123 days until IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga
Commentary
I’m always amazed by the different types of technology that are marketed to athletes like us. A company called Stryd (rhymes with stride and sounds a lot like it too) sells power meters for running. If it does what they claim, then I am absolutely amazed.
To me it makes sense that power can be measured on a bike. If the amount of force between two objects acting against each other can be measured then it shouldn’t be too big of a mental leap that those two object are placed inside a hub or in a bottom bracket or in pedals. Maybe it doesn’t take two objects. Maybe tension can be measured in a solid object. I’m sure it can, like the load cells of an electronic scale.
If you know anything about physics, that last paragraph may be total B.S., but I think you know what I’m getting at. How on earth do you measure the power exerted by a runner with a tiny device that fits on her shoe? I can understand a runner harnessed to a sled with a simple device to measure the tension between the runner and the sled. But a tiny device on the shoe?
Do I really need such a device to become a better athlete? I believe it measures what they claim, but is it so much more accurate than heart rate, pace and relative perceived exertion? Of that I’m a bit skeptical. 🤨 (I never knew they had a skeptic emoji!). At $219 USD, I may break down and get one just to find out. I can probably wait until next year, but you might want to check it out.
Workout
That profile above isn’t exactly the picture of an even paced recovery ride. I have no idea why, but my Garmin 735XT GPS ANT+ sport watch dropped a lot of watts. The PowerTap was fine, but it’s a pain in the arse to upload data from my 12 year old PowerTap, so I sacrificed accuracy for convenience. That’s not very data nerdy of me.
Two things you should know about me: I’m cheap and I’m lazy.
Until tomorrow…