Your cycling head unit is one of the most incredible pieces of technology ever created, yet few take advantage of all its training and racing capabilities.

PROthirteen clients are thoroughly schooled in the head unit to not only squeeze the most out of every workout--but to ensure you're getting the most out of those quads on race day.

If you only had ONE screen to look at on your Garmin or Wahoo, what would it be? Four PROthirteen coaches break it down.

For all four the lap screen is their go-to screen for training and racing. The lap screen is crucial for so many reasons, but two stand out: nailing interval workouts and pacing long rides.

Here are the fields Bart, Tony and Jaymz use on a daily basis.

For Coach Bart, the great thing about bike computers these days is that you can set up custom screens. Bart is often surprised when riders ask why he has these fields on his Garmin. Most of the time he thinks that they do not know that they can create custom screens or have no idea some of these fields are even available!

Below is what Bart prefers to look at on all structured training rides and races. The Garmin workout screen is great, but doesn't give you everything he likes to see. He often toggles between these two throughout a workout.

Power is always the most important field that Bart looks at. If you have a 100% effort, he wants to see his 3 second power and lap power for that effort! It's easy to tell if he is going too hard, or not hard enough instantly.

The other fields give him great information besides his power or speed. It's always good to keep an eye on cadence and heart rate!

Lap Time - For workouts and racing
3s Power - I prefer 3 seconds averages for the road, but 10 second average for Time Trialing
Speed - Overall speed is always good to know. On endurance rides I also chase a speed target.
Lap Speed - Helps me hit speed targets in a Time Trial workout.
Lap Distance - Just good to know.
Lap Power - During training workouts it helps me hit my power targets.
Cadence - Always targeting 95 or higher.
Heart Rate - Great for looking at during intervals.

For Coach Tony, he has slightly different fields.

When Tony is targeting a certain power range-i.e., endurance/tempo/sweet spot etc., it’s easier for him to remember that endurance is 55-75% of FTP rather than the raw power numbers. Tony doesn’t need to remember his new power zones using the “percent field,” since this field is always relative to your current set FTP.

Lap cadence shows Tony what his average cadence is for that effort—he might target 55-70rpm during a tempo effort for 30 minutes then increase to 70-80 rpm for 30 minutes.

Tony knows if he’s hitting his targeted neuromuscular system that % HR MAX is a good indicator of whether or not he is in his anticipated HR RANGE for the work prescribed. Mainly looking at this for cardiac drift on steady-state longer efforts.

For Coach Jaymz, the top field counts down the time for how much time is left in the interval. Power is current power and lap power is to see if I’m at the proper power for the interval. Cadence is to make sure he’s in the right zone.

When Jaymz fatigues, he cadence tends to get sloppy. His heart rate is never consistent. But it’s important to look at for hard efforts.

Speed and distance are there simply because it’s fun to go far and fast for Jaymz.

Kilojoules is how much work he’s done for the workout. And for Jaymz TSS is the most important field. This is because athletes have a set TSS for each workout. This makes sure Jaymz hits the proper zones at the right intensity. If I he does the workout correctly, the TSS should be very close to the set TSS.

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