Hi
Been off the bike completely for the past 10 months due to patellofemoral pain. Finally got the all clear to ride again and decided to treat myself to a power meter for the first time (Assioma Duo). I’ve trained with power for a good few years indoors previously but always just used HR for outside rides.
Got the pedals this week and used them yesterday for the first time - Went out for a general fun ride just to try and correlate feeling with an actual number. First half of the ride I set my Bolt to my normal HR and cadence screen and didn’t look at the power just to get some data and just rode normally. Second half I looked at the power (3/sec avg + 30/sec avg) and tried to do some playing about holding a variety of wattages.
Mega learning experience both good and bad:
On the good side I ballparked my off the couch FTP at about 220 but came out with an IF of 0.95 for a nearly two hour ride that was not particularly hard (I tootled along talking to a random old guy for at least 10 minutes at one point). So I definitely need to retest outside and get some accurate figures.
On the bad side
I always thought I was smooth with my power delivery but unfortunately not. Looking at the power data from the first half of the ride shows that every little rise I’m putting out 350+ watts and then backing off massively over the top and on the flat.
I’m massively overgeared, lots of shortish but steep (15%+) climbs round my area and I’m having to push out big numbers even moving slowly in 34-28. Going to be impossible to do any z2 rides otherwise.
Holding a steady power is REALLY HARD and I’m rubbish at it.
Overall a good experience but a bit daunting to realise how much there is to learn going forward; and a bit disheartening to realise that something you thought you were good at (being steady and not freewheeling everywhere) is definitely not true.
