Garmin Edge 500 wierdness?
So I just recently converter to Quarq -> Edge 500 -> WKO+ 3.0 after several years of Ergomo and the WKO/TP stub that it came with. Everything about the Garmin and downloading rides and analyzing them in WKO is beuatifully intuitive - and the extra analytical powers of WKO are very nice. However, I've noticed some wierdness in my data that I cannot figure out, and I'm wondering if others have seen this who are Quarq + Edge 500 users?
1. On a fairly regular basis, my NP comes out as being lower than my AP. This results in a V.I. that is .9x something - OK collectively, let's all do this together: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!" So I can't really figure out why this is happenning - at first I though it was only happening when I did FTP intervals on the trainer, but this weekend, I did FTP intervals outside for the first time, and same thing happened outside - NP was 1 watt lower than AP which gave me V.I. of .99 I have not done an FTP test since getting this thing - but that is my main concern with it is that my NP on an FTP comes out syaing it's lower than AP - WTF?
2. On Saturday, I did a ride and the Distance, Time, and Speed reflected on my Garmin at the end of the ride were not the same as what WKO captured for the ride. When I finished the ride, on the Garmin, it told me that Total Distance was 58.6 miles, ride time was 2:44, and average speed was 21.4 mph. Then when I downloaded the ride to WKO, it said Distance was 58.6 miles, ride time was 2:44 (2:47), and average speed was 20.9 mph. I am assuming that the 2:47 in parentheses was total elapsed time (I took a pee break mid way + a couple of traffic lights) - However, I definitely stopped the Garmin ride timer on my break, and I have the timer set to auto pause at traffic lights. As best I can tell, the average speed calculation in WKO is distance over elapsed time for the entire ride (rather than distance over actual ride time).
Anyone else experienced either of these issues with Garmin 500 and/or Quarq. Is this a user error (entirely possible)?
Comments
1) I have seen this exactly once and it was a 5:0X interval so since NP isn't even accurate until after 5 minutes I just ignored it. Since then I have never had an NP lower than AP. However I have on a few occasions had the NP and AP the exact same and the VI is -1.00, -0.99, or 0.99. These were during indoor rides so my VI really was 1.0ish and again I just ignored it. Is it always only a watt or so different? Are you riding really smooth and could actually have a 1.0 VI?
2) This happens to me as well, as you said WKO takes the total distance over total time to calc average speed and the edge does total distance over moving time. If I ride without stopping (i.e. in races) the WKO and garmin data match but the more I stop during a training ride the further apart the average speed is. Personally I could care less about speed so I ignore this as well. Power and Time are all I care about and those have always appeared to be correct and consistant.
Awesome - thanks Matt - this definitely helps. I do tend to ride pretty low V.I. so it is possible that I am at 1.0 or very close - just thought it was wierd to see NP below AP, especially when I took it outside to do intervals on some rolling terrain for the first time over the weekend.
I am with you that I normally don't care much about speed as long as power and time are correct. However, I am using speed as a bit of a cross reference right now as I am converting from Ergomo to Quarq and my power numbers are a little different than what I was accustomed to on the Ergomo. Once I am fully adapted to my new ranges on Quarq - probably will care about speed less.
- Mike