Sprints with the PowerTap

I mentioned some oddities I experienced with the powertap I currently have on the bike I'm riding a few posts ago - ya'know, the whole exact same power readings during a sprint deal.

Here's a a screenshot from the download of yesterday's file where I was doing some sprints:

one thing to note is that when I stopped pedaling, I then glanced at the PT head unit as I was coasting - it kept reading the same value for a bit - and this observation is reflected in the download.

So, this observation would suggest that the PT is doing some unknown filtering in their data acquisition. This could be good, or it could be bad - in the case of short efforts , it appears that it's doing some weird things as it relates to reality.

Not that this sprinting observation really matters in the grand scheme of things (it's been kind of refreshing for the past couple weeks not to give any credence to the flashing numbers on the power display!) - but it is a worthwhile thing to note.

Speaking of power meters - did y'all see the dueling press releases from ergomo/gita this past week?

Guess that is a partial explanation as to why I never got an ergomo to evaluate from the "important folks" at ergomo-usa. Then again, the excuse I continually got was that "there just isn't any availability right now for demo's" - or words to that effect - which from the sounds of the Gita position is a factual statement...

Anyway - I reckon my original thoughts on the ergomo still have some relevance:

-measure one leg and double it and all the doubt that that brings up

-ease of installation

-reliability of "zero-ing" out the unit prior to riding

-measure one leg and double it and all the doubt that that brings up

did I mention "measure one leg and double it and all the doubt that that brings up" ;-)

Seriously, though - I reckon if a gadget helps you ride your bike more intelligently/purpose/reliably then that's a good thing.

I used to keep training logs back in the day where I'd actually write things down - that was a good tool to make sure I was doing what I had set out to do on a given day. Nothing like the satisfaction of writing down HR's and times and distances and RPE's in that journal entry for the day!

Downloading a power meter file can have a similar effect on training, in my experience.