Decided after reading the race fit at 40 thread going to be a bit more structured this winter for next seasons xc racing. Have got a power meter on the road bike and know my FTP etc. however I am fairly low cadence, 20 min FTP of 379 watts done at 80 cadence and peak power sprint of 1600 is done at 100. Can’t seem to find anywhere that states what resistance levels mean against watts apart from the Wattbike site and that doesn’t seem to work for me cadence and watts wise.
Any suggestions ?

increase cadence

Use a bigger gear = more resistance

I can spin if needed but a slow cadence has kept me right for a good few years, undiagnosed asthma meant I just used my legs instead of lungs. Getting too old too change 😉
Re bigger gear, never used a turbo only rollers so wasn’t sure how much resistance they can give.

My kreitler rollers have the same resistance as my Tacx on level 3/4. I’m a spinner with 300 FTP at 100 rpm. The Tacx will provide a lot more resistance than I am happy to suffer!

Magnetic trainers have a pretty linear power curve for a given resistance. I’m settled on level 3 but as I said, I spin for power and am pretty light. If you want even more resistance lower the tyre pressure and increase the clamping force.

If its a fluid or fan trainer – bigger gears, as the resistance is nonlinear (2x speed = more than 2x resistance). Mag ones there isn’t so much difference.

Best option I found for trying to singlespeed on a turbo is bigger tyres at lower pressures. Will kill the tyres faster but they really do drag well (think riding through treacle). I used to have an old wheel with a commuter tyre and smaller sprockets on it for turboing.

I’m on a Tacx Blue Motion and on setting 10 I can barely turn the pedals even in granny ring. They do a high resistance version too.

But then Trainerroad suggests my simulated FTP is only 216 🙁

Elite Turbo Muin, fluid to the harder you go the harder it pushes back and absurdly powerful if you give it the beans, really quiet as well.

Spendy though.

Cateye CS 1000 is popular amongst track sprinters, if it can stand up to Pervis and Hoy then should do the job for everyone else.

376 is very high,

I’ve read this twice and still don’t understand the question.

You know your FTP, 80 cadence isn’t especially low, who cares about the resistance level number on the turbo, its the watts that matter.

And yeah if you’re under 90kg then 376 is pretty impressive.

^^ this
As is 1600w sprint. Are you sure about that…?

Sorry for any confusion. I was looking at the wattbike and saw that they listed watts against cadence for different resistance and didnt seem to match what I would need. Thought was odd and didn’t know if other turbos would be the same.
I’m 82kg and the FTP of 379 is for 20 mins, best I’ve done for the hour is 329 but both done on the road with junctions etc. fancy having a proper test but with my asthma not sure anyone would test me.
Sure about the peak as have had a go at power comps at events and done ok. Peak is actually 1605, 5 secs is 1451 so drops pretty rapidly !
All done on stages crank but have used a powertap in the past and got similar results.
Thanks for all the suggestions.

Glad it wasn’t just me who picked up on 376 watts at FTP and 1600 watt max sprint. Cav apparently only puts out 1580 when fresh.

OP – are you a closet pro?

NM – just read the above after I finished typing!

That seems a bit more realistic, 95% of 20 minute test result is a reasonable approximation of FTP ~ 360 watts in your case. Which equates to around 4.3 W/kg. Still a bloody good result though.

That does seem quite a large discrepancy between 20 min and hour power. Usually less than 10% I think. Pretty good hour power though, firmly in cat 3 territory. Drop 10kg and you’d be awesome 😉

Anyway, most manufactures will have their power curves for their turbos listed on their web sites, you might need to do a bit of digging. I’ve got a Minoura LR760 which has a pretty wide spread, power curves here. (<- might be for sale too as I fancy a kickr.)

Didn’t want to start anything re watts, only put in as wanted recommendations re a turbo that I could push hard on. I get carried away with numbers and comparisons. When looked at pwr figures I am highish cat 2, so hardly pro levels…
Do ok mtb racing and trade starva segments with a local cat 1 roadie, but could I do that after 100 miles ? Could I chuff.
The cav comparison is pointless, he has never tested high and he’s a bit smaller, I’m 6’2 82kg and a bit wider..
The hour discrepancy is probably down to fitness, asthma and doing it on a commute home with towns and junctions.
Thanks for the link, I’ll do some digging.

Put a couple of bricks under the front wheel so you’re riding uphill.

The long and the short of it is that any turbo will be fine for what you need.

as an aside, your FTP is basically the maximum power you can put out for an hour – you don’t have a 20 minute FTP, hour FTP etc.

That’s still one hell of a 5 second power. I’ve won quite a few bunch sprints in 3/4 races and mine’s 950w or so. Admittedly I’m lighter, but even so.

Thanks for all the suggestions, like the look of the fluid style the best. Then I will do a proper FTP 😉

You need DC Rainmaker for all the trainer information you can shake a power meter at:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/10/2013-trainer-recommendations.html

Sounds to me like you’re advanced enough to want a resistance controlled one, like the Wahoo KICKR.

Yup, get yourself a Kickr, mine’s ace, as far as indoor torture devices go 😀

Cheers, Rich

Quick digression… for those with a kickr what features do you really like beyond what you get with a normal turbo? Do fancy one but not sure I’d really use some of the fancier stuff.

I don’t have one (because turbo training bores me to tears) but the point behind a KICKR and the like is that they control the resistance, not you. So, for example, if you want to train at 80% FTP, it makes you work at 80% FTP once you’ve programmed it, whether you like it or not, because it can alter the resistance and it’s got a power meter built in. You can also link them to the likes of Sufferfest vids and they will automatically increase the resistance to simulate the hills.

Kickr looks like the winner, seems to do everything that I would want. The added bonus is with all the extras that it can do should help alleviate the boredom, sad that I am I like the strava link, seems amazing that can alter resistance to match a mountain climb. Don’t get many of them round me…

Thanks bensales. I know what features it’s got, I’m just wondering what people actually use. I’d probably turn the ergo mode off a lot of the time. If I’m struggling to make power on a hard interval and start dropping off by a few watts momentarily, I really don’t want it cranking up the resistance at that point! Be pretty good for easier intervals though and would mean you just pick a gear and cadence you like the let it sort out the resistance. Also nice having a PM built in I think, so whatever bike you have on the turbo you know it’s consistent.

I assume the Kickr is better than the Tacx trainers of old that can automatically adjust resistance, IMO they’re shit for steady state stuff at any sort of intensity – very lumpy feel, I always end up pushing a big gear and fighting it. Much prefer manually doing the resistance myself.

That is my worry about them, at least you can turn that off.. but then spending 900 quid to not use much of the functionality seems a waste. All the reviews seem very positive though.

Does anything else have a decent built in power meter?

The great thing about the Kickr is that you can just turn your brain off or concentrate on something else – you don’t have to be constantly watching a power figure or HR etc. The Kickr sorts all that out, you just need to pedal, it’ll make sure you are always at the right power regardless of cadence. Certainly not lumpy and with the heavy flywheel feel more like normal riding – you don’t stop the moment you stop pedalling.

Cheers, Rich

Wahoo kickr arrived today. 🙂
Thanks for all the suggestions, un boxed and sweating to bits in no time at all. Power reading a bit higher than a stages crank but might just be inept calibration or settling it in.
Really like setting a watts figure and no hiding place. My wife’s currently testing that while I sit in a comfy chair altering the watts 😉