PowerTap — using it and uploading to computer

For now I’m just riding with the PT and seeing what I see. While riding the PT is pretty easy to use — the buttons are easy to press in gloves, and once you get used to how they scroll through screens it becomes pretty easy to see the information you wanted to see. It is very much like a regular cycling computer (too bad I haven’t used one in years).

When it came to time to read the data, first things first: I wanted to know what would happen as I uploaded things since I have this fear of losing data. Even if I don’t yet know how to read the data.

So what I learned:

1. Plug the PT into the computer and upload it into the software that you have choosen. This does nothing to the information on the device.

2. If you hold both buttons down on the PT until – clr – is displayed, it will clear all the data on the PT. Do this only after you have the data, since it doesn’t just clear the display but also removes all the data.

3. There is no way to reset the PT display without also removing all the data: so if you want to do 2 rides back to back, you have to either upload to your computer and do a clr of the device (steps 1 and 2) or leave all the data in place and have a time and a distance that is the total of the rides still on it. So not my favorite solution, but I’ll get used to it.

Ok so on first glance the PowerAgent 7 software that comes with the PowerTap is a bit… well, sucky. It appears to break every workout up based on every pause. Bleck! A day later I noticed though that as you upload it you do have a merge option. Oops. So it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought. I’m still not sure if I like it, and I’ve heard such good things about CyclingPeaks that I downloaded the trial version of that to test out.

Again, CyclingPeaks was a tough program to figure out. But I think it is easier to use and has a better interface (and that’s probably just because that is what I’ve heard about it). However, it has issues with my computer. It doesn’t always correctly read my PT. I still am not sure why it sometimes can’t find it and then a second later can. This is on a Vista machine, so perhaps it has something to do with that.

3 thoughts on “PowerTap — using it and uploading to computer

Hi,

I just got a PT Cervo 2.4 Pro and was looking online for directions on how to reset the Distance and/or Time clocks during the ride since I often like to measure a specific distance during my rides (i.e., to see how long a certain part of the course is, or how long it took me to ride it). And, as you know now, the manual is practically useless.

Anyway, I suppose the “Interval” feature can be used since it measures distinct distances/times as defined by the user. However, it does seem strange that I have a Distance feature (trip distance) and an Odometer feature (total distance) all on the same main display that both have the same values for. I thought maybe be taking a break and letting the display turn off that I might start a new “trip” and thus, the Distance would once again begin at zero, and yet that’s not what happens.

Any advice?

No worries on the spelling 🙂

There is no way to reset the distance and time of your ride without erasing all the data associated with them (and that is done with the “clr” option you get if you hold down both buttons for a while).

You are right that using intervals will be the way to go to get distance and time pieces within your ride. You can set your display to be in interval mode as well, and then the time and distance that is displayed will be those for the interval you are in (I believe manual does tell you how to get into that mode).

Your distance and odometer readings will be different once you complete a whole trip, download the data to your computer, and then do a “clr” and remove the last trip’s info from the computer. The odometer will then read your total miles on the PowerTap, and the distance will read the total miles in your current trip (at zero until you ride again). However, then it is gone from the PT — so make sure you have downloaded it before you do that!

It was confusing how clr is about reseting the PT trip’s info, and not about resetting all the device settings like time&date, etc.

Let me know what there doesn’t make sense 🙂 I’m happy to help as much as I can!

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