Thursday, March 5, 2009

PowerCranks Update: PowerTap Ready to be Installed



Last week, I was able to get out on the road with my PC bike for a couple of hours. To my surprise, I had very little trouble keeping the bike up to speed on long stretches.

When I first rolled out, I had a little issue with my rhythm, as I hadn't ridden the PC's outside for quite some time. But by the time I was outside of the city limits, I was pedaling smoothly and was didn't feel obliged to "think" about pedaling properly.

I also spend a good amount of time riding out of the saddle. I am not sure if riding the PC's out of the saddle gives the user any training benefit, but logic tells me that it must. I found that if I kept my cadence low and applied even power throughout the pedal stroke, I was able to pedal out of the saddle for a minute at a time. The only problem was that in keeping smooth, I was sacrificing power output. When standing on hills and keeping everything smooth and even, I found that I was traveling slower than it I remained seated. Usually the reverse is true on a hill, you get out of the saddle to accelerate or to maintain the same velocity using different muscles.

Speaking of power, I just received my extra PowerTap pickup, which I will be installing on my PC bike. I also got a Campagnolo compatible freehub body so that I will no longer have to use the destroyed conversion cassette. The chain skip caused by the conversion cassette is my go to excuse for my poor TT test result 2 weeks ago.



Once I get this all installed, I will compare power outputs and corresponding heart rates on a PC bike and a non PC bike to note the differences. I promise that I will not post any power data, as always, I will keep all of the data qualitative.

Next week, after collecting a little data, I plan on attempting to complete some tempo workouts on the PCs, perhaps even some hill work. I may even post a schedule so that you all can come out and laugh at me.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

dude, you are wasting your money and time. just buy an altitude tent. much better bang for the buck and a lot less "effort" required.

plus the lady can share the benefits so it's really like getting 2 for 1.

RMM said...

Actually, I am considering it once I am fully employed. It will solve the vexing problem of our "integrated" living/sleeping space. If we were sleeping in the tent, we'd have more privacy.
It cheaper than building walls.

Colin R said...

You better make sure your tent can move enough oxygen for two people, unless you want to wake up on the verge of asphyxiation. Or so I heard.

RMM said...

Colin:

Good Point.