Quantifying Effort #
When I first started doing longer rides, I paced almost entirely by heart rate using my Apple Watch.
That works reasonably well on flatter terrain, but I found it much harder once hills and rolling terrain entered the picture. Heart rate lags behind effort, so I would often find myself reacting to climbs after I was already overcooked.
I wanted a better way to quantify effort and pace myself more consistently than just relying on perceived exertion. So, as an overweight middle-aged beginner who had only been cycling seriously for about four months, I bought a power meter.
There’s a quote from W. Edwards Deming that says:
“In God we trust; all others bring data.”
I’m a sucker for both data and gadgets, so honestly, buying a power meter was probably inevitable.
It also fit neatly into the broader cycling data pipeline I was slowly building.
What surprised me was how useful it turned out to be even as a non-racer.
Riding with both power and heart rate has taught me a few surprisingly useful things about pacing, fatigue, hydration, and effort. This post attempts to share some of the things I’ve learned along the way - and hopefully show that power meters are not just for racers.
Hills Feel Much Better When Paced By Power #
The first thing I learned outdoors is that pacing climbs well is surprisingly hard.
The instinct that I have - and that I’ve seen many other riders on group rides do as well — usually looks something like this:
- attack the bottom of the hill
- immediately spike heart rate
- slowly battle your way to the top while fading dramatically
Once I started pacing climbs by power instead of perceived effort, everything got smoother.
The effort was still hard, but it became controlled hard instead of panic hard.
Instead of gasping halfway through climbs, I could settle into a sustainable effort and maintain it more consistently. Ironically, starting hills slightly easier often meant finishing them faster.
Classic:
“Slow is smooth; smooth is fast.”
Now, when I’m climbing a hill, I generally aim for a sustainable climbing power and shift gears as needed to maintain that power at a comfortable cadence. For me, this tends to land around 100–110% of FTP depending on:
- how I’m feeling that day
- how steep the hill is
- how much ride is still left
I also find it useful to display both 3-second and 30-second power:
- 3s power gives me a smoothed-out “current” effort
- 30s power is long enough to show the trend
One of the strangest things I noticed is that I would often end up passing riders later in climbs while feeling significantly more comfortable simply because I hadn’t cooked myself in the first minute.
Heart Rate Zones: Surprisingly Confusing #
One thing I discovered fairly quickly is that there are several different ways to calculate heart rate zones, and different platforms all seem to use different defaults:
- Apple Watch uses %HRR (heart rate reserve)
- Garmin commonly defaults to %MaxHR
- other systems use threshold heart rate (FTHR)
Meanwhile, power zones are usually based around FTP.
At some point I found Training and Racing with a Power Meter by Dr. Andrew Coggan (often called the “father of FTP”). The book goes very deep into all of this. It’s obviously more focused toward racers, but I’d still recommend it for regular folks who are interested in understanding power-based training better.
The short version is that I eventually found it most useful to align my heart rate zones to threshold heart rate (FTHR) using Coggan-style zones because they lined up more naturally with my FTP-based power zones.
Practically speaking, this means:
- doing a proper FTP test
- using the sustained effort portion of the test to estimate threshold heart rate
- configuring HR zones based on that threshold instead of max heart rate
For me, this made my bike computer much easier to interpret during sustained efforts.
I display both power zones and heart rate zones on my head unit, and during longer steady-state efforts I generally expect those colors to roughly agree with each other.
When they don’t, that’s usually telling me something useful.
Heart Rate Drift Is Often My “Drink Water” Warning Light #
One thing I didn’t expect was how useful it would be to watch power and heart rate together.
Power measures output.
Heart rate measures how hard your body is working to produce that output.
For longer steady-state efforts, heart rate and power will usually settle into roughly corresponding zones.
One thing I’ve learned to keep an eye on is when I’m riding along at what would normally be a comfortable cruising power, but my heart rate keeps drifting higher than expected. That’s usually a pretty reliable sign that something is off:
- dehydration
- heat
- accumulated fatigue
- poor recovery
Most commonly for me: I’m overdue for water — and probably electrolytes.
I’ve found this especially useful on longer rides where dehydration can creep up gradually before I consciously notice it. Seeing heart rate climb while power stays relatively stable is one of the patterns I now pay attention to when analyzing longer rides .
Since my bike computer shows both heart rate and power data with zone-colored backgrounds, I can periodically glance down and quickly see whether the colors are still roughly matching.
It’s surprisingly intuitive once you get used to it.
Lower Heart Rate at the Same Power Is One of the Coolest Signs of Progress #
The opposite pattern is true too.
One of the most satisfying things about training is noticing that familiar power levels gradually start feeling easier.
Not dramatically easier all at once — just subtly less expensive.
Over time, I started noticing rides where:
- my cruising power stayed the same
- but heart rate was consistently lower than expected
- recovery between efforts improved
- sustained efforts felt calmer and more conversational
That’s one of the clearest signs I’ve personally found that fitness is improving.
Sometimes it’s also a clue that your FTP estimate may be getting stale and it’s time for another test.
Unfortunately, that usually means voluntarily performing a 20-minute FTP test, which is a special category of “Type 3 fun.”
Sometimes the Bike Is the Problem #
One unexpected thing about riding with power is that you gradually develop a sense for what “normal” feels like.
After enough riding, you start subconsciously recognizing relationships between:
- speed
- terrain
- heart rate
- power
- perceived effort
A while back, I noticed I was needing noticeably more power than usual to maintain my normal cruising speed on a familiar flat trail.
Nothing felt dramatically wrong, but the numbers felt slightly more “expensive” than I expected.
Sure enough: low tire pressure.
That’s obviously not the primary reason to own a power meter, but it was a funny reminder that objective feedback can help identify when something is off — whether that’s your body, your pacing, or occasionally just your bike.
Power Meters Aren’t Just for Racers #
I’m not going to say that everyone needs a power meter.
Cycling can absolutely remain simple and enjoyable without one.
But I also think there’s a misconception that power meters are only useful for highly competitive cyclists.
My experience has been almost the opposite.
Even as a beginner, I found it incredibly useful to have objective feedback for:
- pacing climbs
- learning sustainable effort
- doing intervals outdoors
- monitoring fatigue
- understanding hydration
- recognizing fitness improvements
For me, riding with power didn’t make cycling less enjoyable.
It just made effort feel more understandable.
I still ride for fun, exploration, fitness, and fresh air.
The power meter just helped me better understand what my body — and occasionally my bike — were trying to tell me.