Doubt with W'balance vs power

[Jose A.]

I can see the W'balance and power charts fluctuate depending on my real-time power, which is correct. However, while I'm stopped for lunch—meaning the bike computer is in 'auto-pause' but the activity is not stopped and the total time is still running—the W'balance graph remains completely flat even though power, speed, and cadence are at 0. Shouldn't it be rising since I am resting and recovering while eating, just as it does during a descent or when my power output is low?

[Ale Martinez]

And why do you use auto-pause in the first place?

I mean, what you describe is exactly what would happen if you don't interfere putting your watch in pause to simulating the time doesn't pass.

Besides W'bal you could see how HR recovers too

PS1: you can use Fix Gaps afterwards to fill with zeros, but you lose HR, Temp, etc.

PA2: I hate not being able to edit 

[josepz]

If I don't enable auto-pause, the involuntary stops at junctions, traffic lights, and roundabouts, which are quite frequent on my usual route until I reach the open road, cause my average power to drop significantly. This forces me to ride above my target power for the rest of the trip just to bring the final average back to where it should be. The same thing happens with speed and other metrics. Additionally, GPS drift while I'm stopped adds false distance and clutters the map. I thought that time at zero watts would still count as rest anyway, since the elapsed time keeps running even if the unit is paused.

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[Ale Martinez]

El viernes, 23 de enero de 2026 a la(s) 4:25:33 a.m. UTC-3, Jose A. escribió:

If I don't enable auto-pause, the involuntary stops at junctions, traffic lights, and roundabouts, which are quite frequent on my usual route until I reach the open road, cause my average power to drop significantly. This forces me to ride above my target power for the rest of the trip just to bring the final average back to where it should be. The same thing happens with speed and other metrics. Additionally, GPS drift while I'm stopped adds false distance and clutters the map.

I understand, so you prefer to have inflated averages pretending you are not recovering when you pause the clock instead of your metrics reflect what you really did...

 

I thought that time at zero watts would still count as rest anyway, since the elapsed time keeps running even if the unit is paused.

No, recording stops at pauses and you can see the gaps as anomalies in Data > Raw Data, GC just don’t know what happened in that time spans.

[josepz]

The thing is, if I am doing a Zone 2 training session, for example, the average drops artificially because of the stops. Then I have to push harder to bring it back up to Zone 2, which means I am actually training in a higher zone than I should be. So, I thought 0 power and timer on, should mean resting time

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[Jose A.]

The thing is, if I am doing a Zone 2 training session, for example, the average drops artificially because of the stops. Then I have to push harder to bring it back up to Zone 2, which means I am actually training in a higher zone than I should be. So, I thought 0 power and timer on, should mean resting time. In fact, what i'd like is get real data, that is, real average power while I am in movement, and resting time while I I'm not, If I am right, this is real W'balance...

[Ale Martinez]

El viernes, 23 de enero de 2026 a la(s) 5:41:53 a.m. UTC-3, Jose A. escribió:

The thing is, if I am doing a Zone 2 training session, for example, the average drops artificially because of the stops.

pit is not artificial, it is the reality.

 

Then I have to push harder to bring it back up to Zone 2, which means I am actually training in a higher zone than I should be.

you can use 30 sec rolling average for that purpose 

 

So, I thought 0 power and timer on, should mean resting time. In fact, what i'd like is get real data, that is, real average power while I am in movement, and resting time while I I'm not, If I am right, this is real W'balance...

You are not, but It seem the problem is you don’t want to understand something not matching your preferences or preconceived idea.

As I commented before you can fill pauses with zeros using https://github.com/GoldenCheetah/GoldenCheetah/wiki/UG_Special-Topics_Activity-Processing#edit-tool-fix-gaps-in-recording

[Mark Liversedge]

On Friday, 23 January 2026 at 08:41:53 UTC Jose A. wrote:

The thing is, if I am doing a Zone 2 training session, for example, the average drops artificially because of the stops. Then I have to push harder to bring it back up to Zone 2, which means I am actually training in a higher zone than I should be. So, I thought 0 power and timer on, should mean resting time. In fact, what i'd like is get real data, that is, real average power while I am in movement, and resting time while I I'm not, If I am right, this is real W'balance.

You can't have it both ways- AP inflation is a lie, if you want the truth don't do a structured workout like that where you get rest periods at traffic lights. If W'bal is important to you then recognise it is measuring recovery-- and that is happening all the time regardless of you pedalling or not.

Mark 

[Jose A.]

Yes, this is my point. W'balance it's a measuring recovery, so this will happen even while it's paused, because power is 0...

[Ale Martinez]

El viernes, 23 de enero de 2026 a la(s) 9:25:28 a.m. UTC-3, Jose A. escribió:

Yes, this is my point. W'balance it's a measuring recovery, so this will happen even while it's paused, because power is 0...

I think we reached a point where you keep repeating yourself without reading the answers...

As I commented above:

1) GC doesn't know, it doesn't have power information for the periods without records 

2) Since you know power was zero in that periods you can use Edit > Fix Gaps to let GC know too, you can even enable it to run on import.

Hope in helps, I am out.

[Ale Martinez]

PS: before I leave, you can still have a pseudo average power inflated to your taste, for example only when the bike moves, only when you pedal, only when your really pedal watts > 0, only when you really really pedal watts > 100, just define a Custom Metric.