Originally Posted by
ilovecycling
I can see including zeros, but why turn off the auto-stop? If you are stopped and stuck at a red light, why would you include that in your average power?
Most analysis software (Golden Cheetah, WKO+, etc.) will give you both your average power (power over the whole ride, including zeroes), and "normalized power" (or "NP"; Golden Cheetah calls this "xPower"), which doesn't include zeroes (i.e. only calculates when you are pedaling and putting out power). Both of these numbers will give you an idea of how hard the ride was in general (average power) and how hard you worked during that ride (NP).