Team BKool CycleChat

[BILL S]

You might be right Bill as we, all three, never went below 20 kph (ish).
They just look like they were stopping.

Was there an intermediate F/W where you guys were getting more speed on the flat, I seem to remember Bridgy mentioning that.
I had hard fights against fmpando in the GDI a couple of years back an no matter what stupid watts I averaged on climbs he still went faster than me but I think that was the earlier Pro/Classic devide.

It's all getting a bit confusing and it's almost like there are more than two different possibilities for the firmware. Could be that some aren't affected by the stopping at the slope transitions but are getting more speed on the flat. I'm still not sure about differences in speed on the flats because the usual drafting races we had have stopped for the moment and we're all racing separately again. Could be that some have the best of both worlds ie your competition today.
I did the second round today but it hadn't shown up last time I looked. Should be a lot closer than the first as I was only brought to a stop twice rather than five or six times in the first. Sent my report to bkool after the last one and they said they'd be forwarding it to their software department.

 

[AAAC 76C]

It's all getting a bit confusing and it's almost like there are more than two different possibilities for the firmware. Could be that some aren't affected by the stopping at the slope transitions but are getting more speed on the flat. I'm still not sure about differences in speed on the flats because the usual drafting races we had have stopped for the moment and we're all racing separately again. Could be that some have the best of both worlds ie your competition today.
I did the second round today but it hadn't shown up last time I looked. Should be a lot closer than the first as I was only brought to a stop twice rather than five or six times in the first. Sent my report to bkool after the last one and they said they'd be forwarding it to their software department.

Had a look just myself. Got down as far as Randy and couldn't find you so I guess your not there.
Looked at AID's stats over the centre part and he is topping 55 kph for the whole centre section at well under 400 watts, elevation change over the 7km is about 5m so almost level .
Bike calculator with aerobars and tubulars says 550 watts to achieve this so something is fishy?

 

[bobinski]

Its all a bit of a dogs dinner and rather dispiriting . Its not just that you cannot measure yourself and race against other riders, but that you cannot even measure your own progress. I think it will be Zwift for me for a while until bkool get their house in order!

 

[bridgy]

Stage 1 of May/June chaingang:

Today's TDF stage:

(OK so theirs is maybe a bit longer but still....)

 

[gbrown]

I put up a new (weight) Handicap league for the rest of July, if anyone is up for a short climb 8pm this evening (or anytime during the week).

I went through the 100 climbs league and picked up three climbs that were short enough to suit the weight handicap and for which I could find 3D sessions.

Week of 12th July - Cheddar Gorge
Week of 19th July - Chapel Fell
Week of 23rd July - The Shelf

Cheddar Gorge tonight should be a good session, as lots of people have either done, or intend to do the Gorge in real life. Only 4km long and at the reduced weights hopefully not too hard a climb.

I'll post Handicaps shortly.

Geoff

 

[gbrown]

Tonight's Handicap Chase is a special Handicap Climb with adjusted rider weights to equalize Watts/Kg

Session is password protected, password is chase (type h twice if help screen appears)

Course is Cheddar Gorge Climb in No.4 Cheddar Gorge (100in13.com)

I will start the warm-up close to 8:00pm BST (UTC+1) to ensure the race starts around 8:10pm BST (UTC+1).

Everyone taking part should adjust their weight to the allocated value before entering the warm up, preferably with at least 5 minutes to go.

Weights are generally reduced, in some cases considerably, to achieve the target Watts/Kg, so speeds should be higher than usual. The main part of the session should not take more than around 20 minutes, and in any case less than 30 minutes, to avoid changing Fitness Levels. Anyone taking longer than 30 minutes would be advised to discard their session without saving.

The Start (for everyone) should be between 8:05 and 8:10, when the warm-up ends.

Once underway, there is a short neutralized zone (0.15 miles or 0.24 km) to avoid taking advantage of the lowered resistance at start, where no-one is allowed to overtake @JLaw (or if he is not present, you must gradually increase speed to a maximum of 20 mph (32 kph) until you pass the 0.15 (0.24 km) point.

If anyone else wants to take part, please can you let us know here and we can work out a weight Handicap from your FTP power value or similar.

 

[gbrown]

Handicaps may not be spot on, as this is the first time we have done this climb and firmware/software has changed considerably, so I'll tweak as needed for future runs...

 

[BILL S]

Handicaps may not be spot on, as this is the first time we have done this climb and firmware/software has changed considerably, so I'll tweak as needed for future runs...

Hopefully not any sudden large gradient changes and it should be ok. I think the actual climbing is still very similar between the different firmware's so handicaps should be about the same as before.

 

[BILL S]

So after some analysis of my last nights ride in the bkool summer cup I have concluded that I am a right numpty. Turns out I rode the first stage again without realising it. Doh!! I blame @Bkool for distracting me with their not so successful firmware updates.
My time was very similar and was actually a bit slower. So much for me thinking that I'd been slowed less by the dreaded gradient change stops. I really must focus more and maybe I should start by picking some adversaries and challenging them.

 

[bridgy]

Tonight's Handicap Chase is a special Handicap Climb with adjusted rider weights to equalize Watts/Kg

Session is password protected, password is chase (type h twice if help screen appears)

Course is Cheddar Gorge Climb in No.4 Cheddar Gorge (100in13.com)

I will start the warm-up close to 8:00pm BST (UTC+1) to ensure the race starts around 8:10pm BST (UTC+1).

Everyone taking part should adjust their weight to the allocated value before entering the warm up, preferably with at least 5 minutes to go.

Weights are generally reduced, in some cases considerably, to achieve the target Watts/Kg, so speeds should be higher than usual. The main part of the session should not take more than around 20 minutes, and in any case less than 30 minutes, to avoid changing Fitness Levels. Anyone taking longer than 30 minutes would be advised to discard their session without saving.

The Start (for everyone) should be between 8:05 and 8:10, when the warm-up ends.

Once underway, there is a short neutralized zone (0.15 miles or 0.24 km) to avoid taking advantage of the lowered resistance at start, where no-one is allowed to overtake @JLaw (or if he is not present, you must gradually increase speed to a maximum of 20 mph (32 kph) until you pass the 0.15 (0.24 km) point.

If anyone else wants to take part, please can you let us know here and we can work out a weight Handicap from your FTP power value or similar.

Home turf...

 

[Randyberlin]

Its all a bit of a dogs dinner and rather dispiriting . Its not just that you cannot measure yourself and race against other riders, but that you cannot even measure your own progress. I think it will be Zwift for me for a while until bkool get their house in order!

I vote no on the Bobexit.

 

[CXRAndy]

Yay

Bkool handicap

 

[theboxers]

Tonight's Handicap

I was just about to post that I would not be able to make it tonight . But then the fault I'd been called out about has suddenly cleared .

I still may be called out, but there will have to be some other problem I need to clear .

 

[BILL S]

I'm using bkool summer cup stage 2 as a warm up for the Handicap



edit

 

[AAAC 76C]

I'm using bkool summer cup stage 2 as a warm up for the Handicap

I'm not in tonite. Put a lot of effort into yesterdays ride after a couple of weeks off and then I will catch up with the Summer League stage 2.
Are we doing anything on Thursday as Friday I am off to Kent until Sunday?