Setup with Powertap P1s

This may exist elsewhere but I am new to TR, and I have a Cycleops Pro 300 spin bike with Powertap P1 (dual sided) pedals at home. I will likely use a Windows laptop for the app, or I could also use an iPad, but I’m wondering if there’s a good resource to help me set the TR/P1s up and get training?

One article that may be worthwhile: (although it could be very out of date and specific to older app versions)

Otherwise, you should just need to pair your P1 pedals for power, run the zero offset (calibration) and ride your workouts, using manual resistance control to hit the power targets…

Thanks @mcneese.chad — it would need to be the latter given the Powertap hub itself won’t work with the new TR app. I just wanted to ensure that the P1s putting out left-only power didnt lead to issues with TR, but I’ll do the pairing tonight and work from there!

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Looks like you are aware that it’s left side only for Bluetooth, but don’t underestimate the difference that makes. For me, it reads so low that I can’t even do the prescribed workouts going off TR recording directly from my P1’s. I stopped using them and went off my Kickr a while back, but was reminded of this discrepancy again this summer when I was relegated to a dumb trainer for a month. I had to use my Garmin head unit and go off that power reading to even be able to complete the workouts I could otherwise complete. My Garmin reads my P1’s within a few watts of my Kickr.
TR reads my P1’s 20-50 watts too low depending on the effort (discrepancy goes up as power goes up). That doesn’t really match up to my L/R power balance, but that is consistently how far off TR is with my P1’s.

Understood, @rb42, and sounds good. I use my Garmin head unit now for all recording anyway (whether I’m following previously-coach-driven workouts or using The SufferFest). But sanity check my TR newness here … if I can’t use the P1s to record power directly into TR, would I then just record to my Garmin and upload that file into TR once complete? Or am I missing a beat there?

@apwUS, not sure how to answer that as I don’t personally keep track all that closely. If you let TR record it, just note it will likely show you did less work across the entire workout. In my experience, if I patch over Garmin workouts, the TSS is never the same. Either way it won’t be perfect data, but if you regularly track with your Garmin the perhaps go with that.

All that said, perhaps my issue is unique to me or the discrepancy is unusually large in my case. However, about a year ago when I was first figuring this all out it seemed there were others as well having P1 specific problems and TR’s folks were giving differing opinions with regard to the issues/fixes. I stopped using the P1’s and the problem was solved for me, but that may not be an option for everyone.

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Roger that, thanks for the response @rb42. I don’t have another indoor training option (the Powertap on my Cycleops is old and uses a proprietary ANT+ strain), so I’ll figure it out once I pair them tonight.

You should be able to buy an Ant+ usb adapter for your windows laptop. They are pretty cheap. Pair the P1’s using that and then you should be able to get dual sided power from the P1’s. This doesn’t really work for an iPad but should work fine for laptops.

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I moved from using my phone to using an old laptop for TR recently. I got an ANT+ usb dongle (because my laptop didn’t have good bluetooth), and it hooked up to my P1 pedals (and my HRM and my Tacx turbo) seamlessly. I think the USB dongle cost about £15 - I fully recommend it.

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Awesome, thanks both, I have dongle but only ever used that with Sufferfest when I had the single sided P1s. I’ll fish it out and use with TR and dual sided now.

TR is fussy about Bluetooth dongles, but I think it’s fairly agnostic about ANT+ ones. At least, the random ANT+ one I bought on Amazon worked (the random BLE one didn’t!). Good luck…

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agree on the ant+ - never had any TR issues previously when using with my laptop and the ant+ dongle.

As you’ve pointed out, pairing the CycleOps 300 is not possible with the latest apps. If your goal was to make that trainer work in ERG mode, your best bet would be to use our Adobe Air version of the application, which is two generations old and not recommended.

Others in the thread have mentioned that the P1 pedals only register the left pedal and double it. While this is true when pairing via Bluetooth, it is not true when paired via ANT+. If you pair via ANT+, you will get the benefit of total L+R power readings. Because of this, it would be easier to set up using your desktop since mobile phones iOS devices are tricky to set up with ANT+. Here is a link to a USB ANT+ dongle that will make your laptop fully compatible. Amazon Link

Feel free to reach out if you have further questions!

This is peculiar, do you happen to know what your L/R Balance typically is? Are you pairing via Bluetooth? As I mentioned above, the P1 pedals work much better via ANT+ since it takes the total power between your two legs, rather than just doubling the left pedal power.

And keep in mind that if you have a L/R imbalance, the power value will be off by double what you’d expect. For example, if you are 45%L/55%R, your power will read 90% of what it should be since you would take the 45% leg and double it. (0.45)(2)=0.90. If you have the ability to use ANT+, that should solve any inaccuracy issues :+1:.

Just in case anybody is scared off by this comment - I use an ANT+ dongle with my Android phone without any troubles at all. All it required was installing the ANT+ USB Service from the Google Play Store.

On the L/R issue, also keep in mind it’s not just about whether you have an overall imbalance. Even though I ‘average’ 50/50 on most rides, my actual balance at a given point in time still fluctuates and can change with different power levels, cadences, position on the saddle, seated/standing, etc. Even without a general imbalance it can lead to a big point-in-time disparity from your power targets, which is not ideal for interval training. This is why I’ve stuck with my ANT+/Android connection despite wanting to use Bluetooth/iPad for the larger screen (can’t be bothered buying a legacy 30-pin Apple dongle). I really wish the L/R Bluetooth issue could be fixed.

Sorry, I really should have specified. Getting ANT+ up and running on iOS devices is tricky due to the outdated hardware required. OP mentioned that he has an iPad, so that would be the situation he’d face. I’ve gone ahead and edited the original message to clear things up.

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Yes - I should have been more clear. That is with Bluetooth - not Ant+. The few times I have looked at L/R is usually pretty close to 48/52, but I don’t monitor it normally.

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Thanks for all the input, trying the ANT+ dongle tonight.

For the ramp test, do I input my existing estimated FTP (I know what mine is from an 8 minute test about a month before the LT100), or leave it blank and let the test do its work? Seems like I need to put an estimate in there in order for it to create the correct ramps.

Yes, you need an FTP entered. You can use your best guess or the one from your other test, but make sure you have something in there. If anything, set it a bit low and the test may just run longer.

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