The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

platypus said:
or if I'm better off waiting until I'm fitter again.

I'm having physio twice a week which involves strength work so hopefully that will have things covered.
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I think the first part says what you need to know. since you're getting physio twice a week ask them how you should approach any further exercise cos there's no point in having physio if all you're going to do is bugger it up on the bike when you get home.
 
That feeling when a certain cycling podcast has you questioning the inertia of your smart turbo (Vortex Smart) and considering upgrading to a KickR... :p

Doesn't take much for me to justify acquiring all the things :eek:
 
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I can pick one up new for a shade under £850 at the moment and expect I could fetch £200-250 for my Vortex which is only 6 months old.

Safe to say I get my money's worth out of my turbo's with 4 sessions/100m+ a week during nasty weather & the winter.

Had a 90 min session on a WattBike and the difference in inertia was definitely notable. The Vortex is far from bad but it is a little on the choppy side.

Being able to ride GPX profiles with my Elemnt is pretty tempting too in all honesty. Where's my wallet...
 
What podcast do you listen to, I recall you talking about it before?

The Kickr is an impressively well built bit of kit and able hold more power than most mortals are able to generate. I came from a kurt kinetic, so having resistance was a big plus for me and being direct drive is another plus but it is noisier than expected. In reality it isn't going to be £600 better than what you've got now but if you have your mind set on it then go for it.
 
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Bear said:
What podcast do you listen to, I recall you talking about it before?

The Kickr is an impressively well built bit of kit and able hold more power than most mortals are able to generate. I came from a kurt kinetic, so having resistance was a big plus for me and being direct drive is another plus but it is noisier than expected. In reality it isn't going to be £600 better than what you've got now but if you have your mind set on it then go for it.
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TrainerRoad - really easy listening and quite humorous in places too, equally insightful too.

ERG is quite a jump from a non-smart trainer and granted as you say having already made that leap the majority of the impact will have already been lost but I do value the improved inertia and other features quite highly.

I already have P1's so don't really need the PM function, except for Zwift not having PowerMatch capability yet (TrainerRoad) does.

Are there any other trainers with a high road realism/feel without a PM function worth considering? Admittedly should my P1's ever have issues having a high power accuracy still on the trainer is appealing.
 
BennyC said:
Are there any other trainers with a high road realism/feel without a PM function worth considering? Admittedly should my P1's ever have issues having a high power accuracy still on the trainer is appealing.
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Not that I know of as most decent smart trainers incorporate power measurement as part of the package as thats how it calculates the resistance required in ERG mode. DC rainmaker is probably the best site to have a look at as he reviews the range of trainers available yearly if I'm not mistaken.

Edit: Just listened to the podcast and understand what set you off on the turbo trainer itch :D I do workouts on Zwift and if you look at the output power on something like Strava, it's always smooth on each interval, none of the variation and choppiness they speak of, so in that respect I see what the issue is.
 
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Looks like you're all set. As you are taking it easy you should be ok, but when your knee is better you need to get a fan as you'll sweat more than a scouser in Dixons even if the garage is freezing cold.
 
Bear said:
Edit: Just listened to the podcast and understand what set you off on the turbo trainer itch :D I do workouts on Zwift and if you look at the output power on something like Strava, it's always smooth on each interval, none of the variation and choppiness they speak of, so in that respect I see what the issue is.
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That's usually down to the power smoothing setting :) unfortunately our bodies aren't machines so despite our best efforts there will always be a variation in power output no matter how small or steady a constant we try and hold.
 
BennyC said:
That's usually down to the power smoothing setting :) unfortunately our bodies aren't machines so despite our best efforts there will always be a variation in power output no matter how small or steady a constant we try and hold.
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Absolutely, which makes for a smoother road feel as opposed to the resistance constantly chopping and changing to adjust for small variations in power (hunting for the correct resistance). Unless of course I misunderstood the reason they were speaking of.
 
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Bear said:
Absolutely, which makes for a smoother road feel as opposed to the resistance constantly chopping and changing to adjust for small variations in power (hunting for the correct resistance). Unless of course I misunderstood the reason they were speaking of.
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I think you might find you have. Power-smoothing just displays a 3-5-10s average rather than 1s/instant.

When I used the term 'choppy' I meant the feel of flywheel/inertia. I don't think there is a trainer in existence that can hold you at a fixed exact power with 100% accuracy, there will always be undulation and acceleration/momentum on the internals so required & actual power will always undulate. I don't think there's anything advanced enough to process this quickly enough to adjust the trainers brake that quickly.

The beauty of ERG is that it can hold you much more closely around a given power than a non-smart turbo and that you can adjust your cadence as desired with no additional input required. As you know, if you fancy some slower force muscular endurance intervals you just reduce your cadence and remain at the same power output etc.

I'm just debating whether to wait until next autumn/winter to upgrade turbo. Though in all honesty I used my turbo regularly since July when poor weather or major wind occurred or in the morning when it was cooler during the summer months. I do 'need' a TT specific frame, it's on the shopping list but equally non-essential :o
 
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Ah ok I thought you meant the act of trying to maintain the correct power causes the resistance unit to hunt causing it to feel digital as the magnetic brake is constantly pulsing on and off to maintain the correct resistance (cause of the choppiness)

I guess I'm not explaining myself very well, what I thought the podcast meant was the more expensive smart trainers have better software which made for a better damped system (also helped with a massive flywheel), not that the trainer can make you hold perfect power, although I can't see why it isn't possible. Cars that have magnetic controlled dampers take 100s of readings per second and make micro adjustments constantly (20ms response time) have been around for quite a while, but I guess at a price.

Sorry I'm just a bit of a nerd and enjoy chatting and trying to understand technical things, the engineer in me

TT framesets https://www.mantel.com/uk/giant-trinity-advanced-sl-1
https://www.mantel.com/uk/giant-trinity-composite-0
https://www.mantel.com/uk/argon-18-e-116-frameset
 
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No problem at all, I'm sure others will find this useful/boring to read :p

I'll have another listen but my understanding of the podcast discussion was that a non-smart trainer with the better inertia was their preference over a smart trainer with ERG capability. Purely on the basis of ride feedback affecting their desire to actually want to ride it. In short if it feels gross they'd be less inclined to slog away on it.

In their view having the more positive ride feel and then mastering a consistent power output manual was preferable to peddling mud but in ERG mode :cool:

But that's off on a tangent from power-smoothing and output power actually staying constant to the 1 watt.

Aargon 18 frames have always been a soft spot for me. Hadn't thought to check Mantel. I already have a Propel which was converted :o
 
Just joined zwift after being blown away by a short casual ride, so I thought I'd jump straight in to the short 45min FTP and cramped up half way through! Couple of days later I tried the FTP again and this time completed it with a lowly score of 148 :( new I was out of shape but this bad!!!

I do think Zwift + Tacx Flow is much tougher than real life and my previous Elite dumb trainer but its brilliant :)
 
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