting, but I've never been able to use them for intervals - for the reasons you say.
But as I have the PM pedals, I haven't been able to justify to myself the cost of upgrading to a true smart trainer. I do Zwift with a dumb trainer, metered accurately with my pedals. I'm sure the experience would be better with a smart trainer, but I don't know that I would do much more zwifting than I already do. My limit on the trainer is partly boredom, but partly just stationary saddle time. For that reason, I think a DIY rocker plate would give me more bang for my buck.