The official TrainerRoad thread

napoleond

Managed to squeeze this one in for my VO2 max sesh. Almost gave up after each interval but somehow managed to dig deep. I'm SOOO tired!

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/ride ... Dark-Place

dw300

NapoleonD wrote:

Managed to squeeze this one in for my VO2 max sesh. Almost gave up after each interval but somehow managed to dig deep. I'm SOOO tired!

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/ride ... Dark-Place

Nice ride Nap. Never give up!

cerv50

dw300 wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

Managed to squeeze this one in for my VO2 max sesh. Almost gave up after each interval but somehow managed to dig deep. I'm SOOO tired!

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/ride ... Dark-Place

Nice ride Nap. Never give up!

+1 Nap, well done especially after all that work and no rest, impressive

napoleond

Cheers!

Just got in from a horrendous night shift. Non stop drunken fighting idiots and one in on suspicion of killing his wife. Need bed!

dw300

*Sigh*

It is with a heavy heart that I realise my trainer setup has been responsible for an artificially high FTP since the last test.

My trainer isn't a clamp-down style it's simply the weight of the bike and rider holding the wheel to the roller. So having raised my riser block I've got a little less resistance.

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/498598-Cloudripper

I thought a rise of 260 to 279 was a lot, but then the following workouts seemed doable so I considered it could have been right. Based off the feel of this workout (changes the riser between 2nd and 3rd interval) I've dropped my FTP down to 268. I should know after the next workout if that's close without retesting.

*Sigh*

napoleond

Doh!

cerv50

dw300 wrote:

*Sigh*

It is with a heavy heart that I realise my trainer setup has been responsible for an artificially high FTP since the last test.

My trainer isn't a clamp-down style it's simply the weight of the bike and rider holding the wheel to the roller. So having raised my riser block I've got a little less resistance.

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/498598-Cloudripper

I thought a rise of 260 to 279 was a lot, but then the following workouts seemed doable so I considered it could have been right. Based off the feel of this workout (changes the riser between 2nd and 3rd interval) I've dropped my FTP down to 268. I should know after the next workout if that's close without retesting.

*Sigh*

Damn these FTP figures Your the same FTP as me now, lets see what improvements we can make in the next few months...

dw300

cerv50 wrote:

Damn these FTP figures Your the same FTP as me now, lets see what improvements we can make in the next few months...

I'm had been planning on trying to get comfortable at the latest test FTP for a couple of month and retest before the Tour of Sufferlandria. Will probably stick with that.

bigaac

Credit to the guys at trainerRoad. Had an issue with one ride not recording/ saving properly. Logged a query on thier website and got an email within 5 mins, problem sorted in 10 mins.

top Customer Service that!!

michaelede

Finally got around to doing my first 8 minute test:

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/503401-8-Minute-Test

Haven't been on a bike in about a month so now have a starting point. Thanks to everyone's wisdom in these pages all the bits and bobs worked together and played happily first time

napoleond

Nice one! That spike at the end wouldn't have made much difference btw

michaelede

NapoleonD wrote:

Nice one! That spike at the end wouldn't have made much difference btw

Only did it because the software told me to bury myself! I wan't expecting that but figured there wasn't much time left, so i'd give it a go. I guess it meant I could have gone a bit harder for the whole section? Didn't feel like it at the time though. Felt like puking at the end :oops:

napoleond

Heh heh, yeah, if you'd've paced it a bit better you wouldn't have been able to do that at the end and would probably have resulted in a higher av power

bobo696

Hi guys !

Just signed up to trainerroad and just "done" the 20 minutes test... I failed miserably after less than 25 minutes WTF ?
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/504040

It felt so hard I can't even keep up with 130W ! Even the very first interval I could not keep up. It's strange because I'm sure I can sprint more than 200W and at 200W in the first interval I was near maximum...

I don't understand, I'm not sh*t on the road, I commute for more than a year now going not slow, approx 20mph, and going to sportives I seem to do allright.

I have a tacx I-flow, set at calibration 1.2 and I chose in the devices tacx i-flow 0% (powertap) so the number seem correct ?

I'm afraid next time I'm going to set the target power at 100W ...

Is there a way to verify the numbers ? next time I will check with the numbers in the tacx trainer software

Alternatively I will just have to swallow my pride...

Thanks for reading and sorry for this post, I'm a bit disappointed right now!

Garryboy

Bobo696 - doesn't seem right - likely to be either your trainer set up or not using the 'right' profile.

I don't know anything about the TACX trainers though, someone else might be able to help with that.

Otherwise, drop a note to Trainerroad and ask for some help, their customers service is great...

napoleond

No it's right. You ARE in fact woefully bad

cerv50

Bobo696, riding the turbo is much harder than riding on the road as there are no rest periods at all, you stop pedalling the trainer stops too unlike rolling along on the road taking it easy lol

Give the 8 minute FTP test a go as its not so full on as the 20 minute version, be prepared to feel absolutely knackered when you get off the bike though. If you have any energy left you didn't try hard enough.

dw300

Did you pick the right turbo profile Bobo?

bobo696

Thanks for all the answers!
As for the settings I had 2 choices : i-flow 0% or i-flow 4% I chose 0% how do I know if it's the correct setting?

I will try again with both trainer road and tacx trainer software and compare the power figures !

Wrath Rob

bobo - do you weigh sub 50kg? If so you're doing ok. If not then something's definitely not right

Re-do the test, cover up the numbers and just follow the instructions. What you need is accuracy, i.e. for the same effort you get the same answer, even if that answer is wrong so you might be actually generating 150w but the system reads it as 200w, more than precision in the system where your effort actually is[/] 150W. As long as the measurement is consistently and repeatably wrong then it doesn't matter as you'll still be able to measure a change in your fitness. The only alternative is to spend a lot of cash on an accurate, precise power meter and that's just not worth it.

michaelede

bobo696 wrote:

Hi guys !

Just signed up to trainerroad and just "done" the 20 minutes test... I failed miserably after less than 25 minutes WTF ?
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/504040

It felt so hard I can't even keep up with 130W ! Even the very first interval I could not keep up. It's strange because I'm sure I can sprint more than 200W and at 200W in the first interval I was near maximum...

I don't understand, I'm not sh*t on the road, I commute for more than a year now going not slow, approx 20mph, and going to sportives I seem to do allright.

I have a tacx I-flow, set at calibration 1.2 and I chose in the devices tacx i-flow 0% (powertap) so the number seem correct ?

I'm afraid next time I'm going to set the target power at 100W ...

Is there a way to verify the numbers ? next time I will check with the numbers in the tacx trainer software

Alternatively I will just have to swallow my pride...

Thanks for reading and sorry for this post, I'm a bit disappointed right now!

Have you checked you've got your wheel size correct?

bobo696

haha guys I just redid the 20 minute test :

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/506804

I found the problem: it was exactly the same this time, so difficult to keep up. Then I wanted to compare with the tacx software so opened it, and suddenly, the super hard resistance was gone ! So it seems that the tacx software needs to be on for the resistance of the trainer to be correct. Anybody confirming this ?

So I have been able to do the complete test. I tried to follow what it was saying, I felt I could do more so went ahead. In the end they told me to put a FTP of 229, though I was on 250+ at the end. looking at the graph, Do you think I did the test the correct way? In the end I was tired but not on my ass.

another issue is that I was on my last gear for the 20 minutes at the end. It's good that I couldn't do more anyway, but let's say I improve, how do I make it harder ? I have seen no setting anywhere to increase the resistance. Does anybody know what to do ?

All in all, pretty happy and relieved that I'm not a 100W rider... LOL

Any thoughts ? Thanks guys

dw300

Sounds like you need to read the manual for your trainer you clown!

michaelede

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/506899-Gayley

Urgh... Didn't enjoy that, occidentally restarted the workout after 15 minutes, heart rate monitor kept dropping out, fighting cramp in right calf from ten minutes in and the bike felt like it was on the piss on the turbo. One to forget :roll:

Do many of the rides have instructions like the 8 minute test? I actually found them quite motivating where as I had no real idea what I was supposed to be doing other than matching the power on screen whilst doing this one.

napoleond

That's why I make my own sessions or do Sufferfests...

dw300

michaelede wrote:

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/506899-Gayley

Urgh... Didn't enjoy that, occidentally restarted the workout after 15 minutes, heart rate monitor kept dropping out, fighting cramp in right calf from ten minutes in and the bike felt like it was on the wee-wee on the turbo. One to forget :roll:

Do many of the rides have instructions like the 8 minute test? I actually found them quite motivating where as I had no real idea what I was supposed to be doing other than matching the power on screen whilst doing this one.

Yes. Go on the website and you can filter the rides by whether they have instructions or not, as well as other categories.

Bing181

Just re the Tacx trainers. I had a Flow for years, and only ever managed to get repeatable, reliable figures out of it once I got the tyre/pressure combo right. Even then though, Power figures were very optimistic. Now have a Vortex - plus a Powertap wheel. Even with setting up the calibration correctly etc. etc., the Vortex reads around 15% under - which also includes the Trainerroad Virtual Power profile as well.

IOW, I'd take the Tacx power figures with a large grain of salt. And yes, the head units need to be on.

dw300

So come on .. who doing THE Tour this year?

cougie

OK - I'm new to all of this - but with 99 pages of discussion I reckon this Trainerroad mallarkey must be decent ?

I've got a Cateye turbo - which is compatible with trainer road.

I've got the sufferfests.

I'm getting a garmin.

I think I need an ANT+ dongle to get the laptop to talk to the Garmin ? Whats the best price for those and any I should look out for in particular ?

Thanks

Pumpkin Positive

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/suunto-movestick-mini/ this is the one I'd go for if I needed one. I've got a bigger unbranded version which sticks a long way out the side and I'm worried I'll break it one of these days.

Reviewed here http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/02/much ... -your.html