Crank choice
About a month ago I made the decision to go ahead with my training and race Ironman Arizona on my powercranks. In the back of my mind a small amount of doubt over this decision has crept in – some of it related to “Am I faster on them”, “Can I ride 112 miles strongly on them”, “Can I ride 112 miles in aero?”, etc. As I wrote earlier this week, I was going to do a test to try and have the choice be easy – unfortunately the results of the test weren’t straight forward and conclusive.
From a power perspective, according to the Kurt power formula, on a workout that consisted for a 20 minute, 15 minute, 10 minute, and 5 minute intervals, progressing in effort – the middle two intervals were identical, with the first and last intervals siding on Regular Cranks. So definately not a straight choice.
After talking about it a little with my wife, I think I am going to race (and execute the remainder of this training cycle) using standard cranks. I made this choice based on a couple reasons:
- Aero and comfort – I am more comfortable on the bike with standard cranks
- Power is a wash
- Confidence
- Familiarity of riding on the road with them
Once I get done with Arizona, I’ll figure out how to work the PC’s back into training/racing plan – if I had a second bike it’d be easier, but I don’t so it will be a bit of a challenge.
More later