The Power Meter Handbook: A User’s Guide for Cyclists and Triathletes

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Why Use a Power Meter?
    WHY DO YOU TRAIN? Before you answer that question, I want to make sure we’re talking about the same thing. You will come across the words “train” and “training” often in this book. They are common in an athlete’s vocabulary. What I mean when using them here is working out with a purpose. That purpose is to improve performance. In this book, performance has to do with a bike-related event, such as a triathlon, road race, time trial, mountain bike race, or century ride.
    Let’s drill down a little deeper. By “performance,” I’m talking about riding competitively—preparing to become fitter and therefore faster in order to improve on your previous results in similar events or to finish high in your event category. Some athletes compete with others, while some compete only with themselves by trying to improve on previous performances. Either is fine. Both require purposeful workouts to produce greater fitness.
    If the workout purpose is not bike performance—if, for example, it’s losing weight or improving health, both of which are worthy goals—then it’s exercise, not training, to my way of thinking. Power meters can be useful for any of these desired results. But the purpose we’ll be examining in great detail here is training—purposeful workouts intended to produce better event performance.
    The power meter is a powerful tool for training, one that can potentially make you fitter and faster than any other piece of equipment you could get for your bike. Even if you have been in the sport for a long time and achieved all the fitness you think is possible, I guarantee that you have room for improvement. I’ve coached athletes who have gone from years of middle-of-the-pack finishes to the podium within one season after starting to train with a power meter. I’m certain you can, also. The upper limit of potential for performance in sport is remarkably high and largely untapped by almost all athletes. This is where a power meter can make a difference.
    You may know of someone who has a power meter but has never really seen any significant improvement in performance because of it. That’s common. Power meters are not magic. You don’t just put one on your bike and all of a sudden become faster. When you begin using one for the first time, it looks simple enough—just a number on your handlebars that changes as you go harder or easier. And you might find yourself thinking, “What’s the big deal?” I’ve heard that from new power meter owners a lot. “The numbers are interesting, but so what?” It’s not until you begin to look at the downloaded data with your computer software that the magic happens—if you know what all the numbers mean. If you’ve looked at the data after a ride, then you know what I’m talking about. It can be a bit overwhelming. That ever-changing flow of numbers you saw on your handlebars during theride has somehow morphed into graphs, tables, and charts. What does it all mean? How is it going to make you fitter and faster?
    For now you’re just going to have to take my word that it will. But after reading and applying the basic concepts in this book, you’ll see change. Your new power meter will help you become a better rider. We’ll get into the details of how to do that in subsequent chapters. First, let’s look at what the power meter can do to improve your performance and why it’s better than any other training tool.
WHY POWER?
    To become fitter and faster, you need to make physical and perhaps even mental changes as you prepare for an event. Your power meter can help you do both. Here are five performance-enhancing ways that a power meter can improve your training once you know how to use it.
Make Training Precisely Match the Demands of the Race
    This is undoubtedly the most important reason for using a power meter. Effective training demands precision for you to become more fit. The obvious question is “Fit for what?” Every high-performance event, whether it’s a 6-hour Ironman ® triathlon ride or a 45-minute criterium, demands a specific type of fitness. This comes down to getting the duration and intensity of the key workouts right. Duration is easy. A stopwatch or an odometer will do. But intensity is a different story and raises some very important issues for your training.
    The first intensity issue has to do with the specific demands of the goal event. How intense—in other words, how hard—will it be? Some