Buying My First Power Meter -- Stages

chopnatshow

On my bike I currently use a simple Mavic cyclometer with speed, avg speed, max speed, time, distance, cadence.  I want to keep this.  I am adding power that I will monitor on my Garmin 910xt.  I find the Garmin screens easiest to read when l only have 2 data points on each screen. 

Currently, I have all four scrolling data screens in use.  I display:  distance,  time, heart beat / min, heart rate zone, last lap time, average speed, accumulated ascent (ft), % grade, time of day.

What data fields are most valuable to others?  I am particularly interested in what one or two fields are most useful for power metrics?

GMAN 19030

There's a known issue with the Stages PM and the Garmin 910 not playing well together. It "may" work for you but you'd be in the minority. See if it works but odds are you need to plan to use a different head unit.

mdenzien

#1 most useful for me is 3 sec power. Tells you what you're doing right now, basically. This is important for example when you're climbing to be sure you don't apply too much power. Shorter than 3 sec the numbers bounce around too much to be useful.

#2 most useful for me is lap power. If you set up the Garmin to do auto-lap every mile, then you see what you've been doing in your current mile, each mile. Lets you know whether you're fading (and how much) towards the end of, let's say, a 20 min interval at 95-100% of FTP. Makes a nice mile-by-mile summary when you upload the workout afterwards.

You might try 30 sec power and see if you like it.

Any power numbers that are for longer timeframes I don't bother displaying. You can always look at them later after the workout is done.

William Jenks

I will second a pairing of 3-second power and lap power, particularly for training.

The 3-second, 10-second, or 30-second averaging will give you progressively more stable, but less responsive numbers. It's kind of a matter of taste as to which you like, but I think people get more tolerant of the instability in preference to seeing the closer-to-instant response with a bit of experience.

Most people who are brand new to power are surprised how much it jumps around from second to second. It isn't nearly as stable on your bike as it is on a gym training bike...probably theirs are set on something like 30 second averaging specifically in order to smooth out the data.

tcattri

I am fairly new to power as well. This is what I use. i started with a 910 but recently upgraded to the 810:

Overall - NP, IF
Lap - NP, 3 sec power

This helps me keep track of the overall ride and what is happening at the moment. The 3s power is really helping me improve my timing on shifting on the uphills and crests of hills. It is also helping me keep a higher cadence on hills, which has significantly improved my cycling.

I am throwing in another vote for the immediate feedback of 3 sec power

Al Truscott

You might peruse this recent thread:

http://members.endurancenation.us/F...fault.aspx

cgres123

I too like the Avg 3s power display.

My #2 is NP per lap, as I use it in training all the time and in racing I'll hit the interval button at the 1/2 point to ensure equal splits.

Leslie Knight

I bought a Stages last Oct to go with my 910xt.  It took 8 months, 3 meters, and a 500 to make it work right.  I give to give Stages props for repeatedly sending me new units, but it was a maddening process.  I've only really been using it for a month now. 

I like the 3s average.  on the 500, I have 5 screens-

1) Time, time of day, distance, temp (runs about 3-4 degrees high)

2) HR, HR % max, HR zone, avg HR, calories ( I hope this runs low.  With HRM on, it reads about 25 calories per mile, even when I'm working hard.  400 calories in a hard hour??  I hope not!!)

3) Power 3s, pwr %FTP, cadence, power zone.   Cadence has REALLY helped because I'm a masher.  I'm getting higher numbers now.

4) Speed, avg speed, Max speed, Grade%

5) NP, IF, TSS, W/kg, avg power

I do not have mine in scroll because I am focusing on power...so I leave it on screen 3 and manually scroll when I'm interested in seeing the other data. I tried scrolling and even on slow, I didn't like it.  It took too long to get back to the power screen.

Dino Sarti

Frank - If you are keeping the Mavic, why have duplication of data?

For the 910, I would power at 3's and Lap NP. I would call a "lap" 15 minutes. That way your "box" is neither to big or too little. When you here it auto lap, take a drink. It's a great way to stay hydrated.

Another thought, ditch the speed info. You are using power. Speed is irrelevant. You can't keep steady watts and flatten the course if you are chasing speed numbers. I show speed, but only because I use a Gramin 500 with 8 fields. I use speed just to play math games with myself....

chopnatshow

Thanks everyone. Much appreciated.

Paula Nystrom

Hi Frank just curious how it's going with stages.  I am thinking of buying one and also use a Garmin 910XT.  I do not want to swap that out, and stages is an appealing option to replace the crank versus a wheel build etc.  Any feedback you have would be welcome.