Sorry Mr Van P to hijack your column here, but I almost fell off my chair when a clubmate emailed me about this. Purporting to be a multipurpose cyclocomputer, it measures speed, cadence, blah blah blah ... WATTAGE!! and for $150, you can supposedly use this indoors and out.
Does anyone know anything about this device??
This is a breakthrough for the consumers, if it's what it appears to be. Taking on faith that wattage is THE way to train here... previously, the cheapest option was the iBike power system at some $400. PowerTap, the original hub-based system, still starts at $700, and goes way, way up from there.
Is something changing? This cryptic discussion suggests maybe some patents expired, so now the competition can swoop in. I'm not a huge fan of copyrights to begin with (don't get me started on the ridiculous "intellectual property" movement in this country), and if one less patent means I can slap a power meter on my road bike next year, all I can say is, Pete: my birthday is coming up.