The new Powertap is laced to my wheel, and all hooked up and ready to go. I took it for a spin this afternoon, and while I didn't do any testing, the experience was eye opening. I spent my time seein' what different wattages felt like. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was in the stone age when I was training solely with HR. I can already see the potential for serious improvement when I start training for next season.
The amount of data that is collected can be daunting for the uninitiated. For anyone considering purchasing a power meter, I highly recommend the book "Training and Racing with a Power Meter" by Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan. Parts of the book border on techno babble and take reading it a few times to get an idea of what those boys are talkin' about, but it's good stuff.
I'm planning on not doing any formal testing(for threshold power + strengths & weaknesses) till after my 2 week break, but curiosity might get the better of me, which means I might have to break down and do the tests in the next week or so.
I would imagine that quite a few cyclists who train with a power meter use it as a bragging tool. They'll gladly tell you at every chance that their "threshold power is X watts" or somethin' along those lines. It's all well and good that you can produce a certain number of watts for X amount of time, but there's more to it than that. Having a Ferrari doesn't make you a great race driver...sure, that car gives you the potential, but it takes more than a big engine. You might be able to produce upwards of 5.5-6 watts/kg and if you don't know tactics and strategy then you could probably be beaten by a beginner.
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