Training with HR and Rear Wheel Speed on a Turbo

shockedsoshocked
shockedsoshocked Posts: 4,021
edited August 2013 in Training, fitness and health
Anyone have any tips? I remember Pete Reads books from a few year back covered this, but is it just as simple as noting your HR for a given speed and seeing improvements? And is speed as reliable as power if everything is calibrated the same (tyre pressure etc?)
"A cyclist has nothing to lose but his chain"

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  • 16mm
    16mm Posts: 545
    Anyone have any tips? I remember Pete Reads books from a few year back covered this, but is it just as simple as noting your HR for a given speed and seeing improvements? And is speed as reliable as power if everything is calibrated the same (tyre pressure etc?)

    Graeme Obrees book has a chapter on this. Well worth buying.
  • napoleond
    napoleond Posts: 5,992
    Have you seen trainer road?
    Insta: ATEnduranceCoaching
    ABCC Cycling Coach
  • NapoleonD wrote:
    Have you seen trainer road?

    Nope? Worth a google?
    "A cyclist has nothing to lose but his chain"

    PTP Runner Up 2015
  • dw300
    dw300 Posts: 1,642
    All the above is just advice .. you can do whatever the f*ck you wana do!
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  • napoleond
    napoleond Posts: 5,992
    Sorry I didn't reply about it, went away that evening, no Internet!

    Yeah trainer road is great if you don't have a power meter.
    Insta: ATEnduranceCoaching
    ABCC Cycling Coach
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Anyone have any tips? I remember Pete Reads books from a few year back covered this, but is it just as simple as noting your HR for a given speed and seeing improvements?

    No - it's nowhere near as simple as that. HR cannot be related to speed, there are too many variables. By all means use HR on a turbo, but relating it to your speed on the turbo will not tell you anything useful.
    And is speed as reliable as power if everything is calibrated the same (tyre pressure etc?)

    You might get away with using speed as a proxy for power with certain types of turbo sessions - like a limit test, for example. If you are trying to replicate power, then don't. Use RPE instead.
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,405
    for some turbos there's a published/known power curve, once warmed up they are reasonably accurate and repeatable, you can make a simple speed-power table

    for instance...

    http://www.kurtkinetic.com/powercurve.php
    http://www.cycleops.cz/files/trainers.pdf

    fluid ones are better as the power/speed curve is simpler and resistance progressive
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny