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iBike update

The wired handlebar mount for my iBike cycle computer died this summer, and I'm quite impressed with myself. Unusually I didn't panic (too much) about being unable to collect data, and I didn't run out and drop £800 that I didn't have on an upgrade to a Powertap. I was helped a little by the promises of other major manufacturers to release new power meters in the autumn, which, when they finally appeared, failed to set new price points. So I paid £85 including the exchange rate and postage from the USA to replace my knackered wired mount with a shiny new wireless stem mount.

The iBike stem mount is a little expensive because the Ant+ hardware is here, in the mount, rather than in the computer. The downside of this is that to put multiple wireless mounts on multiple bikes it'll cost you a fair few quid. The next generation iBike IV will have the Ant+ hardware built into it, I think, and is due out sometime in 2012.

Moving my iBike to the stem has helped a few things. The wind port is in a better place, and isn't affected by the position of my hands. The iBike doesn't think I have a tailwind every time I go uphill any more. Road vibration on really rough surfaces seems to be less of a problem now. Being closer to the head tube, that makes sense. With Ant+ connectivity the iBike picked up the Garmin speed and cadence sensor that I already had on the back of my training bike, and my heart rate sensor's chest belt. Now the computer displays heart rate and cadence, and zeros my wattage when it sees that I'm not pedalling. The iBike already does that when normally calculating your power output, but when you dip into a super aero position flying downhill the huge effects of gravity and the change to your co-efficient of resistance with respect to aerodynamics spikes the calculated power output. This helps a little here, but it's not perfect (keep pedalling and the displayed power output is still wrong).

When I open up my ride data in the iBike 6 software cadence and HR data is displayed, so I no longer need to import and combine my Garmin data from the same ride, which saves me time. (The ability to import ride data from other devices into the iBike ride file is a very powerful feature).

The new v6.0 software feature of comparing your ride data to your calibration file is helpful in giving the user confidence in the data, and to show that the iBike's working reasonably well.

So fixing my iBike wasn't just a repair bill, it was a little upgrade.

Autumn fixes: ibike upgrade

Since the speed sensor for my iBike power meter died late in the summer I've been keeping one eye on eBay for second hand power meters and the other on the upcoming slew of next generation PMs. Garmin announced their pedal based Vector power meter, but at a price much higher than expected. Powertap announced new wheel sets at much reduced prices, and information about Polar and Look's upcoming pedal based power metering system has been slowly trickling out. Cycleops have the only proven hardware in this range of stuff vaguely in reach of my budget, but I have no doubt that the new pedal systems will work well, although it may take a bit of customer feedback and some firmware iterations.

Unfortunately my budget isn't going to stretch to a new power meter system and new Ant+ computer. It's daft to consider spending several hundred pounds (yes, even on second hand bits) on something like this in the current financial climate, so I'm going back to the iBike. I'll get a new wireless stem mount shipped over from the US, which will not only solve the fault but will also give me Ant+ connectivity, so I can measure power on the turbo, I can collect and view HR data live on the iBike, and I can use my existing Garmin speed and cadence sensor. It should also fix the airflow problem when I ride with my hands on the tops - with the handlebar mount and gloves on the airflow to the wind speed sensor is affected, and the measured wind speed would drop. It would typically show an erroneous tailwind when I climbed hills. I doubt I'm going to fit it to my race bike, partly as I like to keep racing stripped down and simple, but mostly because I don't think the damned thing will fit anywhere. It's too big to twist onto the stem.

Most of my training for the first three blocks will be aerobic stuff at zone 2, which the iBike is great at. At this time of year when the wind sensor has chilled down to air temperatures it's not going to be warming up again and giving screwy data. I notice that the recently announced generation IV iBike will have a brand new wind sensor - one that isn't as susceptible to temperature. That's great, and would part solve one of my mayor gripes.

That's another reason for going back to the iBike: Velocomp are still pushing forward hard with software and hardware development. I thought that with their release of software and hardware for the iPhone platform they would drop the old style, single power meter unit, but they've just released version 6 of the iBike software and announced the new ten IV hardware. That shows that they still have a lot of faith in their product, despite the battering it takes from direct force power metering zealots (they do make some good points though).

The iBike software has to be good to repair problems caused during some rides by the number of very sensitive sensors used to collect data. The new version of the software looks like it makes another step forward in this, and in calibrating the iBike to the rider as confidently as possible in the first place. By fixing more variables, it should give more confidence in comparing test data between sessions, periods and seasons.

I doubt I'll be able to upgrade to the fourth version of the hardware, but I think I'll give the iBike a go for at least another season. And that's because of its main advantage: its cost. Without Velocomp and iBike I wouldn't be able to afford to train with power data at all.

Garmin Forerunner 610. It's getting there.

Look at this thing. It's almost the perfect triathlon watch. Slim(ish), GPS based speed and route logging stuff, heart rate monitoring, cadence & speed sensors for the bike, touch screen, stick all your intervals on it, a bit of navigation, and Ant+. It's almost great for triathlon.

All Garmin need to do for me is:

- make it properly waterproof so I can swim with it
- while you're at it license some tech so it'll record my pace and stroke rate in the pool like the PoolMate gizmo
- make it pick up my power output from whichever Ant+ power meter I've got on my bike
- that thing that Polar used to do so you could mark a lap when you brought the watch to your chest was cool (great for marking transitions)
- keep the breadcrumb navigation thingy I have on my 305 (courses). It's great for those long rides with lots of lanes.
- does it do the elevation graphs with the virtual partner so I can see when this monstrous hill is going to end?

Great, thanks!

Learning

Here's a great blog entry about learning for educators and lurners alike:

Donald Clark Plan B: 10 techniques to massively increase retention

There's a lot of really good stuff in there, hopefully stuff we're already trying to do in Swansea. Note number 9: mobile technology. The author talks about drip feeding assessment via those mobile devices that we all have in our pockets. Hopefully some of you have noticed that I've been coincidentally trying to do exactly this using the medium of the moment: Twitter.

Twitter pretty much started with mobile devices (you could use the internet and SMS text messages to post tweets really easily). Can yours follow twitter? If you have a mobile browser on your phone then, yes. Otherwise see this twitter mobile phone FAQ (although that's a little bit retro).

Follow me @samuelwebster and keep your eyes on the twitterwall (which is also linked to from the elearning section of the Swansea Blackboard).

I'll be drip feeding questions that you should be able to answer. You know, the sort of stuff that comes up in exams.

Higher Education Academy mag & Turning Point clickers

I've been a proponent of using interactive feedback technology in lectures (which means I can ask questions in my lecture, students can answer using a remote control with 10 or so buttons on it and we can all see how well we're doing) for some time. As such I've been occasionally pulled out to demonstrate the tech and to get other people using it.

I've written a couple of brief things about how we've been using this in embryology lectures in the School of Medicine and the Higher Education Academy's magazine "01" has included an article in this quarter's copy.

The students like it and the lecturers like it. Everybody likes to use the clickers (instant gameshow) and teachers get to see immediately how much the audience is getting from the lecture. It's simple to use and as more people have used it more Schools have bought their own sets. I imagine that in modules with very large student numbers if you can afford enough clickers you'll learn a lot about your audience. Is it possible to interact with every individual in a lecture with 300 students in an hour in any other way?

For more information:

- see the HEA 01 article here (HTML) or here (pdf)
- visit Turning Technologies to find out more about the tech