Powertap fun!

So I FINALLY got to test out the Powertap now that I’ve got rim tape on the new wheel (need to remember to leave feedback for the seller now too).

I did my first ride on the trainer to try to establish a baseline. The workout [all zn2 + 20x(1:30 zn4 : 30 sec zn1)] called for me to hold 146-165 watts according to my bike computer. I noticed during the ride that the ptap tended to hold a little lower than the bike computer was. The powertap also uses a smaller sampling period than the bike computer did, so it was a little more up and down through the ride.

At the end of the ride, my average watts on the powertap was 155, while the bike comp was 159. Pretty close.

In general, I definitely liked having the powertap on. I set it to show current watts, cadence and time whereas before I’d have had to use two devices to get all three of those showing at once.

The install was pretty simple, even for having the wired version. I had never changed a cassette on my bike before, so that was probably the biggest challenge, just owing to the uncertainty around doing it. There was of course the adventure of the rim tapeless wheel, but that was just me not thinking.