Golden Cheetah vs. WKO+

I think Shane has used both maybe he'll chime in.

Isn't Golden Cheetah free? If so why not use it and see if you like it.

I've used wko+ since '06 and like it so continue to use it.

Also check out Dr. Skiba's Raceday Apollo. It has a free trail.

I use Raceday and Cheetah.

I used WKO trial and Saris PowerAgent.

Raceday is great for assessing load/intensity across all three sports and providing the equivalent of a TSS across all 3. It allows to do 'simple' analysis of your biking sessions. It's great for assessing time spent in each zone for all 3 sports. I have not had much success with it's prediction capabilities.

I was not a WKO expert by any means, since the trial ran out before I could get good at it.

Cheetah has a ton of information about your biking sessions.

Cheetah has everything discussed in the Hunter/Coggan book on training with a power meter. The things I use the most are the CP chart, the PM chart, the aerolab feature, the 3d chart to analyze power/cadence and the metrics tab to look at things over time.

It's free, and if anything is a good learning tool before taking a look at WKO.

If you are new to this, I would try cheetah, collect data, learn to use the tool and eventually you can load that data in WKO and give it a try.

I tried the free trial of Apollo this year. I've used power for years so am no stranger to concepts.

I found some things quite annoying like intervals you marked on your computer head were gone, size of graph was small, creating intervals was difficult as the graph was so small hard to mark it accurately you can't zoom in on one interval to see just that one interval. I found the graphing capabilities not very good compared to wko+.

What might help you the most is to get a coach who is well versed in power.

I wouldn't use all the free trials at the same time..pick one and use it for awhile, best to use free trial when you have a bunch of power files collected and understand the concepts better so you can import them and see how varies programs work.

the cheetah is cool...... 'cause it's free and has alot of stuff in it.

i think WKO+ is better and has a more user friendly platfrom.

the trial version of WKO+ has everything and you get it for two weeks (or longer for those that are computer savy )

I absolutely love Golden Cheetah, been using it since early October.  The Critical Power plot does a nice job compiling your past rides to generate a plot of your best power vs. time.  I love how the Performance Manager graphs your fitness relative to short term stress and long term stress.

Still learning it, but very high on the fun factor.   Like you said, it's free.

Wow.  Great fast input guys.  I just went and walked the dog for a few min in this amazingly snowy city and have some good info.  I donloaded cheetah.  I will prolly try to learn about power using that and then later download WKO+ for the trial and see if I like the data better there.  More than anything, I need to just get better on the bike.  A bike coach is a good idea.  I just have to see if I can work it both into my schedule and my budget.  My schedule has gotten really painful this year and I am still wondering how I ever got in as much training as I did in the past.  I can't believe I let myself sign up for a HIM.  I have to get myself into gear!

I use a mix of WKO+, Apollo and Golden Cheetah depending on what I want to do with the data and also what the athlete I am working with uses on their computer as this eases communication since all will crunch the numbers in a slightly different way.

I would recommend reading both Skiba's books and Training and Racing with a Powermeter and then using Golden Cheetah for the first while.  Then you can decide if it has everything that you want or if you want to invest in a different program for power analysis.

Shane

If you've just taken your first ride with power you don't have enough experience yet to decide between different software alternatives. You don't want to burn up those trial periods before you have any data.

For the first couple of weeks, just ride normally (or, as normally as you can with the weather), learn the operations of the buttons and how to zero the torque, and download every ride to your computer using the software that came with your unit. Every one of the other software programs will be able to import the data when you're ready to move on.

how is golden cheetah when you used wko+.

i started with wko+ i find it pretty awsome but wanted to try something new also.

I bought a quarq, so it doesn't come with software.  I am reading the Allen and Coggan book now and on advice from this thread, bout the Skiba books.  I am planning on doing what you say.  I learned how to zero and am going to do some riding.  It will be on the trainer this time in the season, but I think I do my best work on the trainer anyway.  I am going to learn how to work with the numbers using  Golden Cheetah and then decide if I should but WKO+ or Raceday.

If you want to get in great shape over the winter using your power meter, I highly recommend Jorge's Winter Cycling Program v3.0

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=230692&start=1

You'll really get to know your power meter!

I'm on a mac and use Raceday.  It's great.  Kathy mentioned some bad things about the graphing, and maybe it's just a difference between the PC and Mac versions, but I have been able to do everything she mentioned she couldn't do.  If you're using a Garmin and use the "lap" button to on the unit while riding to define your intervals, those will show up on the graph, and you can get detailed analysis of each lap.  You can create your own laps after the fact.  Took me a little while to realize this as it's not explicitly stated how to do it (just click and drag on the graph.  Dr. Skiba is very easy to get in touch with as well.  I emailed him and responded quickly about a bug I found (there were power spikes when using a garmin 310 at a lap press).  He fixed it right away.

The biggest factor was that it crosses into run and swim and the performance modeling stuff, which I thought I'd get into, but have been lazy about.  If you read his book, you'll probably want his software (that's what happened to me).  A coworker of mine helped develop the modeling equations and performance test metrics and has convinced me it really works...but you need to put the effort in.  Using gps and elevation data from you garmin it gives you a running power and the analysis like a bike powermeter gives you.  Entering your swim sets, times and rests does the same for swimming.


I'd say do the free trials of Raceday and WKO before you decide though.  Raceday is probably better if you like the other features than just bike power analysis.  If you really only care about bike power analysis WKO might be better (but I can't use it on a mac so I don't know).

Edited by jsiegs 2010-12-27 3:04 PM

I'm assuming you're using a Garmin with your Quarq. You can use that to store data and look at what your power numbers are. You can then import that data into any of the analysis software.

I've tried all of them. As a mac user I really wanted something to run on the mac, but I personally prefer WKO to Golden Cheetah and Race Day. Had I not had the previous experience with WKO maybe my feelings would have been different.

scott

WKO is not mac native - so that may also influence your decision.

I have used WKO for the last few years, but now that I have a mac will play with golden cheetah and skiba's software as I do not wish to run a pc emulater.

when I get the PC that the computrainer will be attached to I will likely use WKO but I do not currently know which box that is in