Moving my power intervals outdoors, or to my fluid trainer
burnthesheep
Posts: 675
At work we have several Cycleops 400 pro's with the powertap on them. Work pretty nicely.
My only complaint, or utter misunderstanding, is how to do something like power intervals without having a breakdown in cadence or form ruin an interval. In an ideal world you'll kill your target for the entire minutes you need to, flawlessly, at a perfect rpm.
Let's be realistic, if you're working hard enough you'll break yourself down some.
What are the options here on something like that Cycleops? I set it to "power control" and essentially jack up the power for my interval then bring it down for the rest. But, the huge problem is that if you drop cadence a little or the RPM sensor drops for couple seconds........the trainer responds with a HUGE torque spike to keep the power the same at the lower RPM. Example: you're doing 320w at 100rpm but your form is breaking down and you go down to 90 rpm and for a split second 80 rpm.......suddenly at 80 rpm you hit a huge torque spike to maintain the 320w.
Meaning, in that last minute of a 3 minute power interval you are screwed.
If I was on a fluid, your cadence may fall from 100 to 95 and the power would go down maybe 10-15w to go with it. A small "fade", but nothing as drastic. Also, on a fluid, once I'm at my power and cadence the power is rock steady. The cycleops is bobbing from 265 up to 420 at times to avg out to 320. Sure, a fluid will heat up some but you could change gears or rpm a touch and be fine.
Are these just best done on a fluid or outdoors instead? Or am I missing a setting or feature here?
My only complaint, or utter misunderstanding, is how to do something like power intervals without having a breakdown in cadence or form ruin an interval. In an ideal world you'll kill your target for the entire minutes you need to, flawlessly, at a perfect rpm.
Let's be realistic, if you're working hard enough you'll break yourself down some.
What are the options here on something like that Cycleops? I set it to "power control" and essentially jack up the power for my interval then bring it down for the rest. But, the huge problem is that if you drop cadence a little or the RPM sensor drops for couple seconds........the trainer responds with a HUGE torque spike to keep the power the same at the lower RPM. Example: you're doing 320w at 100rpm but your form is breaking down and you go down to 90 rpm and for a split second 80 rpm.......suddenly at 80 rpm you hit a huge torque spike to maintain the 320w.
Meaning, in that last minute of a 3 minute power interval you are screwed.
If I was on a fluid, your cadence may fall from 100 to 95 and the power would go down maybe 10-15w to go with it. A small "fade", but nothing as drastic. Also, on a fluid, once I'm at my power and cadence the power is rock steady. The cycleops is bobbing from 265 up to 420 at times to avg out to 320. Sure, a fluid will heat up some but you could change gears or rpm a touch and be fine.
Are these just best done on a fluid or outdoors instead? Or am I missing a setting or feature here?
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