Need help with my profile

thomas_cho
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Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

Hello to all profile gurus here.

I am not sure if my profiles are accurate, and i am getting increasingly frustrated at the uncertainty of my results. would any of you mind commenting on my two calibration ride data?
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110130_1016_cal_ride_AB7E1017.ibcd4m
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110122_1535_cal_ride_AB7E1017.ibcd4m
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racerfern
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by racerfern »

I'll try to help you and I'll address the questions you posed in another thread also.

Part 1:

Yes, cupping your hand over the port but not so close you're touching it is a good idea and that works just fine in almost all conditions.
Press the button and watch the numbers drift toward zero. Unless the numbers were WAY away from zero you should only have to do it once and the windoffset does not have to be exactly zero. Air is always moving so getting exactly zero isn't easy.

If I'm within -0.5 to 0.5 I'm good to go. If I'm at 4 for example, I usually do it twice to make sure I got close enough. I also don't believe the number I see the moment I enter the wind scaling screen. I always pause for a few seconds and watch the number settle. Just activating the process slightly skews the wind offset number so taking a deep breath and waiting a couple of seconds will allow the unit to settle.

Don't go crazy because you're off by .2 or .3, that's so small you'll drive yourself nuts for nothing. And yes, you have to do a wind offset and tilt calibration before a cal ride. it's really just a check to make sure you're going to get good results. You also need to do a wind offset before starting your regular rides but you'll only need one good tilt cal since the tilt cal doesn't change. Check out the fast setup manual. Open iBike software v5.0.5, click help then click the FAST SETUP manual for either wireless or wired mounts. There's good info there and its pretty quick reading.

Part 2:

Your two cal rides have wind scaling results that are quite different. Unless you moved something (including your riding position) both wind scaling numbers should be relatively close. The cal rides were done in different locations and it appears the most recent one is sooo flat that you should try to continue using that location if possible. It's always easy for me to suggest what to do, but you know your area better than anyone.

I suggest you do another cal ride (preceded by doing a wind offset and tilt cal like the manual says) and post the results. It's just a matter of confirming the wind offset for your setup, riding position, height and weight. I've got a fairly good idea of what your profile numbers should be but need to confirm your wind offset. You're right there and will be good to go as soon as we confirm your wind scaling.
Fernando
thomas_cho
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

Thanks for the quick response!

There has not been a radical change in the position of the head unit. However, I have had to reposition the mount from the right side of the bars to the left side. Had to reposition it again as the mount was slipping.

Thanks for the first review, weight is relatively accurate as the weight is for my commuting duties (backpack and lunch). Will have to do another cal ride as soon as I can.
thomas_cho
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

I had a 1 hr window of time, and went and did another calibration ride. Here is the file. Looking forward to your feedback!

To be honest, I am absolutely confused now ... the two files dont look too similar.
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110130_2020_cal_ride_AB7E1017.ibcd4m
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richla86
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by richla86 »

Hi,

I am new to IBike and relatively new to training with power although I am learning more each day. Today I did my first cal ride with the IBike Pro. It took two attempts- first time the IBike said "Bad Cal" possibly because I had slowed down too much once during the ride? So I rode the loop again and this time IBike said "Cal Done" so I assume that is good? I got home and downloaded the ride file (attached) but I have no idea if it is a "good" cal or not or what should I be looking for? Any help people can provide would be appreciated.

Rich
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110130_cal_data.ibcd4m
Cal Ride file
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racerfern
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by racerfern »

@thomas_cho
I'm seeing a wind scaling of about .75, so download and install this profile and give it a try. Upload a couple of your rides after you install this, give me your thoughts and we can tweak it if necessary.
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Fernando
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racerfern
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by racerfern »

@richla86

Something's not right. Your wind scaling is way too high. It's as if you didn't get a good wind offset prior to doing the cal ride.

Have you gone through the fast start procedure?
Fernando
richla86
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by richla86 »

Yes I went through the Fast Start and did the tilt calibration and the wind cal as well. It didn't give any errors but I guess I must have done something wrong.
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racerfern
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by racerfern »

@richla86

Your wind scaling showed as 9.xxx. Under extreme conditions you might see a scaling of 3.xxx but even those are rare. Where is your iBike mounted, on the stem or handlebar?
Fernando
richla86
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by richla86 »

I have the Topeak Bar Extender since I have clip on aero bars and Topeak is underneath and in between the bars and that is where the Ibike is mounted. Thanks.

Rich
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racerfern
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by racerfern »

You know, you might want to consider the remote wind sensor assuming you don't have one. I helped a TT guy setup his bike and wind scaling was close to 1.0 as we attached it toward the end of the aero bar. Regardless, I think 9.xxx is too high. Check your setup and we'll go from there.
Fernando
thomas_cho
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

racerfern wrote:@thomas_cho
I'm seeing a wind scaling of about .75, so download and install this profile and give it a try. Upload a couple of your rides after you install this, give me your thoughts and we can tweak it if necessary.
Thank you for doing this. Much appreciated.

I will log a couple of rides and post them.

I have however come across an unusual thing this morning when riding, somehow the unit logged 154km when I only rode my normal commute route of 16km. However, when downloading the ride data onto the ibike software on my computer the milege was somehow corrected. During the ride, however, the distance and avg speed were way out. Can someone explain this?

I have attached the ride log file in question. You will note the file name is suffixed by the 154km.
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iBike_2011_01_31_0810_154_km.csv
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racerfern
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by racerfern »

This can happen if the iBike loses contact with the head unit for a very brief period (just an instant). I got this once when I accidentally knocked the unit slightly off locked on center. I quickly fit it back on and kept on riding but the totals got skewed. The actual ride data was fine. Chalk it up as a hiccup and be mindful of it.

Was this ride entirely in a significant tailwind? If so, do you have the return ride?
Fernando
richla86
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by richla86 »

So I should be looking for a wind scaling factor close to 1.0? Anything else I should look for so I don't have to keep bugging you ;)

Thanks
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racerfern
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by racerfern »

No you shouldn't necessarily be looking for a wind scaling close to 1.0, it is what it is. I just noticed that the ride had a consistent tailwind. So, if and when you do some kind of out/back ride post that here and I'll have a look to confirm the wind scaling.

You're not bugging me, yet. :)
Fernando
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wimpy
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by wimpy »

richla86 wrote:Hi,

So I rode the loop again and this time IBike said "Cal Done" so I assume that is good?

Rich
The ride needs to be an "out and back", which means riding back over the same route on your way back as you rode going out.

I have also found that riding 1.3 miles before turning around gives better data. The trick is once the Ibike says "go back" ( after 1 mile) keep riding and don't slow down below 8 mph until you are ready to turn around. If for some reason (traffic light) you slow down below 8 mph after reaching the 1 mile mark, you will have triggered the Ibike to think you are going back and you will need to turn around immediately. After riding 1.3 miles or more, when you are ready to turn around, slow down below 8mph, turn around, and ride back.

At the end of your cal ride, you might ride past your start point before the iBike says "Done". That is not unusual.

A good cal ride makes your Ibike happy. :D
thomas_cho
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

I have since done another 2 rides, this time a commute to and fro mostly along the same route. Done in hot weather, and I am embarassed about the speed achieved, basically I was tired, hungry and angry on the way home.

I did not notice any unsual recording of large power surges, but I am not sure what to look out for in terms of reasonableness, as I do not have a PT or SRM to compare against.

As I am intending to use the ibike to record and manage all my riding activity, from commuting to the weekend warrior rides, I am curious as to how people manage their profiles? Do you correct them post ride? Record a different ride profile and select profile 2? Any chance of having more than 2 profiles saved in the ibike?
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iBike_2011_02_01_1822_19_km.csv
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iBike_2011_02_01_0813_18_km.csv
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racerfern
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by racerfern »

About the only concern is your wind scaling. For the morning ride was there that much of a tailwind for the entire ride?

For the evening ride was the wind more or less about zero total?

If you were to do both these rides as one big ride (on a weekend) we could get you nailed down. Let me know. Also, during these few rides as we get you dialed in if you could switch to one second recording it would be better. Then you can switch back to 5s.
Fernando
thomas_cho
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

Cheers mate ... thanks for the suggestion. I will do so on the weekend, sadly there is rain forecast for the weekend here.

Regarding the rides, I gotta say the wind conditions were about the same for both rides.
thomas_cho
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

Hi all,
After an enforced break from riding, courtesy of a crooked neck, I now have data from 4 rides. Unfortunately the wind has been strong in the last few days.

I am disspointed to note that the abnormal distance reading has happened again today, the file data shows a 20km ride, but when riding the computer was registering 157km. Has anyone experienced this happening frequently?
Attachments
iBike_2011_02_21_0834_17_km.csv
(457.27 KiB) Downloaded 260 times
iBike_2011_02_20_0928_43_km.csv
(1.42 MiB) Downloaded 267 times
iBike_2011_02_19_0833_25_km.csv
(898.51 KiB) Downloaded 237 times
thomas_cho
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

heres the "false data" file that was registering 157km for the ride.
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iBike_2011_02_21_1830_157_km.csv
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Velocomp
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by Velocomp »

Are you saying that your iBike screen showed that the ride length was 157KM?

The data in your ride file is fine...
John Hamann
thomas_cho
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

Hi there John,
yes my ibike showed that the ride was 157km, some weird average speed. Again not the first time it has happened, and my friend has also had a few occurrences.
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racerfern
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by racerfern »

I haven't seen this in a long time. When it happened to me it was a momentary disconnect between the iBike and the wireless head or betweent the battery and the wireless head. Does the unit snap into place firmly? Also make sure the batteries are held in properly. Try putting a small piece of electrical tape on the battery cover of the wireless head. That will apply a bit more pressure to both battery covers ensuring contact.

If the problem goes away, check with Velocomp about a little piece of foam that goes under the battery cover, or something like that. It's been awhile.
Fernando
thomas_cho
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

Hi Fernando, will take those suggestions on board.

Would you be able to have a look at my data? Thanks for the adjusting my profile settings before, however, I am still not sure if the results I am seeing are accurate.

What are the signs that you are looking for?

I do not have another power meter to compare against, so i do value your input into this.
thomas_cho
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

thomas_cho wrote:Hi there John,
yes my ibike showed that the ride was 157km, some weird average speed. Again not the first time it has happened, and my friend has also had a few occurrences.
Just to re-iterate, my friend has exactly the same issue happening. Headunit shows incredible distances, and speed obtained, but data file when downloaded appears normal.

It is disruptive to the ride, as all of a sudden all I have no data I can rely on, except for current speed, power.
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racerfern
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by racerfern »

thomas_cho wrote:Hi Fernando, will take those suggestions on board.

Would you be able to have a look at my data? Thanks for the adjusting my profile settings before, however, I am still not sure if the results I am seeing are accurate.

What are the signs that you are looking for?

I do not have another power meter to compare against, so i do value your input into this.
I think your ride data looks very good and as long as you properly zero out your wind offset prior to starting off on a ride I think you're good to go. There's no need to concern yourself with having another PM to compare against. Go out there, ride and get stronger.
Fernando
thomas_cho
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

racerfern wrote:
thomas_cho wrote:Hi Fernando, will take those suggestions on board.

Would you be able to have a look at my data? Thanks for the adjusting my profile settings before, however, I am still not sure if the results I am seeing are accurate.

What are the signs that you are looking for?

I do not have another power meter to compare against, so i do value your input into this.
I think your ride data looks very good and as long as you properly zero out your wind offset prior to starting off on a ride I think you're good to go. There's no need to concern yourself with having another PM to compare against. Go out there, ride and get stronger.

Thanks mate! Gotta say my power readings are embarassing at the moment! Just hoping for an injury free year ...
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racerfern
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by racerfern »

You only think your power numbers are embarrassing because you haven't seen mine! :oops:
Fernando
thomas_cho
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Re: Need help with my profile

Post by thomas_cho »

Does anyone else get those crazy readings on the ibike unit, but not in the file?
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