Out of interest, what fans do people use? For clarity, my setup will be in a regular wooden shed, and as an extra factor i sweat like an absolute ***** when doing any kind of activity so a regular style fan won't cut it.
I've eyed up the Headwind, but i don't really need the smart options, because i will sweat a lot at 140bpm and so almost would need it at full power all the time anyway!
The Vacmaster looks pretty damn good. My head says the standard Air Mover at £50 seems like the sensible choice, but i do prefer the look of the Cardio version!
Go the Vacmaster - although sounds like you've had quite a deal on the Headwind anyway... I really like my Headwind, but question the costs of them...
I run 4 fans. 1 small Honeywell right infont of my bars - similar to how you have your Headwind (which is in the wrong place, it's designed to be on the floor). I have the headwind on the floor, a pedestal fan off to one side at head height, not high airflow and there mostly to pull fresh air from the doorway towards my setup. Then these summer months I have a large pedestal fan (which I broke the stand on) mounted on the roof pointing down at me. Kinda the opposite to the Headwind, very powerful so mega airflow for the summer. Some cheap Aldi thing which was too noisy to use in the house! I get chills with it if the temps are below say 15 degrees in there - as really not required then lol
Most of the time I have my headwind on manual, as quite often I'm riding my hardest doing TTT's and don't want it to ease between efforts. Some of the group rides I have played with it linked to HR. Seemed to work well and I'll likely use it like that in the cooler weather when max airflow isn't required. A 'smart' fan!
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£750 which is still a lot of money but its a good price for what it is.
Good price. Worth checking other places too, I picked up my V5 from the Zwift.com store for £699 when they randomly had a £100 off weekend deal on them.
Edit - is there an easy way to know when the pack around you are surging on? I really find it hard to read and I suspect the ABs were just doing it for training rather than race given they dropped back to 220-230W in-between. Once I start to fall back it is really tough to stay and once dropped it was exhausting to get back on.
Good efforts mate, you're around the
same numbers as me and I'm pretty much always borderline B these days - tend to race in B properly, the times I race in C I bump myself back up again or get DQ! So you have the power to do well in C - being tactical with it, is what will win you results. Much of that is watching the group (as you've found) and anticipating what they're going to do & where they're going to surge. You can see w/kg numbers peak on riders around you, maybe even going orange, but that is always slightly delayed. Knowing courses/elevations and what you're racing is a massive thing - you know where race winning moves are likely to happen. Also know when things don't work so you're not wasting energy chasing...!
Rearranged the shed a little at dinner. Think the layout works, just need to hack the shelving unit a bit for the fan to fit, and tidy up.
Have a couple sheets of Birch Ply spare, i might look into making a rocker plate and a front fork mount to bring the bike closer to the shelves. Then have a decent shelf in front for an Ipad.
Good setup, although a couple of pointers - it looks very close to the shed 'wall'. You may find yourself banging on it and there's a nail sticking out there screaming to gouge into your shoulder/ribs when you sprint! Also not much airflow around you being that close to the side...
KICKR headwind is designed to be on the floor, so either drop the bottom shelf from your unit, or drop it to the lowest point and put the Headwind on it (I recall you're tall). Ideally you want the airflow to hit your knees/thighs up to your face.
Some kind of matting on the floor to dampen some vibration may lower some of the noise, plus protect the floor from dampness/sweat ruining/rotting the wood (seeing a wooden floor like that screams some kinda cavity which will echo noise/vibration as well as the wood itself resonating).
Winning. There’s a bearings place about 5 minutes from me. Popped in at dinner and then swapped them over this evening.
It’s now silent. Although there’s a spacer I only found when I’d put everything back together so that’s a job for another day!
Can’t argue for £5 worth of parts.
Sounds ideal. Well done! Which bearing was it? The Flywheel? I've had no need to take my KICKR apart, but had a Neo and Flux stripped down pretty far. Changed flywheel/disc bearings on both. Easy to do with the right tools and cheap parts (buying 'better branded' bearings for a few quid than they came with!)
I have better recovery and pop from road riding but just the general grind with zero let up, not sure I’ve improved there.
