jimheaney57
New Member
- Location
- Belfast
Just got a turbo trainer recently. What's the best way to measure speed & distance? I have a Garmin 310XT. Will the cadence sensor give me the info I want?
Measuring speed & distance on turbo
- Thread starter jimheaney57
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
I've just transferred my computer to the rear wheel, I don't know how accurate it is but tbh I don't really care when you put it into perspective.
andrew_s
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gloucester
I doubt the Garmin would be any good. To go from cadence to speed/distance it would have to know what gear you were in and when you changed.
You'd normally use a wired computer with a rear wheel speed sensor. That's usually the ones with cadence that have a pickup on the chainstay that does both crank and wheel - for example this Cateye
amaferanga
Veteran
- Location
- Bolton
Yes your 310xt will do exactly what you want with the addition of a Garmin GSC-10 speed/cadence sensor. It has a sensor on the cranks for cadence and one on the back wheel for speed.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Speed and distance don't really mean anything on a turbo trainer unless you have a fancy one that somehow factors in the resistance level. My gym bike has a calories-burned indicator but it displays totally made-up data - it shows the same calorie burn rate when pedalling against a low resistance as it does against maximum resistance!
I just ride at certain perceived levels of effort, for certain periods of time.
I just ride at certain perceived levels of effort, for certain periods of time.
amaferanga
Veteran
- Location
- Bolton
If your turbo provides stable resistance (some do some don't) and you set it up the same each time with the same tyre pressure then speed can be used as a proxy for power. Doesn't relate to what you can do on the road obviously, but for tracking progress and for gauging intensity speed can be useful. I have a Cycleops Fluid 2 that is very repeatable and from using it with a power meter I know that speed would make a good proxy for power. I used to use an Elite Supercrono Fluid turbo and it is completely unstable so it'd be a waste of time trying to use speed as a proxy for power with it.