Virtual Elevation Aero Testing - Tips?

Equipment
1

TLDR: Does anyone have any tips for picking a good course, ensuring good data etc?

I did several runs last night - cold, no wind, 600m loop (300m turn, 300m turn etc) on a closed road with almost enough lumps either end to turn. 8m elevation difference from bottom of the loop to top of the turns.

I’m not super confident in the data as there was a little drift over the tests, I did on set A/B (6 laps each) in winter gear to check the course out - then A/B/C 4 laps each in race kit. Did want to do A/B/C/A but at 6degrees C in summer kit needed to warm up.

My problems start when I try to analyse the data, with such a small elevation gain in the loops it’s really hard to get it lined up as per this fit werx article. Golden Cheetah doesn’t seem to have the possibility to exaggerate the altitude scale.

I get the feeling that my course is a little short, and not enough elevation gain. Though in the original article Dr. Chung was using 15m per lap. What length / elevation gain are people getting good results on?

Secondary: tips on road TT positioning also welcome.

2

Replying to my own question:

Read this thread, referred to as the platypus thread - not sure why, but contains lots of tips on getting the readings correct: https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Platypus_Thread%3A_Aero_Virtual_Elevation_Testing_Protocol_P3536905/?page=-1

Such as: Scaling issue? Delete altitude column in GC.
Course length: 300m - 1.5km.

3

The Platypus thread has a lot of good advice. I’ve used courses as short as 250m velodromes; the longest laps I’ve used were around 3 km, but that wasn’t really ideal. The shorter the laps, the more of them you can do.

You’ll want to make sure you’re using a high quality wheel speed sensor (not GPS) and, of course, a high quality power meter.