After uploading my many commutes and few group rides since I bought the Garmin Edge 205, I have raised $111 for the Rails to Trails Concervancy on behalf of Trek. All possible through the Plus 3 Network website. They have really streamlined the uploading process to make it easier and since I commute to work everyday, I have a lot of files to upload. I wait till my Garmin is low on battery and recharge it through the PC's USB line after inputting all my data.
I got used to this after training for racing. Back then, I had the Polar 725 connected to it's power sensor dealy. The software that comes with Polar is awesome and I sometimes wish I still had the power data. It probably wasn't very accurate, but at least it let me know when I was really on the rivet. I remember ramping it up to around 320 watts for time trials and loving the burn for an hour. But not much more. Ah, those were the days. To be in shape again...
13 comments:
I still have that power meeter if you want it back....
Wha??? There's unused (albeit somewhat time consuming to set up) powermeters just floating around West Omaha?
Mike, I just got one of those emails that have a bunch of funny remarks, such as, "I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger."
One thing it mentioned was that there is really a need for a sarcasm font. I would use it a ton.
I really don't need a power meter. The numbers would be disappointing and I have no goals, so there's no point really. Thanks for the offer though, Jonny.
Mike, I fear my computer would use no other font.
How accurate was the Polar power sensor dealy? I've heard they vacillate a lot, but since I've got a 725, too, it'd be a lot cheaper than a powertap.
EOB, I've always heard that they are finicky to set up but once set up work pretty nicely (Munson you have anything to chime in?). They work off measuring some type of resonance or tone in the chain if I recall correctly. Honestly it doesn't matter if its "accurate" to other meters or not as long as the readings it provides are stable over time. Since all you are using power for is a metric to measure your workload whether 100W on your meter equal 100W or 110W in a lab isn't of huge importance, you just want the meter to read 100W for equal efforts each time you use it. Only time the absolute accuracy would be an issue is if you were using say 3 different meters and assumed they were all perfectly accurate to each other when in fact one or more of them had a significant measurement difference from the others.
Okay, so that kind of turned into a Munson-like run on but does that make sense? The Polar is a nice low(ish) cost way of getting into power training especially if you've already got the 725.
Oh... and one more thing if you don't care about it being wireless a powertap can be had for a relatively small amount of $ these days on eBay with a bit of looking. Wires are so 2006.
Miles is correct. It gave consistent (at least to my perceived exertion) readings for my efforts. There were times that readings would be questionable, however. Especially in the big ring/big cogs gearing. This gearing moved the chain the farthest away from the sensor, therefore making it harder for the sensor to "read" the chain.
The best setup I had required me to have the chain just barely jump off the sensor (it's a magnet afterall) in the small ring/14 or 15 tooth cog combo. It was also interesting to make a flat sensor work on a round tube. The first time I saw the Cervelo's square beefy chainstay, I thought, "That would have helped so much!!!"
There are very few times in which I am not correct, ask Nicole.
also, Mike, a little bad news on the garmin if you use it for direction functions that and you probably already know about this but Google has announced it will begin offering a turn-by-turn direction app for FREE, yep
only a mater of time before there is a smart phone "bike riding" app with this google app also available, you listening Apple?
http://www.macworld.com/article/143547/2009/10/android_turnbyturn.html
small world
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/five-iphone-apps-that-replace-bike-hardware/
five-iphone-apps-that-replace-bike-hardware
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