A Happy Birthday

Last week I turned 42, not a milestone birthday by any means, but a big enough event to justify getting my new toy/tool (maybe a little of both). After training with power for the last six months, and seeing huge improvements in my Time Trialing and power, I knew I couldn't go back to just training with heart rate when it came time to get on my Mountain Bike. So after getting my wife's OK, I started shopping for a Mountain Bike PowerTap hub. I was able to just buy the hub and save a little money by using the computer head and accessories I already had. A local bike shop built the hub into a new tubeless rim for me and a few days before my birthday I had my new toy/tool.

So what's it like? Well, the data is very different form the data I'd get from a road bike. In fact, I can see why so many mountain bikers do 70-80% of their training on road bikes. A full 1/3 of my time on the mountain bike is spent at or below 20 watts (coasting) and when the power comes on it goes high! This doesn't come as a complete surprise as I have read all the articles I could get my hands on from Melanie McQuaid and Fascat Coaching on the Saris website. But, I can see how hard it is to maintain a consistent power when you're off road, especially on single-track. I'm also especially conscious about not looking down at the power-meter while trying to navigate some tight turns! The benefit of having a PowerTap on board is the ability to analyze your power requirements, after the ride, so you can go train those systems. And while many people take what they find on their Mountain Bike and try and transfer that over to a road bike, I do have access to venues that can provide long protracted climbs (ski hills) and long endurance rides (rail to trails) where I'll be doing most of my training. After being off my Mountain Bike for so long I really need the time in the saddle if I'm going to ride the Leadville 100 and my new PowerTap Disc Mountain Bike wheel lets me do that.

Train Hard and Smart,

Pat