Cross winds and random numbers

[SilasGreenback]

I've been using the V3 powerpod for around 6 months now and at the outset was told fit it, forget it, stop tinkering and that's where the consistency comes. Well I'm starting to notice a consistent trend in wind strength. I live on a west coast with prevailing westerlies so cannot get away from wind. Normally howling in your face with occasional stupidly depressing headwinds. But on avg F3-4 most of the time

The consistency seems to be a ride with definite tail / headwind = 200+ avg power. Rides with crosswinds are consistently lower at around 180+ avg.

After noticing the above trend I've done two rides today. one of head / tail one of mostly cross / head. This morning, constant cadence/gradient/HR and a hedge semi sheltering me. POwer was around 180 i think. Then I came to an open stretch, bike gets battered, lean into the wind, cadence/speed/gradient/HR stayed constant but as the wind picked up i watch my power drop significantly. Got to a hedge and a bit of shelter, everything constant and power steadily goes up.

Then a bit further in an open stretch with a cross wind & power steady, I could feel the wind pick up and power steadily drops till i get shletered again and it went back up.

That's completely the oppposite of what I'd expect. Later that ride, hammering through a head wind at around, turn a corner, ease off but contstant speed and power steadily climed to over 200.

That just doesnt make sense so are my bars / pod position cuasing issues? I run it on a garmin outfront mount and from the side the pod is definitely sheltered by the bars and brakes so it'd be reading dirty wind.....see piccys. I have two bikes both with an outfront and a garmin varia mount to make switching bikes easy. I do have some gopro extensions so do I need to try and move it forward to clear the bars and get into open space or is it just a fact of life that it cant cope with stsrong cross winds?

If I analyse the route in ISAAC (not sure if this is the right way to do it), the analysed routes consistently think I've been drafting and for a crosswind ride adds on around 20w and for a non-crosswind around 10W. I know ISAAC does it better than garmin etc etc but simple fact is on a 194avg ride, 20W is a significant error for training and I cant take a PC with me to watch ISAAC for training. So as with probably 90% of riders I'm using my cycle computer on the ride to train. I dont want to switch to pedal based as I use speedplays but equally dont want a random number gnerator hanging off my bars.


Any suggestions?

I did want a pitot tube and emailed support about postage to UK being around $60 or something stupid as John mentioned but not heard back.....John...give him a kick!!

[SilasGreenback]

ride data for reference

[Velocomp]

Pitot tube: try ordering it again from our website. International shipping is now $14.

[SilasGreenback]

Will give it a try.

Presumably it’ll need a new calibration ride to set up?

What do you recon to a gopro extension to shift if forward a couple of cm’s......or about 1”!

[SilasGreenback]

Pitot ordered. Glad the shipping was a bit more sensible!!

[Velocomp]

Yes, you will need to do a new cal ride once you have your pitot tube.

Your ride files do not reflect the conditions you describe; please do an out-and-back ride of about 10 miles and post it here.

[SilasGreenback]

Will do.

I’m not sure whether something in my set up / position changed. I know I’ve had A lazy august but avg ride dropped from 2-220 down to 180-190 About 2 weeks ago after a week off. 220 was hard. Now 190 Avg feels twice as hard! Although the wind is also twice as strong at the moment.