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drluke12

Jul 18, 12 12:29

Post #1 of 16 (1653 views)
Quarq owners question Quote | Reply
For all you quarq owners out there, I have a question. How much do you figure temperature change plays a part in power numbers? One thing that I have noticed is that when I look at my average power for the first half of my 2012 outdoor riding season (starting mid March) to say mid May, my average power is on average 12 watts higher than my average power from mid May to mid July (now).

In the first half of the year, I would have been taking my bike from a warm house and often riding in cooler temperatures. Now, with all this crazy heat this summer, I am taking my bike from a cooler air conditioned building (either home or office) and often riding in warmer outdoor temperatures.

I certainly don't think I am losing fitness over the course of the summer (via lower average watts), so am thinking that the different outdoor temperatures are playing a role in this?

This data comes from my near daily commuting to work which is approximately 29K each way. I will calibrate the power meter on my Edge 500 before every ride as well.

Just curious what others have seen.

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https://twitter.com/LukeEhgoetz
http://mytriathlonandtrainingadventures.blogspot.ca/


mieke@quarq

Jul 18, 12 13:16

Post #2 of 16 (1598 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [drluke12] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
drluke12 wrote:
For all you quarq owners out there, I have a question. How much do you figure temperature change plays a part in power numbers? One thing that I have noticed is that when I look at my average power for the first half of my 2012 outdoor riding season (starting mid March) to say mid May, my average power is on average 12 watts higher than my average power from mid May to mid July (now).

In the first half of the year, I would have been taking my bike from a warm house and often riding in cooler temperatures. Now, with all this crazy heat this summer, I am taking my bike from a cooler air conditioned building (either home or office) and often riding in warmer outdoor temperatures.

I certainly don't think I am losing fitness over the course of the summer (via lower average watts), so am thinking that the different outdoor temperatures are playing a role in this?

This data comes from my near daily commuting to work which is approximately 29K each way. I will calibrate the power meter on my Edge 500 before every ride as well.

Just curious what others have seen.

You should zero your powermeter prior to every ride. You can do that via the Garmin's "calibrate" function or by back pedaling 5 complete revolutions. The temperature can affect the powermeter some, but it usually takes a pretty big swing of temp changes. If you take your bike out of a warm house and riding in cool temperatures (or vice versa), make sure to backpedal or zero via the Garmin after a few (10 mins or so) into your ride if you feel like the temperature is affecting it.

Keep an eye on your zero offset value from the beginning to the end of your ride. That is the key. It may vary from day to day, but it shouldn't move by much more than 50 points or so from the beginning to the end of your ride (unless you have extreme temperature changes).

Mieke
Quarq Technology


drluke12

Jul 18, 12 13:24

Post #3 of 16 (1581 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [mieke@quarq] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
Thanks Mieke,

Yes, I do zero my powermeter before every ride and when commuting, that means at the beginning and end of the day. I don't normally do the quick backpedal zero during the ride, but will try to do that for those rides that are in more extreme temperatures. I'll also take a look at the zero offset from the beginning to the end of a ride. The zero offsets at the beginning of a ride have been fairly consistent in the -330 range.

------------------------------------------------------
https://twitter.com/LukeEhgoetz
http://mytriathlonandtrainingadventures.blogspot.ca/


echappist

Jul 18, 12 13:43

Post #4 of 16 (1544 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [drluke12] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
 

rule of thumb seem to be 1W less at FTP for every degree F over 70


Nolegs

Jul 18, 12 16:00

Post #5 of 16 (1476 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [drluke12] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
  
Very interesting. I have also noticed a 10-20 watt lower average wattage during the summer versus the very early spring but I attributed this mainly to my body core temp being much hotter and not drift with the power meter. I definitely run slower when it's very hot so why wouldn't my cycling power output follow the same reduction.


joeturner

Jul 18, 12 18:57

Post #6 of 16 (1410 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [drluke12] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
I zero my quarq as much as I can throughout my rides (which when commuting is A LOT of times). But even so, I do get different readings depending on the temperature. I did the same climb two weekends in a row, the second time I averaged about 5-7% watts more but it took about 2% more time (and I don't think wind had anything to do with it). And actually, the second time, I had a much lighter wheelset as well. Maybe I just gained 10 pounds or something...


drohc

Jul 19, 12 10:48

Post #7 of 16 (1296 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [drluke12] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
Battery?


drluke12

Jul 19, 12 10:50

Post #8 of 16 (1295 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [drohc] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
What about it? When the battery gets low, does it start giving you lower power numbers? I would figure it would just stop showing power altogether. Do you know something about this?

------------------------------------------------------
https://twitter.com/LukeEhgoetz
http://mytriathlonandtrainingadventures.blogspot.ca/


f18guy

Jul 20, 12 5:35

Post #9 of 16 (1222 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [drluke12] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
Last weekend I was riding and got caught in a typical summer downpour for this area(South Carolina). I started the ride at 0600 and it was already 75 and humid. When the rain hit my power numbers went completely gonzo, swinging from 0 to well over 1000.

I originally thought water may have penetrate the battery compartment, but when I finished the ride I inspected the battery and it was bone dry. My only assumption that remains is that the sudden drop in temperature was the cause of the swings.


TriZag

Aug 27, 12 9:39

Post #10 of 16 (983 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [drluke12] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
Quick question you may also have noticed (or not). When I transfer my data, or import it, rather, to SportTracks, I notice a +10-12 watt difference than what my Garmin has for average power. Anyone else notice this at all?


TH3_FRB

Aug 27, 12 11:36

Post #11 of 16 (923 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [joeturner] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
How long is this climb? Different tires/pressure = different rolling resistance.

joeturner wrote:
I did the same climb two weekends in a row, the second time I averaged about 5-7% watts more but it took about 2% more time (and I don't think wind had anything to do with it). And actually, the second time, I had a much lighter wheelset as well. Maybe I just gained 10 pounds or something...
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shredz2000

Aug 27, 12 11:55

Post #12 of 16 (907 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [TriZag] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
I have noticed the same thing with WorkoutLog and my Edge 500. Typically the power will be lower than what the Edge and GarminConnect show after uploading, and this only seems to happen when I do outdoor rides and have spun the crank backwards to re-zero it. I feel like this only started happening after I did the firmware update on the Edge, but I cant pinpoint exactly.


PSJoyce

Aug 27, 12 12:03

Post #13 of 16 (896 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [shredz2000] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
If I remember correctly to when I updated, the Garmin 500 3.0 firmware defaults to turn "exclude zeros from average" on. This could result in what you're reporting.


shredz2000

Aug 27, 12 12:05

Post #14 of 16 (890 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [PSJoyce] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
thank you for that, I will check it when I get home, that could in fact be what I'm seeing (and would make sense I only notice it outside and not on the trainer when I'm pedaling the whole time).


joeturner

Aug 27, 12 12:52

Post #15 of 16 (844 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [TH3_FRB] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
TH3_FRB wrote:
How long is this climb? Different tires/pressure = different rolling resistance.

joeturner wrote:
I did the same climb two weekends in a row, the second time I averaged about 5-7% watts more but it took about 2% more time (and I don't think wind had anything to do with it). And actually, the second time, I had a much lighter wheelset as well. Maybe I just gained 10 pounds or something...

Well... It was a 20 mile climb, and I had just switched to Gatorskins from some slick tires, so that definitely could have had an effect.


jeffp

Aug 27, 12 13:13

Post #16 of 16 (822 views)
Re: Quarq owners question [joeturner] [In reply to] Quote | Reply
and you answered your own comment

   
 
 
 
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