Trainer Road?

Garryboy

Anyone using the trainer road software for, well, training?

Was thinking of giving it a go as getting a little tired of just doing sufferfest on turbo - and also not convinced im getting most out of those sessions.

I dont have a power meter, but it will calc virtual power based on cadence, hr and the make model of your turbo. I have cyclops jet fluid pro - anyone using it ith Trainer Road and if so how close are power readings?

Cheers!

ajmitchell

would like to but the subscription model is too expensive, esp when I already have power meter and plenty of training dvds

Garryboy

Where did the reply fron Nate at Trainer Road go to?

t.m.h.n.e.t

Wondering that also.

Garryboy

Bike radar no like competition now they have their own training software?

reidweber

TrainerRoad uses your speed and information about the trainer you are on for VirtualPower. From my tests so far, the JetFluidPro seems like a great trainer for VirtualPower.
Here is the power from a power tap on the JetFluidPro. The bike is powered by a motor at a constant speed.
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/59955
Basically, that shows that once it is warmed up (<5 minutes), the resistances stays pretty constant as the fluid and trainer continue to heat up. I believe the initial drop is the drop in rolling resistance between the tire and the trainer roller as they warm up.
I also did some tests to see how close the TrainerRoad power curve for the JetFluidPro is against my power tap. The numbers I got were a little lower than the TrainerRoad numbers. That means that your power is likely slightly higher (10-30 watts) than what VirtualPower will display.
The biggest variable by far for VirtualPower is the tension on the tire from the resistance unit. Until there is a rolldown calibration test, the best way to mitigate this variability is to make sure you have the same tension each time. With the JetFluidPro, this is kinda tricky with the way you use the yellow handle to engage the wheel. Turning it a quarter turn to the side allows you to adjust the tension that will be applied. So once you find a good setting, just release and engage it by moving the handle vertically and don't turn it to the side.

Hope that helps.
Reid

confero_bear

Trainer Road is awesome software. It's easy to use, works great and has improved my conditioning for single day and stage races, therefore improving my results. Bottom line - it's the cheapest way to train with power, period. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Brian Johnsen
Singapore

LeeRoySD

Trainer road is great software. Having structured workouts with real time feedback and exact goals makes a huge difference for me. Just spinning along watching TV and listening to music is Sooooo boring and often unproductive from a physiological adaptation standpoint. Yes, this is my first post, and no, I am not a shill for TR. I am just a VERY satisfied customer. They offer a lot for very little, especially for someone like me who has aspirations of racing but has chosen to spend money buying a nice a bike and equipment instead of a Power Meter. Even if I had a power meter though, i'd still use TR. But for those of us who don't and use their virtual power,its a stupid good value. A year for about the same price as a nice Jersey? The software works isn't a bug laden alpha release parading as a finished product. I have contacted the developers twice this year for customer service and received great responses to both inquiries in a matter of minutes. (BTW, both of my issues were user error and failure to read instructions...) Their plans and workouts are created by a coach who owns and operates a successful indoor training facility and really does understand the process. They are constantly growing and improving the software. If you are interested in getting stronger on the bike and spend even a small amount of time riding indoors, you really should check it out as it will make the time spent on that part of your training a lot more productive. I used it this past winter/rainy season(San Diego) on days that I chose not to ride outside. I have been using it almost daily since breaking my collarbone and having surgery 4 weeks ago. Granted I have been doing a lot of road riding as well, but my FTP has gone up almost 25% since I started using it 6 months ago. This is my first year riding, but I am crazy happy with my progress and feel like some of it is due to TR. Give it a try.

napoleond

Are trainer road staff joining the forum just to post in this thread or something?!

LeeRoySD

One reply above is from one of the developers. The others, including mine, are just from very enthusiastic users. I did join in order to comment on this thread, but only because I feel strongly. I am neither troll nor sockpuppet as a quick google search will find other posts under my same handle elsewhere in the cycling world. No offense intended, just wanted to help the OP and give positive feedback for a good product that I pay to use.

Garryboy

Thanks all, I've signed up and have had a couple of go's - liking it so far, it does seem to push me more when doing sufferfest vids - as I probably have a tendancy not to go full on when I should.

Virtual power figs so far seem fairly consistent (with each session) - will keep an eye on that - as long as it's relatively consistent, I'm not that bothered if it's really accurate compared to a real power meter - it's the improvement I want to (hopefully!) see.

ajmitchell

could someone who is an advocate company or not, please post a graph comparing TR virtual watts with measured watts on Powertap SRM or similar thanka

reidweber

Ajmitchell,
We have a graph of watts as recorded from a powertap and virtual power on our site here:
[url=Http://www.trainerroad.com/virtual-power]Http://www.trainerroad.com/virtual-power[/url]
VirtualPower doesn't mean much compared to power from a power meter. It could easily be off by 40 watts. So you wouldn't want to take your VirtualPower FTP and use that to pace a TT outside using a powertap. But VirtualPower does work pretty well when you are just using it indoors with a consistent set up (same bike, tire, trainer, tension on the tire, psi, etc).

Disclaimer: I'm a co-founder of TrainerRoad.