Training With Power > PowerMeters

Heat and humidity like that really effects heart rate especially over time. So does fatigue. Can look at your power to heart rate ratio. Yours was at 10.3% which actually isn’t too bad considering the heat. But may have started higher.

Overall an intensity factor of .76 isn’t too hard and a good hard weekend ride! Zone 2 top end is .75. So not really too much more

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I’ve trained with Fascat for a while now and I’ve had many different powermeters. I try and keep a set of power pedals so I can use them on my road bikes and rentals when on the road for work or vacation and that is nice but as Frank says they aren’t great.

My first set were powertap P1s and while consistent for a while they died after a year and had to get serviced… needed a new set right away for a race in a week so I picked up some Vector 3s… also good for a several months but I have battery issues with them occasionally and more drops.

On the mountain bike side my first PM before I met Fascat was a stages. Horrendous. Drop outs are one thing and they are frustrating but spikes are the worst. All the numbers you are working towards get really messed up. When I built my race bike last year I took Franks advice and put a dzero quarq on it. Flawless performance so far over many rough miles in all conditions.

I keep power pedals around for the practical multi-bike thing especially when traveling but I will be running a quarq everywhere else from now on.

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Welcome to the Coalition @ira and thanks for sharing. I’ve worked with hundreds of athletes who have experienced the same thing. The problem is there’s about 4-6 months while you are scratching your head wondering why the data is telling you one thing and performance points to the opposite conclusion. It really comes down to being able to trust the data. And if you can’t you can’t make good training decisions based on that data.

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I have to disagree about the Quarq. I had a Quarq PM and found that there was a consistent difference of 10W or more depending on whether I was in the big or small chainring. Talk about garbage data. I also had difficulties with lots of random power dropouts, which was really annoying when trying to get good interval data.
I switched to Stages and now have one on two different bikes and find that they read exactly the same. I love Stages. I feel the data is accurate and repeatable. They communicate seamlessly with all my devices and I have yet to have any dropout or calibration issues.
Plus the fact that they are cheaper means that you can potentially have one on more than one bike if your budget allows.

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My name is Adam and I’m a powermeteroholic.

Like the original poster I started with a Kickr and got introduced to power training. From there I purchased a Gen 1 Stages, which regularly went back to Stages for various issues. Not learning from this I purchased two Gen 2 Stages, one of which was replaced the other still working great.
Finally I learnt my lesson and picked up DZero’s and these have been golden since day one. Love the new AXS app to create a bike profile with the Quarq’s.
Somewhere along the lines I picked up a single sided Vector3. I was lucky enough to not have many issues with it after bodging and replacing the battery covers; but I can not honestly recommend them.
On my mountain bike I have a Rotor InPower which has never put a foot wrong and still on the original battery after two years!
Last week I finally got a full replacement for the first Gen 1 Stages and so now own a Gen 3. Will see if this one lasts any longer.

In terms of which one to use; it’s the Quarq. My winter/training bike is the goto and the DZero has never let me down.

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Thanks Frank. I think I can enter a different FTP for my indoor rides since I’m using the Stages App vs might outdoor rides. Do you have any issue with doing the proposed gravel training indoors for the shorter rides (up to 90 mins) vs doing the other workouts outdoor. From your first comment, it sounds like you don’t.

Again not sure what the question is here and what workouts you are referring to. Physiologically your training plan is the same indoors or outdoors - its just up to you to make the choice of how to follow it.

Perfect. That’s what I needed to know.

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I have the Quarq as well recommended from @FRANK - using it now for more than a year without any issues - hop on the bike and pedal in your power zone :wink:
I had also the XX Setup (2x10) on my 2013 S-Works Epic FSR but modified at the same time to the Eagle GX shifter and derailleur and X01 chain and rings - I’ll never go back to 2x, maybe I update one day to the new Eagle AXS.

Is it more accurate to ‘include zeros’ in your power data or not? Riding outside in Southern California I go through stretches with lots of lights and can sit waiting for many of them to get to better training roads.

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You should always include zeros. Otherwise it will give you false averages.

Hi folks! Been training for 2 years using a left only stages gen 2 meter. I’m fully aware it isn’t particularly accurate, but at least it has been reliable for the time being.

Is it good enough for training or would a dual sided unit make all that difference on the results?

Thanks!

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@marcelo.miyano While you will miss out on the left/right balance metrics, the left side only stages will be more then enough for training purposes. If its been reliable for you in training then thats the most important thing.

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I dread asking this question. Frank what has your experience been with the Specialized S Works dual side power cranks? I’ve used the Quarq for 5 plus years without a single issue and powertap the 12 years prior. Now, (as you mentioned 5 months later), I maybe in the head scratching mode.

I don’t have any experience with the Specialized branded powermeter. As I understand it that really is a 4iii’s…

I think your Quarq will be far superior tho, just a hunch.

Agree. Have Stages on my 3 bikes and no bother. Gen 3 is best of course but have Gen 2 and it’s good. I can’t afford to spend hundreds on a pm that is fitted to one bike only. So long as I have a rough idea of where my power’s at ; that’s all I want.