I have assioma duos for 3 years now, but still have a wahoo for all these years, so no IAV cycling dynamics data sadly…
I’m trying to analyse and understand the imbalance in my power metrics (left/right)
It’s growing and growing with the months, I’m currently at 54/46 (L/R).
And the more i push the more it grows 56/44.
Strange at the gym my right leg seem to be the strongest…
So i started doing some 1 leg drills. But i was very confused. I use Interval.icu for the analytics.
When i was doing 1 leg drills with the left leg : Balance is showing 79/21.
When i was doing 1 leg drills with the right leg : Balance was saying 44/56 and 48/52 on the next drill…
It made me quite confused. If i using only 1 leg, i would except seeing 100/0 or 0/100.
And i’ve calibrated my pedals just before the ride.
And i don’t understand the dynamics behind my right leg drill being almost at 50/50 …
Should i buy a Garmin just to access IAV datas?
Does anyone have any idea… i did do a bike fit last year, probably wasn’t an optimized one.
I also have only 0.1cm gap between the two legs length so that’s not a good enough cause.
Thank you
Note : i can provide screenshots of Interval.icu if it helps.
I’m usually 46/54 or 47/53. I wouldn’t worry about it too much unless you have signs of imbalance off of the bike. In my case I work on glute activation for a long-standing muscle weakness.
@Louje67 if you’re on a trainer and/or rocker plate, ensure that it is level (to gravity, not necessarily to the floor). My rocker plate started sagging on one side over time and I failed to notice until my glutes couldn’t compensate anymore and one revolted severely. I can see how rollers naturally avoid this problem.
Have you considered that maybe one of the power meters is slightly off or being flakey?
Power meter companies advertise a 1-2% accuracy but I believe that is only for one device - it will measure +/- 1-2%. Does Assioma claim that two pedals will be within 1-2% of each other?
In any case, one pedal could be +2% and the other -2% and your imbalance is within the margin of error. I just think this data creates more questions than it solves for most people.
This can actually be verified and if necessary corrected in the assioma app. You can even get assioma to do remote diagnostics on the pedals. In my case the 40;60 imbalance was real…
I’m not sure how definitive my N=1 experiment is, but I’m using assioma duo’s and I’m consistently 47-53 or so.
The thought crossed my mind that the accuracy my be slightly off, and that was what producing the imbalance as you suggest. A practical way to check, at least using my own logic, was to see what the numbers show riding out of the saddle steady up an incline. Riding this way shows a consistent 50/50 balance. The logic is that it’s pretty hard to ride out of the saddle with unequal power - much like riding rollers to a lesser degree I imagine. So…I think my pedals are reading correctly…
I would be interested to know if others who have an imbalance can replicate this!
If you are using one leg, you should show 100/0 or 0/100 depending on the which leg you are using. I’d email Favero and ask about this. I have three sets of pm pedals, two favero and one garmin, and all three will show 100/0 or 0/100.
I have three sets of power meter pedals, two faveros, one garmin, and both show the same typical imbalance with a slight favor to my left leg. I have been running 55/45 in general for a while now, but after figuring out that my right glute is somewhat delayed in activation at the top of the stroke, I’ve worked on muscle activation and it’s improved to 52/48 over the last couple of months and looks a bit more symmetrical. Chances are it’s not lack of accuracy, but an actual imbalance. The key is finding what the imbalance stems from.
I am not convinced power imbalances are worth worrying about, unless maybe if you are recovering from acute injury. Power balance measurement being mostly a marketing solution in search of a problem. Specifically I am not aware of any research showing that changing a power balance leads to meaningful improvements in overall power, endurance, efficiency etc.
@lee82, I’m curious if by working on your muscle activation, and bringing things closer to balance, that you actually saw an increase in power, opposed to a redistribution of power? Could be hard to suss out I suppose.
Yes, I actually saw a slight increase in power vs heart rate, efficiency seems to be better, but only in the endurance to low tempo range. I’d guess 4-5% at zone 2, and 2-3% around tempo. Not much gain at all at FTP, though my power balance at ftp or higher has always been closer to 50/50 when pushing bigger wattage.
Yes difficult to know what muscle is doing less work, and where you have to progress.
Thanks everyone for the answers, i’ll contact Favero about that weird 80/20 instead or 100/0 balance. And will ultimately go to a better bikefitter than last time
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