The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

UTmaniac · 2 Nov 2020 at 15:53

Shadowness said:
As I'm bored at the moment, I'm doing a test tonight where I've put my Assioma pedal PWM on my Wattbike to see how things compare. I've never been able to run two PWMs together, so I'll do my own Rainmaker/LlamaLab test

Hopefully it'll confirm that my Wattbike isn't overreading!!

Sticky at Zwiftpower had lots of issues to fix from riders with Wattbikes in races before Zwift took over Zwiftpower a month or so ago, apparently.

There's a dual power source "analysis" tool on Zwiftpower as a link from your profile if you're registered there, I used it a couple of times before the summer, to see how my Direto compared to my 4iiii crank pm after I replaced the turbo belt. The Direto was ~6% higher over 20mins when I believe you would normally expect it to be ~3% lower due to drivetrain losses, but then the 4iiii is left leg only (I'm right legged and handed) and I've no idea if I have a significant power imbalance.

Shadowness · 2 Nov 2020 at 15:59

uncle_rufus said:
I think I mistook the meaning of "Indoor Riding"

haha yeh it's for when we're too wussy to go outdoors in the cold and rain

Shadowness · 2 Nov 2020 at 16:02

UTmaniac said:
Sticky at Zwiftpower had lots of issues to fix from riders with Wattbikes in races before Zwift took over Zwiftpower a month or so ago, apparently.

There's a dual power source "analysis" tool on Zwiftpower as a link from your profile if you're registered there, I used it a couple of times before the summer, to see how my Direto compared to my 4iiii crank pm after I replaced the turbo belt. The Direto was ~6% higher over 20mins when I believe you would normally expect it to be ~3% lower due to drivetrain losses, but then the 4iiii is left leg only (I'm right legged and handed) and I've no idea if I have a significant power imbalance.

Yeh only just seen ZP has a tool. Saves me a fiver for not needing to use Rainmakers tool!

The Wattbike isn't direct drive, so there shouldn't be those losses, hence why I'd be keen to see the comparison. And both of these meters are dual sided, so again it'll be interesting to see.

Shadowness · 2 Nov 2020 at 18:56

hmmmm interesting.....
I rode one of the Academy Tri workouts, so a bit of everything to see how the PWMs compare.

Pretty sure I set them all right, pedals were set to the correct crank length, and calibrated. It did take long to see that the Assiomas were reading about 20W avg below the Wattbike.
(this is just a snippet as an example)

I think the ZP comparison is public: https://zwiftpower.com/analysis.php?set_id=67225

Odd to see the Assiomas also read a higher max power too. Might see if it took a ride to bed them in, and will try again soon.

floatindolphin · 2 Nov 2020 at 19:54

Roady said:
Welcome to the real world!

Hate to say it, but that's the difference between on-wheel and direct drive. To get a real comparison if you really wanted, do an FTP test on the old then one on the new.

I 'lost' around 60-70W in the move (Vortex to Flux), but it is far more accurate. My Flux may under-read (slightly), but the Vortex was certainly over-reading a significant amount. I dropped from a competitive B right down into a middle of the pack C. I lost lots of motivation and I probably lost more fitness, motivation and power from that than the actual power loss as it happened at a 'bad' time for me (Spring). But when I returned to more riding in the Autumn I just worked my way up again, to being a competitive C, then this year progressed back up into B. But I'm nowhere near a competitive one - for various reasons!

Kinda the wrong place to ask - might be better to run it past the general 'fitness' guys rather than the cyclists like you'll find here.

Hate to say it - but with my limited understand and experience, without riding lots of gym bikes (out of luck doing that from Thursday!) then going the Wattbike route might be your best option. Of all the 'spin' type bikes they're probably towards the higher end, as they're far more of a 'fitness' type bike. But because of that they are immensely popular in gyms, homes and studios around the world. With lots of people using them as far more than a 'spin' bike like you're after.

Also might be some cracking deals on them new & S/H due to all the gyms being shut and now having to shut down again!

thanks for the great reply! Same Tacx I had and about the same power loss!

I’m a bit gutted but with new lock down, loads of time to get back up to speed

Shadowness · 3 Nov 2020 at 06:07

Shadowness said:
hmmmm interesting.....

Right....may have found the issue. I set the crank length in the app, BUT I didn't change it on my Garmin watch, which overrides the app. So rode at 165mm instead of 170mm. Hopefully that explains the missing watts.

Will try again later probably.

xdcx · 3 Nov 2020 at 08:29

FYI Assioma widely we see they over-read on 1s-1m efforts and then fall beneath other sources beyond that.
See how you get on with crank length adjustment but my bet is the Assioma will still read higher at low time ranges power wise.
Wattbikes do not have a great rep with regards dual recording either I am afraid to say!

Shadowness · 3 Nov 2020 at 08:38

I'll have another bash this evening. The 5mm difference should account for about 3% difference in reading, so maybe that'll bring it nearer.

platypus · 5 Nov 2020 at 12:56

Final piece of art turned up for my office/turbo room:

Woo

.

Beenom · 7 Nov 2020 at 11:54

Fan recommendations? Currently without a fan and I'm overheating at the 30-35mins point!

DereksDontRun · 7 Nov 2020 at 19:01

Beenom said:
Fan recommendations? Currently without a fan and I'm overheating at the 30-35mins point!

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/forums/posts/34072998

#Chri5# · 7 Nov 2020 at 19:17

Beenom said:
Fan recommendations? Currently without a fan and I'm overheating at the 30-35mins point!

https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-elec/pel01927/20-box-fan/dp/HG01084

£24 inc VAT and delivery.

Jonny ///M · 7 Nov 2020 at 22:24

Mate posted this in group chat.

Beenom · 8 Nov 2020 at 22:20

Thanks all

SoliD · 9 Nov 2020 at 09:26

Never bothered updating my Tacx Neo, chcked this morning you're on 0.17 the current version is 0.36.... Sounds like it should solve a number of my Ant+ issues and also introduce left/right bneing able to be recorded.

SPG · 10 Nov 2020 at 09:59

Been using Trainerroad for a month now.... Have to say its very very good. Hard work but perfectly balanced if that makes any sense.

Love the clean no frills UI as well, just a bar chart

GSVBagpuss · 10 Nov 2020 at 23:05

I tried Sufferfest and Zwift but have landed now on TR as the accountability works for me. The podcast gives me real faith in Chads coaching knowledge

Roady · 11 Nov 2020 at 12:55

Beenom said:
Fan recommendations? Currently without a fan and I'm overheating at the 30-35mins point!

Any kind of airflow will help, even a 'desk fan' can make a massive difference.

#Chri5# said:
https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-elec/pel01927/20-box-fan/dp/HG01084

£24 inc VAT and delivery.

Good shout.

Jonny ///M said:
Mate posted this in group chat.

Even better if you can get for that bargain price!

SPG said:
Love the clean no frills UI as well, just a bar chart

Have to admit that's what put me off. A little too serious without enough distractions for me. It was good to run alongside early Sufferfest, but once Zwift came along that easily replaced/surpassed everything I'd used before. Only really riding some 'actual' climbs with footage on something like RGT/Rouvy has made me consider changing things, but I've never quite got the time and inspiration to doing it.

But then riding for me is pleasure/challenge rather than structured training and planning. I ride/race hard, to give me the fitness to improve on personal challenges, generally for personal enjoyment, not actual results. The WTRL TTT is a prime example of that, it's pushed me so hard this year my FTP is probably higher than even my 'best' years before (although using an on-wheel trainer then gave me a higher FTP). I'm structuring what little intervals and training I do now, around 1 minute efforts, rather than longer endurance or sprint kicks like I have before. It's done amazing for my sustained power numbers!

SPG · 11 Nov 2020 at 19:52

I guess thats the thing TR is all about getting better with structure and is great for set goals. I get the appeal of Zwift but i generally think they couldn't give a damm about its userbase now and its all about the big names and pushing marketing budgets and using users as beta testers.

RGT for me is the better product and is constantly getting better and its half the price of zwift. But it does lack in the racing categories that zwift has. Horses for courses i guess.

Just a shame the UK lacks race scene in the summer for everyone and all abilitys. When i was growing up every other day you could enter time trial race or something. RED TAPE has killed anything that is not football grrrrrr

Jonny ///M · 11 Nov 2020 at 20:12

Aye the race calendar is pretty poor these days, my boss looks back at how you would have races to choose from each weekend AND a selection of time trials too.

Now it's a race a month if you fit the category or two races on the same day with nothing on the weeks between them.

I haven't tried RGT so can't comment on that vs zwift. All I use zwift for is the racing so it does what it needs to.