Torque it up

Another good ride with the Garmin Vector pedals today, I am certainly beginning to understand the benefits of training with a power meter. To realise the full value though I really need to do some testing to correctly establish what power levels I should be working in. The plan is to do that testing this weekend and I am keen to see how it goes. It should be the final piece in the puzzle in terms of getting the power meter sorted out and making my training as effective as possible.

The only issue I am having with the pedals relates to tightening them consistently. Before getting the pedals I had read that it is quite important to use a torque wrench for installing them. From what I am seeing I have to say I am beginning to agree with that.
I took the pedals off on Sunday and when I put them back on I deliberately didn't tighten them as much as when I first installed them, since I think I overtightened them the first time. Riding them on Monday and again today I noticed that my power was significantly lower than my earlier rides, whilst my speeds etc were actually higher. There might be some other elements at play, but I suspect the power meters are simply reading different levels since they were tightened by a different amount.

I think this isn't so important if you are putting the pedals on one bike and leaving them there. From what I have seen the pedals are very consistent between one ride and another. So if the pedals stay on one bike then you should always get consistent power readings. The power levels might be lower or higher than you are actually producing, but I think it is the comparison between rides that is probably most important. However, the problem comes in if you are swapping the pedals between bikes. One of the attractions of the Garmin Vectors, and one of the reasons I went for them, is that you can have one power meter for all your bikes. However, in order to make them effective, the power outputs must be directly comparable between bikes. This means making sure they are tightened to the same amount each time you do them up. That's where the torque wrench comes in. I have a torque wrench, but unfortunately it isn't beefy enough (it doesn't read high enough torque levels) so I will be tracking down a bigger unit sometime soon. Without it the power meters are great, but I always find myself taking their output with a grain of salt.

Big day tomorrow, in the morning I have my first session back with the Swim Smooth squad since IMWA and then in the afternoon I have my first run since IMWA. Hopefully both sessions go well. I am a bit apprehensive about both, but there is nothing really for it but to head down and suck it up. The sessions, particularly the swim, may not be that pleasant, but it has to be done. Putting it off won't make it any more pleasant later.

Wish me luck.