Lance Armstrong doesn’t track his speed when he trains for next month’s Tour de France. The number he craves is measured in watts, not miles per hour. Power output dominates the training of top cyclists like Armstrong because it’s a much more accurate gauge of performance than speed (at the mercy of the wind) or even heart rate (too fickle), say experts.Power never lies because it is a direct measure of the force applied to the bike (torque) that is converted into a measure of power output (watts). By measuring how many watts he expends on a mountain climb, Armstrong can develop a training program that duplicates those race efforts down to the watt. For the past seven years, Armstrong has used a $2,600 device called the SRM Powermeter, developed by German medical engineer Ulrich Schoberer in the late 1980s. The Powermeter measures deflection of the pedal crankarm using tiny strain gauges and converts the measures into watts on a handlebar computer that can store and download 70 hours worth of wattage (and heart rate) for analysis?numbers that Armstrong pores over obsessively. Armstrong sure can crank. During the final hour of a seven-hour stage of the Tour, he can pedal at an average of 400 watts. (Track racers have pushed it over 2,000 watts for a few seconds. The average cyclist can barely light a 100-watt lamp.) “Pro cyclists used to train according to how they felt,” says David Cathcart, marketing director for CycleOps Performance Training Products, which makes a watt measurement device called Powertap. “Now it’s all about metrics.” Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe