I know my FTP and I suck!

Paul Hough

So after 2 years of tasting the koolaid - but not really drinking it - I broke down and bought a Cyclops Powerbeam Pro so I can at least get watts on my trainer (because I'm lazy, I have a dedicated training bike and even a dedicated trainer wheel & tire so I didn't want to go the conventional powertap route on another wheel).  I considered a computrainer but the reviews about the technical complexity deterred me.   It's a good thing because it's taken me a month to figure out everything on my Powerbeam.   But after much initial confusion, it appears that my FTP is ....wait for it....just 200!   Ow, that's only 2.94 watts/kg for me.   So, apparently I have found my real weakness and hope to bump that up at least 20 watts this winter.  Meanwhile, I'm definitely working harder on the trainer now that I know my actual heartrate, cadence, and power output as I'm riding. 

The Powerbeam is a pretty cool toy, but the manual that came with it covered set-up only.  There wasn't squat about how to use it.  Talk about a major packaging defect!   I had to call Saris to find online links to additional manuals that I could download and even those were not that helpful.  SARIS is excellent at answering the phone but don't bother with the "Contact Us" on their website...they never responded to the 2 e-mails I sent through their website.  So, overall I give them a B- on customer support.  It took me a month to basically figure out how to get a reliable reading because I was using Training Power on the Joule.  I.e., if I set the power at 200 watts and then shifted down and stood up to see what I could do, I would only get a momentary spike in watts before the trainer would start reducing the resistance to hold the watts at 200.  Using Slope @ 0% (or higher) is the required setting to increase watts with increased work. 

Anyway, I'm in the power club now.  Next step is to figure out what is the friggin' difference between PowerAgent (which was a free download) versus Training Peaks and WKO.   I have no clue.  Right now, the Joule 3 and PowerAgent are enough to tell me that I've got a lot of work to do. 

 

William Jenks

Lots to learn!

Quick and dirty on the software is that if you have WKO, you need not bother with the others. TP is a greater package obviously, but is not as complete as WKO even though it's from the same people for the bike analysis.

My guess is that you will have the 20 w by Nov 1... Just from learning how to ride with the PM showing what you are doing in real time. After that, of course, it gets hard again. :-)

Gordon Cherwoniak

Paul,

Enjoy the new toy and it is an effective whip to keep you honest.  There's no hiding from the numbers at the end of a main set.

Gordon

kjanracing

200 w doesn't suck.

Al Truscott

Paul, I've seen you race several times, and your watts/kg on the road on a tri bike is more like 3.6-3.7 w/kg. BUT - if you're using the trainer for interval work, you should use your "trainer" FTP just for training purposes.

kurshing

Are you going to get a PM for your outside riding then as well? With all of the other money you have...that would round you out.

Paul Hough

@ Al and Stephen. I hate techno gadgets that aren't intuitively obvious to the moron on the street ... which would be me. But I think my FTP must be higher than the trainer is showing. After Sunday's race where I averaged 25.29mph for 13 miles; and getting the 3rd fastest bike split in the entire field of 500, my power is probably higher than the trainer is telling me. Or it's because I'm reading about all the great numbers from everyone else so I'm working harder than ever! For actual racing, I'm still on RPE although thinking about a powertap. The Powerbeam will let you adjust the readings based on a powertap on the bike. Maybe next summer though before I start training for Cozumel.

Kevin Walter

I suspect it is a problem with calibration somewhere. All powermeters have some sort of calibration process which is critical to getting good data. The "default" zero point will be off quite a bit from reality.

chris malone

Yet another testimonial for SRM and Quark.....

Coach Rich

Paul:

• Welcome to power, you can not hide.
• I agree, there may be a calibration issue/procedure you need to follow. Part of training with power is learning the proper procedures to follow to get good data. Read the manual and make sure you've done those.

Paul Hough

I've performed the roll down calibration a half-dozen times and each time I get the "Passed". Anyway, I set my training zones based on the 200 FTP and I'm working like never before. If Sunday's bike split is partially a result of that work, then it was worth the money and the agony!

Michele Cellai

We owned the same thing. We went thru 4 different models, it would not hold resistance. We ended getting a free Joule from them and never looked back at that POS. I wouldn't trust any numbers from it.

OK, now that my hissy rant is over because that machine was a 1 year long nightmare, FTP on a trainer is different then outdoors. You'll get a good training load and the numbers won't transfer to outside. No big deal.

Good luck.

Paul Hough

Dang Michelle - that's a sad commentary! I read some great reviews on the machine and the numbers appear to be very stable/consistent although not what I expected. I guess if I got a powertap wheel I would have to use a different set of numbers for outdoors, but I will say that since I got the Powerbeam, there is no doubt that I've been working much, much harder on the bike. I was very frustrated at the beginning but it had more to do with the lack of instructions than anything else. They obviously don't know how to write a tech manual for layman; or maybe they gave the writing assignment to the same guy who is supposed to answer client e-mail. Regardless, I've been more and more pleased with the trainer as I've learned how to use it; and am now getting results that make sense even if they are a little on the low side. But since I'm racing with RPE and just had my all time best bike split (relative to the race field), I'm going to keep using it ... happily!!