I've been debating this for a few months and am kicking myself now for not picking up that PT/HED wheelset in the classifieds recently. Given that Power2Max is currently running a sale, I'm thinking about picking up a Type-S spider for my Hollowgrams. The biggest factor is cost, considering I just blew a bunch of money getting my CX bike earlier this fall and I want to replace the boat anchor wheels on that at some point before next season.

This was my first season of racing and of regular structured training. I was doing between 6-8 hours a week using the Carmichael Time-Crunched Cyclist's guide using HR and RPE and it seemed to work alright, though I understand its limitations as a measure of effort. I'll be racing road and crits in the summer with the goal of trying some of the stage races in the NW and cross again for 2015. Will probably stick with the C (Cat 4/5) group for road/crits until I get some top-10s or other notable results consistently and Bs (3/4) for cross.

My hangup is whether power is going to make a meaningful difference to my training. There are plenty of fast guys on my team racing Masters in cross and A or 1/2 on road who don't use power and it's not holding them back at all. I enjoyed racing because it got me out of my slump and forced me to be committed to regular training and trying something new, but I'm always going to be a weekend warrior type. I don't have any ambitions about trying to get signed for any of the top regional teams and would probably be satisfied topping out in the top half of the Bs.

Any advice from those who made the plunge? How did it change your riding/training?