Road Bike Racing - Trouble examining power data

So I've been using my PT for about 2 weeks now, while at the same time reading Hunter Allen's book and testing for my power profile. I have a few questions:

1) When testing my power profile (p.66), would it be accurate just to use the given 5s, 1min and 5min ride data given in te PowerAgent software? The problem with this, is that PowerAgent give the average power for a given time, whereas Allen says to use the MAX power you can generate for a given time.

2) When testing my FTP (20min max effort), how would I find my average power for the 20min while examining PowerAgent? The average power of the whole ride would not be accurate because it would include the power from my warm up and cool down

3) What does cyclingpeaks do that PowerAgent doesnt?

4) How does the "interval" function work? I know how to change between different intervals, but even when I do, the numbers stay the same

I would go read the manual for your Power Meter. Not to be rude, but it sounds like you just need to learn how to use it.

Cyclingpeaks is more than just power "display" which is what Poweragent basically does. Cyclingpeaks allows much more in depth training analysis. Plus, Cyclingpeaks does the Performance Management Chart. While there are a number of spreadsheets out there that can also do this, Cyclingpeaks pretty much does it the best.

Poweragent doesn't provide any of the "acronym junky" stuff like Normalized Power, IF, etc... You'd have to determine it on your own, which is possible but again - Cyclingpeaks pretty much does it the best.

I reread the manual, specifically the interval section. I got that, so lets see how that helps my data

I know you said you re-read the manual, and have probably figured much of this out by now -- but in case you haven't, and for the benefit of others who might read this thread:



1) When testing my power profile (p.66), would it be accurate just to use the given 5s, 1min and 5min ride data given in te PowerAgent software? The problem with this, is that PowerAgent give the average power for a given time, whereas Allen says to use the MAX power you can generate for a given time.
Yeah, they're not the same thing. I basically just use PowerAgent as a conduit for getting the data into trainingpeaks.com, which will calculate MMP and a few other things.



2) When testing my FTP (20min max effort), how would I find my average power for the 20min while examining PowerAgent? The average power of the whole ride would not be accurate because it would include the power from my warm up and cool down
Use the PT's interval-marking function (press 'Mode' and 'Select' simultaneously). You don't even have to be in interval mode, just press the two briefly (don't hold, or you'll clear your data). When you scrape the session from the PT into PowerAgent, you can view the marked intervals (in 'details' view of PowerAgent) and get the avg, max, etc. for each interval.

If you didn't mark the interval, but can see where it started and ended on the graph, you can select it with the mouse, then 'Save Interval' in PowerAgent.



3) What does cyclingpeaks do that PowerAgent doesnt?
A lot, evidently, but I haven't felt the need to upgrade just yet (though as I said I'm using trainingpeaks.com, which is a subset of the functionality of Cyclingpeaks). I would check it out if you are not quite ready to shell out for Cyclingpeaks but are interested in more than PowerAgent provides.



4) How does the "interval" function work? I know how to change between different intervals, but even when I do, the numbers stay the same
OK, you are just using simple interval marking. There is a separate interval *mode*, where the display will show only the numbers for the current interval. To enter interval mode, press and hold 'Mode' for a few seconds until you see 'INT 1', it will stay on, unlike the brief on/off it does with simple interval marking. In interval mode, your Avg/Max power, speed, etc. are specific to the current interval. To exit, press and hold 'Mode' again. There is some way to review previous intervals as well but I will have to check the manual on that. I never use that functionality so I don't worry about it :)



Another free tip, which I missed in the manual and others seem to miss as well, is how to switch to/from time-of-day mode (versus duration/total time mode). With the > < on the bottom row, use 'Select' to get to the "T" display. Then press and hold 'Select' for a few seconds, it will switch to time of day. Press and hold 'Select' again to get back to workout/interval time. You can change to/from 12/24hr mode in PowerAgent. There's probably a way to do it on the head unit to but I find configuring stuff through there to be a serious pain in the ass. Much easier to just use PowerAgent.

To run through your intervals "on the fly":

Once in interval, change mode until the "int" is flashing. Once "int" is flashing, press and hold "select" until you see the "m" next to the interval number. You can now press "select" to run through information for each interval.

For instance, if I want to see avg watts for my intervals, I would place the "Watts" display in "Avg," go into interval mode, hold select until the "int" is flashing, and then press select to run through the intervals. Remember that "current" information can also be viewed so I will occasionally leave it in the "interval review" mode if I am doing short enough intervals that I want to check power changes after each interval to see trends.

Hope that makes any sense.

Oh, and as far as Cyclingpeaks goes - you could make excel spreadsheets (or use someone else's) that does everything that Cyclingpeaks does. Cyclingpeaks just runs a tighter package on someone else's development time. I don't use the PMC in Cyclingpeaks at all anymore. I got tired of change the dates on the charts and having to keep up with accurate start values to see "up close" charts. I use an excel spreadsheet system so I can mark up the charts better than what Cyclingpeaks provides.

The most valuable thing I use Cyclingpeaks for is the workout tracker to compare one workout to the next easily without cut/pasting an entire powerfile.

PS> I find that the fact that the "two button press" is the same for Clear and Interval start extremely annoying. My brain farted this week and I cleared an hour and a half of power data while thumbing through stuff on the fly. Be forewarned.