Possibly, but haven't long replaced it...looking about £25 for a dongle, give or take...
think my Tickr hrm was £30 or£35 - Amazon special
Would be a neater option I guess, any benefits to using Bluetooth over ant+ to help sway it?
Not as far as I can tell - although having said that I have had problems in the past with Ant+ dongles not being recognised
Really getting into 'Orange is the new black' on Netflix whilst churning the miles on trainer road . Had trouble trying one legged exercise thing today , my 1x 9 gearing isn't helping so am looking forward to getting my bike back up to 2 by 9
Evening Chaps
I'm a newbie to this thread and have recently bought myself a turbo trainer. In true forum style I'm now going to ask a load of questions that have probably already been answered a million times before. In my defense, I did scan back a few pages...I'll try and keep it short.
I'll be sticking my road bike on the turbo in the garage but my garage is a separate building without electricity or internet etc. Also my turbo is a basic Minoura B60 so no "smart" capability.
Is it possible to use Trainerroad simply via my iphone (not connected to the internet) and Garmin Cadence and Speed sensors on the bike and/or a HR monitor?
If so, will it still be worth the fee or should I just do a DIY max HR test and rip some HR Zone training plans out of some back issues of Cycling Weekly instead?
I already do a couple of turbo sessions a week at my local velodrome and with a local coaching company (it's just a group based spin session) so I know the motivation is there but I'm unsure on setting up my own um...set-up.
Thanks in advance if anyone can direct me 🙂
Have a look to see if TR support your turbo - this means they have a speed to power conversion.
Then you will need a speed sensor that your phone can pick up - either BT direct or Ant+ via an adapter/dongle.
Once you have downloaded the iOS app then it should be sweet. The TR app runs happily without a wifi connection, just uploading on completion.
Sweet, thanks pal will check that out now
@howsyourdad1 Yes, ILTs are tricky and definitely expose any errors in your technique. I still haven't got the transitions down pat.
@howsyourdad1 Yes, ILTs are tricky and definitely expose any errors in your technique.
Well they do expose errors in your one legged pedalling technique! I'm not sure they do much for two legged technique. They seem to be much less commonly advocated these days. I'm not convinced it does much else and I think the time is better spent on two legged work.
I think they (trainerroad) include them to highlight dead spots in your pedalling technique rather than encouraging single legged pedalling. Once I've done a couple of efforts on each leg I'll do the rest of the session in normal mode.
I wonder why you'd want to identify "dead spots" and then what you'd actually do about it?
Just working on the turbo probably does what you're trying to achieve just because of the lower inertia compared to road meaning you work harder through the "dead spots". Which is sometimes why you find it difficult to make the same power you do outdoors when you start with turbo work, and vice versa when you go back from turbo to outdoor work.
I can't quite remember as I abandoned the attempt during the session but I think the gearing was such that it was so easy that I was spinning out and the back wheel was 'overtaking ' the pedalling , or by changing to the next gear mypower output was way over the target of 60 .will give it a go again as I can see the benefit for technique
If you do the workouts that have instructions then a lot of the "technique" parts are about improving your stability on a bike when pedalling quickly. Makes a lot of sense if you look at it from a track/turbo perspective as "pedalling in squares" which gives rise to dead spots will have you bouncing around all over the place. TR thus have ILT blocks as well as the quadrant drills to help you concentrate on your pedalling action/efficiency - basically trying to get more power out of the same perceived effort. I know when I concentrate on the "kick-pull" exercises that my power output moves up by two to three Watts for a slightly lower cadence (1RPM). What that tells me is that my natural pedalling action allows the wheel to decelerate slightly for each turn of the crank and I then have to accelerate back up every time. It may not be a lot but over the course of a long ride it's going to make me more tired than if I had good technique without the dead spots.
@howsyourdad1 If you have a low FTP then some of the lower power outputs are hard to do as any natural cadence is too high to meet the power requirements. With ILTs it's probably best to have a cadence that you are comfortable with and can concentrate on the technique rather than worry about the power output.
It may not be a lot but over the course of a long ride it's going to make me more tired than if I had good technique without the dead spots.
Is an interesting point that. You might find the opposite though as you're working less powerful muscles in order to try and smooth out the pedalling, and that might actually become more fatiguing. It's why a lot of people find the benefit of wonky rings to be less fatigue.
Anyway I'd say definitely an interesting point to research a bit!
Thanks whitestone. Was first time introduction to ILT so I'll see how I get along with what you recommend
I'm back on it as of last night. Hate that 8 minute test being more DH orientated going for 8 minutes hard is tough. You can see that when i done 400w for the 2 30 second intervals but struggle to do 200 for 8 minutes.
I've swapped bikes from a road bike to my 1x10 hard tail which feels like i'm in-between gears i think due to the bigger jumps in gear ratios. I had to increase the resistance over last time too.
I know i shouldn't look at FTP between setups but its hard not too. lol.
I also didn't realise the FTP was set at 300 so my initial warm up was hard work!
All good fun tho.
https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2808814
Gros Morne for me today and I bumped up FTP a couple points. Has worn me out enough so I am exhausted around 10:30pm tonight .Happy new year all!
I've been doing a bit outdoors over the break (inc. a very windy century on Boxing Day). However yesterday someone drove into the back of me at about 40 mph (their speed, I was going about 10 on a climb). Broke a vertebra clean through, but luckily cord all fine. Spinal surgery today this morning, now have some scaffolding in there. All seems to have gone well, but I'll be off the bike for a wee while. I think that means postponing my etape attempt.
So I guess I'll be pausing my TR subscription and participation on this thread!
Bloody hell, sorry to hear that it's awful - all the best with the recovery. What's the situation with the driver?
Thanks. Not sure yet - narrow road, dazzling sun I think most likely situation. I don't remember anything about it. Police are being quite proactive though, and talking about the possibility of a careless driving charge, though it seems fairly unlikely to be proven. They're impounded the car too (was rather messed up apparently - didn’t just smash the windscreen, also dented the roofline above it). I'm hoping that I'll at least be able to get the bike fixed / replaced by his insurance.
Ah shit, sorry to hear that. Hope the back and the bike don't take too long to fix. Turbo good for rehab?
On the bright side, I finished building up my Powertap wheel the night before, but decided against riding it since I was riding 85 miles, and didn't want to be finding any issues. So it was my old wheel that was trashed. W00t.
^ Shades of 'it's only a flesh wound' understatement and astonishing stiff upper lip.
With an attitude like that you will be back fast.
Well it's only one vertebra, I have plenty more! ? Oh and I'm on morphine, so may not be thinking clearly!
That sounds terrible gray - healing vibes to your back!
Speedy recovery Gray, sounds awful .
Thanks all!
I feel a bit evil.
Mrs K has been suffering after injuring an ACL playing hockey. So what could be better for removing the weight gained than setting up her bike - a specialized vita - on the turbo so she can work gently through a general maintenance low volume plan?
Anyway, she's out in the paincave doing an 8 minute test. She suffering a bit, especially after stating "there's no way I'm sitting out there without a jumper on". That's now removed. I sat and advised through the warm up, it doesn't look pleasant.
Guffaw... 😀
Time to head back out with the sick bucket?
you'll be crying into your quinoa later if she puts out more power than you 😆
FTP of 91w via virtual power with a very spikey workout, some due to knee pain which she has to watch out for of course. Fair play she's not a cyclist and never has been, so cycling for an hour was bad enough, and she's learned about intervals now also.
She is competitive though, so we'll go through 8 weeks of easy stuff and expect quite a rise in FTP once she's more educated in the ways of TR...
Did Darwin this evening - the last interval was hard work! I did Huffaker on Wednesday which was really hard. Both sessions delayed by a couple of days due to the holiday celebrations and actually getting outside for some riding.
I have a 20 min test tomorrow. 😀 🙄 😐 
A bit of Free Riding for me tonight. Probably start with a bit of z1 and just see if this cold is still lurking.
Actually I've changed my mind. I'm on a rest week and my test isn't scheduled until Tuesday, but tomorrows downpour dictates indoor riding. I might have a go at that Sufferest TFTTOS as a ride sim instead.
hi all, i'm 7 weeks through base training , 5 more to go until i move onto build, then off course the specialist section, so 21 more weeks more or less (gulp)
I'm actually really enjoying it although i notice in the last week or so it's got noticeably harder.
Anyhow, how much can i expect to have improved by the time I've finished? Very hard to say i know but more or less?
FTP at the start was 200
Thanks!
Warren looked like a recovery ride on paper but turned out to be 2.25 hours of speed intervals. Lying down now.
Anyhow, how much can i expect to have improved by the time I've finished? Very hard to say i know but more or less?FTP at the start was 200
Would have thought you would improve rapidly from 200 - FTP might rise to 240 by the end. Remember to remeasure and adjust as you go through the programme.
Thanks djflexure. Ok that's not as much as I was thinking for over half a years training , but then I really don't know what to expect. I've started to up my ftp my a couple of points every couple of weeks during the programme, then an 8 minute test 2 weeks later .
Well, after two nights of 9hrs sleep and no drinking for three days I thought what better time for a 20 min FTP test...
...smashed it! 3% increase after mid-way and 4 weeks on the Sustained Power plan. 🙂 A few "am I, aren't I" moments in terms of feeling sick in the last 5 but I rode with focus and a slightly increasing profile over 20 mins, very happy with that.
And we move on...
Nice one Kryton. Only done the 8min test but I believe the Sustained Power plan begins with a 20min test so have that to look forward to in a couple of weeks.
@howsyourdad1 Yes, each weeks' TSS increases until you get to the last one which is the recovery week. You can see the values in the right column when looking at the plans.
Just a thought - anyone interested in a new, unused Powertap GS built on Pacenti SL23 rim with Sapim CX-RAY spokes? I built it up then broke my spine, so won't be needing such a thing for a while. I got the hub for a bargain £399, rim and spokes were about another 135. If anyone wants it for 400 then let me know. I hadn't quite done a final true so should probably budget for that.
I'm hoping that I'll at least be able to get the bike fixed / replaced by his insurance.
id at least hope you are going to claim for your injuries?
Haven't really thought much yet - don't know quite how clear cut the blame has to be for that. I'm in the CTC though, and they have some solicitors who will give free advice so we'll be talking to them in the week I guess.
What session would you recommend after coming back from a rather long stretch of man Flu? Been about 5 weeks off the turbo, still full of lumunious green snot but starting to just about feel human again....if I go out i will be tempted to put my foot down a bit like always
DT78, coming back off a short stretch, I just did a free ride 90. Rode at z1 for about 10 mins, then pushed it up a bit to z2 for 50 mins or so, then towards the end of the session tried a couple of short sweetspot intervals. Decided that if any of it made my legs wobble a bit I'd just finish the session at z1. Thankfully was all good here.
If that doesn't appeal you could just give something like Black a go.
DT78, After a long(ish) layoff I start back with something like [url= https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/workouts/4302-homers-nose ]homers nose[/url] to ease me back in. It's an hour well below FTP and for me it as much about re-establishing a routine as it is about the actual content of the session.
Need some advice. I'm having some issues with the tyre slipping and now destroying the rubber on the tyre.
My kit is:
26" hard tail running 1x10 36t and 11-36 cassette.
Tacx turbo tyre
Elite Volare Mag Force Elastogel
I have to run it on setting 4 (out of 5) to stop me from running out of gears.
Looked this morning and ive made a hell of a mess behind the turbo of blue rubber lol. It might have been the Joe Devel of sprints of 50% ftp to 150%.
Any suggestions? I have another slick road tyre i can try. The roller looks to be in the correct position to give the correct load for a 26" tyre. So i'm not sure what else to do.
Is everyone using a road bike for this or a mtb with more/higher gears?
Guessing you've wound the roller on tightly to the tyre.
No problem with the Tacx tyre here. Does throw off a lot of blue dust initially but then seems to settle down.
Maybe it's something to do with the gel roller and Tacx tyre? Might be worth trying a different tyre? Maybe the Elite turbo tyre might work better with the gel roller?
For those using the ipad app - is it possible to advance the position of the workout, so you can start 10 mins in, for example? Easily done on the laptop, but couldn't figure out how to do it on the ipad, but maybe I'm missing something obvious?
There's no tension adjustment for wheel contact unfortunately. Just eyelets to move the roller closer or further away from the pivot for different wheel sizes.
Good point on the tyre choice, with it being a gel roller a normal tyre might be ok. I'm going to degrease the roller/tyre in case there's something on there.
Thinking about it again with the lower gearing/smaller wheel the wheel isn't spinning that fast so should be less wear on a 26"slick tyre.
But doesn’t that mean more torque, so more likely to sporadically slip? Just a thought.
Did Mills tonight - jeesus H christ! Felt like giving up at the sixth effort but somehow managed to hang on to complete the workout.
Had a pretty ragged effort on one of the cx ones this evening - katahdin. Think the first commute back to work must have shocked the legs, had nowt left.
Yeah, Mills is a toughie. Did it the other week and had to shut my eyes and pray during a couple of the intervals. The 30 minute one is worse... 😮
Crikey. 48hrs after a 20 min FTP test and it was Stevens - 5x6m at 105% of my [b]new [/b]FTP.
That was tough, I gutted out the 4th, but the 5th I was fading, I just couldn't keep the leg speed despite positive vibes so I had to knock it down a gear for 90 seconds, before resuming, but I did force 1 min at 140% approx at the end to finish.
A weird thing has happened to me over the last six weeks, in that I don't get aerobically challenged any more. What I mean is, I am sweating, and my HR is right up thier but above the waist I'm cruising the plans. Now its a case of can be legs hold out for the duration!
I'm assuming that means I've got fitter, and am just waiting for my muscle endurance to catch up!
I was finding interesting shifts in what's the limiting factor too, but the other way round!
I've always had quite good lungs I think. Almost always, for me riding up hills it's my muscles that are the limiting factor - I could suck in more air if I needed to, but my legs just couldn't push harder. More recently I've found on e.g. FTP tests that my lungs limit me more - I'm breathing as hard as I can, but my muscles could have done more.
My assumption was that the sweet spot base leading up to this did quite a lot of muscular endurance work and that it was working. Interesting how these things work!
I walked about 20 metres today. I rock.
Well done Gray - hope your recovery goes well.
I did Marion today (now that sounds wrong!) but found it quite straightforward. Usually the longer threshold intervals kill me so it's maybe time for an FTP test 😕
Anyone want a free month? I've just 'earned' one to give away.
With hindsight doing Keeler Needle as the first session back after a 2 week festive rest was a mistake.
Absolutely ruined now.
Did homers nose yesterday, actually felt better after the session than before, opened up the airways, will have a go at one of the longer aerobic sessions. Still full of snot though. Been over 6 weeks of cold nasties.
8 min test for me yesterday, re-starting swwet spot base two after a couple of weeks of no turbo work (real world riding though 🙂 ) increased ftp from 305 to 307 so no difference at all really! I did race on Sunday so wasn't maximally rested, I might start ramping up the effort a couple of percent to cater for this. Mont Albert for me this evening.
A weird thing has happened to me over the last six weeks, in that I don't get aerobically challenged any more. What I mean is, I am sweating, and my HR is right up thier but above the waist I'm cruising the plans. Now its a case of can be legs hold out for the duration!
Gearing/cadence? Lower cadence tends to tax the legs, higher cadence the cv system. So maybe up the cadence a bit for the power and it might be more even?
Some 8 min intervals on the road for me yesterday. First time on the TT bike since last race in September 😥 Having promised myself I'd not have such a long break. Power a fair bit down on the turbo, HR high, but could have been a lot worse!
Still full of snot though.
Was pouring out of my nose on yesterday's ride. Had a dangly snot beard at the end of each interval!
After a rest week and a week where I managed to do all 12 hours of training out on the trails last night was supposed to be back on the turbo.
Got home all ready and primed for the session but I had to fit a turbo tyre first. Tyre and tube fitted but when I went to inflate, I realised i'd pinched and punctured the tube. No spare tube, no repair kit so what did I do????
Thats right, I threw the whole contents of the pram out, sulked for 2 hours and ate a full bag of cheeseballs.... 😯
Thats right, I threw the whole contents of the pram out, sulked for 2 hours and ate a full bag of cheeseballs....
A turbo sulk 🙂
If I have to abandon a session (mechanical, legs not working, kids not sleeping, etc.) I'll be in a foul mood 👿 Usually the ice cream that gets it.
Did you go on the Phil P ride on the weekend? Going to try and get out on one of them if it becomes a regular thing. Can't do this weekend unfortunately.
Did you go on the Phil P ride on the weekend? Going to try and get out on one of them if it becomes a regular thing. Can't do this weekend unfortunately.
I did indeed...it was actually organised by a local lad and then all the big hitters turned up. I knew I was in for a tough ride when my NP was only 20w lower than my FTP after an hour and we still had about 2 and a half hours to go haha!
I made the stupid mistake of not taking any food with me too....3 and a half hours at that pace with those guys on a bottle of water didnt really work. I bonked big style on the way home
Ah yes, just seen it on Strava. If Phil P reckons it's a quick pace then we're all in trouble!
Ha, yeah....it started quick and didn't get any slower at all
Lamarck tonight - that had me sweating buckets. Pretty even efforts: the first three were 2 Watts over target and the last one under.
That's the last serious session of Sweet Spot Base Mid Vol 2, it's a steady session tomorrow night, proper riding at the weekend and then the recovery week next week before moving on to the Sustained Power Build plan, not sure whether to do the medium or high volume.
Fellow turboists... I'm after a decent stand that can replace the front wheel on a turbo bike? I guess something like an adjustable height pole with an axel at the top to stick a QR through would do the job. Anyone know of such a thing?
Fellow turboists... I'm after a decent stand that can replace the front wheel on a turbo bike?
There's a few variation on this sort of thing available
[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/tacx-antares-support-stand/rp-prod43189?gs=1&gclid=CJzuwZzZl8oCFWXnwgodHVINQQ&gclsrc=aw.ds ]Tacx support stand[/url]
[url= http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cycleops/roller-fork-stand-ec021057?country=GB¤cy=GBP&esvt=1444-GOUKE1066816&esvq=&esvadt=999999-0-38526-1&esvcrea=61232128856&esvplace=&esvd=c&esvaid=50080&gclid=CMmy443al8oCFdEYGwodINkMJA ]Cyclops version[/url]
I've only ever seen ones that are designed to be added to the frame of rollers, but it wouldn't take much effort to screw the stand onto a couple of bits of 2x4 and you've got a freestanding version. Could be a think of beauty or functionally agricultural depending on the level of effort you want to put in.
I did wonder about having a wide base. Bike still rocks a bit in the turbo and wondering if it'd be better to have a narrow base that didn't fight against this action.
I did wonder about having a wide base. Bike still rocks a bit in the turbo and wondering if it'd be better to have a narrow base that didn't fight against this action.
Interesting... Off the top of my head, how about mounting one of the frame mentioned above on something like skateboard trucks. Or Simpler still mount it to a piece of board with a central rib on the underside to allow for side to side movement with elastomers/door stoppers/something squishy on the corners to limit and cushion the movement.
[edit] But this does seem like a time consuming and complex way to simulate the sort of movement you'd get from having a wheel in place, What's the reason that you don't want to use a wheel?
Getting complicated! 🙂
May pop down b&q and see if they have anything that can be bodged. Just a pole with a rounded rubber base and an axel at the top would probably do the job.
May pop down b&q and see if they have anything that can be bodged to do the job.
Pictures needed once the bodge is complete.
Wow Juneau hurt.
Just finished Jane Bald. Leg strength stuff . Really hard pace I thought considering it's supposed to be the start of a rest week.
Quick question , I've converted my MTB back to 2 x 10 so was using the 38 tooth at the front (instead of previous 32) Could this have anything to do with why I found it so hard ?
Wow Juneau hurt.
You're back then 🙂
Looks a good session that for this time of year.
Yep back to the turbo, on antibiotics. Chest is okay so I tried homers nose, and mount gosford as gentle intros (quite liked the drills on gosford) then as legs were feeling okay I thought I'd push it a little with Juneau whilst still keeping it below FTP. 3rd 20min interval hurt.
Plan to start sweet spot base next week fingers crossed. Don't really want to do an FTP test to see how much I've lost from illness. Strav as estimate is 30w 🙁