Using an iBike with SportTracks

[racerfern]

Some people have iBikes and don't have a GPS device. For those of you that want to try something different you can now import your post analysis csv files into SportTracks ( http://www.zonefivesoftware.com ). You will need a plugin called WB CSV importer and it makes sense to have the Power Info plugin also although it is not a requirement. There are many other plugins that enhance the basic program but what you choose to work with is up to you. If you need info you can reply here or send me an email to cycling at fernandomaldonado dot com.

Make a copy of the iBike csv file after analysis. Do not use your master file.
Open the copy in Excel and click on the cell below the word "timestamp"; Column "O" Row "6"
Select column "O" and click on Format Cells. Click "Time" and the first one should read "*13:30:55". Select that so your changes are easily readable.
Assuming you are in five second recording do as follows, if you are in one second recording then substitute 01 for 05 in the sequence below

Type everything between the quotes "=time(00,00,05)" and press enter
The cell should read 00:00:05
Move down one cell and type =O6+time(00,00,05) and press enter
In other words, the cell above plus 5 seconds
This cell should read 00:00:10)
Click on this cell and copy it. Now paste it down for all the rows that you have.
Your timestamp column should look like this:
00:00:05
00:00:10
00:00:15
...

If you did the ride in one second recording the the sequence would be every second not every five seconds.
00:00:01
00:00:02
00:00:03
...

Save the file as a csv and exit Excel. Now using SportTracks click on import and using the WB CSV importer import the file. You'll have to check and correct the actual date and time but other than that you will have all the data from the iBike file and also be able to accumulate totals and create reports.

If you installed the power info plugin then all that data should be available to you also.

Good luck!

[racerfern]

Attached are a couple of graphs from SportTracks. All this information comes solely from the iBike file.
The first one shows power with an overlay of the elevation profile. Above the graph is information about the different power zones.

power1.jpg (174.31 KiB) Viewed 13500 times

Using the Overlay Plugin, this graph shows an overlay of three activities I selected then decided to only use two. Power is overlaid along with a moving average. You can see the blue activity was higher power and also less time. Both activities had very similar efforts along the length of the ride; just the blue one was more so.

overlay1.jpg (181.84 KiB) Viewed 13488 times

Finally, using the Power Info plugin, you see the pertinent info including TSS,IF,NP. Since I clicked on CP30m that area is highlighted in the graph.

power1.jpg (174.31 KiB) Viewed 13500 times

[Jomoalli]

Where can I obtain the 2 plugins?

[racerfern]

http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/Plugins/

The entire catalog of plugins is listed here.

[alback]

Thanks for posting this Fernando, I hope it isn't too complex for me. I will take a look at it and get back to you. I hope to share your enthusiasm regarding this software. I haven't had great luck doing the overlays using ibike 2.08 just yet.


cheers,
Alan

[alback]

Fernando:
I am having problems with the installation of plug-ins. I get an error message everytime I open SportTracks where it is looking for a WB_Csv_Importer plugin. I can't seem to delete this log.


When I open settings, under the Plugins I see the following plugins listed.
Terraserver, Power Importers, Overlay and Accum Summary.

However when I open the Plugins tab, I see the above plus Garmin Device, workd Weather Provider and WB CSV Importer 1.0.9

Since the error message, I cannot import any files, nothing happens?

If you don't mind, can you suggest how to clear this error message?

Alan

[racerfern]

Alan,

Exit ST then run the install file for the WB CSV Importer again. I have seen where you have to run the installer more than once because of a conflict at installation.

You should also have the Power Info Plugin which is separate from the Power Importer. Actually, you shouldn't need the power importer plugin because that is for merging power data into GPS data. But leave it installed, you never know.

We should continue this discussion on the SportTracks forums. There are a lot of knowledgeable people there along with the developer.

[wellmt]

This is a great tip. It's also useful to those of us with Garmin Edge 305 units, If you want to combine your Garmin ride data with the iBike power data. Simply import the iBike data into Sportstracks using racerfern's technique and suggested plugins. Next all you need to do is do a regular Sportstracks import of the data from your Garmin 305 and overwrite the same event with the route/speed/cadence/distance from the Garmin.

Does anyone know if the Edge 705 can import the power along with all the other GPS & speed/cadence data without having to do the above (assuming it's configured to receive from the iBike?)

Thanks

[racerfern]

The 705 does provide the power data to SportTracks provided the 705 is receiving the info from an ANT+ device such as the iBike (assuming you have the correct firmware)

However, there are issues with the 705 and receiving the proper signal. There are power dropouts so that the data is not 100%, but it's really really close. Depending on the orientation between the iBike and the 705 some people may have a huge number of dropouts and possibly spikes while others may not have many dropouts at all. Personally, I have my iBike on the stem with the 705 about 1 inch to the right. I have no spikes but I still get about 5 dropouts per hour. It's easy enough to find and correct them in SportTracks but remember you are working with the data pre-analysis if you use the power info from the 705.

[wellmt]

Thanks for the quick reply. With luck I'll have an Edge 705 soon. My new iBike has the G firmware upgrade. My Garmin/iBike combo will be the opposite way around to yours, iBike on the stem, Garmin to the right on the bar - be interesting to see if that's better, worse or no different.

I've only just set my iBike up. but analysing my first ride with an with profile corrections doesn't change the figures much at all so it might be good enough. Early days, we'll see.

[rruff]

Open the copy in Excel and click on the cell below the word "timestamp"; Column "O" Row "6"

Anybody know how to do Excel scripts that will automatically modify the files? That would make things a lot simpler...

[racerfern]

I will give it a shot when I get home. It's really the same as the commands to manually create the times, it's just that you are saving them as a macro. You just have to tell the macro when to stop and that is at the first empty line.

Hang loose for a little while.

[racerfern]

Attached is an Excel Macro that puts the correct timestamp in the timestamp column for import into SportTracks. Open the file like any other file and then open a copy of your iBike csv data. Simply type "CTRL T" and save as a csv. Then import into SportTracks.

Let me know if you have any problems importing. I tried it on a number of my files including a century and it worked just fine.

Please note: Because of the limitations of uploading xls files, I added a csv to the file extension. Before opening this file, remove the .csv from the filename. It needs to end in .xls

[rruff]

Thanks Fernando! Haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I was wondering if it would be possible to make it modify all the files in a directory? I'm ignorant of such things, but it seems like I've seen that done with Excel before...

[racerfern]

The part I did was easy. I just fooled around with opening and saving files and it will take quite a bit of work. I suggest you just select all the files you want to open by holding down the shift key and picking a mass amount at once.

Obviously open the file I uploaded then click on one of your rides, click CTRL T, and click save as ... maybe put the initials TS at the beginning or end to signify its been altered. Save as csv, close the file and move on to the next one. Each file should take less than 5 seconds from start to finish.

Try a couple, import into SportTracks and let me know how you make out.

[TJL]

This can be also be done through Training/CyclingPeaks WKO+ (which, I guess, is used anyway by many i-Bike owners):

1. create .csv file with iBike for Windows
2. import file in WKO+
3. export file in Polar .hrm format
4. import in Sporttracks

[racerfern]

This can be also be done through Training/CyclingPeaks WKO+ (which, I guess, is used anyway by many i-Bike owners):

The solution I provided does not require using WKO. Not everyone has it or wants it. This is just a different and free solution.

I have been testing a beta version of the WB CSV Importer that automatically handles the import of iBike files without having to alter the files. This version will probably be released in the next week. If anyone wants to try the beta version just drop me an email or PM.

[rruff]

For the basic iBike user, what does SportTracks do that WKO+ doesn't?

[racerfern]

For the basic iBike user, SportTracks gives some easy to use and understand graphs. Some examples are posted above. It also makes it easy to compare data from two or more rides.

The basic ability to determine TSS/IF exists in both, but the graphing in ST is more flexible.