Speed/Distance using TrainerRoad and Strava

pete8uk

Ok, so first off, I get that indoor speed and distance covered is meaningless. My smart trainer (Tacx Vortex) automaticlally adjusts resistance to ensure I'm producing the right power during my TrainerRoad workout (if I keep cadence steady).

I get it. It's very clever :-)

But, when my workout is uploaded to Strava, it has a ridiculous distance covered (on the plus side, I just broke the hour record.... 57.5km!)

So, is there anyway to have this adjusted down? I just want it to be roughly reflective of the effort put in.... So as not to skew my strava stats to much :-)

Thanks in advance

buckmulligan

Have you tried using a lower gear?

pete8uk

I haven't, but I can see that would make some difference. Seems counter intuitive to be on the small ring, but guess I should just get over it!

Websta24

Are you using speed and cadence sensors?

I just looked at your 8 min test on Strava.....103.7kmh top speed with an average of 57.3kmh!! I'd say something isnt quite right mate

daniel_b

Websta24 wrote:

Are you using speed and cadence sensors?

I just looked at your 8 min test on Strava.....103.7kmh top speed with an average of 57.3kmh!! I'd say something isnt quite right mate

This just gave me a tremendous laugh on a dull afternoon - thankyou

fenix

Either turn off the smart function as its clearly not giving you the resistance you need to be using - or as has been said - use smaller gears.

Personally I think getting the right power output should be down to the rider - not the turbo. Too low - pedal faster etc etc

fat daddy

pete8uk wrote:

Ok, so first off, I get that indoor speed and distance covered is meaningless.

outdoor speed and distance is also meaningless if you think about it.

1 mile = 800 revolutions of the back wheel it doesn't matter what gear you are in or how easy it was, it might have even all been down hill and you just sat there

800 revolutions

now your indoor setup thinks you are going faster and further ... .that's not a gearing issue (gearing just determines how many times your feet go round in relation to the wheel) , the wheel still has to go around 800 times for it to be a mile .... which means that the software surely thinks you have a different size wheel than 700c

can you tell it your wheel size anywhere .. me thinks this is incorrect

diamonddog

Have you calibrated the turbo?

pete8uk

fat daddy wrote:

pete8uk wrote:

Ok, so first off, I get that indoor speed and distance covered is meaningless.

outdoor speed and distance is also meaningless if you think about it.

1 mile = 800 revolutions of the back wheel it doesn't matter what gear you are in or how easy it was, it might have even all been down hill and you just sat there

800 revolutions

now your indoor setup thinks you are going faster and further ... .that's not a gearing issue (gearing just determines how many times your feet go round in relation to the wheel) , the wheel still has to go around 800 times for it to be a mile .... which means that the software surely thinks you have a different size wheel than 700c

can you tell it your wheel size anywhere .. me thinks this is incorrect

Interesting way of looking at it, that I hadn't considered.... Even if the resistance was to low, was I really spinning the back wheel at over 100kph (at my top speed)? Probably not.... which points to the wheels size being entered incorrectly.

Ok, so next thing is to find out where that is entered!

Investigation continues :-)

BTW: Yes, to the people who asked, I did calibrate in the Tacx app. Not in TrainerRoad app, which might be the problem.

daniel_b

pete8uk wrote:

BTW: Yes, to the people who asked, I did calibrate in the Tacx app. Not in TrainerRoad app, which might be the problem.

I did both fwiw.

pete8uk

Daniel B wrote:

pete8uk wrote:

BTW: Yes, to the people who asked, I did calibrate in the Tacx app. Not in TrainerRoad app, which might be the problem.

I did both fwiw.

Wise advice...

Another test today shows the Tacx app is producing realistic data (I.e. speed). At the same cadence and in same gear, the TrainerRoad is showing a very different speed.... Have found where to calibrate in TrainerRoad, but it fails... Maybe an issue with thier new android app....

Anyway, TrainerRoad support query has been raised.

davidof

I've no idea how TR does things but my application: http://www.wattap.com (you can pull a copy of Github if you want) I calculate power from the turbo profile and then calculate the speed you would be doing based on the gradient, your weight, wind resistance etc. then calculate distance from that. I know people who've ridden something like l'Alpe d'Huez on the turbo and have then done similar times on the road.

As another poster said, you can view any ride in terms of power expended rather than distance + time.

Given that TR have been doing this a while I would imagine they have this sorted.