Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
Instead of taking my word for it, you can see for yourself. Use a Garmin that's calculated VO2max for you, disconnect it from your power meter, but feed it HR data and GPS which it uses for speed. Or a dedicated speed sensor if you prefer. It won't (be able to) give you a VO2max number. Then connect the power back up. It will again.
Garmin uses the same software feature to estimate VO2 for runners. Running power meters is a nebulous, shadowy realm, but if you assume flat pavement and minimal wind, running pace is analogous to bike power. The white paper describing the feature talks about running and cycling but most of the examples are for running. This is almost certainly why the patent, which isn't a technical specification for the code, talks about speed. But black box testing proves that it won't calculate without power for cycling. 🙂
Read my posts and make a more reasonable response.
How could the Garmin report a lower VO2 max when my 5 minute power and all of my hill climbing time PB are being smashed. The ONLY change is going from a bike where 25-30 mph is a piece of cake to a normal bike. Explain that. I have looked into this enough to know their algo is garbage.