TrainerRoad - STW approved sessions

Hmm, not sure what this could be. Liz is great with these kinds of technical issues, I'm sure she'll be able to get things squared away for you. Keep me posted if it doesn't get resolved.

Trevor

anyone got any tips on replicating turbo work on the road?

i have a 22 mile commute now the weather is better and might as well make use of this time (i do 14 hour days so cannot do anything else in these days i work, 3x a week) more or less flat 528ft climbing (theres one steep hill that accounts for 1/4 of the elevation)

anyone got any tips on replicating turbo work on the road?

The tricky thing is the intensity. If you have a power metre then it's easy, if not then maybe use HR or PE but it's not as good. If you can get intensity right then it's easy enough to do timed intervals. I'd just get a power metre.

ive got a grand sat behind the counter at the lbs - however they cannot get me a Stages for ages (even though i can get one mail order tomorrow)

i dont really want a Powertap as it means only being on one wheel, although i could almost buy 2 for the grand

and ive got a Cannondale with Hollowgrams, so the Quarq is an option but the Cannondale Spider is £1400, and i dont really want to swap out the Hollowgrams for Red Quarq arms

oh the dilemmas

Get your LBS to make an angry call to Saddleback (Stages distributor in the UK) telling them that loads of places seem to have no problems getting stock and that they are losing sales. I've seen my LBS do that a few times and as if by magic an out of stock product will turn up the next day 🙂

To anyone doing a TR session today... good luck!

It's 28C in my turbo room, probably not the best decision to go for some hard intervals 😕

Terrible weather and mrs under pregnancy house arrest means the turbo was out today,

manual adjustment of FTP to 322 (based on issues with FTP test above)

Sufferfest - The Hunted

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/976906-Sufferfest-The-Hunted

now have a powermeter on the road bike (Powertap G3) - was going to do a turbo FTP test, however at 6pm the sun was out and was quite humid so sacked that off and went off on a couple of hour hammer round - the rain was torrential for the last 30 minutes

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Is the Powertap in addition to the Stages PM Dan? Any thoughts on either of these for MTB? Both seem to be around £500 at the moment which although is a lot of money is significantly less than the competition....

Stages is on the MTB - cheapest easiest solution
Powertap is on the Road Bike as Evans more or less gave it away

i bought the Cycleops ENVE 65 Clinchers with G3 Powertap Hubs for £1066 delivered, i think they were 70% off (i already have ENVE 45 Tubs on Tune Hubs, so should break even when i sell them) - ive put 25mm Schwalbe Ones on

they still have a 32h G3C hub for £450

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cycleops/powertap-g3c-shimano-sram-hub-ec035999

and the front hubs are £24

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cycleops/powertap-front-hub-ec036007

and a wee pic of my bike fitted with the above

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Nice set up dirtyrider!

Also thinking about a Stages for the MTB.

TrainerRoad works as I won a 30KM club TT last night!

Indeed, nice bike!

Great result there Chef 🙂 Got the TT bike back on the turbo again here and knocked up some sessions for it using the excellent workout creator. Can't wait to get racing again as form is finally getting back on track, though getting the time to train let alone race is really tricky enough with a toddler and a 4 month old.

By the way, anyone get their ANT+ dropping out? The other night it was really bad with HR, cadence and power dropping out with signal going from bad one minute to excellent the next. Suspect something was interfering with it but I've no idea what. Not happened since.

Anyone have an opinion on not finishing a session?

My FTP has gone up considerably in the last few months and the last 8min session I really, really tried very hard. But my workouts seem very tough to the point I couldn't finish Starr yesterday. Is it mor valuable to back off my FTP so I can finish the session during the final interval or keep plugging away to the point of failure?1

To add to this the new FTP has me riding "between" gears so I'm not that comfortable - I'm either working hard like I'm going uphill, or not hard enough on the near gear up. So the above could be symptomatic? Note all setup is constant.

First few hard workouts after an FTP hike are always bloody hard. I'd stick with it for a few weeks and see if it comes good. Sometimes helps to knock it down a few percent (that percentage box at the bottom) for the first few and gradually increase it back to 100% over a few sessions.

The 8/20 min tests are just estimates though, and you do get better at doing the tests the more you do regardless of any fitness change (and you may get quite different values between 8 and 20 tests.) Your FTP is meant to be the max you can sustain for an hour. You should have a fairly good idea if the test is giving you a value that is too high or low.

Also you may also find you're better at the short intense stuff than the longer stuff for example, just tweak the individual workouts up and down to suit.

Edit: if you are struggling with Starr then it is probably too high as that's not too hard (though over/under ones are often harder than they look), or you may just be tired?

Usually over unders are my forte. I'd raced Xc on Wednesday but as I train every 2 days anyway I don't see this as an issue. Otherwise I've slept well and no drinking.

I'm doing Devils Crag - 3x12 at 95-99% FTP on Monday so that will tell me if I'm overdoing it I guess. I wondering whether the gearing issue is having an impact - I did try to get through it and the problem wasn't aerobic but leg pain.

Have a look here http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/1019538-Starr

You can see I struggled to finish the third one, recomposed myself for the 4th then died after the first "over". I wasn't far off finishing hence perhaps I'm wondering if I should battle through it - no point in training being easy but then again no point min completimg 3/4 or a session either...

I'll see how Monday goes.

Anyone else still turboing? About to get going and just checked the thermometer in my turbo room...

[img] [/img]

Session wise, pretty much only using ones I've knocked up using the workout creator now, with the exception of the occasional Starr King. Workout creator really is excellent (though a bit more cut and paste functionality would be good.)

I sacked off my subscription a while ago, just to hot in the house. Will pick it back up again when the nights draw in.

Ooft no. It's been so nice I've even ditched my recovery ride on the rollers for a spin on the cycle path instead!

Subs on hold till the cross season ends.

Having too much fun on the road at the moment.

Top effort though!

Well that was sweaty, even with a massive fan about an inch from my face. A few low cadence reps on the TT bike, nothing too strenuous. Would have loved to have gotten out for a ride but have baby monitors to monitor!

Feel your pain, my youngest are 3 & 4 so no baby monitors just more don't touch that...

Anyone happen to know if it's possible to chose between multiple power meters on TrainerRoad? I've two fitted to the bike currently and when you click on "search" it seems pot luck as to which comes up.

Well, I just sweated my way through the last of my Turbo sessions before the RideLondon100 next week, which is my last "event" before the August family holiday and a 3 week or so break from biking.

It was the 20 minute test. FTP up again, and LTHR down so thats 23% up in power since Feb. why is it after these i feel REALLY good and that I could have added a bit more effort, even though the TR profile shows me ramping up the power steadily over the 20?

😀

3 week or so break from biking.

😯

It was the 20 minute test. FTP up again, and LTHR down so thats 23% up in power since Feb.

FTP probably is improving, but mostly you're just getting better at doing the test 😉

Sure. I think thats my first 20 min though, I usually do the 8 min test.

Why the 😯 at the 3 week break? Everyone needs a rest?

Why the at the 3 week break? Everyone needs a rest?

That is true, and most would probably benefit from it. I'd find it difficult not to sneak a bike along though. I'm already laying the foundations for taking the turbo on our family holiday 🙂

Never actually done the 20 min test on the turbo. Just feel I'd find it difficult to pace, no idea why though as it's about the same as a 10 mile TT effort. It'd be interesting to do the 8 min test and the 20 min one say a week apart and compare the results to see which you think gives you the most realistic value (it is meant to be the max you can sustain for an hour.)

My coach told be to take 3 weeks off at the end of my season last year. He then told me I did his head in pestering him to let me ride 🙂 I find it hard at the end of the season to take a break like that, I love riding my bike & if I wasn't doing that then id be doing something else active & so not resting.

Also he wasn't really up for me doing my FTP on the turbo either, he said the results would be out by a certain % but I can't remember what. Would hate to do it on the turbo too, bad enough outside!

My summer training seems to have mostly consisted of vo2 TT efforts. Yuck!!

Ah! Well, my break coincides with kids home from school, and taking the Turbo to Ibiza with the family would incur excess baggage.

This is the end of my "year" for me. 1st week September I need to plan next years "A" races starting with a winter crits series starting in Feb, which probably means a plan involving sweet spot base Nov, Dec, then Novice Race Jan/Feb. Next years aim is to stay with "the pack", and if possible gain some BC points.

I will do club rides, MTB pootling and the occasional sportive while the weather is good though.

It'd be interesting to do the 8 min test and the 20 min one say a week apart and compare the results to see which you think gives you the most realistic value (it is meant to be the max you can sustain for an hour.)

I always thought of it as 1 hour power + your body's capacity for accumulating lactic acid + a spurt at the end, so either could be better depending on how diproportionately better your shorter intervals are. i.e. someone with a crap FTP but a really good 5 minute power could really mess up an 8 minute test and get a really good result, but someone who had no more to give than their FTP (Mr Wiggins for example) would suffer at both tests as he'd be closer to the hour pace throughout and the correction factor would make it appear worse.

[url= http://www.trainerroad.com/ios?utm_source=TrainerRoad+Users&utm_campaign=2afcdc5cc3-iOS_Beta_Sign_Up8_11_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_822b723c06-2afcdc5cc3-309096485 ]Link [/url] to iOS beta program in case anyone is interested in signing up.

If anyone is in the market for a rear wheel speed sensor then the new Garmin hub mounted speed sensor is a nice solution. I just have this on my turbo wheel and rely on GPS for speed outdoors. Don't use speed for anything when out on a ride so the inaccuracies of GPS from time to time don't bother me. The main attraction for a bike used inside and outside with the new hub speed sensor is nothing on the NDS chainstay and no wheel magnets anymore which is nice.

My old combined cadence/ speed sensor is available if anyone wants it 😀

[img] [/img]

DanW, see any problem sticking it on the front wheel?

It is just an accelerometer as far as I know so as long as the front wheel is moving then it should be fine. The built in rubber strap is very stretchy so I'm sure it would fit 99% of hubs. Are you thinking of using the front wheel for roller use? Why not the rear wheel out of curiosity?

Disc wheel. Front hub is quite skinny so just wondering how big it is really.

Ah ha, makes sense. The width of the rear hub I have (measured as the flat section) is around 35mm and the diameter of the hub approximately 30mm and I had to stretch the band a fair amount to get it around. I think the sensor itself is 40mm at its widest (so about 40mm x 30mm) but is has rounded edges so sits nicely against the hub flanges. I bought mine directly from Garmin and it arrived within 24hrs for the cheapest delivery option (UPS tracked.) Hope that helps!

Thanks. Front hub diameter is probably less than 20mm so just wondering if it'd fit. Shall check out the garmin site.

the DC Rainmaker review, he used it on the front as the G3 in the pic was giving "strange" results"

Yep. Didn't look like anything majorly wrong on a PT hub but just some interference from time to time. Works really nicely on my normal rear hub. I'm not sure I buy it for outdoor MTB use as my rear hub shell usually gets caked in mud... but having said that the previous speed/ cadence combined sensor was incredibly weatherproof so it would most likely be fine.

......why do you have one on your turbo wheel?

iOS app is coming as well, got an email today to sign up for beta interest, quite looking forward to some structured workouts over winter

Hi all
Im dead happy to stumble across this thread as being a relatively new dad (2 year old), laugh at fellow TR users with one ear on sopranos, one ear on baby monitor whilst trying to keep a steady 250 watts!! Which for me is quite tough?? Have been known to do this in the garden on hot summer days just because I can't escape the house.. (which I know is very wrong)..

Anyways an interesting observation today which I just wandered if anyone else has picked up on. I was doing 20 Min FTP test as want to see if I have improved. Went out too hard and couldn't sustain !! (too used to 8 min tests) So my wattage dropped had a break within 20 mins and then went hard again but this time dropped the friction setting on My Tacx Satori from 5 to 3 (so less resistance), This adjustment meant I could go on the big ring and spin the wheel a lot quicker to get to my desired wattage, and then found it easier to sustain a certain high wattage that I couldn't when turbo was set to more resistance and in small ring?

So my question is from my observation. If the wheel is spinning faster due to less trainer resistance is it easier to maintain high wattage than if wheel was spinning slower? Mainly thinking of flywheel & inertia within trainer itself? Well next time I have another FTP test I will put this to the test?

Has anyone tried same FTP test but with friction set differently on turbo and noticed they find it easier to keep high wattage if they get wheel to spin faster? If so then is it a slight cheat to produce higher FTP?

Oh and Im not talking about virtual power? I do Have a Powertap G3 on my Tacx Satori so getting an actual power reading.

Cheers all and will keep up on this thread as its a great resource for a sado like me that would like to be out on the open roads more?
Cheers
jon

So my question is from my observation. If the wheel is spinning faster due to less trainer resistance is it easier to maintain high wattage than if wheel was spinning slower? Mainly thinking of flywheel & inertia within trainer itself? Well next time I have another FTP test I will put this to the test?

I think yes, this is true. I'm sure I read somewhere that it was something to do with the higher inertia of the wheel (and flywheel) helping through the dead spots in the pedal stroke, and that this helps reduce fatigue. I'm sure someone will be along soon with a better explanation of this though!

one ear on baby monitor

Oh and this is also me 🙂 Usually watching two baby monitors desperately hoping they stay asleep until I finish the session!

If so then is it a slight cheat to produce higher FTP?

... and for this, it is just a convenient way of producing an estimate. Don't actually use the tests that often these days as I pretty much know from sessions I do regularly and races whether my FTP needs to be tweaked up or down.

I think yes, this is true. I'm sure I read somewhere that it was something to do with the higher inertia of the wheel (and flywheel) helping through the dead spots in the pedal stroke, and that this helps reduce fatigue. I'm sure someone will be along soon with a better explanation of this though!

Yes, power is power, I think it's more down to the reduction in fatigue of having to push through the dead spots in the pedal stroke. Again I'm sure someone will be along to give a more accurate explanation soon!

Subscription resurrection, thread resurrection.

Back on the TrainerRoad thing again, oh the joy!