Slightly Inconsistent Bike Power - What could be the cause?
I've been training on my bike with the trainer for a while and use my power pedal for power on the left side. I've noticed a lot of variability in my power while I'm training and suspect it's due to recovery but I'm just curious if others have thoughts. Basically, on some days, I'll ride and my power is pretty low, I struggle to hit my power efforts and have to maintain a very high cadence (~95) to hold a certain amount of power. However, some random days, I'll feel pretty good and will be able to hold around 15-20W more power at the same exact relative effort and similar HR. That same effort that I had to hold 95rpm for before can now be held at around 88-89, and I can hit every power zone with ease. My average power for those rides will be around 20-30W higher at a very similar effort.
I guess I'm just a little surprised by the variability between days. I do feel like my legs just feel stronger and more recovered on those good days, so I do think it may be a recovery thing. My weeks are structured pretty similarly every week, so I can't really trace it to having a bunch of hard workouts that make my legs tired or a light few days that leave them feeling fresh. Sometimes I'll do a recovery ride and then go to bike the next day and my legs feel awful, and sometimes I'll do two very hard sessions and then do a third a couple days later and feel amazing. I've tried recalibrating my pedals and all that stuff to make sure it isn't an issue with that and that didn't change anything. I've also noticed that the good days have become more abundant as time goes on, showing up more frequently, so could also just be a matter of growing stonger into more power output but I don't know. I'm just curious what others have experienced with their cycling progress and what others think, thank you!