Power meter rental

[DieselnDust]

On 8/15/2014 at 2:37 PM, daniel04 said:

Would you hire/rent a power meter on a monthly/weekly basis?

No I would be the renter 

[JulienR]

Check out the Favero Assioma power meter pedals - these are a great option for road bikes. They are highly rated and if you get a used one for a good price you should be able to sell at a similar price later on the hub

[Tomik]

+1 for Assioma's. Excellent pedals - transferable to any bike means you never lose your money.

[Frosty]

19 hours ago, Anneke Roodt said:

Is anyone renting power meters? I would love to rent one, I'm preparing for a 70.3, would be great to have an idea what I am actually doing on the road in terms of power, and not just on the kickr. 

Learn to ride on feel and you won’t need one in the race. That means no ERG mode, and also riding blind to the data; but it takes time to learn this “skill”.

[DieselnDust]

22 hours ago, Frosty said:

Learn to ride on feel and you won’t need one in the race. That means no ERG mode, and also riding blind to the data; but it takes time to learn this “skill”.

A power meter is actually most beneficial during a race. Especially for post race analysis. The results of the analysis feedback to your training program. 
In training, a pm isn’t as necessary but if you have one why wouldn’t you use it?

however hr is good enough for training.  

[Frosty]

32 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

A power meter is actually most beneficial during a race. Especially for post race analysis. The results of the analysis feedback to your training program. 
In training, a pm isn’t as necessary but if you have one why wouldn’t you use it?

however hr is good enough for training.  

I don’t disagree; I am pro PM on a bike.

I have club members that I’m coaching that don’t have power meters on their bike, and only do power based training on their Kickrs, as well as on feel when doing hill repeats. The HR response, plus Feel, is enough to see how two efforts compare. 

[bleedToWin]

17 minutes ago, Frosty said:

The HR response, plus Feel, is enough to see how two efforts compare. 

The problem often comes in with zone 2 long rides. The are off the power for 25% of the time without realising it, and they drift into mid zone 3 on every little rise without realising it. HR doesn't help, and for some reason education seems impossible.

[warick_wrx]

The only time I think a PM becomes useful in a race is when you in the break away ! Its not going to stop you getting dropped or help you into the selection.

Edited September 23, 2022 by warick_wrx

[DieselnDust]

1 hour ago, warick_wrx said:

The only time I think a PM becomes useful in a race is when you in the break away ! Its not going to stop you getting dropped or help you into the selection.

Then you are using it incorrectly or not racing, just getting pulled along. No pm needed for wheelsuckers. Race files are the most revealing to a riders weaknesses and strengths 

[Frosty]

5 hours ago, bleedToWin said:

The problem often comes in with zone 2 long rides. The are off the power for 25% of the time without realising it, and they drift into mid zone 3 on every little rise without realising it. HR doesn't help, and for some reason education seems impossible.

Try riding with a cap on your HR and see how your power compares. Z1 (3-zone) model or upper range of Z2 (5-zone). That will force you to ride slower on the hills, and keep the ride a true easy ride. It also means have parts of the ride drop to Z1 (on downhills).

But this conversation would derail the tread somewhat.

[bleedToWin]

5 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Try riding with a cap on your HR and see how your power compares. Z1 (3-zone) model or upper range of Z2 (5-zone). That will force you to ride slower on the hills, and keep the ride a true easy ride. It also means have parts of the ride drop to Z1 (on downhills).

But this conversation would derail the tread somewhat.

Agreed to not derail, and we are on the same page RE power... 😉
I have found that trying to get people to do endurance rides on HR (or RPE) is hard because they simply freewheel way way too often and the HR response on rolling hills is not fast enough. Doing supra threshold intervals on RPE is quite manageable to execute well.

[cadenceblur]

Take the guesswork out of it I say - but to each his own, 

not an absolute necessity but the merits are there

 

This not the thread for this though!

[Frosty]

As the OP (the thread resurrector) has stated, it would be for IM 70.3 use, which is a non-draft event. So average speed is the ultimate performance measurement (at least on the bike leg). The person with the faster average speed does better than someone with the highest power.

I’m not against getting a PM, I’m debating on the specific need to rent one for an event-use only. Even a +/- 2% variance could possibly yield a 4% difference in power, plus then the L/R imbalance if it’s a LS only power meter.

[babse]

Very healthy and relevant topic (OP got enough advice that renting is not ideal and should purchase for the long term instead).

 

I have a PM on both MTB and Road bikes and find them extremely beneficial in both races and training. 

My day to day training is power based. 

Just last week, after arriving late for my start group i rolled off in 2nd group. I rode the race entirely on power and hit every climb with necessary output (helped that i knew the course and length of the climbs) and finished with a pretty decent time considering i rode 3hrs + solo. 

[The Ouzo]

Having a power meter will show me just how humiliatingly little power I actually produce vs what I think I produce. 

[ChrisF]

6 minutes ago, ouzo said:

Having a power meter will show me just how humiliatingly little power I actually produce vs what I think I produce. 

 

Wahoo and Zwift does a fine job of shattering my ego ...😋