Jumpski

I’ve been riding with a power meter for @ four years. It has definitely made my long climbs easier to pace.

yannisg

Early last year I bought a dual pedal power meter (Favero Assioma). I like recording data so I think it's a great tool. I compare lap data on my rides, and data from the intervals I do.
I have had no issues with this power meter, and would definitely recommend it if you decide to get a power meter.

sshakari

I've been on the fence around a power meter. I don't train for events, only for health and mindful reasons. I'be been riding a bike for a long time and most of my weight loss has been around dieting vs riding.
Now, I am thinking that a power meter would help with pacing hills and getting into a 'groove' for base miles. Most of my riding is around the same area. Curious on what others have found besides data.

caloso

What do you mean when you say "what others have found besides data?"

xraydog

I was considering getting a power meter primarily for long climb pacing and for the general overall geekiness. The new Garmin Rally pedals look interesting as they are available with 2 bolt SPD pedals.

Has anyone ever tried the Velocomp Powerpod / Powerpod Lite / Aeorpod ? www.velocomp.com

Interesting concept and easy to transfer from bike to bike. Not as accurate as other meters, but looks like it would provide all the information I was looking for out of a power meter.

sshakari

Some cyclists love to see data & I do to, just don't want to spend that much cash.
For me, I would like to know which power zones to train in to mix up my workouts & to even out my left and right leg/pedal strokes.

woodcraft

Have had one about 6 years. Not essential, but it's the main number that I look at.

As a fitness gauge, I look at how long I can keep up wattage ranges. Maybe 200w for the first hour +, then 180ish, and often reaching a fatigue point when power drops to 160 or lower.

If I can push that fatigue point out past 4 hours then I'm in good shape. Sadly this last year riding time and these markers went down.

Also handy to gauge a group ride i.e. can I keep up.

Carbonfiberboy 

I got one for my single bike at 73, had it for 2 years now, and really like it. Wish I'd gotten it sooner. I've been using HR for 25 years. I thought that was fine and still do. The PM however improves precision in training, if one cares about that sort of thing. Actually, the older I get, the more I care about it because the less margin I have between OK and not OK. The PM allows much greater precision in training in specific zones, i.e. training specific energy systems. This improves results, not a lot, but definitely improvement. I watch the PM more closely riding indoors than outdoors. If you only ride outdoors, or don't do specific training regimens, you might not notice as large a difference. My wife and I ride a tandem outdoors a lot and don't use power on that bike, only HR. I wish we did have power on it so we could sync up better, but it's not worth the expense.

I notice that after spending this Covid winter on my rollers with a PM, that my performance is much improved. I can do things again which I haven't been able to do for years.

nomadmax 

I'm 62 and don't have a power meter. I do have a piece of yarn taped to my stem and am happy when the end of it is lofted in the air OK, now for the serious answer; IMO, at my age, what exactly would I do with the information provided by a power meter?

Carbonfiberboy 

How about some encouragement? My performance didn't really start dropping off until I was 63. At your age, I was doing 400k rides in the mountains, and I'm not any kind of a talented athlete. In the Army at 18, I barely managed to pass my PCPT, meaning I managed the mile run in just a few seconds under 8 minutes, one of the slowest in my platoon. I wasn't fat, about 138 lbs. and 5'8". What I did with a power meter at 75 was to reboot my aerobic system, riding a lot at a measured moderate intensity. Worked. The meter is also helpful at preventing me from starting out at too high an intensity when I do hard efforts.

Going out for a hilly 40 mile group ride tomorrow with my wife on our tandem. We hope to average about 13.

fooferdoggie 

my e bike has one built in. so its great to know how much is me and how much is the bike. I can see my improvement. average speed is not great even on my commute thats the same every day. but not sure I would pay for it otherwise.

kingston 

It's probably not worth the money just to look at 3-second average power on the same rides you were doing before, but if you're really interested in learning what you can do with power data, I suggest checking out a couple of books on the topic:

• Training and Racing with a Power Meter
• Fast After 50

You can get used copies on ebay for around five bucks apiece.

nomadmax 

I'm as fast as I'll ever be, there isn't anything left on the table.

caloso

I think you might surprise yourself. You may not get fitter and faster than when you were 25, but I think nearly everyone can get fitter and faster than they are today. The question is whether or not it’s worth it to spend the time and effort to do so.

And you certainly can get fitter and faster without a PM. You can still ride intervals with a stopwatch and RPE, or do hill repeats, or do the Tuesday Night World Championships. These all work too. The PM is just a tool.

RChung

I'm slower than I used to be, I have no illusions about that. That's why I need a power meter: to keep me from being even slower.

As for price, I usually recommend that new users buy a used power meter. Since Quarq has stopped selling the PowerTap wheel, and wheels are much less popular than pedals or cranks, they can be a good deal. They're pretty solid and reliable, and I've had good luck with them. I recently bought a used PowerTap G3 wheel as a spare, for $150.

scottfsmith

I looked into these. It didn't seem quite ready for prime time, in particular not good Wahoo pairing. You also need some other sensors for it to work. Looks like a good idea though, and one of these plus a power meter allows measurement of how aerodynamic you are.

I ended up getting a Stages left crank and it has been great.

In terms of the uses of the meter, many have been mentioned. Recently I am really enjoying how I can pace myself better on the hills. There is a hill by our house and a good run up it for me currently has an average of around 290W over the segment. If I am doing 330W in the lower part of the hill I know I am going to have to cut back before the top, and if it is 220W I'd better pick it up if I am wanting a high intensity effort. I also like how in Strava I can see what the best riders are doing power wise, both overall and in my age group. They are around 350W on that particular hill. My average power a year ago on that hill was 250W so I can also see how my hill-power has been improving beyond the overall time improvements. 60W more and I should be in the top 10.

sean.hwy

I miss my assioma pedals that measured power. I sold mine because the mountain bike style mount bother my knees. I loved the power meter for just tracking my daily workout. You can't use avg mph unless you have an indoor track and use the exact same bike/tires/clothes etc...

Let's say you have been biking for 2 years. Your avg speed will be all over the place. Some times you do hills, some times you do group rides and draft. Your power meter does not care about any of that stuff.

I am looking forward to the wahoo speed play pedals that are supposed to come out this year.

PoorInRichfield

Knowing that my average power will just decrease over time due to aging (and thus get depressing!), I find this "fuel economy" mentality to be a good justification for a power meter. I did a ride recently with a new friend and I started-out way too "hot" where as he had a power meter and was careful to truly warm-up and not push too hard in the beginning. As a result, I was burned-out 2/3 of the way through the ride while my friend still had energy left to finish strong (and he sure did!)

A smart trainer with a built-in power meter is a must to give smart apps like Zwift proper feedback as to what you're doing on the bike, but that's a different story.

dmanders

66yo former racer here. Now just a recreational rider. Both my bikes have power meters and I love them. So useful in getting more out of training.

ofajen

I don’t, but I have at least estimates for workload as a function of speed for speeds I typically ride on flats, my usual hills and into headwinds. I ride SS only these days, so I pretty much always know where I stand in terms of strength and CV fitness.

Otto

Chuckles1

Couldnt have said it better, at 65 though.

BCAC

I’ve been riding regularly for a little over a year. I got a pair of Garmin Rally power meters when they first came out a few months ago. At first the main reason was to be able to work on a weaker leg from a back injury. To get to 50/50 power. I’ve found however, the real time data helps me see what I’m doing, particularly on hills, and try a little harder. I’m 68 and have no pretensions of ever being really fast, but I continue to get better. Longer. And I think the pm provide a bit of incentive. And well, I like gadgets.

Road Fan

I must have started as a geezer!

PeteHski

I use a PM on my road bike and indoor trainer. Makes training, pacing and progress tracking much better. I don't have a PM on my mtb as I think it would be too distracting and I don't need to pace in the same way as I do on my road events. I think PMs are very useful if you are looking to make progress and ride at your optimal pace on events, especially longer events with sustained climbing. But I don't think there is any value for JRA.

Anyone thinking of buying Garmin Rally pedals should read the reviews by DCRainmaker and GPlama - there have been concerns with consistency and lots of negative user feedback, so not recommended at this point. Although I haven't read the reviews in detail. I was just considering them for future use in my early research. It's a shame because they are one of the few PM pedals that support Shimano SPD-SL.

PeteHski

This is what I've noticed too. Two friends I ride with don't have a PM and they always set off way too hot on the first climb of a long event. I can see straight away on my PM when they are heading for a spectacular fail. RPE feels much lower with fresh legs and plenty of adrenaline. But power doesn't lie! They're getting smarter now though and have learned to use me to pace climbs better. They have even started asking what power we're actually riding at. I should start charging them, lol.