Gear Review #2?

With the summer winding down a little and fall not too far around the corner I feel its about time to start commenting on some of the gear I have been able to use this year. While working at Kyle's bikes this summer I have been exposed to a LOT of different cycling and running things that I did not know existed. For example, I had heard of Trigger point massage therapy but felt that my $20 foam roller was good enough and did not feel like venturing out. There were also things that I had, such as a transition bag, which did not function well and was searching for the next best thing.

Since I feel that the second review should also be something big like the Jamis T2 which I talked about before it should also be cycling related. The reason it should be cycling related is because cycling equipment takes up a HUGE chunk of the yearly tri budget.

The item is the Saris Powertap SL.
Over the past few years I have trained with heart rate and feel and felt that I had been a pretty solid cyclist. But what did I know?! The first time I had been on a road bike and trained seriously was 3 years ago so how in the heck am I supposed to train based on feel? I don't even know what to feel! At the end of last season I had the opportunity to use one of the Polar power meters that uses chain speed and tension to measure power. It was fun for a while until I started to feel it was pretty far off. After a comparison test with a friends computrainer my suspicion was correct. Soon after that the Polar was on ebay and someone elses problem.

After a spring of training off of "feel" again I finally had the opportunity to use more of a "real" power meter. In came the Saris Powertap SL hand built by Kyle, himself, onto a DT Swiss wheel with a bombproof ribmo Panaracer tire. I had planned on using it with my Garmin 310XT but it came with the Saris electro pack so I decided to do a little comparing.

The first thing I found out was that the number it shows you is VERY addicting. When you do not have that little number in front of you it seems as if everything is lost. The number is also important when you or your coach knows how to use it correctly. You will quickly find that you warm up too hard, climb hills too hard and just plain ride harder than you think. I'm not saying that you should not ride hard or do whatever you feel like, but when you set out to do certain interval workouts or are just doing a recovery ride it is good to have another indicator along for the ride other than "feel."

While training with this useful tool I have found that I can zone in on specific training/ power zones and work that specific system. I know exactly what system I need to work that day, specifically find it and not have to spend so much time on the bike. I have notice that I have ridden a LOT less this year than previous years and still have about the same bike splits. In previous years I had just ridden a lot and done some intervals or "threshold" rides. The term interval or threshold was definitely relative because that largely depended on how I was feeling that day. Now I know where I am and how bad I am slacking (which is usually the case).

Ok, so I am done raving about this great piece of equipment. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for large gains in their cycling fitness and race times. I do not use it while racing but know it has helped me a lot this year.

If I had to rate it I would give it a 9/10. It is very nice that it is easily switched from bike-to-bike, but I also wish I could use it while racing with a disc or other aero wheel. Cant have it all I guess but It is a great tool.

Thats it. Next time (hopefully sometime this week) Ill do something running related. Will it be shoes, a watch, shorts, thong. Wait, W?HAT? Who wears those? Check back and you will see!