I have the POWER

New toys got a spin this morning.

I am still getting my head around them, but so far so good I would say. It was only a shortish spin and pretty cruisy at that, but still I think it was enough for me to start getting a feel for what riding with a power meter is like. I was really surprised to see just how much difference to the power riding up a hill or into the wind makes. Makes you realise that it feels hard because you really are working quite a bit harder. I am looking forward to spending more time with them on the bike and getting some more power data.

I will do some power testing later next week and start get an idea of were my appropriate power bands might be. That will help me figure out where I should be aiming during training and racing. All exciting stuff.

I put the pedals on last night and installation really was pretty straight forward. Garmin have put some great how to video guides up on the web, which make the whole thing very easy. I gather for the best accuracy they should be installed with a torque wrench. I unfortunately don't have a torque wrench that has a high enough limit at the moment, but from what I have read doing them up with a regular pedal spanner should also be reasonably accurate (certainly consistent). I am in the process of tracking down a suitable torque wrench at the moment, but I couldn't wait that long to use my pedals, so I have put them on without for now.

It took me a little while to get my head around configuring the GPS since I use a Garmin 910XT and most of the instructions are around using a Garmin 810. However, I think I have it sorted now. The information on how to do it is provided online and once you read that it isn't quite easy.

If you are installing and configuring your Garmin Vectors and are having trouble, try the Garmin website first.

Garmin Vector installation guides

If you can't find what you need there, then this is a great site

DC Rainmaker Garmin Vector Review

Which has pretty much anything you might ever want to know about Garmin Vectors, the information should be on there somewhere.

The ride itself was pretty nice. I took the chance to head out for a gentle spin with some of the guys from Break Your Limits. Usually when I ride I have something fairly specific in mind for the session, which makes riding with others difficult. As a result most of my rides are by myself. It is actually something I have come to enjoy. However, occasionally it is nice to ride with other people, and since I didn't have anything on the program this morning (I don't have a program at all this week) I thought it would be a nice chance for a spin with some folk. Quite windy, but still a nice outing.

It was good to be back on the bike as well. As I said earlier in the week, I have been quite surprised by just how fine I feel. On the bike this morning I wasn't really feeling any ill effects of having done an Ironman four days ago. I am sure if I had really tried to push it my legs may have protested. But for I was asking of them, they were happy to give.

It has been a nice little week of recovery training really. I had quite a pleasant swim down in the river yesterday morning. I was absolutely frozen afterwards, but still quite nice. And it really was great to roll the arms over.

I think for tomorrow I might take the chance to have a bit of a sleep in though. Then head back out on the bike on Saturday for another gentle spin. I think that will be the plan anyway. Plenty of time to get back into proper training next week.