Power is the amount of energy a system provides to another over a given time.
The more energy a cyclist can put into their bike over a set period, the faster they'll go.
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But in practical, how is power calculated?
Power (P, expressed in Watts – W) is the product of force (F, in Newtons) and velocity (v, in meters per second):
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Force gets you moving, but without speed, you can't move quickly. Take a tractor: it produces enormous force — enough to pull heavily loaded trailers — but very little speed. The result? It crawls;
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Speed, on the other hand, is what lets you go fast. But without force, you'll only manage it downhill. Think of a Citroën 2CV: on a climb, its modest engine will have it trudging along, while on a descent it can fly.
This is why coaches push riders to improve both their strength and cadence: to increase power output and ride faster in any situation.
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How to measure power on the bike?
On a bicycle, the crankset and pedals are constantly rotating. A variant of the formula above is therefore used to calculate power. Torque C (in Newton metres, the rotational equivalent of force) and rotational speed (in radians per second — a unit of angular measurement, equivalent to velocity v) are used:
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The torque a cyclist exerts on their crankset is the product of the force applied to the pedal and the lever arm — that is, the crank length. This is why crank length is a parameter that pedal-based power meters need to account for.
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Rotational speed ω is a multiple of pedalling cadence (denoted cad, in revolutions per minute). The conversion factor between rotational speed and cadence adjusts the unit of cadence to keep the power formula consistent. Cadence is required to calculate power, which is why power meters also report cadence.
The power formula used is then as follows:
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This breakdown shows that to ride faster and improve performance, you can train to increase both your pedalling cadence and your strength.
How do CyclOptim pedals work?
CyclOptim pedals are equipped with force sensors and a gyroscope.
The integrated microcomputer records the force measured by the sensors and uses the crank length entered in your GPS computer to calculate the torque exerted on the crankset. It also records the instantaneous rotational speed measured by the gyroscope, then computes the power output.
This process runs several tens of times per revolution, ensuring the highest accuracy regardless of your pedalling style or chainring type — whether standard or oval.
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