Edonis13

Yeah. I scouted out the course over the weekend and took my TT bike out for the first time in 2 years last week. I really have no idea how I'll do, but my goal is 24:00 which would be a tad over 25mph. It's ambitious, but I'm going to try for it.

I was bummed that you didn't make it to the mock race on Sunday, I was looking forward to meeting you.

furiousferret

The west coast sucks, just ask anyone that doesn't live on the west coast.

gsteinb

ok.

Hermes

I had several discussions with Garmin on this matter. According to engineering, the Garmin head unit has to make a calculation summing up the right and left leg. By the time all the data is computed, the fastest they can display is 3 seconds. And the Garmin head unit only records every second assuming that is the selection one makes. Plus each head unit will vary on the transient response i.e. 500 v 800.

I told Garmin 3 seconds was not competitive and unacceptable. The recorded power should somewhat match the perceived effort on a transient basis.

As it turns out, the cumulative accuracy is in spec. So Garmin Vector just lags and then overshoots by the correct amount. If one sits at a long traffic light and the PM goes to sleep, it make take 7 seconds or more to wake up and record power. A ride with a lot of starts and stops with big bursts of power at the start that were not recorded can start to cause Vector to lag in the average power compared to Quarq.

In mass start racing situations, I doubt that a racer would even notice since one is not fixated on the display and you are continuously moving. For TTs, I find the lag annoying since the power reading does not instantly match the PE.

I notice it more at the track during pursuit when I riding by cadence and spin up but the cadence indication lags.

And a lot of big brain guys and reviewers think the Vector is great. I think for swapping around on bikes it is okay and for a backup. And lets not forget the Quarq's ability to drift and does not have auto zero. If you look closely at DC Rainmakers chart comparing Vector, Quarq and PT, you can see that the Vector takes longer to register power. For some reason, he does not discuss it.

IMO, all the PMs have peccadillos. It is about what one can afford and what works for the athlete.

furiousferret

I know with the Vectors if I do a big sprint it shows my peak power about 2-3 seconds after my big push. What you're saying sounds about right, and I'm used to it. My 2 biggest complaints are the cadence reads and dropouts when I'm near electric wires (which may be an ANT+ issue). Vector is all I know and its not close to perfect by no means but acceptable.

Swapping bikes its overrated as I've snapped 2 pods, and have had bad data from not torqueing enough. I'm at the point now I'm considering getting a Stages for my TT and CX bikes.

hack

Quarq seems to have pretty minimal lag time. The Power2Max has about a 2 second lag time. Once you're used to the lag time, it's ok. But, it takes a few rides to adjust.

shovelhd

I think it lags a little compared to the SRM, but not as much as the Powertap SL+ I had.

globecanvas

Acknowledging the rest of your response, but just to answer the question in bold independent of the apples-to-apples issue, there are various free apps that can record BT power data, such as the Wahoo Fitness app.

shovelhd

Do they work with ANT+ dongles?

globecanvas

Yes, the Wahoo and TrainerRoad apps both support BTLE and ANT+. Don't know if you can record separate BTLE and ANT+ power meters simultaneously (I don't think there's any hardware reason that you couldn't, but I don't know if those apps have limitations).

I have a USB ANT+ key, I just tested and I am able to simultaneously record the Stages BT and ANT+ output on my laptop, while riding the trainer, FWIW. So I could have done this comparison myself, before I sold my quarq and powertap. Well, not the quarq, I couldn't have mounted the Stages to it, but I could have compared to the powertap. But I didn't.

Ygduf

I did CP20 today. This quarq lags a little bit relative to my other quarq, different generations I guess. But over 20min it's solid, I guess there's that.

Edonis13

Did it in 24:15. Close to my goal, but not quite.

carpediemracing 

I did three 5 min intervals. This is all new to me but apparently I did Z5? A bit above my FTP based on my FTP test about a week ago. Anyway a 2 second lag on power readings would drive me nuts in something like that. I have to think that the lag would make it harder to do particular measured efforts.

For sprints/crits I don't care since I only look at the data after the fact. I don't look at it during the races, at least not to race with, I just look for reference.

tetonrider

no computers or HR monitors in your house? ;-)

tetonrider

you could do a reasonability test on something like a known hill on a low-wind day.

also, if you want to borrow a head unit i can send you one.

tetonrider

that sucks. pedal-based power had such promise years ago.

bums me out when people spend good money on a solution only to wind up buying another solution.

sum total is probably more than what i could get you an SRM for. (not that SRMs are immune from issues--every PM can have some type of problem, but the SRM issues tend to be fewer & further between.)

good luck in your quest.

tetonrider

nice! you also said you had no idea how you would do, then you threw out 24:00 as an ambitious goal--so definitely cut yourself some slack. sounds like you rocked it. makes the next one a bit easier since you have a real-world run at it already.

shovelhd

I'll take a PC8. Oh wait....

Wesley36

Totally fell apart on the second interval, ended up filling in the rest of the session with 3x CrissCross threshold intervals to salvage a workout. 105 TSS in the end.

Feeling a bit defeated, but right now I am thinking that it is probably worth it for me to keep trying to do as many of the VO2 intervals as I can each week, and if I cannot complete the workout, fill it in with some other work. The one time I tried to go on a break in a race last season I was effective at creating a gap, but I just did not have the legs to stay out in the wind. Specifically targeting work around going deep into the red, then trying to maintain a high pace, is probably useful (and not just for trying to breakaway).

Wylde06

3x9 over unders last night followed by 10 minutes at threshold. I think im going to make the over unders 12 minutes next time.

Also, weighed in at 204.8 this morning.

TheKillerPenguin

1hr comically easy.

Edonis13

I'm still happy with how I did. I'm even happier that what I was shooting for was close to being within reach, so my perception of my current fitness is pretty accurate. I'll get the sub-24 next time.

MDcatV

none that i knew had firmware ... or ants.

MDcatV

you know a workout is good when you mistakenly hit the stop button instead of the lap button

aaronmcd

Did the morning group ride yesterday, got in a couple hard attacks/short lived breaks, then rode hard to work. Gonna do the group ride for a while to get some more steady efforts in (as opposed to mostly short intervals). Went out this morning to do the climb near my place, been that way a million times but for some dumb reason I went left at the fork instead of right and ended up doing an hour of JRA in the rain. That was fine though, I wasn't sure how hard I wanted to ride today anyway.