Powermeter ??
Finished my first race using EN training on Saturday!!! I bought a Quarq about a month ago and have been seeing pretty consistent results throughout my workouts. I set up the Garmin 500 computer prior to Sat to show time and power 3s. I put the computer on the bike and calibrated it prior to the race. I got out of the water and on the bike and realized that I hadn't disabled the auto shut down so I had to turn the thing on while I was riding!!!! Got it turned on and then no power readings so I pedaled backwards 4+ times to recalibrate the Quarq and within a minute or two got some power numbers. The strange thing is that I was riding at what I would characterize as comfortably hard but had power readings of 130w or less. I actually PR'd the bike by 4 minutes with an NP of 139w while my FTP (tested twice) is 219w. Tried everything I could to get the watts up to 175w which was my goal but it never happened. Felt like if I got it to 175w, that I wouldn't be able to sustain it.
I crashed 2 weeks prior to race day but didn't notice any damage to the PM and completed my training noticing no dramatic changes in the wattage output from what I was expecting. Just wondering what might have happened? Didn't calibrate correctly, the cold swim just didn't allow for higher power numbers; Quarq is damaged; or what??
Just curious if anyone has any thoughts or experienced this?
Thanks,
Joe
Comments
I'm sure you have this figured out by now - turn the auto shutdown off. I think the issue is one of a mis-calibration when you started riding after it has been turned off. I think it tries to calibrate but the calibrated numbers are going to be jacked up because you're applying pressure to the cranks. That's going to make your power numbers wrong. Quarq states the CinQo remembers the last calibration number and that you shouldn't have to recalibrate every time but I'm really not sure about that. Many people have expressed the same issue that you and I encountered.
Was there a big temperature difference between the time you first calibrated it before you swam to when you started biking?
Bob,
You situation sounds exactly like mine. I back pedalled over and over and it didn't seem to help. There was a big temperature difference from my initial calibration (mid to upper 30s) to start of bike (mid 40s) to end of bike (mid 60s) so that could have contributed as well.
I am definitely going to turn off the auto shutdown before my races and try to calibrate with the garmin unit at the start of the bike and then use the back pedal calibration throughout the race.
Thanks for the insight.
Joe
The temp difference from initial calibration to the start of the bike isn't that significant to throw the numbers way off (10 degrees or less). I think 20+ degrees is where you will start to see issues.
It just happened to me that one time. I do exactly as you expressed now -- auto shutdown set to off, calibrate before the swim (for a race) or before you start biking (for training) and do a back pedal zero-offset every hour or so while riding. I haven't had any issues since.
Hints when doing the initial calibration:
1. Do not apply any force to the pedals, to include having your shoes clipped into the pedals. That will throw things off.
2. If your 500 is set to detect the heart rate monitor, make sure you're actually wearing your HRM and are close to the bike. The 500 will search for the HRM before it searches for the Quarq. If it cannot find the HRM, it will look for it for awhile before giving up and detecting the power meter. This can sometimes take several minutes.
Off topic... I see you're in Raleigh. I lived there from 1993-2004. Awesome place to live. I was sad to move. My in-laws live in Fuquay-Varina still.