Powertap and Turbo

mrc1

I am shortly taking the plunge and renting a powertap wheel and am also in the market for a new turbo and have a few questions:

1. What type of trainer will be most reliable from a power accuracy standpoint? I have heard that magnetic units give varying resistance depending on how hot they are etc etc. Is magnetic better than fluid or is it the other way round?

2. Il be spending a lot of time on the turbo so was looking for one with adjustable resistance on the fly. To enable me to vary workouts a bit more than using gears alone. My existing turbo is an ancient wind resistance unit so doesnt offer much resistance at low rpms. Is adjustable resistance pointless?

3. Finally, based on the above what turbo do people recommend? As I'l have the powertap im not bothered about having anything that measures power or other stuff via the turbo so I was looking at something like the Tacx Satori but am willing to hear any other cheaper recommendations etc.

edit: clarified a point

Anonymous

I had/have a Tacx Satori and replaced it with a Cycleops Jet Fluid Pro, it is sooo much better. You don't need adjustable resistance (the Cycleops is progressive), Mag turbos like my Satori get terrible dead spots at high resistance, very unnatural feeling...

If using a powertap things like the turbo losing resistance as it warms up etc etc don't matter though... It'll show in the power output so you just increase resistance to match.

I just use my Satori for warming up at TTs/Races now...

amaferanga

Power can change a lot by varying cadence even by 5-10rpm so you really don't need adjustable resistance.

mrc1

Nice one thanks.

Will give the Cycleops a look.

I will be using my Garmin to record the power data rather than the yellow computer thing. Is that going to give me decent data?

In terms of power analysis, is Training Peaks the best software?

Anonymous

Yes.
I use WKO+ for analysis.

amaferanga

Golden Cheetah does almost everything that WKO+ does (all the important stuff for sure), but is free.

Latest builds here

willbevan

i like the aero lab and the map view in golden cheeteh, but dont find it does the performance managment chart as well or soem of the analysis, they work well hand in hand.

wouldnt mind GC, WKO and Sporttracks to roll into one

Anonymous

I think the important bit of WKO+ is the performance management chart, none of the others do that...

amaferanga

NapoleonD wrote:

I think the important bit of WKO+ is the performance management chart, none of the others do that...

What does the performance management chart in WKO+ show?

Golden Cheetah has a chart showing long and short term stress and you can also plot a wide selection of metrics over time.

So I'm intrigued as to what WKO+ actually does that the new development builds of GC don't do.

Anonymous

Sounds the same then, I was under the impression GC didn't do that...

So don't be intrigued.

Can you upload direct to Training Peaks with it?

(I'm not going to change, seeing as I have WKO+, just interested.)

willbevan

having WKO and GC, I find the values between the two on the PMC do not match... and im careful to have the same setings set in both, and import the same files!

amaferanga

WKO+ and GC use slightly different algorithms.

hopper1

If using the Garmin on a turbo, remember to disable the GPS!

I'd advise the CycleOps Fluid II as being all you need in a turbo, with a PT.

liversedge

NapoleonD wrote:

Can you upload direct to Training Peaks with it?

Yes and no.

Yes it is coded up and works (I use it myself), but no it is not for general use yet. I promised Gear over at TP.com that I would let him review the code before we pushed it out.