This has probably been done before, but assuming I’m not going to buy a power meter, what do I need to use trainerroad with virtual power?

I have a Mio 105 which alledgedly is ANT+ compatible but it doesn’t seem as though they do a dedicated PC receiver/usb dongle thing.

Is all I need a set of wheel magnets for a Garmin and a Garmin PC dongle to receive the data? Or will a Mio sensor transmit to a Garmin dongle receiver?

Or have I got totally the wrong idea?

Don’t know about your mio. I use a garmin speed/cadence sensor heart rate strap and a garmin usb stick.

right, just get a Garmin ant+ USB stick. then you want a speed/cadence sensor, cheapest is decathlons with 2year warranty at 15 odd quid l,I keep seeing cheap hr straps on eBay for less than @£20 and your good to go

right, just get a Garmin ant+ USB stick. then you want a speed/cadence sensor, cheapest is decathlons with 2year warranty at 15 odd quid l,I keep seeing cheap hr straps on eBay for less than @£20 and your good to go

Sounds like cadence and speed is already done by the mio sensors, and that they are ant+.

May be worth just getting the Ant+ USB stick and see if your sensors link up.

Only other thing you’ll need is a trainer that’s supported by TrainerRoad.

Yes, the Mio does do cadence and speed and claims to be ANT + but I didn’t know if it was like Bluetooth or whether different brands of sensor will talk to different brands of receiver.

I have a heart rate strap for the Mio, so I could buy the Garmin dongle to see if it all hooks up.

In theory they’re compatible and will talk to each other. I’ve never had a problem with ANT+ compatibility but there’s always a first!

i have some garmins, a mio 305hc and 3 diff brytons, and they all interchange using each others makes sensors and hr straps, the only odd one is bryton gps dont like the btwin/decathlon sensor, it messes up the trip time/total time, bryton are aware of the issue, and yes its helpful to have a listed trainer, but thats only an issue if you want to use the virtual power feature

So if I buy a Garmin dongle, does it come with any software to tell me what data it is receiving – or is it still additional third party software such as trainerroad?

Just plug the USB dongle into your PC and it should install automagically. 🙂 There is a hardware setup tab on the TrainerRoad software, scan for ANT+ devices while you are wearing the HR strap and rotating the pedals and it should pickup all your sensors, then you are good to go.

I did have to get a USB extension cable so that I could have the dongle lying on the floor under the bike as I was having an issue with the dongle picking up the signal from where my PC is in relation to the bike, YMMV.

So if I buy a Garmin dongle, does it come with any software to tell me what data it is receiving – or is it still additional third party software such as trainerroad?

It’s all done in trainerroad. Just plug in the dongle, and the rest is self explanatory in the menu. I don’t think garmin have any software to see the raw data.

You don’t need the GPS unit switched on, unless you want to log the workout on that for some other reason.

Someone on here had issues with the Decathlon sensor, I just bought cheep garmin ones on ebay.

Garmin dongle ordered, I’ll take a chance on the Mio sensor and if it doesn’t work I’ll get a Garmin one.

I use the suunto movestick extra small and more convenient than garmin stick (cos it don’t stick out so much).

Well, the garmin stick has arrived….

There is a small label on it saying to download the forerunner310XT software before plugging in.

The forerunner is one of their GPS/HR watches presumably so is this instruction irrelevant since I will be using trainerroad?

And then how do I combine a Sufferfest vid with trainerroad?

Open the workout on TR, then just drop the relevant ‘fest vid onto the TR screen. There are vids on youtube from the TR guys showing you how to do this.

You do need some garmin software, its on the site, under downloads or something, its self explanatory.

Once in trainerroad you just open the workout, and 2 buttons pop up, one to buy the video, the other to browse for it, assuming youve bought it already click that and it just loads up, click play and start suffering.