Setting up Power Pod from Scratch

[spangelsaregreat]

Hi,

I am finding I am getting some odd readings on my Power Pod when doing intervals. I did a 4 x 10m Zone 4 ride yesterday and on a couple of the intervals when riding on slight down hills (about 1 of 2%) the power very variable and appeared to be reading very high. I have attached the ride file (21st date). The intervals started about 15 minutes, 35 minutes 55 minutes and 1h15 minutes. It is the last two where the odd power readings were in the last half of the interval.

I may just be imaging it but the power did not seem to correspond to the perceived effort or heart rate.

Last night I was ordering my profiles on Issac and moved my current profile from slot 3 to slot 1 (in anticipation of adding two new bikes next week). When I started the ride today I had to do a out and back calibration as PowerPod entered that mode when I started it (I am assuming because I moved the profiles). Looking at the profiles when I got back today the windscaling appears hugely different from the original profile (1.00 compared to 1.912, Aero is .359 compared to .686). It was very windy today so that may have affected the out and back ride. I have attached the ride file for today's ride (22nd date).

Also some time back PowerPod lost the connection to my Heart rate monitor so I want to get that back too. It does show in the profile but does not appear when viewing rides.

I am think perhaps I need to start from scratch and go through the setup procedure again. I will need to do it for my CX bike and road bike soon anyway so it might be good practice.

Could you oblige and look at the attached files and give some advice as to whether the calibration is right. The bike is a road bike using Schwable G One tubeless 30c tyres (70psi front, 80psi rear), I ride mainly on the hoods with bent arms.

Regards

[Velocomp]

Both these files look OK to me. They have slightly different profiles but that is OK.

It is much more difficult to manage power on downhills, because gravity is helping you, generally supplying most of the energy!

[spangelsaregreat]

Hi John

I did a full reset of my PowerPod and did a full new calibration today. I felt the Profile I was running was giving overly high power values and after today's ride that seems to be the case. The new profile did in general give lower power figures which seem more in line with my fitness etc.

I have attached the ride file below.

However there is one parts of the ride where the power is very low compared with RPE and heart rate. It is from 1:05 to 1:15. This is a gradual descent (average 2%) where I rode at Zone 2/3 type effort which can be seen with the heart rate. However the power is Zone 1 for me. I also noticed I was getting a lot more 0w periods than previously on a lot of the descents even when pedalling throughout the ride.

Can you look at this ride file and advise if the calibration is good?

Also is the power on descents accurate or do I need to just concentrate more on heart rate when an interval has some slight descents in it? Is there any tweaks that need done to the profile to improve the power on descents?

Final question, if I needed to change anything in the profile (rider weight etc) do I need to extract the profile from the PowerPod, amend it and then send it back to the device. Does this change force a new calibration ride?

Regards

p.s when I set up the new profile I did select a slightly different tyre profile based on a thread on hear recommending smooth concrete, tubular, premium for tubeless tyres (I previously was using good asphalt, tubular, premium)

[Velocomp]

Your Crr was low--you had it set for wooden track!

I adjusted it to asphalt. This added about 20W.

I don't think your downhill watts are "off". On downhills gravity is doing most of the work. Note that your HR is lower on downhills, indicating separately that you aren't working as hard.

[spangelsaregreat]

John

Completed a couple of rides using the new profile and it all looks good.

Awaiting some new Garmin Sensors before I start all over again for the CX bike.

Regards