Hi there, I'm new to the forum and would like to introduce myself. My name is Keith Wakeham and I would probably be best described as an engineer, cyclist, and maybe a beginner tri-athlete. I've worked on several projects in my free time involving ANT+ and for the last year and a half have been using a piece of training software I developed for myself using the ANT+ USB stick that came with my Garmin FR60 watch. It prompts you through a workout and uses a first order ODE model (based on the 2 and 3 parameter critical power models published in sports journals) to predict you be unable to maintain greater than FTP.
Recently I've switched gears and I am combining my experience with strain gauges from a recent Engineering Masters degree and my work in my day job to look at building a new crank based power meter. I've finished my second functional prototype and moving on to the third. I'm documenting it all on a blog and I want to know peoples thoughts, opinions, questions, or general feedback about anything related to training with power and powermeters. I don't know if it would ever be a commercial product, but I think it's a great project and I'd love to hear from other cyclists.
PowerCranks (not SRM) but the independantly rotating cranks have a similar power measuring crank in the works too. Looks rather nifty and takes advantage of the Garmins' head units ability to show left and right power.
The training software that you developed (in the first paragraph) sounds interesting. Could you elaborate on that?
You can check any PM by applying a known force to the crank and looking at the torque value. If you know the crank length and gearing you can calculate what the torque should be.
