PM during a race- how useful?

PJG said:

For example , when I trained using heart rate I never saw the use in monitering my hrt rate during a race- when people went up the road either I could go or couldn't no matter what my hrt rate was.

Unless boxed in, why couldn't you go when your HR was low?

PJG said:

How useful, or helpful, is it racing (road or crit) with a PM? TTs I understand, but it seems that during a RR or crit, either you make the move or don't, or win the sprint or don't. So during a race, is your PM of any use?...

I use PM data during the first five minutes or so of a TT to avoid going out too hard. I also use it when working in a break or chase group to make sure I'm not getting too excited and setting myself up to blow. But basically you're right, in a mass start event you've got to react to the field and your meter isn't that helpful.

Quoted post said:

...I can see the data being useful afterwards, but I'm just wondering about during. One reason I ask is because I'm debating how important it is to have a powertap on a wheel I would race with versus just train with...

But it's that data you collect during racing that's the most useful to guide your training. IOW, you can't really seperate the real time usefulness of a PM during racing from the incredible value of PM data collected during races.

So IMHO, you shouldn't be a slave to the numbers during a race, but that doesn't mean that collecting that data isn't worthwhile. Power data is very different from collected HR data since it responds in real time and shows you things like the peak power you were able to put out for a preem or final sprint, how many matches you could burn before blowing, sustainable power levels in real world race situations, etc. I'd spring for race worthy PT wheels and take the full advantage of your PM.

-Dave

I agree w/Dave that it's chiefly not during a race that a PM is useful, it's afterwards. There are limited times when it is useful to check your output during a race, but seeing race data after the fact is very important IMO. This is particularly true if your competition isn't exactly the same every weekend. Sometimes a 2nd place can be harder won than a 1st, and it's good to have the PM to quantify just how hard it was. Also, having data on how you perform on the same course in different years can be useful.