TrueCycle

Have you ever looked down at the power meter on your road bike, or (during off season training) your spin bike and wondered if you were putting out enough watts to keep up with the gang come spring? Now you can. This app doesn't actually *measure* anything. It simply shows you a range of watts that you should be producing during specific intervals to keep up with that Cat 3 gang.

It is based on data collected by Dr. Andy Coggan, a cycling coach at TrainingPeaks (trainingpeaks.com), and an author of 'Training and Racing with a Power Meter'. This is the most widely accepted and referenced benchmark for power output based on rider category.

Simply select the appropriate gender, input your weight (kg or lbs) , select one of a range of 8 categories ranging from professional to recreational, then select one of 4 efforts based on time. Are you interested in learning how good those guys are in the Grand European Tours, and how you compare to them? Prepare to be humbled.

This is intended to be a training guide, and does the same thing that Dr. Coggan's spreadsheet does. It just makes it easier for those who are spreadsheet challenged.

So go ahead, plug in your values, and set course for that first spring ride. Who knows? By then you will be outputting wattages worthy of a major assault on Mount Ventoux!