Powertap cadence

DaveyL

I've just done a few rides with the wireless Powertap and have noticed after downloading the ride data that the figures for maximum cadenc are ridiculous - 188 on one ride and 226 on another. Has anyone got any experience of what the cadence measurement is like, long term? I haven't done enough rides with it yet to see if these values are just oddities.

I'm guessing the numbers are registering as a very short spike as I can't see anything that high when I look at the cadence graph - my concern is that if it is picking up high values on a regular basis it will skew the average cadence.

Alex_Simmons/RST

Do you have a crank cadence sensor, or is it displaying a virtual cadence calculated from hub torque pulses? The latter can be unreliable for cadence data. It doesn't affect power measurements though.

DaveyL

It's the virtual cadence. I'm guessing these high numbers are just spikes/artefacts, but am curious as to how often they're occuring and if they are skewing the overall average cadence by much. On the ride with a max of 188 the cadence never seems to go over 100 when I look at the endtire ride.

Alex_Simmons/RST

I doubt the odd spike will affect overall data much. Bit like the odd HR spike.
A little annoying perhaps.

DaveyL

Yes, I really would like to have seen the part of the ride where I was doing 220 rpm

The PowerAgent software is OK but I think I am going to have to get WKO+.

It's a real eye opener at first when you see just how variable power is on what you thought was a relatively flat piece of road.

guv001

I've also found the virtual hub only cadence to be totally unreliable. It usually gives me a cadence of between 60 - 70 rpm when I'm a real spinner. I also use a polar cadence sensor which tell me its 95 - 100 rpm which is more like what I'm doing.