If you Google this subject, you will find many articles on the pros and cons of riding and training with power and all of them will suggest that if you want to take your cycling forward, having a power meter is worth the investment. 

So, I am not going to bore you with all the technical data and science talk and want to share with you why I think having a power meter is becoming essential. 

The 3 main ways to prescribe training intensity are: Heart Rate, Power and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE). And each of them has their place and will make you fitter and faster. But by how much? 

And this is the main benefit of training with power. We can reproduce efforts and if the power goes up for the same prescription you are getting stronger. 

Lactate Threshold and Max heart rate might change a bit from when you started to becoming well trained, but then, as you get older these values drop. So heart rate will not tell us if we get stronger. RPE on the other hand is very subjective and will not really tell us if we are improving or not. But what about Strava segments? This is a great way of measuring your improvement, but here again, weather, traffic, etc. can play a big role. 

With power it’s clear. If you do a 5min all-out effort today and you get 300 Watts and this number is higher when you do it again you are improving. 

Of course there are a multitude of other benefits as well, like being able to target energy systems more specifically, assist with pacing, being able to compare heart rate and power, etc. 

Smart indoor trainers like Wahoo, Tacx, WattBikes, etc. have really made training with power a mainstream workout and when you are someone who have limited time, or you live in an area where riding outside is dangerous these smart trainers have totally transformed the world of cycling. In my opinion, however, these indoor trainers will never replace the real thing. We ride bikes because we can see the world doing so and if you are someone who does all your training outside, get a power meter for your bike, you will not regret it. 

AND, they are becoming more affordable and more accurate all the time. 

Before you jump on the internet and buy a power meter for your bike please read on.

It does not matter the price of the power meter, if the data you get from it is unreliable, you paid to much 😊

The main types of power meters available and my favourites are: 

Spider based

This power meter replace the spider of your crank. This is the most effective type of power meter for mountain biking as it is the most protected from knocking a rock, etc. My go to option is Sigeyi. Sigeyi is a relative new kid on the block, but what I like about them are: Very good quality data, robust, good support, and one of the best priced mountain bike power meters available. 

Crank based

This power meter replaces the crank arm. You can choose between dual-sided or single-side. Just go for a single sided option. They are way cheaper and produce more than enough data to measure everything you want to know. This is a popular option for road bikes and my option of choice is 4iiii. 

Pedal-based

Here the power meter sits inside the pedal. This is a great option if you are a road cyclist with maybe a gravel bike as well as you can transfer the pedals between your bikes. A power meter is a sensitive piece of electronic equipment and it stands to reason that to have a pedal-based power meter on a MTB is risky as you might hit your pedal against rocks damaging your power meter. The bench-mark in pedal-based power meters is Favero’s Assioma pedals. You get them in single-sided or duo-sided. As with the crank-based pedal meters … going for a single sided power meter is more than adequate. 

Again, before you buy, make sure what you are looking at is compatible with your bike. 

If this short article got your attention and you have found your next birthday present to yourself, feel free to give me a shout if you have any questions. We can also assist you in finding the best power meter for your bike.