BicyclePower

so arrival is expected very veru soon :clap: :clap: dont worry i will let everyone know as soon as they have arrived and been bought into stock, might be sooner than expected here is a really good youtube video from the well respected DR Allen Lim as to why you should go for PowerCal: then onto this here is another video, please note this in this video they use the incorrect working, PowerCal is not a Power Meter but a Power Calculator!!!

yes this is correct. we have not marketed the product in any other way for now, however once we have stock we will do more marketing in other media

I am finding that the Power readings are a constant 10-15% lower than the PT however this is where the value of the PC comes in. because it is almost custom to each user due to HR changes etc one could decide to add10% onto each value however I don’t think this would be needed as the target market is more for the recreational rider who wants to track fitness and feels HR is just not sufficient and for around R1000 this is what the product has been designed for. However for the more serious riders who want to keep track of fitness with PMC (performance management charts) then they could find out just how much off the PC is then add a fixed percentage. i.e. in my case add 10% to TSS and energy etc. TSS will be affected due to the differences in normalized power, here the differences may be a little more because there are a lot more measurable involved in the normalized power calculation.

guys and girls, please see the attached pictures of a .jpeg image of my 2 rides this past weekend. the PCwas within 5% of the PT readings!!!! however whats more important is the trends of the graph. when power on the PT goes up so does the PC. and if only training on HR this would not be possible to note on shorter efforts. i have the .csv files if anyone would like to view in PowerAgent or WKO. PowerTap graph PowerCal graph

morning everyone, got some good results this weekend, will try upload some files and graphs for you to view however in the mean time please look at the below links: P.S. the order of the PC's left yesterday from the states, due to arrive very very soon!!!! http://teamrodrigo.com/2012/07/20/riding-with-cycleops-powercal/ http://teamrodrigo.com/2012/07/23/comparing-power-readings-from-powercal-and-powertap/

from the conversation i have had with the States i have been told it does, it uses current, instant HR as well as HR varibility

the PowerCals algorithm does not take into account speed or cadence only HR i.e. your current HR and its drift. so if you are at 70bpm the PC will know very little to no power is being producted however if you go from 70-140 in the space of 3min the algorithm will put that effort into a power reading something along the lines of a 300w output at a guess. however if you HR went from 70-140 in the space of 30sec it might think you were at a set of light and pull of very quickly to catch the bunch again and so align itself with an effort of 800w plus at a guess.

No this is not what I tried to explain, perhaps A better explanation would be as follows: If both you and your mate are of the same weight, age, height and fitness and riding along at the same speed one would assume ur power would be very much identical. This would be someone correct if u were measuring power through a PowerTap however because there may or may not be changes in HR and using the PowerCal a power calculator based on HR this would not be the case. Thus I suggested the TSS and IF ways of measuring efforts. If as per your suggestion u say ur HR is 170 in zone 3 typical tempo session and the "average" person is 150 then ur power would then be higher however because u will then also have a higher HR at max efforts such as a 20min effort your power would then also be higher thus using TSS and IF as training factors would be ideal. We can't say the PowerCal offers a 10% accuracy level across the range. Thus a 20min effort to establish FPT power is critical just as u would do with a PowerTap. Once zones are established the powerCals reading are specific to u and u one. And not making them compatible to anyone else due to the above mentioned reasons in HR differences I hope this helps?

we welcome the questions and i will try be best to answer them. here goes. 100 TSS points for you and 100 TSS points for MR Wiggo will mean it has the same intensity on each of your bodies. i.e. 1h at max!! So that PC works in the same sort of way, try not look at the instant power values but rather the way in which the Power is scored. i.e. your mate and yourself are riding along at 30kph both at an intensity factor of .7 or 70% of FTP however your HR will be 170 and your friend 150 and because of this your powers will be different yet your IF will be the same. The new Joule 1.0 and Joule GPS will both have an instant IF scoring. Hope that helped. http://home.trainingpeaks.com/land/what-is-tss.aspx

no max HR needs to be entered, its just a case of put it on and off you go. no calibration what so ever.

hi, a limited number are due to be dispatched early part of next week from our suppliers, i think enough to supply everyone who has pre ordered. should be due to arrive towards the end of next week or the early the following week. testing should be finished by then on our side. we will be interested to hear how the users find the PowerCal however a second order with larger quantities is not far off.

Right guys and girls the news you have all been waiting for. We have been doing a fair amount of tests on the PowerCal with 5+ totally different ends of cyclist. For both my colleague and I, ex professional, we are finding the PC to be within 10-15% of the PowerTaps reading. These came from rides with a min length of 1h and max length of 3h. The longer you ride the closer the readings become, at one point I had the readings within 5%. PC readings were found to be lower on both my colleague and I, this could be from the competitive background as both of us train on power and have optimised our pedalling efficiency. i.e. producing more power for a lower HR. However we then offered the PC to relatively new and inexperienced riders who would train less than a handful of times per month. The Power readings were found to be 15-20% higher than that of the Power Tap. This would be due to the “lack of fitness” and training, meaning a relatively wasteful transmission of Power compared to HR. i.e. a higher HR at a given known power. These findings are to be expected as the PowerCal is a Power Calculator and NOT a Power Measurer like the PowerTap product. The biggest value of the PowerCal is that it now allows riders who previously have no indication of their power outputs the opportunity to understand and learn more about Training and Racing with Power and thus learning about effective pacing and training strategies. This for a price slightly above that of what a normal HR monitor costs is where the real values comes in. Some of the immediate benefits I can think of would be as follows: Ability to track performance and fitness changes. i.e. the PMC (Performance Management Chart) that comes with WKO+ software Ability to develop a basic pacing strategy. i.e. not to charge off up a hill having Power spike at 500w+ and then later running out of energy Ability to store or put values to workouts thought TSSS and IF. Provides you with an instant Power reading, i.e. providing you an instant relationship of dose vs. training Suggestions we have for users: Power Smoothing, increase power smoothing to the maximum you can on the selected device i.e. on the CycleOps Joule 2.0 max power smoothing is 30sec Power can sometimes display when freewheeling on a downhill, this would be because power is calculated off HR so should you be going down a technical decent and you get an adrenalin rush and HR spikes expect a Power spike too. Interesting articles: http://www.cycleops.com/en/training/training-resources.html?view=entry&category=training&id=356:why-you-need-a-power-meter http://www.cycleops.com/en/training/training-resources.html?view=entry&category=training&id=319:peak-period-workouts http://www.cycleops.com/en/training/training-resources.html?view=entry&category=training&id=316:why-power http://www.cycleops.com/en/training/training-resources.html?view=entry&category=training&id=194:watts-up-in-indoor-cycling

R1645 for the new Joule 1.0 then a speed sensor will be around R300-R400

around R1000

So far testing going well, showing a 10% accuracy level on over all values We are still having some problems with intervals and the power values shown and we are working closely with America on this. The good news is that we have committed to a small order from the states and this is due to be shipped during this week, air freight. However we will not launch the product till we have resolved the short interval accuracy of the system with Saris USA.

Bicycle Power Trading are still putting the product through testing and asking for more input from our supplier CycleOps USA on a few issues. we will not bring the product in untill we are 100% happy with it, even it if means delaying launch dates.

yes we will as the PT has an accuracy level of +/- 1.5% so will be ideal to check against that.

so far we have got all working, however trsting will continue over the weekend and be done on 3 riders.

great news guys and girls, finally got the PowerCal working. will have some graphs up tomorrow to view. will be done on the indoor trainer.

no the 4th of July has really stuffed things up with the guys in the states of the office pretty much all of last week, trying again this evening to get hold of them.

yip ideal for short trips to and from club rides and bike shops

thanks for the positive words guys, you can get the bones racks from www.bicyclepower.co.za always topped up with stock.

had one or two problems, tryed to have a Skype conversation with they guys in the states yesterday but they all on holiday (july the 4th) will be trying again today. but good news looks like Joule 1.0 is ready so should be ready to ship out order in the next week or so. so not that long from now.

GREAT NEWS!!!!! the first test PowerCal has arrived in SA this morning, i will be putting it though its paces straight away!!! not too long till we get stock!!!!! i hope to be able to start uploading some graphs. i will be doing all the test rides on a PowerTap so a great chance to see how they compare!!!! exciting times!!!!!