Monday, May 15, 2006

CyclingPeaks WKO+ is going live

Well, barring unforeseen circumstances, WKO+ v2.0 is going live today! But, I wanted to be the first to highlight some of my absolute favorite features.

We've added support for the Garmin Edge and Forerunner products. The Forerunners, typically used by runners gave us a fantastic opportunity to move a little bit of our technology over to their world. The coolest, is the idea of Mean Minimal Pace. What is it? Well, it's your quickest pace for every duration. Cyclists familiar with earlier versions of CyclingPeaks will notice the striking similarity to Mean Max Power. Mine is on the right of this text. (Don't laugh, I'm slow and haven't had much time to train lately - for obvious reasons).

So, what can I do with the chart? That's easy. Use the chart to dictate your optimal pace for your anticipated event duration. You think you can run that upcoming 10K in 30 minutes? Better check the chart to see if you've ever done that in training.

Existing CPS users will recognize another new feature. There are two lines on the chart. In this case, the solid line is my MMPace for the past 28 days. The dashed line is my MMPace since the beginning of my season. Before you ask ... yes, WKO+ will do this for all Mean Maximal Charts. Meaning that, your power charts can now compare timeframes as well. And, the timeframes for the lines are user configurable.

This exciting feature was added because of the age old question "did I get faster (stronger)?". Now, you have the evidence.

Another bit 'o fun for the Forerunner and Edge device user, is the ability to seamlessly view your routes (or portions of your route) in Google Earth. Simply right click any range on the graph (even just a current selection) and choose the "Export to Google Earth" menu item. Google Earth will be launched automatically (if you have already installed it!) and you'll be flown to that portion of your route.

Well, that's all I want to talk about right now. Look for more tidbits shortly.