power and GPS data

kopride said:

The ibike PM seems a half step away from a power meter that incorporates gps data. The GPS computer already has the topography, speed and distance, isn't power just a matter of factoring in real time wind resistance? I already have a shimano flight deck, HRM watch, and was looking at the PT to incorporate power training, (came very close to buying a PT at x-mas) until I saw the new GPS devices, which also also seems to also be a very useful tool in terms of training against a virtual partner and in terms of programming interesting rides and not getting lost. Short of hanging ten different gadgets on your bike, does anybody have any insight into whether a company is working on a GPS unit that will compute power and will be available soon. As it stands know, it seems that both an ibike and GPS (Garmin) at a total cost of about $600 would give you great versatility and loads of useful data (outdoors at least and indoors it is just as easy to calculate watts using a formula and the KK trainer). Are any on you PM junkies also using a GPS unit and, if so, in the long run, over several months of solo riding, is the data pretty consistent over the same rides, i.e. speed, av speed, distance v. power output. In other words, if you graphed the same rides by speed side by side over several months and compared them with power data, could you come up with pretty accurate estimates, i.e. climbing this hill at this point at 17 mph equals (x) watts. Or is wind variation such a factor that riding the same ride at the same speed one day would require significantly different watt patterns on another day. (Again, assuming that you don't regularly ride in extreme weather conditions)

I have the garmin edge with cadance and heart rate and am very happy with it. I got mine from ebay for $320 and the included postage to the UK.

It is nice planing routes that you have never been on and not getting lost (remember it doesnt have maps you have to plan routes no the computer first). You can also download routes from the internet that other people have done. It also has all the data you could ever want exsept power.

It is a usefull unit but no substitute for a PM, It would be great if garmin would bring out a wireless power unit for an extra charge.

oh and the cadence unit also does speed so it is good on the indoor trainer

It seems logical to have the one unit do it all. I wonder whether it is worth waiting. Now, I do most of my power training indoors on the trainer and save my outdoor rides for group rides. It would be fun to be able to get more out of my outdoor solo rides

You can already do most of the overlaying even if you have two units. Takes a little trickery to do it. The one thing I'd like out of it is to have software that can visually represent the information combined. One of these days I'll wriggle out a google API trick to do it. I should probably do it before my first race in March. It would be neat to animate the route with a running powermeter at the bottom over top of a Googlemap.