Trainer Road Virtual Power is very accurate

matt-h

I've been using Trainer Road Virtual Power on Kurt Kinetic Road Machine for about a year and have been really happy with it.
However, a Powertap wheelset came up that would be perfect for my winter trainer so purchased it.
I tested them against each other last night with the TR Virtual power on my laptop and the Powertap on my Garmin and they were within a couple of watts of each other.
I've been using a trainer tyre with 120psi and 2 and a half turns on my Kurt Kinetic everytime.
I'm really pleased that it means the training has been correct and i can carry on using the virtual power on a different wheelset while using the powertap on outside winter rides

Hopefully someone will read this and realise that you don't need a power meter for indoor training

Matt

stevie63

I know it works well with the Kurt Kinetic Trainers but I am not quite so sure with other brands. For example based on my Elite Trainer I would say the readings are a bit low but I believe this is just based on an assumed curve which hasn't been verified.

napoleond

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19727134#p19727134]stevie63[/url] wrote:

I know it works well with the Kurt Kinetic Trainers but I am not quite so sure with other brands. For example based on my Elite Trainer I would say the readings are a bit low but I believe this is just based on an assumed curve which hasn't been verified.

Mine was massively over reading with my cycle ops jet fluid pro

Tom Dean

It is also possible to train indoors without trainer road!

TrevorDeRuise

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19727063#p19727063]matt-h[/url] wrote:

I've been using Trainer Road Virtual Power on Kurt Kinetic Road Machine for about a year and have been really happy with it.
However, a Powertap wheelset came up that would be perfect for my winter trainer so purchased it.
I tested them against each other last night with the TR Virtual power on my laptop and the Powertap on my Garmin and they were within a couple of watts of each other.
I've been using a trainer tyre with 120psi and 2 and a half turns on my Kurt Kinetic everytime.
I'm really pleased that it means the training has been correct and i can carry on using the virtual power on a different wheelset while using the powertap on outside winter rides

Hopefully someone will read this and realise that you don't need a power meter for indoor training

Matt

Awesome Matt, thanks for sharing. We're always emphasizing the importance of consistency rather than specific numbers, but it's always nice to see that the numbers still hold relevance, especially with that kind of accuracy

Agent57

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19727218#p19727218]Tom Dean[/url] wrote:

It is also possible to train indoors without trainer road!

Yeah, Zwift rocks!

gcwebbyuk

I was using virtual power with my Tacx Booster. Bought a Stages and ran them side by side, the result was extremely close - was pleasantly surprised. I guess it is all down to the trainer and it's power curve.

manxshred

As long as trainer road doesn't randomly change the trainer to the first one in the list. I've got a kinetic rnr, and doing a work out the other night I could not get to the required power. After checking everything, checked the settings and the trainer had reset.

kfinlay

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19727152#p19727152]NapoleonD[/url] wrote:

Mine was massively over reading with my cycle ops jet fluid pro

Hey Nap,
Can you tell me how your Power meter/Trainer Road Power and the Cycleops Jet Fluid Pro power graph compare for power readings?
I've just signed up for TR and found there are two options for my Cycleops Jet Fluid Pro - Recommended and Powertap. Strangely it is the Powertap one that closely matches the power curve shown in the manual whereas the Recommended one reads really low (eg 175w@20mph compared to 260w on the Cycleops graph in the manual).
TIA
Kev

AK_jnr

My elite crono hydromag power curve was miles out, and I cant say it was consistent either as the resistance goes up as my turbo heats up which obviously they cant allow for that.

FELTZ95

I use the Jet fluid Pro and until recently was using the Recommended virtual power profile. The Powertap profile was showing way too high power. Since June I've switched to an actual power meter and a repeat of an ftp test showed that the recommended power profile was reading approx. 20W under. I was always careful to keep the set up of the turbo consistent e.g, vittoria turbo tyre, 110psi, 1 full turn of the know until it clicked. With this set up the TR virtual power was very consistent.

kfinlay

Cheers FELTZ95, I was more curious that anything else as I'm not too fussed about actual power but it just messes with your head a bit when you find that maybe you don't have the power you 'thought' :?

cougie

It's great that it's accurate but thr the important thing is that it's consistent

I love trainerroad.

kfinlay

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19746637#p19746637]cougie[/url] wrote:

It's great that it's accurate but thr the important thing is that it's consistent

I love trainerroad.

totally agree mate 8)