How to Cycle With Power Meters

A bicycle equipped with a power meter provides feedback about your workout to help your training. The meter measures your power output in watts to tell you if you are working too hard or need to push yourself a little more. This matters for competitive cyclists because if they are putting out too much effort, they will tire before the end of the race. If they put out too little power, they could lose the race. Learning to use a power meter trains you to ride at your best pace to do well in a racing situation.

Things You'll Need

  • Bicycle
  • Power meter
  • Bike trainer
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Instructions

    • 1

      Install your power meter according to the manufacturer's instructions. This procedure will differ for every power meter.

    • 2

      Follow the manufacturer's directions to calibrate your power meter before each ride. This is necessary because the components of the power meter are influenced by atmospheric changes and could give a false reading if not calibrated properly.

    • 3

      Continue to ride according to your normal training schedule for a week of two after installing the power meter. This gives you time to see how the power meter's readings change as you pedal harder, go uphill and sprint.

    • 4

      Place your bike in a trainer and ride as hard as possible for five minutes. Your power meter will record the maximum watts and average watts for this time period. Use the average watts for this five-minute test as your maximum power output.

    • 5

      Devise a training routine from your maximum power output. The following is a guideline from the website Training for Cyclists: for recovery rides, cycle at 40 percent of your maximum wattage; for endurance training stay within 50 to 85 percent of maximum for a three-hour ride; for anaerobic endurance training do five sets of one minute at 100 to 130 percent of maximum with six minutes of recovery; for sprint training ride 150 meters at 200 percent of your maximum, recover completely, then repeat four times.