Hi, I’m expecting delivery of a new smart bike this week, to let my wife easily try some suffering too (she has fibro and is looking for some indoor exercise to keep going through winter, I’m sure I’ll be looking for tips/advice for her once she kicks on with it!).
At the moment my 4dp is set from a full frontal done at the start of my current training plan, measured by my turbo. The crank-based power meter on the bike reads a decent amount higher than the turbo generally though (10% or so typically). The new bike has power meters on the cranks, so I’m expecting the numbers to be off, is it worth adding a HM as a session somewhere to recalibrate, or shall I just increase the numbers manually and see if I survive? Or do nothing at all and ride with what I think will be easier targets?
Minimally you should do HM on the new bike. Ideally FF but I totally get why you wouldn’t be in a hurry to do that again. especially if you’re mid plan.
Agree with @Glen.Coutts. Since you never know the actual calibration and relative comparison between power sources the only way to get truly accurate numbers is to do a new test on your new equipment. HM works, but FF would be best.
Given that you have an idea of the actual power from your bike’s crank power meter, you could probably adjust your 4DP numbers manually and see how the first couple of workouts go. Assuming both your existing power meter and the new one are accurate, you should be pretty close.
And then if you’re not sure, as Sirs @emacdoug and @Glen.Coutts say, you could do the HM test as a quick check, and then FF to be sure.
I would put the training plan out a week and insert a 1 week test plan with a HM on day 3 and FF on day 7. That’ll give you a very solid test result and also a solid week of workouts. Win-Win.
