So I’m looking at spending a bit more time on the Turbo this winter than previous mainly due to having a young Sweajnr1 in the household. As such I’m thinking I need to be a bit more focused and I think a Powermeter would help in keeping me motivated and ensure the sessions I’m doing have benefit (I like numbers and data). I have a very old Minoura turbo and so I have two options.

1) Fit Powermeter to the bike (stages crank probably) and keep old trainer. This is the more expensive option but it means I also have a powermeter if I ride outside.
2) Buy something like a Tacx Flow which allows power to be set as the resistance. This is cheaper and also has the advantage that sweamrs can use it if she wishes (unlikely but you never know).

For me the main difference is that with the old Minoura I’d be aiming for power outputs but they would be variable (i.e it really does depend on how hard I’m pedaling and the resistance I’ve got it set to) whereas with the Tacx flow I would set a value and try to maintain it.

So my question to those that have one on the bike is how easy is it to keep within zones? Or do people think it is easier just to dial in a power and then try not to vomit?

Any experience or thoughts on either option appreciated.

So my question to those that have one on the bike is how easy is it to keep within zones? Or do people think it is easier just to dial in a power and then try not to vomit?

Power varies quite a lot on a second by second basis – you’re always best looking at 3 or 10 second averaged power if you’re trying to ride to a certain number, at which point it’s not that difficult to hold.

That said, the last thing you want to be doing is just sitting at a certain power, it’ll be mind numbingly boring. Whichever route you go down, get yourself a TrainerRoad subscription, which will actually give meaning to your sessions, and give you real world numbers you can track.

Personally I’d get a power meter every time, rather than a turbo with power output. If you don’t want to spend Stages money then you can probably get a cheap second hand PowerTap wheel.

Having a power meter doesn’t make anything inherently more interesting – riding to a specific power will be just as horrendous as riding to a specific speed or HR, and similarly pointless, you have to work with the data to make the most of it.

Thanks Nick – Should have made it a bit clearer.. I am intending to do the Trainerroad with intervals and the like. I’ve actually done a full set of lactate tests recently and as such have a whole load of numbers I didn’t know before.

But having them has made me aware that my previous workouts on the old turbo (basically 3 minutes on level 2; 3 minutes on level etc) are not now as informative or possibly as beneficial as I would like.

Aah, very good, well I stand by my original comment that a power meter is more useful than a turbo which measures power – if nothing else you can transfer the numbers to the real outside world just as much as you can on the turbo!

also, in my experience the tacx flow is not a particularly accurate measure of absolute power. mine seems to very wildy between workouts, largely no doubt due to it not being directly measured via the hub or crankset.

Yes I wasn’t sure about that, I’ve got an Imagic, which was meant to have horrendously inaccurate power numbers. I’ve never actually compared my PowerTap to the turbo power though as the turbo has died, so I just use it as a basic resistance unit.

Put the meter on the bike as a power meter is more accurate than any turbo power measurement plus as you say you can use it out in the real world as well. I don’t know what you’re goals are but if you race then having power data from a race is some of the most valuable data you can have which allows you to analyse your strengths and weaknesses. Even for a Sportive rider like me it tells me if my training is working.

On a Turbo its easy to keep within a power zone (much easier than it is on the road). You quickly get a feel for the gear and cadence you should be riding to achieve a certain power output. Having cadence reading is a great help as I tend to get into the required power zone then use cadence to maintain a constant effort rather than power which can jump about a bit.

TrainerRoad is good and also there’s a lot of good stuff in Training and Racing with a Power Meter by Allen and Coggan.

Do powertaps work in turbo’s? I thought they didn’t like being clamped?

If you’ve got trainer road, then as long as you keep everything else equal, is there any need to upgrade the turbo? It may not be absolutely accurate, but it’s relative between sessions, and probably as accurate as most turbo’s power readins, as they just measure it’s RPM and read off a curve. I just use my minoura hypermag in it’s middle setting and go up/down the gears and cadence to adjust power.

I do quite like the bikes at the gym with the ability to “dial in a power and then try not to vomit”. But once you’ve picked a gear & cadence it’s pretty easy to keep the dot on trainer road aligned with the line.

What TINAS says, if you train with virtual power now the price point of power meters will go down next year…

Should have been clearer still.. my current turbo does not support the virtual power of trainer road. I’ll check but it’s an old unit with literally just a cable operated magnetic resistance.

Some people like these things

http://wattbike.com/uk/

Been using my old powertap on the turbo for a few years now and had no problems. Am increasingly tempted by a Kickr though.

Trainerroad virtual power is a pretty good step on the way to training with power. But once you’ve used a power meter it is is very obvious that it’s deriving a value from wheel speed and not measuring actual power.

Do powertaps work in turbo’s? I thought they didn’t like being clamped?

Mine’s fine!

Personally, I’d just fit a cheap rear wheel mounted speedo, calibrated to the power-speed curve so that XX.X mph reads as XXX Watts, the conversion is about 0.6 for wheel diameter. Then you can compare with Trainer Road Power.

Personally, I’d just fit a cheap rear wheel mounted speedo, calibrated to the power-speed curve so that XX.X mph reads as XXX Watts, the conversion is about 0.6 for wheel diameter. Then you can compare with Trainer Road Power.

I know for a fact the line for my minoura is a curve because I e-mailed asking minoura for the data.

Should have been clearer still.. my current turbo does not support the virtual power of trainer road. I’ll check but it’s an old unit with literally just a cable operated magnetic resistance.

It probably does, it’ll just be called something else. Most minoura mag trainers (and a lot of other brands, same factory or minoura selling them to other brands? The cheap ones on P-X look just like mine) seem to use the same resitance unit, some with bigger flywheels but for steady state stuff that’s mostly irelavent. Mine’s a hypermag 1200, and the cable/lever’s labled L12345H.

If anyone wants the graph drop me an e-mail.

Get a Tacx 😉 mine is linear across all 10 settings, as are the rollers. I also have the luxury of a power meter, but tend not to use that bike on the turbo, and don’t switch cranks often.

I’ll probably go down the Trainer Road option this winter. But the speedo option won’t be off by more than about 10% and consistency is what matters, not absolute numbers.

Emailing trainerroad should get you a definite answer about your old turbo, or you could get the model they like which is the Kurt kinetic road machine. Or maybe you have already justified the cost of a real power meter 🙂

I have a stages and a tacx flow.

Over the period of an hour or so the average power is very close, within 3-4% usually. But for shorter intervals, peak power etc its way off.

If you can afford a powermeter I’d go that route. As mentioned above, you can then use it outside as well