TrainerRoad – STW approved sessions

Possibly, but haven’t long replaced it…looking about £25 for a dongle, give or take…

think my Tickr hrm was £30 or£35 – Amazon special

Would be a neater option I guess, any benefits to using Bluetooth over ant+ to help sway it?

Not as far as I can tell – although having said that I have had problems in the past with Ant+ dongles not being recognised

Really getting into ‘Orange is the new black’ on Netflix whilst churning the miles on trainer road . Had trouble trying one legged exercise thing today , my 1x 9 gearing isn’t helping so am looking forward to getting my bike back up to 2 by 9

Evening Chaps

I’m a newbie to this thread and have recently bought myself a turbo trainer. In true forum style I’m now going to ask a load of questions that have probably already been answered a million times before. In my defense, I did scan back a few pages…I’ll try and keep it short.

I’ll be sticking my road bike on the turbo in the garage but my garage is a separate building without electricity or internet etc. Also my turbo is a basic Minoura B60 so no “smart” capability.

Is it possible to use Trainerroad simply via my iphone (not connected to the internet) and Garmin Cadence and Speed sensors on the bike and/or a HR monitor?

If so, will it still be worth the fee or should I just do a DIY max HR test and rip some HR Zone training plans out of some back issues of Cycling Weekly instead?

I already do a couple of turbo sessions a week at my local velodrome and with a local coaching company (it’s just a group based spin session) so I know the motivation is there but I’m unsure on setting up my own um…set-up.

Thanks in advance if anyone can direct me 🙂

Have a look to see if TR support your turbo – this means they have a speed to power conversion.

Then you will need a speed sensor that your phone can pick up – either BT direct or Ant+ via an adapter/dongle.

Once you have downloaded the iOS app then it should be sweet. The TR app runs happily without a wifi connection, just uploading on completion.

Sweet, thanks pal will check that out now

@howsyourdad1 Yes, ILTs are tricky and definitely expose any errors in your technique. I still haven’t got the transitions down pat.

@howsyourdad1 Yes, ILTs are tricky and definitely expose any errors in your technique.

Well they do expose errors in your one legged pedalling technique! I’m not sure they do much for two legged technique. They seem to be much less commonly advocated these days. I’m not convinced it does much else and I think the time is better spent on two legged work.

I think they (trainerroad) include them to highlight dead spots in your pedalling technique rather than encouraging single legged pedalling. Once I’ve done a couple of efforts on each leg I’ll do the rest of the session in normal mode.

I wonder why you’d want to identify “dead spots” and then what you’d actually do about it?

Just working on the turbo probably does what you’re trying to achieve just because of the lower inertia compared to road meaning you work harder through the “dead spots”. Which is sometimes why you find it difficult to make the same power you do outdoors when you start with turbo work, and vice versa when you go back from turbo to outdoor work.

I can’t quite remember as I abandoned the attempt during the session but I think the gearing was such that it was so easy that I was spinning out and the back wheel was ‘overtaking ‘ the pedalling , or by changing to the next gear mypower output was way over the target of 60 .will give it a go again as I can see the benefit for technique

If you do the workouts that have instructions then a lot of the “technique” parts are about improving your stability on a bike when pedalling quickly. Makes a lot of sense if you look at it from a track/turbo perspective as “pedalling in squares” which gives rise to dead spots will have you bouncing around all over the place. TR thus have ILT blocks as well as the quadrant drills to help you concentrate on your pedalling action/efficiency – basically trying to get more power out of the same perceived effort. I know when I concentrate on the “kick-pull” exercises that my power output moves up by two to three Watts for a slightly lower cadence (1RPM). What that tells me is that my natural pedalling action allows the wheel to decelerate slightly for each turn of the crank and I then have to accelerate back up every time. It may not be a lot but over the course of a long ride it’s going to make me more tired than if I had good technique without the dead spots.

@howsyourdad1 If you have a low FTP then some of the lower power outputs are hard to do as any natural cadence is too high to meet the power requirements. With ILTs it’s probably best to have a cadence that you are comfortable with and can concentrate on the technique rather than worry about the power output.

It may not be a lot but over the course of a long ride it’s going to make me more tired than if I had good technique without the dead spots.

Is an interesting point that. You might find the opposite though as you’re working less powerful muscles in order to try and smooth out the pedalling, and that might actually become more fatiguing. It’s why a lot of people find the benefit of wonky rings to be less fatigue.

Anyway I’d say definitely an interesting point to research a bit!

Thanks whitestone. Was first time introduction to ILT so I’ll see how I get along with what you recommend

I’m back on it as of last night. Hate that 8 minute test being more DH orientated going for 8 minutes hard is tough. You can see that when i done 400w for the 2 30 second intervals but struggle to do 200 for 8 minutes.

I’ve swapped bikes from a road bike to my 1×10 hard tail which feels like i’m in-between gears i think due to the bigger jumps in gear ratios. I had to increase the resistance over last time too.

I know i shouldn’t look at FTP between setups but its hard not too. lol.

I also didn’t realise the FTP was set at 300 so my initial warm up was hard work!

All good fun tho.

https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2808814

Gros Morne for me today and I bumped up FTP a couple points. Has worn me out enough so I am exhausted around 10:30pm tonight .Happy new year all!

I’ve been doing a bit outdoors over the break (inc. a very windy century on Boxing Day). However yesterday someone drove into the back of me at about 40 mph (their speed, I was going about 10 on a climb). Broke a vertebra clean through, but luckily cord all fine. Spinal surgery today this morning, now have some scaffolding in there. All seems to have gone well, but I’ll be off the bike for a wee while. I think that means postponing my etape attempt.

So I guess I’ll be pausing my TR subscription and participation on this thread!

Bloody hell, sorry to hear that it’s awful – all the best with the recovery. What’s the situation with the driver?

Thanks. Not sure yet – narrow road, dazzling sun I think most likely situation. I don’t remember anything about it. Police are being quite proactive though, and talking about the possibility of a careless driving charge, though it seems fairly unlikely to be proven. They’re impounded the car too (was rather messed up apparently – didn’t just smash the windscreen, also dented the roofline above it). I’m hoping that I’ll at least be able to get the bike fixed / replaced by his insurance.

Ah shit, sorry to hear that. Hope the back and the bike don’t take too long to fix. Turbo good for rehab?

On the bright side, I finished building up my Powertap wheel the night before, but decided against riding it since I was riding 85 miles, and didn’t want to be finding any issues. So it was my old wheel that was trashed. W00t.

^ Shades of ‘it’s only a flesh wound’ understatement and astonishing stiff upper lip.

With an attitude like that you will be back fast.

Well it’s only one vertebra, I have plenty more! ? Oh and I’m on morphine, so may not be thinking clearly!

That sounds terrible gray – healing vibes to your back!

Speedy recovery Gray, sounds awful .

Thanks all!

I feel a bit evil.

Mrs K has been suffering after injuring an ACL playing hockey. So what could be better for removing the weight gained than setting up her bike – a specialized vita – on the turbo so she can work gently through a general maintenance low volume plan?

Anyway, she’s out in the paincave doing an 8 minute test. She suffering a bit, especially after stating “there’s no way I’m sitting out there without a jumper on”. That’s now removed. I sat and advised through the warm up, it doesn’t look pleasant.

Guffaw… 😀

Time to head back out with the sick bucket?

you’ll be crying into your quinoa later if she puts out more power than you 😆

FTP of 91w via virtual power with a very spikey workout, some due to knee pain which she has to watch out for of course. Fair play she’s not a cyclist and never has been, so cycling for an hour was bad enough, and she’s learned about intervals now also.

She is competitive though, so we’ll go through 8 weeks of easy stuff and expect quite a rise in FTP once she’s more educated in the ways of TR…

Did Darwin this evening – the last interval was hard work! I did Huffaker on Wednesday which was really hard. Both sessions delayed by a couple of days due to the holiday celebrations and actually getting outside for some riding.

I have a 20 min test tomorrow. 😀 🙄 😐

A bit of Free Riding for me tonight. Probably start with a bit of z1 and just see if this cold is still lurking.

Actually I’ve changed my mind. I’m on a rest week and my test isn’t scheduled until Tuesday, but tomorrows downpour dictates indoor riding. I might have a go at that Sufferest TFTTOS as a ride sim instead.

hi all, i’m 7 weeks through base training , 5 more to go until i move onto build, then off course the specialist section, so 21 more weeks more or less (gulp)

I’m actually really enjoying it although i notice in the last week or so it’s got noticeably harder.

Anyhow, how much can i expect to have improved by the time I’ve finished? Very hard to say i know but more or less?

FTP at the start was 200

Thanks!

Warren looked like a recovery ride on paper but turned out to be 2.25 hours of speed intervals. Lying down now.

Anyhow, how much can i expect to have improved by the time I’ve finished? Very hard to say i know but more or less?

FTP at the start was 200

Would have thought you would improve rapidly from 200 – FTP might rise to 240 by the end. Remember to remeasure and adjust as you go through the programme.

Thanks djflexure. Ok that’s not as much as I was thinking for over half a years training , but then I really don’t know what to expect. I’ve started to up my ftp my a couple of points every couple of weeks during the programme, then an 8 minute test 2 weeks later .

Well, after two nights of 9hrs sleep and no drinking for three days I thought what better time for a 20 min FTP test…

…smashed it! 3% increase after mid-way and 4 weeks on the Sustained Power plan. 🙂 A few “am I, aren’t I” moments in terms of feeling sick in the last 5 but I rode with focus and a slightly increasing profile over 20 mins, very happy with that.

And we move on…