Tomorrow, Sunday the 17th of December, will be the last chance to join the Power Meter Project 2007. From 1st of January 2007 a group of riders begin a 12 week program based on wattage controlled intervals. If you want to be a part of this project, then fill in the form here. And remember: It is completely free! Riders involved in this project will get a free 12 week personalized training program based on test results. These tests will be performed in the end of December. Training4cyclists.com will publish reports from the tests made during the period and are allowed to publish data from all riders included in the project.

Training4cyclists.com offers power meter users a great opportunity to improve their performance. From 1st of January 2007 a group of riders begin a 12 week program based on wattage controlled intervals. If you are interested in joining this free project, please contact me in the form below. I can not tell you how many people get involved in this project, but if you are motivated and a have a calibrated SRM or Power Tap on your bike, there is a good chance you can be invited.

Read more about the Power Meter Project 2007

Cyclists apply forces to bike pedals in order to overcome the forces resisting forward motion (hill climbs, wind resistance, rolling resistance, acceleration, etc.) Traditional power meters like SRM, Powertap and Ergomo measure the forces applied by the cyclist (direct measuring). The new iBike Pro is the first power meter that measures the resistive forces working against the cyclist (indirect measuring). The principle is that forces applied by the cyclist is exactly the same as the forces from wind resistance, rolling resistance and gravity. Thus, if you know these factors you can calculate the forces applied by the cyclist. The iBike Pro measure both wind speed, hill gradient and bike speed.

Body position does not affect power output
As you can guess, there are several variables that can possible affect the measuring. One of the biggest problems in my opinion is that the power output will not change if you change body position. That means that data from the rides will reflect the average power output rather than the actual power output.

iBike Pro website FAQ about the body position problem:
“Most riders stay in the same position about 90% of the time or more, so the percentage of the total ride where there is a wattage difference won’t be great. The iBike Pro assumes that the athlete remains in the same riding position, so changes in riding position will not be reflected by changes in the iBike’s wattage readings.”

My opinion about iBike Pro (haven’t tried it yet…)
I think it is a interesting concept, but it is very difficult for me to understand why they measure power indirectly. That doesn’t make sense to me. I am not sure that this product can be used to seious wattage training, but I would really like to try one to see how it performs. There are some good things that could make iBike Pro to a competitor for the other power metres: It weights only 60g and costs 399$, which is nothing compared to the more expensive and heavier products on the market.

T-Mobile Team has selected SRM and Traning Peaks software for their training analyzes. In a press release at Cycling Peaks official blog, T-Mobile and Cycling Peaks comments on this partnership:

“Training Peaks functionality will allow the T-Mobile Team Management to monitor, analyze and plan all aspects of a rider’s training program. “We are very pleased to be a part of the T-Mobile team for 2007. By using Training Peaks products the T-Mobile management and the riders have a one stop shop for collecting and analyzing data. T-Mobile Directors will also be able to easily manage travel schedules and race programs all within the Training Peaks platform. We believe we have the perfect solution for T-Mobile to stay on top of team performance,” said Training Peaks business development director Dirk Friel.

“T-Mobile Team improves the work and communication between riders, coaches, sport scientists and team doctors to set a new standard in training. The combination of Training Peaks & SRM is the perfect tool to collect and manage the data and will help to reach a higher quality of training and performance.” said team doctor Lothar Heinrich.

Watt max testing is a fast and accurate way to evaluate your training. I normally recommend serious riders to do a couple of these tests through the season.

Why you should do a watt max test
First of all, it is very motivating to follow progress in performance. When you word hard to achieve a better performance, it is very satisfying to see that you are not vesting your time. Even for small increments, the test is very sensitive.
Secondly, it is possible to use the test results to modify your training program. This could be done either through optimizing your power outputs in the intervals or maybe a test will show that you need a recovery week. The optimal situation is to evaluate the test results with your cycling coach.

Watt max test
1. 15 min warm up
2. 100W workload – increase intensity with 10W every 30sec.
3. Keep cadence at min. 80rpm.
4. Ride until exhaustion
5. Notice the last completed power output. = P
6. Notice seconds spent at exhaustion power output = T

How to calculate the result from a watt max test
Watt max power = P + (T/30×10W)

Example: A rider gets exhausted after 15 seconds at 280W. Thus, his last completed power output is 270W. Calculation of Watt max power = 270W + (15/30 x 10W) = 275W