New to TR, in week 1 of Sweet Spot Base High Volume and couldn’t find an answer to my specific Power Match question. I have PowerTap P1s single sided pedals and a Kickr Core trainer. My question is about Power Match and if there’s truly a benefit of inside and outside power readings matching when it’s only power from the left leg? With a dual sided power meter, the benefit is obvious but if I’m doing spin drills during an interval and I’m focusing on one leg or the other it will bias the resistance based on which leg is putting out more power. Left leg focus and the resistance goes down, right leg focus and the resistance goes up.
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I’ve been there too. Sometimes I do the single leg drills and just take the zero power on the right leg. It’s really not a big deal. These are just meant to help smooth out the pedal stroke. Not critical at all. That said, I still use power match all the time.
I own a Stages L only power meter and didn’t like the power match function. My experience was that it wasn’t able to find a stable resistance level.
That’s the thing with single sided. My balance would change depending on my position or level of fatigue. It was too erratic in my view.
In the end I stuck with using the trainer only. My Kickr Core reads way low and had strange power drifts occasionally, but it was consistent enough to do workouts. More consistent than the user at least! 
I now use a Neo2 which is closer to the Stages. I just let the Neo do it’s thing and adjust my FTP in TR for outdoor rides based on the average difference between the two.
A while back I started recording all my trainer rides on the Garmin with the Stages power. TR controls and records the trainer power.
My Garmin Connect account only has power figures from the Stages.
The difference is always within a range of a few percent.
If you’re doing single leg drills, I definitely wouldn’t use power match.
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Yeah, thats normal. Also shifting your weight slightly as when your picking up a water bottle can affect power. It can either be a reaskn to try to be more smooth, or just don’t do it in erg mode.
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Thanks for the replies, Kickr power it is. Plus at this point I plan on spending the next 19 weeks inside on the trainer doing Base, Build and Specialty.
I’ve come to the conclusion that power match is a waste of time. You just end up doing stupid cadence levels to chase the power.
Saris Magnus and Stages (left side) are what I have and whilst sometimes it’s ok, too often it’s not.
Today’s workout, started on powermatch and ERG and found my cadence too high, could never quite get where I needed to be. (2x15 minutes at constant SS power). Then all of a sudden the app lost connection to my trainer so then it was just me and the stages. Much easier to regulate power and cadence!
However having initially been against ERG i do see the benefits so keen to try and find a solution. Most likely ditching power match in the process.
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