bKool newbie questions

[Tomculb]

I bought myself a bKool smart trainer for Xmas, and I am gradually becoming familiar with the not-entirely-intuitive website and simulator. I also stumbled upon this forum, which has been very helpful. I have a few questions I’d appreciate answers to, especially the first two:

1. bKool says I am an Amateur 2 and a Veteran 3. I’m guessing that’s bkoolspeak for old and slow (guilty as charged), but I’m assuming those designations refer to some objective criteria of some sort. I think I may have seen a thread linking one of them to watts, but I’m not sure. Can someone shed some light?

2. I have had some fun picking out ghosts and bots to try to keep up with, but what I’d really like to do is compete against myself. Is there a way to select one of the sessions I have already completed and have one of the ghosts be me from my prior ride? How would I do that?

3. This morning I picked a session which is supposed to have video, but when the ride started the video remained frozen at the start. So I switched to 3D (which was better than expected since your competitors actually look like bikers and you can see them from farther away). Are some of the videos problematic at times? Or was the bsim simply having a bad day?

4. Not a bKool issue, but my heart rate monitor is a Garmin chest strap I bought a few years ago, and I stopped using it outdoors because it was so inconsistent with my perceived exertion level. A couple of weeks ago I put in a fresh battery and tried using it with my new trainer, but it's not working any better. This morning after hitting some spikes that should have killed me, it gradually slowed down to about 40 bpm, and then I guess I went into cardiac arrest since I did the last half of the ride with a heartbeat of 0. Do I likely have a defective product or do these things tend to be notoriously unreliable? Or would some other kind of device (maybe not a chest strap) be better?

Thank you.

 

[CXRAndy]

1. Veteran 1,2,3 etc different age groups. I'm a Vet2 age early 50s Amateur level is indicating you're just starting out and your wattage is on the lowish side. After a few weeks it begin to improve and you will move up through the categories.

2.you should be able to pick your own ghost if you're premium membership. I know Bkool can be very problematic sometimes and can last for weeks

3. See above comment

4. Get a Wahoo Tickr, which is Ant+ and Bluetooth

Join in the chaingang rides. You need to ask from the Bkool website then either Bill or Whorty will accept you. Don't worry if you don't do as well the first few times, you will improve and begin to get more competitive.

 

[Aleman]

4) I use a Garmin HRM and strap, and have done so for two years, It just works, it's even survived the washing machine twice when I forgot to remove it from the strap for its weekly / fortnightly wash. The strap had been redesigned about 6 months before I bought it, prior to that it did have issues with reliability and was susceptible to wind, and static (odd considering most cycling clothing is polyester!). DC Rainmaker recommended buying a Polar HRM Strap (The soft premium one) and modifying the mounting points to take a garmin HRM ... the plastic needs to be cut away. As Andy says get a Wahoo Tickr, it's well known to be reliable, and it's dual band which is a bonus. ... FWIW my Maximal Heart rate is 203bpm measured on a real life ride (Jubilee Hill No 76 in 100 Great Climbs ) we are all individuals so HR is only of importance to you.

3) Video playback in the Sim is a complete PITA sometimes it's great other times it's poor, but the 3D construction tends to work OK. Running routes I had recorded IRL was the puropose of joining BKool for me, so it's somewhat disappointing, but I've discovered that I can use the video ond GPX files in BigRingVR which is a great sim for just riding routes with out racing.

 

[Bored Man]

1. Veteran 1,2,3 etc different age groups. I'm a Vet2 age early 50s Amateur level is indicating you're just starting out and your wattage is on the lowish side. After a few weeks it begin to improve and you will move up through the categories.

2.you should be able to pick your own ghost if you're premium membership. I know Bkool can be very problematic sometimes and can last for weeks

3. See above comment

4. Get a Wahoo Tickr, which is Ant+ and Bluetooth

Join in the chaingang rides. You need to ask from the Bkool website then either Bill or Whorty will accept you. Don't worry if you don't do as well the first few times, you will improve and begin to get more competitive.

..and there are plenty of old slow buggers on here too.

I hardly use video mode cos I’m still running on Compuserve... no fast Boadwidthband up here.. I’ve never had a problem with a chest strap syncing and working so I guess yours is buggered or your dead. <nice knowing you>.

@CXRAndy is absolutely right about everything including - Join the gang..

 

[Venod]

I have never had reliable readings from my Garmin HRM I have used different straps and different transmitters but always get spikes and low readings, it' just not usable.
Is the Wahoo any better?
I am etremley sweaty maybe this is the problem.

 

[Bored Man]

I have never had reliable readings from my Garmin HRM I have used different straps and different transmitters but always get spikes and low readings, it' just not usable.
Is the Wahoo any better?
I am etremley sweaty maybe this is the problem.

Great news.. if you’re extremely sweaty - you’re alive.

Bad news is that you can’t use age as an excuse on here and even worse news, you’re excuse of being dead was the best yet... and you just gave it away..

 

[Aleman]

Odd readings from the earlier generation of Garmin Straps is well documented - See the DCRainmaker review/site. I don't have any issues with either of my later/latest generation straps, completely solid and reliable, may take a while for them to start reading, you can use sonogel to compensate if you are not particularly sweaty

 

[Venod]

you’re excuse of being dead was the best yet... and you just gave it away

?

 

[bridgy]

I bought myself a bKool smart trainer for Xmas, and I am gradually becoming familiar with the not-entirely-intuitive website and simulator. I also stumbled upon this forum, which has been very helpful. I have a few questions I’d appreciate answers to, especially the first two:

1. bKool says I am an Amateur 2 and a Veteran 3. I’m guessing that’s bkoolspeak for old and slow (guilty as charged), but I’m assuming those designations refer to some objective criteria of some sort. I think I may have seen a thread linking one of them to watts, but I’m not sure. Can someone shed some light?

2. I have had some fun picking out ghosts and bots to try to keep up with, but what I’d really like to do is compete against myself. Is there a way to select one of the sessions I have already completed and have one of the ghosts be me from my prior ride? How would I do that?

3. This morning I picked a session which is supposed to have video, but when the ride started the video remained frozen at the start. So I switched to 3D (which was better than expected since your competitors actually look like bikers and you can see them from farther away). Are some of the videos problematic at times? Or was the bsim simply having a bad day?

4. Not a bKool issue, but my heart rate monitor is a Garmin chest strap I bought a few years ago, and I stopped using it outdoors because it was so inconsistent with my perceived exertion level. A couple of weeks ago I put in a fresh battery and tried using it with my new trainer, but it's not working any better. This morning after hitting some spikes that should have killed me, it gradually slowed down to about 40 bpm, and then I guess I went into cardiac arrest since I did the last half of the ride with a heartbeat of 0. Do I likely have a defective product or do these things tend to be notoriously unreliable? Or would some other kind of device (maybe not a chest strap) be better?

Thank you.

1. "Amateur 2" is your fitness level and "veteran" is based on your age. Your fitness level is based on either doing an FTP test on Bkool, or if you don't do one it's based on your best average watts on a ride of 30 minutes or more - more info on this (and many other things, although some is now outdated) including the fitness levels and the average watts required can be found here - https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/bkool-faq.191965/

2. Go to any of the rides you've done before - you can find them on the Bkool website under My Activity/History - open the ride and click on "Challenge" on the top right and it will put that ride in your scheduled sessions with your ghost (plus any other ghosts you had when you did it the first time). For some reason Bkool always schedules rides when you do this for the following day so if you want to do it straight away you need to click to Edit the ride from the scheduled sessions page, go to the "Details" tab and change the date to today. It should then be in your scheduled sessions on Bsim with your previous ghost included.

3. Video used to work better, but I too have found it very slow and glitchy more recently so rarely use it now

4. I have a garmin HR chest strap and it's always worked perfectly - even after accidentally going through the washing machine once! Lots of good advice above on alternatives though

 

[Tomculb]

Now that I have a number of weeks under my belt with my BKool Smart Go, I thought I would comment on my questions below. Maybe someone will find this helpful . . .

I bought myself a bKool smart trainer for Xmas, and I am gradually becoming familiar with the not-entirely-intuitive website and simulator. I also stumbled upon this forum, which has been very helpful. I have a few questions I’d appreciate answers to, especially the first two:

1. bKool says I am an Amateur 2 and a Veteran 3. I’m guessing that’s bkoolspeak for old and slow (guilty as charged), but I’m assuming those designations refer to some objective criteria of some sort. I think I may have seen a thread linking one of them to watts, but I’m not sure. Can someone shed some light?

Fitness level is indeed based on watts/kilogram, based on a 30 minute ride or a 20 minute FPT test available from the simulator. There are four categories, Amateur, Active, Pro and Elite, and 10 divisions within each. I did another FPT test a couple of weeks ago and found I have jumped from Amateur 2 to Amateur 8, a nice ego stroke if nothing else. The FAQ thread on this forum has the table which shows how many watts you need to produce to reach a certain level.

The other classification is based on age, and it is weirdly skewed to youngsters:


15-16 Cadet
17-19 Junior
20-22 Sub 23
23-39 Senior [!]
40-49 Veteran 1
50-59 Veteran 2
60-99 Veteran 3​

I’m a Vet 3 about to bag another decade, and I was really disappointed to see that I won’t move on to Vet 4 (or Relic 1?) and be a category youngster again. Definitely something BKool should do something about.​

2. I have had some fun picking out ghosts and bots to try to keep up with, but what I’d really like to do is compete against myself. Is there a way to select one of the sessions I have already completed and have one of the ghosts be me from my prior ride? How would I do that?

If I select and schedule a session I’ve already ridden and saved, the ghosts I rode with will be there, along with myself as another “ghost” (at my age, I’m not sure I like that term). I recently selected a ride I did weeks ago which I finished with a flat tire (!), and boy did I beat the socks off of that poor sucker! A great ego boost. More seriously, riding against my previous rides has been a great way to measure my training progress.​

3. This morning I picked a session which is supposed to have video, but when the ride started the video remained frozen at the start. So I switched to 3D (which was better than expected since your competitors actually look like bikers and you can see them from farther away). Are some of the videos problematic at times? Or was the bsim simply having a bad day?

As others have mentioned on this forum, Bkook would do well to improve the quality of its software (and I guess the servers which host its simulations). Some days are good, some not so good (reminds me of a rider I know).​

4. Not a bKool issue, but my heart rate monitor is a Garmin chest strap I bought a few years ago, and I stopped using it outdoors because it was so inconsistent with my perceived exertion level. A couple of weeks ago I put in a fresh battery and tried using it with my new trainer, but it's not working any better. This morning after hitting some spikes that should have killed me, it gradually slowed down to about 40 bpm, and then I guess I went into cardiac arrest since I did the last half of the ride with a heartbeat of 0. Do I likely have a defective product or do these things tend to be notoriously unreliable? Or would some other kind of device (maybe not a chest strap) be better?

On the recommendation of a response or two here, I bought a Kickr chest strap HRM. What a difference! I threw away the Garmin HRM, and I now get data that makes sense. I noticed that someone now make ear buds with HRMs built in. Shortly before getting my trainer I had to get hearing aids, but no one offered those with built in HRMs. With all us aging baby boomers, someone’s missing an opportunity to build a better mousetrap!​

Thank you.