PSA: Racing with a Training Power Wheel vs Not vs Renting -- Stuff to Consider

Coach Rich

Scenario: Athlete has a training wheel PT (PT built into a not-very-aero/sexy) wheel and is wondering if he/should race with it, or rent/borrow/use a non-power wheel. Or athlete has both training and racing Powertap sets. 

What to do:

1. If you have power for training you will race with power. Period, full stop, if I hear of a power-training EN athlete racing without power, I'm going to punch you right in the nutz as you come out of T2 . A powermeter is about the most powerful (pun absolutely intended) tool you have on race day. To spend $$$$ on that tool, train with it all season, and then NOT race with it, especially an Ironman, is beyond silly. Hopefully I've made myself very clear on this point .
2. If you have a PT + training wheel (like me and many, many others), you're going to slap a $79 wheelcover on that same wheel and race with it. The $79 cover turns that training wheel into 99.99% of a $$$$ disk wheel. 
3. If you have a choice between using a training PT and racing PT (ie, you have two PT wheelsets) you're going to start training with your race PT several weeks out, so that your FTP and goal watts are all determined with the PT wheel you'll use on race day. 
4. #1 is preferred to training with one PT and then renting a sexier PT for race day. Why? Because there is / can be a power variance between Powertaps. That is, 200w on one PT can be 207w on another PT, or 194w on another. 6-7w may not sound like a big difference but it absolutely is. Personally, when I'm about to race an Ironman, I know exactly what my FTP, exactly what my goals watts should be, all on the same Powertap that I've been training with all season. The thought of introducing a measurement variable on race day, into a 112 bike followed a marathon, just scares the crap out of me. I fix that with a $79 wheelcover. Did I mention that it's $79, through EN???

The exception to all of this is if you can, no shit, calibrate one PT exactly to another. I know you can do this, though I don't know how it's done. I can always drive down to Wheelbuilder with Riley. Riley provides the distraction of his staff while I pull a G3 808 off the shelf, toss some cookies at his guy Rick to calibrate that $$$$ 808 to my $ Hed Belgium. 

[Deleted User]

Thanks Coach,

I hadn't considered that between the two G3 powertaps there may be a variance in readings. Will now put the above into action as you decribed.  I rented a set of those "sexy" Zipp wheels that had a PT for Louisville last year.  Wondered why there was a difference (in perceived effect and fatique) when I analysed my output after the race.