I think I just purchased some fitness
So...
I brought my road bike into a local shop to finally fix some chronic creaking in the headset/stem/bars. Got it back on my Ergomo wasn't working. Days earlier Rich Sawiris had offered me a smokin' deal on a Powertap Pro so I took it as a sign, took the Ergomo behind the garage and shot it...actually I called Rich while riding my bike at lunch and had a new wheelset by 4pm, boxed with my bike and shipped to Madison.
But I also borrowed Barry Plaga's road bike to ride while my bike is transit to/from WI and he has a Powertap. So this morning I rode with Rich on "a" Powertap, though not mine. My Peak 20' for the ride was 289w and there aint know way it was an Ergomo 289w. Maybe 260w, at least that's what it feels like. So I'm going to charge up the Joule I also go and slap it on Barry's bike for my ride tomorrow. Curious to see what numbers I get though, again, this isn't my PT wheel.
If I had known that gaining 20-25w was so easy I would have done this long ago...
Comments
Usually it was the other way around. I say WAS cause I think the ones that you have are/were the last functioning ones on earth
Awesome it if is the case though but not awesome when stuff breaks.
Don't talk smack about Ergomos please! I've got two of them (road and tri bikes) and need them to last!!!
FWIW: My "wrench" told me prior to my Ergomo going belly up, that there was a "ton" of drag in the BB. When I switched to PT and had Ergomo BB replaced, I could tell a HUGE difference. Unfortunately, I lost about 5-10 watts.
The Ergomo has been very consistent...but maybe not accurate. Anyway, cool to know that I may have gone from ~285w to 300-305w overnight. Perhaps now I can eat something!!!!
We'll know tomorrow, or at least know in reference to Barry's wheel.
Gina, yes, I can feel some drag in my BB but I have to wait until after WI to replace the cranks. Force or Red compacts, haven't made up my mind. And your drag comment has been in my head ever since the WI camp, bugging me that I may be losing 5w to the BB, so thanks for that
DUH - it never occured to me to check for different wattage reedings between my training wheels and my race wheels. a 5-10 watt delta coould be significant on race day pacing.
I will use my computrainer as the base load generator. Get it warmed up for 30 min on one set of wheels. Set it at my target IM wattage level and ride for 10 min on my training hub. Then do a fast change to the race hub. Warm the comuputrainer back up for 5 min then take another 10 min reading with the race wheel and see how they compare.
As I write this it dawns on me that the PT hubs have a rated accuracy of +/- 1.5 % (good accuracy) so a true 200 watts could read from 197 to 203 or a potential 6 watt delta just do to the capability of the equipment.
Thank you for the wakeup call. Will see what my 2 hubs do and report back.
Matt
Time to buy a new scale; just think what your watts/kg could be...
No kidding. I'm leaving the library now, will hit the grocery store and pick up a few pints of BnJ's for dinner...
Update: today I was 17:26 up my TT hill, 22" lifetime PR. 330w puts my FTP at about 315w. This weekend in Madison will be interesting as I now confident I've been experiencing some watts lost due to friction in the Ergomo BB. We'll see when I ride my bike in Madison (new PT wheel + Ergomo BB) and can compare it to this my rides this week on Barry's bike/wheel.
What's really cool is that 315w is not too far away than my goal of 330w for IMWI next year. Very confident I can pick up 15w or more in a year
. I've heard there's a very strong crew of doodes that climb every Saturday starting near Barry's house, about 20' from me. I'll likely need to start riding with them.
holy power batman.. Can i borrow those wheels? I just need it for a quick test, then i'll give them back..