First power meter strategies

I’m sorry to bother you all with a new topic about this but the forum sometimes seems like a gaping black hole when you just have a simple question and I haven’t been able to find the answer to my exact question.

I’ve ordered a 4iiii Precision left crankarm power meter yesterday. I have been training inside on a Wahoo Kickr Core and it’s been awesome. I’m on a restweek now so this seemed like a perfect time to jump on the power meter wagon. But I need some reassurance on my strategy.

If I’m correct, from reading the forum and listening to the podcast. If we shove our ego’s to the side for a bit it would be best to do the next FTP test coming up with the 4iiii on TR power match so the FTP for the next phase of training is based on the reading the crankarm power meter. Which would make the difference in power reading if there is one between the crankarm power meter and the Kickr Core meter becomes obsolete right? Am I correct on this so far?

Now if we go get our ego back out from the corner of the room… Is there a way to get my Ramp Test FTP number based on the Kickr Core AND the 4iiii seperate? So I can at least compare if I made any progress since the last Ramp test? I’m assuming after reading on the forum there will/can be a (significant) difference between the two meters. So even though the 4iiii power matched number will be the right FTP number, it may be lower than the one I got on the Kickr Core :thinking:

How do I find out if I made some progress? I don’t really care about the FTP number itself but I do care about the progression. Even though a higher power to weight would be nice to dose my ego a little bit :grin::star_struck:

The easy answer is to just use your new 4iiii and powermatch starting with your ramp test. However, you’ll never really know if and what the difference is between your trainer versus 4iiii.

What I recommend, and did when I got my new power meter (PM), is to use both simultaneously but separate. Let me explain.

Continue to use your trainer for power and connect you PM to a head unit. Run both for every workout for a few weeks. End your trainer workout first so that gets used/loaded into TR and Strava. Then, 30 seconds later end your head unit workout. Once you have both workout files, use the power comparison tool DCR Analyzer Tool Overview & Manual. After numerous workouts at different intensities you’ll get a true understanding of any differences. My Quarq and Kickr Snap ended up being essentially identical after I compared about 15 workouts. This was the case also when I got my Kickr Core.

This isn’t necessary, but I liked knowing that my FTP in the past is comparable to my future FTPs even though I changed power meters and trainers. It was reassuring to me so I could measure progress when comparing seasons, training blocks, season match, etc.

There’s a forum post a few years ago where I showed all my comparisons, if I find it I’ll link it below.

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I did some tests on my Stages and documented it here:

In general, yes, I’d use the new power meter for everything going forward.

You could also do two ramp tests. Do one on the old setup and then a day or two later do another on the 4iiii.

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Found one of my posts:

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Thank you! This has all the answers I was looking for.

So basically to sum it up, I just commit to what I had in mind already but by comparing the two power files separately I can figure out how comparable they are. If they are too far apart it’s a shame but I’ll just go with the numbers out of the 4iiii so I can add outside rides to the menu and still be productive.

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