Powertap Elite+

16simon

Hi all, one of my old clubmates is selling some Powertap Elite+ wheels, which I'm very tempted by. If I got them, I would use my Edge 500 as a head unit.

I'm new to power measuring, so can anyone give me some advice about the Elite+ PT? Does it give the right feedback for training with power, and analysing power outputs, or would I be better off getting one of the other PT models? Anything you can tell me about how useful you've found it would be good too.

Pokerface

16simon wrote:

Hi all, one of my old clubmates is selling some Powertap Elite+ wheels, which I'm very tempted by. If I got them, I would use my Edge 500 as a head unit.

I'm new to power measuring, so can anyone give me some advice about the Elite+ PT? Does it give the right feedback for training with power, and analysing power outputs, or would I be better off getting one of the other PT models? Anything you can tell me about how useful you've found it would be good too.

You'll be perfectly fine with the Elite+ and a Garmin 500.

THe ONLY real drawback to the Elite+ over the other models is that it is heavier.

Bronzie

16simon wrote:

analysing power outputs

I don't think there is any real onboard analysis with the Garmin 500 - it will show current power, average power for the ride and average power for the lap if you are using lap button to record separate intervals.

For analysis, you need to download your workout file to a PC and use a program like CyclingPeaks WKO+ (about $130) or Golden Cheetah (FOC I believe?).

Full analysis is probably not essential, but you will get the best out of training with power if you start looking into metrics such as Normalised Power and Training Stress Score which you can only get with full analysis (unless you are using a Saris Joule as a head unit).

Pokerface

Bronzie wrote:

16simon wrote:

analysing power outputs

I don't think there is any real onboard analysis with the Garmin 500 - it will show current power, average power for the ride and average power for the lap if you are using lap button to record separate intervals.

For analysis, you need to download your workout file to a PC and use a program like CyclingPeaks WKO+ (about $130) or Golden Cheetah (FOC I believe?).

Full analysis is probably not essential, but you will get the best out of training with power if you start looking into metrics such as Normalised Power and Training Stress Score which you can only get with full analysis (unless you are using a Saris Joule as a head unit).

The Garmin unit will give you more feedback than the standard yellow head unit. Not only in terms of power, but for your ride in general.

You can have 3 screen with up to 8 items per screen. Everything from Max power to averages for laps, or 3 or 30 second averages, zones, percent of FTP, etc.

More info than you could ever want while actually riding.

Anonymous

You can upload to trainingpeaks with their device agent free too...

16simon

Thanks everyone

I bought the wheels, will also buy the CyclingPeaks WKO+ software

DaveyL

Get yourself a copy of "Training and Racing with a Power Meter" by Coggan and Allen. The second edition has just come out. Definitely worth it.

Bronzie

This is also a very good read before you get your hands on the powermeter:

http://www.freewebs.com/velodynamics2/rcgtp1.pdf

amaferanga

16simon wrote:

Thanks everyone

I bought the wheels, will also buy the CyclingPeaks WKO+ software

Save yourself some cash and get Golden Cheetah. Latest build is here. I only had a quick trial of WKO+, but from as far as I can see GC now has virtually all the important features. The metrics are named differently from WKO+, but they are essentially the same (i.e. they provide the same information).

A lot of people will have tried GC some time back, but the latest build is much, much more feature-packed.

16simon

Thanks Amaferanga, I'll give it a go