Finished the Tour over the weekend, first ride was Stage 7 on Saturday afternoon. I jumped in the ride feeling pretty good/fresh and was surprised even with the small number of riders to bump into an ex clubmate. I thought I'd ridden the course before but
around half way up the climb I came to the realisation I hadn't. I'd ridden it far too hard as had ridden it similar to how I ride Box hill, soon became clear it's far far longer! Was utterly empty by the top (
sprinting for a false summit didn't help that!) and the rest of the ride just became a battle to keep as high an average as I could and trying to hold every wheel which went past me. Second climb was utterly brutal and a real wake up on how confidence can really ruin a ride/effort and put me into 'just finish' mode. Hilarious now thinking back about it! Big whooops!
https://www.strava.com/activities/2119324061 -
Came in 25th from around 120 riders. Surprising as I was utterly spent. 1 hour 15 mins at Threshold! (Climb 1
257w & 24:26, Climb 2
227w & 27:45)
Ride 2 was Stage 1 on Sunday, after originally wanting to ride the 8am, yet my garage still being -4 I opted for the 10 o'clock. Thankfully things had 'warmed' up a little to around 0 by then. Was still bitter cold but having a longer warm up helped s
o got a good tow out to the climb towards the jungle circuit with the lead group. I really enjoy this circuit but having not ridden it in a race for a long time it was quite hard to judge just how hard to ride the climb. My lap times increased gradually throughout, but with mini groups split all over the climb there where no real big groups forming and chasing the smaller. I mostly settled into measured efforts to hold wheels/groups on the climb, making up places on the descents and small amount of flat. I used the bridge as a launchpad several times to close gaps, but only created one once with it.
- Lap 1 (5:22 climb & 12:02 lap) I felt good.
- Lap 2 (5:37 climb & 12:36 lap) with things splintered I rested up trying to create a group.
- Lap 3 (5:44 climb & 12:39 lap) with an ok group worked well and I was feeling strong doing lots of turns.
- Lap 4 (5:49 climb & 12:44 lap) kept things together with the handful of riders, using them to pace the climb. I could tell they where all lighter than me - so I rested enough to smash them all in the sprint, things being decided between me and 1 other guy in the meters before the line. Thankfully nobody went long as I hadn't got more than 1 kick in me - just made it a good one! Probably my best sprint for a little while.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2121059555 -
Came in 28th from around 155 riders.
Happy with how I rode that - certainly after the previous days mistake! Even fatigued from the previous day, I felt stronger.
<snip>
Ice at the weekend so I might have to try a couple of workouts now I've done a new FTP test. I'm still not sure it (3.5 w/kg) would translate to the road though, although I do have a Vortex, which seems to over-read a bit.
Depends on how you want it to translate and how you are measuring things out on the road...
But to compare, my Vortex FTP was getting towards 290w at times, out on the road much more toward 260/270w. On my Flux around 250-260w. So my Flux is more accurate, but seems to under read my peak power when sprinting compared to my PWM (can hit 800/900w on the road). My Vortex would overread by 10% normally and far more in sprints. Sure I even saw 1200w on it at one point!
Couldn't face an hour staring at a graph on TR tonight, so created a custom Zwift workout based on the TR workout I should have been doing. Worked pretty well!
See! Distraction is key at times! Know quite a few people who'll follow plans from TR and have ERG on for that, then have Zwift on alongside using just power (non-erg) so they get a landscape.
Ugh!
Not long done Stage 1 and Stage 2.....a lot harder than planned.
Waiting to start Stage 3, then might call it a day for today and pick up where I left off tomorrow.
Tough ain't it! Hope you're ok buddy, didn't see anything from you on sunday!
Hi, all. Looking to splash on my first indoor training rig with Zwift being the thing to do.
Options I have at the moment are Tacx Bushido or the Elite Real Turbo Muin - I appreciate they are different ways of going about the activity, but the former means I can just slot my TT bike in whilst the latter means I can play at higher power sprints and is quieter, etc.
The Bushido has Bluetooth and ANT+ support, whilst the Elite only has ANT+...
Anybody have any experience with either? If so, what do you like/prefer?
Much of your decision should surround over what you have, your budget and what else you need. No point having the Muin if you have an ipad and expecting to run things (for example - ipad is BT only). When you factor in the cost of various other accessories - spare wheels, cassettes, trainer mats, ANT+ dongles, HRM straps, monitor stands, fans. It can get quite expensive regardless of which trainer you choose.
As Shimmy mentioned the Vortex can be had in some pretty spectacular deals (just over £200), would recommend that as the 'starting' trainer for those on a budget as the other cheapest smart trainer (Tacx Flow Smart) is only available 'offline' (Decathlon/Halfords) so is in less deals (and is less of a bargain).
<snip>Add in a heroin like addiction to irn bru and haribo supermix haha.
I lol'd. Although isn't the irn bru thing just part of being Scottish?
Argh bought a bkool smart go, first one p.o.s. clattering and knackered, box looked like it had been open before. Slung it back at the poor guy in Evans. Just unboxed the second one and the power light doesn't work but the trainer powers up and this one is clattering as well. Poxy things.
Going to go for this one I think. Didn't want to spend that much though
a mate has it and he loves it
https://www.evanscycles.com/tacx-flux-s-smart-turbo-trainer-EV350659
You can't go wrong with the price point of the Flux. Yes they've had some issues with the v1 but they're mostly resolved now so the v2 (the S) should be trouble/manufacturing fault free (as much as anything else).
I'm using a V1 and am getting on ok with it. Just over a year old. It seems to under read slightly compared to my road PWM but is reliable and consistent. When I bought mine they where £650 and I wish I'd got the Direto instead for only £100 more, but the price gap is much larger now so the flux S at £450/500 is a great buy.
The next thing I would change/upgrade mine for/recommend is probably a Wahoo Kickr Core. But only when they support thru axle and the Climb (and I couldn't justify the Neo).
Although interestingly Wahoo seem to have had just as many manufacturing issues with the Core v1 as Tacx did with their v1 Flux.
Looks great. Roadie is the trainer expert though so wait for him!
Haha no expert! Just been around a little longer than most.
I'd always consider DCR the expert and his recommendations have always been what I've followed and gone back to when people need advice (and I'm unsure). All of my experience with products so far mostly aligns with his. So he's the 'oracle'!
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