Road Cycling

Power meters are awesome :)

The thing I like the most is when cycling into a headwind and feeling like I'm putting out crazy power to go at 15mph...then looking down and realising that I am. Let's not talk about slight declines are tailwinds though. They don't exist.
 
FishFluff said:
I need people's opinions. I've pretty much decided that I really want a Bianchi in my life, but I also want Ultegra Di2. How insane would I be to buy an Oltre XR1 that comes with Potenza and then buy a full Di2 groupset to fit on it just so that I can have the bike in Celeste? Am I being ridiculous?
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If you can afford it, I'm of the disposition to say go for it :cool: ultimately you'll enjoy the bike and could recoup some of the Di2 cost from selling the Potenza.

I did similar with a Trek Emonda ALR. Didn't want or need a full Race Shop version nor the desire for another carbon frame so stripped off a 105 and chucked DA on. Always nice to have something a bit custom too and not totally stock.
 
FishFluff said:
I need people's opinions. I've pretty much decided that I really want a Bianchi in my life, but I also want Ultegra Di2. How insane would I be to buy an Oltre XR1 that comes with Potenza and then buy a full Di2 groupset to fit on it just so that I can have the bike in Celeste? Am I being ridiculous?
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You mean you want Record EPS, surely...
 
I'm all for Di2 being a smarter choice than EPS in terms of value for money but if you're going Bianchi then that argument is out of the window already so... EPS it is :)
 
The Pros don't mind so it's allowed...

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FTP is not 60mins power.
FTP is not set to 60mins.
Colnago are the only actual Italian frames now aren't they? ^ that thing don't count and you can mount whatever you want to it. It is lovely though. Nicest recent bike there is especially since it doesn't have a disc brake option :) Bloke at work got one 2 weeks ago but he got it in an illegal colour.
 
SDK^ said:
Another point I would like to raise : The method of calculating a 1 hour FTP result = 95% of Critical Power (CP) 20 minute FTP is flawed. Unless you are a pro or serious rider most average riders doing an CP20 test are at 80-90% of their 1 hour power. Some riders who can complete a CP20 test probably couldn't even finish an hour FTP test :p
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The 0.95 calculation isn't flawed as such, it's a good baseline. It's only as flawed as assuming most people should be calculating * 0.80 to 0.90 instead of by 0.95. I think the 0.95 "rule" is a victim of the times and now that power meters are accessible and affordable to the masses rather than serious competitive riders for the most part it means that the one general rule of thumb to * 0.95 is out dated.
With decent modelling and metrics also available to the said masses these days though it makes no sense to be using primitive calculations. WKO4 and Golden Cheetah can model your data and give you a proper calculation that will be a hell of a more accurate then 10 seconds on a calculator. It boggles me the people that avoid using such software as they are terrified of data, yet they bought a power meter for hundreds of pounds which is literally a training tool to be used to train to precise data :p
 
I was never sure why Lotto had the Pioneer PWM's in Yellow. I know their kit colour is yellow but it looks utterly bizarre on the Celeste colour frameset isolated away from the rider. :rolleyes:

They may well have gone the whole hog and had the Bianchi's in Black or something equally as bizarre looking! (Ross ;))

FrenchTart said:
I guess it being unrelated makes sense, though still a little odd given the flow of conversation :p
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Tenuous link, but still kinda linked. We'd discussed it before where I think touch/xdcx said about a time to fatigue test being a better measure of things. It's certainly more applicable to racing but part of the 'appeal' of FTP is the easy measurement of it, along with a single number which is easily used to judge efforts in training against (especially intervals). It's used everywhere when it comes to software/turbo trainers (probably too much so) which has lead to people comparing their FTP's against each other (totally wrong application for it!). One thing I've noticed more recently is many of the races on Zwift being measured by w/kg, which I think is a much better measurement for 'comparisons' between riders (I'm not saying it's the best!). A huge part of that I think is the 'American' influence of lots of bigger guys riding with big FTP numbers, yet with rubbish 'endurance'. W/kg 'balances' them against the more traditional light weight cycling physique better.
  • W/KG is a better measurement for riders on a platform like Zwift racing.
  • FTP is a better individual measurement for riders using interval training sessions.
  • TTF (or whatever fancy name for it) is a better measurement for real world racing/chaingangs etc.
That's my opinion anyway, feel free to correct me! ;)

merlin said:
I must remember to NEVER get a power meter.

Cycling shouldn't be complicated:p
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A power meter is exactly the opposite, you immediately have the answer to those questions, the 'did I go hard enough there' and 'am I pushing hard enough now' are immediately answered. ;)

If you want to just 'ride on feel' and 'don't care about the numbers' (like many say) then fair enough. But then many riders who say that are some of the worst segment hunters on Strava, proving they do care about the numbers and 'competition' which any measurement brings... If they don't care about the data/numbers then what are they even doing on Strava! :rolleyes: ;)
 
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Pah! eTap is where it's at!

No regrets in buying my Garmin Vector power meter. No issues at all so far. Transferred it to my summer bike the other day and the numbers seems comparable.

I must admit I mainly bought it so I could pace myself on very long rides, and my commutes to work. But as I've done 118 miles commuting so far this week and my total average is 20.1mph, it hasn't really worked lol!
 
xdcx said:
WKO4 and Golden Cheetah can model your data and give you a proper calculation that will be a hell of a more accurate then 10 seconds on a calculator. It boggles me the people that avoid using such software as they are terrified of data, yet they bought a power meter for hundreds of pounds which is literally a training tool to be used to train to precise data :p
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In an ideal world, yes, but it doesnt work for everyone. If you can't use power on every ride then a lot of the data is meaningless.
With a powertap, I cant use it on my mtb/cross rides in the winter and I use my race wheels for racing so it misses out a large chunk of my riding. That puts the TSS and freshness graphs out, particularly if you race a lot and most of the summer is spent in a race/recover cycle. It's also going to miss some of the max power, ftp, etc stuff as well.
I'm sure you'd still get some useful data from it but there's also a lot of guesswork involved to fill in the gaps too.
 
touch said:
In an ideal world, yes, but it doesnt work for everyone. If you can't use power on every ride then a lot of the data is meaningless.
With a powertap, I cant use it on my mtb/cross rides in the winter and I use my race wheels for racing so it misses out a large chunk of my riding. That puts the TSS and freshness graphs out, particularly if you race a lot and most of the summer is spent in a race/recover cycle. It's also going to miss some of the max power, ftp, etc stuff as well.
I'm sure you'd still get some useful data from it but there's also a lot of guesswork involved to fill in the gaps too.
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I don't like your ideal world as it contains those wrong types of bikes that get dirty and what not. So I declare you wrong and tell you that you only have yourself to blame :D
 
Am I right in thinking that Shimano 7/8/9 speed all use the same chains? Other halfs Avail 5 is 16 speed Claris (FSA crankset & SRAM cassette with Shimano derailleurs) and I'm sure the current chain is a KMC 'Z7' (which is listed as 7 speed on Wiggle...)

Any other chain suggestions?

Going to grab a cassette and service my campagnolo khamsin wheelset for her to use as freehub bearings are getting very rough on hers (any suggestions on where to get a spacer?).

Any deals on Conti tyres recently? Going to get her on 4 Seasons as I've one part worn (but still good) already.
 
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