[rnarito]

I just bought 2 new power meters for my Cannondale and Felt. Super excited to use them, but I hear that there is software out there you can download onto your computer that will help you make sense of the myriad of matrixes displayed. Does anyone out there have one that works well for them? I hear Golden Cheetah a lot, but not a whole lot of others. Thanks! 🙂

Topic

[Rich from StriveMax]

This is a question I have

This is a question I have came across myself as a passionate cyclist, using a power meter. There are a lot of great programs out there that help you with analyzing your data and planning your training. However, there was always something that didn’t quite fit. Either the user interface is not inuitive, it does not have enough functionality or too much functionality that is irrelevant for most and rather hard to understand, or costs (too much) money.

I ended up deciding I needed to develop someting myself. So with two buddies of mine, I created http://www.strivemax.com, which we just launched. It is still a beta version, but I would love if you check it out. It is completely FREE and it has an intuitive dashboard, incl. a chat function, tutorials, and written explanations. StriveMax has great analysis capabilities for individual rides and a simple training planner. It’s not a complete product yet, but I feel that we already have a great tool. We are constantly adding and improving and love to get feedback and costructive criticism. Again, it is free and free of ads. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Thanks

Rich

[KirinChris]

If you are new to power
If you are new to power training I wouldn’t start with Golden Cheetah. It’s free but it’s independently developed so the interface is quite clunky and non-intuitive. If you already know what you’re doing it’s great, but not for the novice.

You can actually do quite a bit of ride analysis on Strava Premium – probably as much as you need to start with. If you want to go a bit further then try Training Peaks which has a good interface and lots of analysis and tracking features.

WKO+ is very similar and done by the same company as TP but WKO is a piece of software which works only for PC not Mac whereas TP is an internet-based application, like Strava, so it will work from anything.

You should also read one of the books by Andrew Coggan or Joe Friel which explain the various terms and concepts. They basically invented/set down most of what is used in power training.

What I would really recommend if you want it to be more than an expensive new toy is that you need to change the way you train and base it around power.

Getting a coach would be the best option, as they can help make sense of all the data and tailor a plan and feedback for you.

Alternatively and more cheaply you can use a programme like Trainer Road which gives you structured power-based workouts towards the goals you want to achieve, whether that’s racing, fitness, sportives or whatever. I haven’t used Trainer Road but I think it also contains analysis tools so maybe you would only need that and not TP or Strava Premium as well.

[Author]

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