GoldenCheetah/doc/users-guide.content

<!-- $Id: users-guide.content,v 1.5 2006/05/27 16:32:46 srhea Exp $ -->

<big><font face="arial,helvetica,sanserif">
Step 1: Installing the FTDI drivers
</font></big>

<p>
Depending on your operating system, you may need to install the <a
href="http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/D2XX.htm">FTDI USB
driver</a> if you're using the PowerTap's new USB download cradle. The FTDI USB drivers are an optional install if you do not plan on downloading from your device using Golden Cheetah.
(Note: version 1.7 of the FTDI drivers for Mac seems to be buggy.  Until they
post a patched version, you can download version 1.6
<a href="http://bugs.goldencheetah.org/attachments/download/1/Universal_D2XX0.1.6.dmg">here</a>.)
</p>

<p>
If you're running Linux, you may also need to uninstall the <code>brtty</code>
(Braille TTY) application, as it interferes with FTDI's driver.  The command

<pre>
sudo apt-get remove brtty
</pre>

should do the trick on Debian/Ubuntu.  

<p>
The latest version (7.1.1) of Saris's PowerAgent software uses an incompatible
version of FTDI's driver from the one GoldenCheetah uses, and PowerAgent
removes the driver that GoldenCheetah needs when you install PowerAgent.  If
you want to run both GoldenCheetah and PowerAgent, you need to use PowerAgent
version 7.0.1 or earlier.  We're working to correct this problem, but we're
not there yet.

<p>
<big><font face="arial,helvetica,sanserif">
Step 2: Installing GoldenCheetah
</font></big>

<p>
To install GoldenCheetah, go to <a href="download.html">the download page</a>
and download the version for your operating system and processor.  

<p>
On Mac OS X, when the download finishes, Mac OS X should automatically open
the <code>.dmg</code> file for you.  If not, double-click to open it.  Drag
the GoldenCheetah icon into your Applications folder, and you're done.

<p>
The Linux version of GoldenCheetah is distributed as a tarball.  Download this
file and save it to <code>/tmp</code>, then from a terminal:

<pre>
cd /tmp
tar xzvf GoldenCheetah_DATE_Linux_x86.tgz
cd GoldenCheetah_DATE_Linux_x86
sudo cp GoldenCheetah /usr/local/bin
cd ..
rm -rf GoldenCheetah_DATE_Linux_x86.tgz
</pre>

Be sure to replace "DATE" with the date of the revision you downloaded, such
as "2007-09-23".

<p>
<big><font face="arial,helvetica,sanserif">
Step 3: Running GoldenCheetah
</font></big>

<p>
To run GoldenCheetah on Mac OS X, double-click on the GoldenCheetah icon in
your Applications folder.  On Linux, just type "GoldenCheetah" at the prompt.

<p>
The first time you run GoldenCheetah, you'll get an empty "Choose a Cyclist"
dialog box:

<p>
<center><img src="choose-a-cyclist.png"></center>

<p>
Click on "New...", enter your name and click "OK", then select your name and
click "Open".  After that, the main GoldenCheetah window will open:

<p>
<center><img src="main-window.png"></center>

<p>
Your main window won't yet have any rides in it, of course.  To fix that, you
need either to download a ride from your PowerTap or import one from another
program.  GoldenCheetah can import <code>.srm</code> files recorded on SRM
power meters and <code>.csv</code> files created by other programs.  To
download a file from your PowerTap, select "Ride->Download from device..."
from the menu.  To import one, select either "Ride->Import from SRM..." or
"Ride->Import from CSV...".

<p>
Once you've downloaded or imported a ride, you can see some simple statistics
about it on the "Ride Summary" page: your total riding time and average power,
for example.  If you click on the "Ride Plot" tab at the top of the screen,
you can see a graph of your speed, power, cadence, and heart rate during the
ride.  The "Power Histogram" shows how much time you spent at each power
during the ride, and the "Notes" tab allows you to record notes about the
ride.  The "Weekly Summary" shows your total time and work for the week.

<p>
The "Critical Power Plot" is one of the most useful features of GoldenCheetah.
It shows the highest average power you attained for every interval length
during the ride.  Some people call this the "Mean Maximal Power" graph.  The
green line shows values for this ride; the red line shows the combination of
all your rides.  (If you only have one ride so far, the two lines will
overlap.)  Clicking on the graph with your mouse brings up a blue line, and
the values under this line are shown at the bottom of the screen.

<p>
It helps to think about an example:

<p>
<center><img src="critical-power.png"></center>

<p>
In this example, the blue line is right around the 14-second mark on the
x-axis.  So the values shown under "Today" and "All Rides", at the bottom, are
the hardest the cyclist went for any 14-second period during the ride itself
and during all rides he's ever recorded in GoldenCheetah.  Since the two
values are the same, he set a new personal record during this ride.

<p>
The Critical Power Plot is most useful before you're going to go do intervals
or a time trial.  Say you want to do six 2-minute intervals with three minutes
rest in between.  Click on the Critical Power Plot, drag the blue line to the
2-minute mark, and read the value shown in "All Rides".  That's the hardest
you've ever gone for two minutes.  Now go out and try to beat it!

<p>
<big><font face="arial,helvetica,sanserif">
Step 4: Setting Up Your Power Zones
</font></big>

<p>
If you look back at the screenshot above, you may notice that there are
several things shown in the "Ride Summary" tab that aren't on your version.
The picture above shows a non-zero "Bike Score", and there's a list of how
much time the cyclist spent in each "Power Zone" during the ride as well.  

<p>
BikeScore(TM) is a measure of the physiological stress you underwent during a
ride.  It was developed by Dr. Philip Skiba, and you can read more about it in
<a href="http://www.physfarm.com/Analysis%20of%20Power%20Output%20and%20Training%20Stress%20in%20Cyclists-%20BikeScore.pdf">an article he wrote</a>.

<p>
For GoldenCheetah to compute your BikeScore and the time spent in each power
zone, you first need to tell it what your power zones and critical power
are.  You can define your power zones however you like, maybe using the ones
defined by Joe Friel, for example.  Your critical power should be the
maximum power you can sustain over an hour.  Some people call this your
"lactate threshold" or "functional threshold power".  Our friend Bill says a
rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

<p>
We'll have a dialog box that will let you set up your power zones and
critical power in a future version of GoldenCheetah, but for now you'll need
to use a text editor.  On Linux, that probably means nano, vi, or emacs.
On Mac, the easiest editor to use is TextEdit, which is in your Applications
folder.  

<p>
Start by
downloading <a href="power.zones">this sample file</a> and saving it in 

<pre>
~/Library/GoldenCheetah/Your Name/power.zones
</pre>

<p>
where "~" is your home directory (e.g., <code>/Users/srhea</code> on Mac or
<code>/home/srhea</code> on Linux) and "Your Name" is the name you chose when
you first opened GoldenCheetah.  Open the power.zones file in a text editor
and you'll see this:

<blockquote>
<pre>
From BEGIN until 2006/07/17, CP=297:
  1, Active Recovery,     122, 167
  2, Endurance,           167, 228
  3, Tempo,               228, 274
  4, Lactate Threshold,   274, 319
  5, VO2 Max,             319, 365
  6, Anaerobic Capacity,  365, 678
  7, Sprinting,           678, MAX

From 2006/07/17 until 2007/02/05, CP=329:
  1, Active Recovery,     135, 185
  2, Endurance,           185, 253
  3, Tempo,               253, 303
  4, Lactate Threshold,   303, 354
  5, VO2 Max,             354, 404
  6, Anaerobic Capacity,  404, 752
  7, Sprinting,           752, MAX

From 2007/02/05 until END, CP=347:
  1, Active Recovery,     139, 191
  2, Endurance,           191, 260
  3, Tempo,               260, 312
  4, Lactate Threshold,   312, 364
  5, VO2 Max,             364, 416
  6, Anaerobic Capacity,  416, 774
  7, Sprinting,           774, MAX
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p>
The format of the file is simple.  You define a range of time, starting with a
date or "BEGIN" to indicate the oldest possible time and ending with a date or
"END" to indicate the latest possible time.  Then you put your critical power
(CP) for that date range.  Then you list your zones, where each zone has a
number, a name, a minimum power value, and a maximum power value.  You can
have as many time ranges and zones as you like.  Most people enter a new time
range every time their critical power goes up--right after a fitness test, for
example.

<p>
NOTE: By default, Mac OS's TextEdit will try and save the power.zones file
with a <code>.txt</code> extension.  Use the menu command "Format->Make Plain
Text" to get it to let you save the file with a <code>.zones</code> extension
instead.

<p>
<big><font face="arial,helvetica,sanserif">
Legacy Command-Line Tools
</font></big>

<p>
You can still build the older, command-line tools from the source code, but we
no longer include them in releases.  <a href="command-line.html">You can find
documentation for them here.</a>