Power to the People!

Power to the People!

Power is the result amount of work or watts you are outputting. Think of watts like horse power. A big truck lays down a lot of horses, but a smaller car requires less to go the same speed. So all things being the same, a lighter weight rider creating the same amount of watts will be going faster, especially up hill. However, that bigger rider usually has a bigger engine so on the courses like the Monday night ride along the rivers flats, the linebacker types take over most of the pulling duties. Whereas the bean-pole-jockey-like rider will dance upon the pedals all the way to the summit leaving behind the bigger engines.

Reasons to train with power.

The main reason to opt for power as your cycling measurement of choice is psychological. It is more satisfying to know what your average power output is rather than knowing your average speed and having to compensate that figure by looking at your average heart rate and the conditions and terrain of your ride. In short, using a power meter makes monitoring your cycling progress and planning training rides simpler as you need only concentrate on one set of numbers rather than evaluating several.

Also, unlike heart rate, the readout on a power meter is in real time whereas your heart rate can take time to reflect the change in ride intensity. When performing short duration intervals you will be able to gain more accuracy with a power meter.

Additionally, during a long race or training session your heart rate might remain constant but the average power decreases, indicating fatigue. A heart rate monitor obviously will fail to pick up on this. Like wise, if you are fatigued and training at a given heart rate your watts will be lower than when your are well rested. A heart rate monitor will fail to indicate this as well.

Why Quarq's CinQo?

In the past power meters made you either commit to heavy wheels that were either non aero and/or aero carbon wheels that were costly and fragile. Quarq's crank-based power meter removes all those limitations. This gives the rider the freedom to run lightweight climbing/criterium wheels one day and aero set another--all for less money and weight that the hub based system. Having been the guinea pig for the last six months I can personally confirm that their claims are true.

I would love to discuss this further. Please feel free to stop by Momentum in St. Peters and we can “geek out” together. For more information check http://www.quarq.com/cinqo.

Quarq's new power meter brings freedom to the people. People Power!

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