Riding with a Power Tap or SRM Crank mounted on your bike doesn’t have to be rocket science. Actually you can benefit from using a power meter without knowing much about exercise physiology. In this article I will show you how you can benefit from a power meter without knowing anything about exercise physiology.

In the Power Meter Project I used maximum power tests to get a profile of the rider’s performance at different distances. These tests represent what freaks like me would call anaerobic alactacid sprint power, anaerobic lactacid endurance power, maximum oxygen consumption power and threshold power. But it is not necessary to fully understand these terms to get a great value from a power meter.

Example: Time trialist, 25km, personal best: 40min. avg. 320Watts.
You are a time trialist that competes in competitions with a finishing time of 40 minutes. By using a power meter in a couple of these events you will know how many watts you can maintain for such a period and then you will know how you shall pace yourself in a future race or at training sessions. Whether you try to do long rides at your maximum race pace or try to split it up in shorter intervals is not as important right now. What I want you to know is that you have a great opportunity to do some really good workouts by knowing your race pace power. Also there should be some seconds to cut off from your personal records by having a better pace strategy during the time trial. This is easily achieved with a power meter.

Suggestions for interval training:
5 x (6min 320Watts + 4min 160Watts)

2 x (15min 320Watts + 10min 160Watts)

Not that difficult, right?

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Here is an interview with Dirk Friel who is a co-founder of TrainingPeaks.com. One of his jobs is to help professional riders and coaches to analyze data from power meters. Since one of the biggest topics here on Training4cyclists.com is power meter training, it is a pleasure to get some additional info from one of the experts into analyzing of power meter files. This interview is quite long, but I hope you enjoy it, there are several good points waiting for you!

Read the full interview with Dirk Friel here!

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APRIL FOOL: UCI has declared that power meters like SRM, PowerTap etc. will not be allowed in the Pro Tour next year. There also a couple of other implementations for next years’ Pro Tour that may surprise some of you. I will give you a short summary of the press release:

Why Power meters are no longer allowed:
• There are significant better results from riders using power meters which indicate that they have a huge advantage during the races than other riders. UCI wants to make everybody equal (at least their equipment status) to make a fair competition.
• UCI has chosen to avoid dictation of how riders should ride from e.g. power meters or radio communication. These steps should make riders using their instincts instead of just acting like a machine. UCI has already disallowed radio communication in the U23 Nations Cup this year and implements the same rule in the Pro Tour 2009.

The press release also indicates that 2009 may very likely be the last season with heart rate monitors, carbon wheels and disc wheels. Service cars leave the peloton from 2011 which should be time enough for riders to learn what to do when they have a flat tire. Seems like it is going to be old school cycling in the future…!

My comment:
I think this decision is a huge step backwards for pro cycling. Power meters have shown their relevancy in broad range of situations and made training even more sophisticated. UCI can’t disallow power meters in training situations which means that riders using power meters will still have a great advantage. UCI is obviously not aware that the biggest advantage of power meters are in training rides and post-race-analyses. During the races the bonus from having a power meter mounted is minimal (except time trials). But having data files from the races is a really helpful thing for analysis of performance.

I have started collection of names on people who dislike the mistake of UCI:

Support my campaign: Legalize SRM and PowerTap

If you want to support my campaign, please write your name here. I will send the full list of names to the President of UCI. 10408 riders have already shown their support in this way.

What do you think? Should power meters be disallowed next year?

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The SRM Training System was the first power meter for road cyclists on the market. SRM uses a special crank system which measures the workload you apply. Thus, it is a direct measurement of the workload. That makes a lot more sense than the indirect methods used by e.g. Ibike Pro.

Several years of experience
SRM has had several years to optimize their products with valuable experience from top riders and scientists who have used SRM as power meter. As I have mentioned earlier, one of the best ways to learn more about power meters (or heart rate monitors for instance) is to spend several hours on the roads with the power meter mounted. The more data you can accumulate, the better picture you will get of your performance and what a power meter can do for you. Reading about training principles and basic exercise physiology will naturally help on your learning curve, but don’t underestimate the value of practical experience.

I think that SRM has a huge advantage against the new generation of power meters like PowerTap. These cranks are really good, comparable with stiffness from the best cranks on the market (though they are slightly heavier). A crank is a part of the bike so there is no problem when you e.g. want to put on your new carbon wheels for a special race. The SRM is still there and works properly.

Gold standard
SRM is the gold stand for power meters with very accurate measurement of workload. It’s a high quality product that will not disappoint you.

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Kraig Willett has made a comprehensive review of the three most used power meters: SRM, Power Tap and Polar. He explains in details how these power meters measure power output and presents results from his tests. He gives us a very detailed review of how SRM, Power Tap and Polar perform in price, performance, and durability. The review might be a bit difficult to understand for beginners, but it is really worth reading.

Here are some of the points from Kraig Willett:

On how the SRM crank system measures power output
“Instrumenting a mechanical structure allows one to convert the phenomenon of interest into an electrical signal that can be subsequently analyzed, mathematically manipulated, and then displayed to the user. Strain gages do just that in the SRM power measuring device.

The strain gages that SRM uses are nothing more than a piece of foil embedded in a plastic carrier. The resistance of the foil element changes depending on how much it is stretched/strained. The strain gages unique characteristic of changing resistance under strain is what allows the mechanical deflections that naturally occur in the structure to be converted into an electrical voltage signal.”

On accuracy of power meters
“Additionally, it can even be argued that absolute accuracy is not an issue, but rather, consistency over time or measurement repeatability is most important.”

On installing a Power Tab hub
“The Power Tap system is just about as close to ‘Plug and Play’ as one can get. The straightforward steps of installing a cassette and a tire on the wheel built with the Power Tap hub are nothing too difficult for your average bike racer. Once these steps are accomplished, one must simply drop the wheel in the dropouts and install the receiver and CPU mount with the supplied zip ties. The whole process should take 30 minutes at most.”

Read the full review of SRM, Power Tap and Polar

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Training with power meter (SRM, Powertap, Ergomo etc.) gives you opportunity to focus on specific parts of the physical demands for cycling. E.g. you want to increase your maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max), then I suggest you perform a test showing your maximal sustainably power output at your VO2 max. Normally it is possible to maintain a VO2 max power output for about 5 minutes.

The basic rule of training is to train what you aim for. Training at VO2 max is very, very tough, so we split it up in shorter intervals. I prefer intervals around 3 minutes with 2 minutes active recovery.

Example: A 5min maximum power (MP) test shows an average power output of 391W.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Recovery training	3x(3+2min) 385-395W	Long ride	15min 340W	Recovery training	Easy ride, 1×5min 310W	Race
Recovery training	3x(3+2min) 385-395W	Long ride	3x(3+2min) 385-395W	Recovery training	Easy ride, 1×5min 310W	Race
Recovery training	3x(3+2min) 385-395W	Long ride	15min 340W	Recovery training	Easy ride, 1×5min 310W	Race
Recovery training	3x(3+2min) 385-395W	Long ride	3x(3+2min) 385-395W	Recovery training	Easy ride, 1×5min 310W	Race
Recovery training	New test 5min MP	Long ride	3x(3+2min) New 5min MP	Recovery training	Easy ride, 1×5min 80% 5minMP	Race

This program is made to show you how to use your test results in a training program. This program is made specific for and therefore I have pulled out all sprints and anaerobic sessions. Normally I recommend training programs with different kinds of intervals, so please remember that this training program is made only to illustrate an easy way to . If you prefer to train for two or more specific goals you can try to mix different kinds of intervals. Like you made a 5 minutes test for your VO2 max you can make an anaerobic 60seconds test and try to make a higher average watt after a couple of weeks training. It is very challenging to attempt for new personal bests. Remember to notice your body weight when you perform a test.

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