A frustrating day at the velodrome

[mamilian.bike]

I went to the velodrome today to play with the Aeropod and test some equipment. Firmware updated, running the latest app on my PC. Got it all setup last night with the different profiles and selected the BEST accuracy mode profile on the unit. Verified that I was getting the alternating red/green flashing. Shut it all down.

Pack everything up and drive to the velodrome. Turn on the Aeropod, solid RED on the LED. Hmm... that's weird... good thing I printed out all the LED status permutations... Solid RED means... "DEVICE's selected profile is in new, "factory" condition"... Huh? That's weird... Press the button... flashing GREEN... check the cheat sheet... OK... Maybe the the speed/DFPM didn't wake up when I rode over from the car? Spin the wheel, spin the cranks, light goes out... Progress!?! press the button... RED... press the button... blinking GREEN

Let's see what happens when I connect the Garmin? Garmin can't find it... Speed and PM are showing as awake and connected to the Garmin... OK, go back the car for the phone, maybe I can figure it out with the Velocomp app. App connects! Yay! Select a different profile? That worked, but the LED is still RED and the Garmin can't connect to it.

Pretty frustrated now...

Five presses, device turns off, turn it on... RED... OK, very frustrated now... It's getting hot, there's no shade in the velodrome, let's go under a tree and see if we can't get this to work...

Dance repeats... Cheat sheet printout is starting to shred as huge drops of sweat get all over it... Fine, done, just not going to happen... Ride for an hour, head is clear, time to punch myself in the face some more...

Sweet! Phone connects, Garmin connects, flashign red/green (after solid yellow) WE ARE GOOD TO GO! Push the button, ride, power counts to 50, stop (ish), power counts to 100! OH YES! Finally!!! Wait, isn't it supposed to show the real number now? Stuck at 100W... stuck at 100W... CIQ app crashes...

ARGH!!!

Just going to ride and forget that I had other plans today...

This is the most frustrating thing I have ever spent money on...

[Velocomp]

Well, honestly, I don't understand why you would change the settings on the night prior to your testing.

Red means that you were on a virgin profile...no sensor pairing. This likely happened when you selected "best" calibration, for the wrong profile.

Here is what I would do:

1) Make sure your unit is set to profile 4

2) Do sensor pairing and cal ride, in profile 4, anywhere convenient to you, prior to going to the velodrome

3) DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING AFTER THAT

4) Go to the Velodrome and do your testing. Calibrations will be updated as needed during testing

[mamilian.bike]

How would one select "best" calibration for the wrong profile? The Velocomp Aero PC app displays four profiles. The"Device Setup" wizard will allow "Better" and "Best" calibration modes for each of the profiles. I have "Better" selected for profiles 1-3, and confirmed that profile 4 was set to "Best" and set as the selected profile on the device using the "Configure Device" wizard.

Interestingly, when I look at the profiles in the app, it seems to have lost the settings for profiles 1 & 3 and selected the first profile?

devicesetup.png (35.05 KiB) Viewed 6803 times

Unfortunately, I live in a semi-urban area, there isn't anywhere around here that I can do a calibration ride. I've tried a few times/places that seemed like they might work; always run out of road before it asks me to turn around.

[lorduintah]

Doing you cal ride for profile 4 at the track is not an option?

Just asking...

[Velocomp]

Doing you cal ride for profile 4 at the track is not an option?

Just asking...

You can do a cal ride anywhere you want; doing one at a velodrome seems (at least to me) to be a poor use of velodrome location

There is no additional benefit from doing a cal ride at the Velodrome.

[lorduintah]

John -

I suggested that only because he seems to not have any place where he is looking for an out and back in his urban environment. I appreciate that there is a cost to using that kind of facility.

Perhaps even the parking lot of the velodrome? Or a parking lot elsewhere?

You well know that you do not need to ride in a straight line so a circle of some sort would possibly fill the bill - and just turn around when you are supposed to revers your path.


Tom

[Velocomp]

John -

I suggested that only because he seems to not have any place where he is looking for an out and back in his urban environment. I appreciate that there is a cost to using that kind of facility.

Perhaps even the parking lot of the velodrome? Or a parking lot elsewhere?

You well know that you do not need to ride in a straight line so a circle of some sort would possibly fill the bill - and just turn around when you are supposed to revers your path.


Tom

Fair enough!

Certainly, a Velodrome will work just fine:

1) ride laps until you see 50W on your bike computer, and the AP light turns red.

2) slow down to about 8 mph, until the light flashes yellow and watts continue to climb. Continue to ride in the same direction until you see 100W on your bike computer and the flashing light goes out

3) Once the cal ride is complete watts will return to normal and the light will go out

Here is the important point: in profile 4, each time a configuration test is done the unit recalibrates itself. So, the point of the cal ride is to get AP into a condition where it will function during testing.

[mamilian.bike]

You can do a cal ride anywhere you want; doing one at a velodrome seems (at least to me) to be a poor use of velodrome location

There is no additional benefit from doing a cal ride at the Velodrome.

The Ed Rudolph Velodrome (in Northbrook, IL) is free to use and generally open to the public. Just have to make sure that there aren't events scheduled when you want to use it. If there are, obviously then you can't .

I've been there a few times. It's very common for cyclists to stop by and do a few laps for fun (have a brief video here).

It's an awesome resource for the community.