Team BKool CycleChat

[BILL S]

I've got 10 times:
CRX Andy 40:46
BillS 34:26
Bazzer99 42:46
LBHIFI 32:34
Bridgy 34:04
RickB 37:01
Bobinski 37:25
Rob 40:44
The Boxers 44:21
Nutty 46:13

Is there anyone missing?

LBHIFI & BAZZER still have to do the dummy ride up Col de la Madeleine

 

[theboxers]

- 140 psi, the highest I have ever put in the tires for a bkool ride.
- Not having to fiddle too much with the gears suits me really well.
- Really feeling the draft effect, which I never do in non-velodrome rides. In fact, it looked like you all didn't have the same drastic effect as I did.

The draft was really odd for me. I could hold 235w +/-5 @78-80 cadence @ 24-25mph. Then suddenly the resistance would go up and I'd need 265-275 for the same speed. I eventually worked out that when there was nobody on the same straight as me the increased resistance woul kick in. When you started dropping off having completed the session the resistance steadily increased as the number of potential drafting partners decreased. My heart rate went up as well.

Hard, harder then hardest

 

[BILL S]

- 140 psi, the highest I have ever put in the tires for a bkool ride.
- Not having to fiddle too much with the gears suits me really well.
- Really feeling the draft effect, which I never do in non-velodrome rides. In fact, it looked like you all didn't have the same drastic effect as I did.

I had 160psi but your extra 100w really showed especially in the earlier laps. Even if the temperature cools down considerably for Saturday I think your time is safe unless AAAC decides to come out to play.

 

[LBHIFI]

I've got 10 times:
CRX Andy 40:46
BillS 34:26
Bazzer99 42:46
LBHIFI 32:34
Bridgy 34:04
RickB 37:01
Bobinski 37:25
Rob 40:44
The Boxers 44:21
Nutty 46:13

Is there anyone missing?

LBHIFI & BAZZER still have to do the dummy ride up Col de la Madeleine

Sorry, it's there now.

 

[bobinski]

I had 160psi but your extra 100w really showed especially in the earlier laps. Even if the temperature cools down considerably for Saturday I think your time is safe unless AAAC decides to come out to play.

160! I might try that. I am at a wedding from Saturday afternoon so will have to find time Saturday morning to do a rerun. Please feel free to join in if you cannot do the later ride either

 

[bridgy]

I'm not brave enough to go to 160psi - I only have the nerve to go to just over 120! Had a rear tyre blowout on the bkool once and it sounded like a bomb going off!

 

[theboxers]

I tend to run 135psi +/- a couple. It has to be that high or the tyre wraps round the roller for me @128kg.

 

[TobiC]

Your power figures are very impressive! Obviously you have had a fair chat with Bkool. Bkool pro calculates power unlike the kickr which has a strain gauge. You could be over powering the Bkool pro trainer. Some of the guys on here have noticed that when they reach big power and cadence, Bkool goes into some sort of wormhole affect with speed and Power increasing more. Try the kickr again if you can, to compare your rides.

I have used the Bkool pro and have a kickr. My own observations are the kickr is harder in terms of getting speed, offers more resistance to higher percentage gradients than the Bkool pro. The pro seems to over estimate power by about 50-70watts compared to power meter trainers. The advantage is with Bkool the majority are using them and therefore it is a level playing field albeit sometimes slightly odd performance results.

Thank you CXRAndy I appreciate your experience. I did a ZTR race but got flagged at >5w/kg on the London route. It's what sparked the whole inquiry. I'm interested in what you describe as warp tunnel effect. Is it a common issue? What can be done about it?

 

[CXRAndy]

Thank you CXRAndy I appreciate your experience. I did a ZTR race but got flagged at >5w/kg on the London route. It's what sparked the whole inquiry. I'm interested in what you describe as warp tunnel effect. Is it a common issue? What can be done about it?

There a number of quirks/bugs with the Bkool software, nothing drastic but can be annoying, especially if you compete against others and different turbos are involved. Bkool needs to be made aware so they have the opportunity to improve their work.

Two of cyclechats riders have experienced sessions where they started hard and has a high cadence, their performance felt to them was exceptionally high, a good moral booster!.
With the previous software/firmware version, riders were able to sawtooth ride(spin Up to 145rpm, relax the spin up again). This would result in the bkool trainer easing off resistance and allowing huge power and speed figures. This method can still used but not as effective with the latest software update.
You should join in cyclechat rides on here and see how get on with a little competition. I suspect you would give most of us a good thrashing, with one or two notable exceptions.
We just have to accept these whilst Bkool improves, but in the meantime enjoy the indoor trainer. Just make a post asking to join one our league's and the admin will accept you.

 

[Perky77]

Looks like I missed a really good week. I've not done a velodrome ride at all yet.

I will try and do the handicap ride tonight before it ends tomorrow but it's going to hurt after three consecutive nights out at the conference!

 

[TobiC]

I'd like to give one of the races a go. Who do I ask to join?

 

[bobinski]

Thank you CXRAndy I appreciate your experience. I did a ZTR race but got flagged at >5w/kg on the London route. It's what sparked the whole inquiry. I'm interested in what you describe as warp tunnel effect. Is it a common issue? What can be done about it?

I think you should ask bkool to dial into your turbo and check the units calibration. It sounds like you are a very strong rider anyway but a >5w/kg average (?) in Zwift suggests something is amiss over and above the bkool softwares foibles in the bkool world especially given it is occurring in ant+ fec.

 

[LBHIFI]

I'd like to give one of the races a go. Who do I ask to join?

The admins will pick up your request here. They will need your Bkool name if it's not the same as your Cyclechat name.

 

[bridgy]

I think you should ask bkool to dial into your turbo and check the units calibration. It sounds like you are a very strong rider anyway but a >5w/kg average (?) in Zwift suggests something is amiss over and above the bkool softwares foibles in the bkool world especially given it is occurring in ant+ fec.

Tobic, that's a good suggestion from Bobinski - I know others who had similar problems that were resolved to some extent by a re-calibration by Bkool. When we had the last software and firmware update, I had a strange couple of rides when I'd done the firmware update, but not the software (as it hadn't yet prompted for it), and my speeds - and therefore power - were very unrealistically high. It was like the resistance just wasn't kicking in properly. I wonder if your trainer is caught in a similar mode?

Having said that, even when working "correctly" the speeds on Bkool are too high. It doesn't have a power meter so it calculates power from the speed (plus rider weight/slope) so if the speed is too high the power will show as too high as well. I can only assume the resistance is just not being set high enough on Bkool trainers on any terrain, including the flat of the velodrome.

If there's any doubt on this, LBHIFI was riding round the velodrome last night faster than Bradley Wiggins on his world hour record (and I wasn't too far behind!). No offence to LBHIFI who we all know is a very quick rider, but I'm pretty sure that's not right!

For me, as long as there's a roughly level playing field amongst the riders I don't really mind the inaccuracy as I don't use a power meter on the road or anything so it is what it is - and it's still good fun and an excellent workout which is all that really matters to me. It would obviously be better if they improved this though, as the more accurate to real life the better.

I wonder if Bkool test their software with a bike with crappy, fat, under-inflated tyres, hence the generous speed?!

 

[BILL S]

All results now recorded in the league stage 1 velodrome.

All except Bazzer99 who will need to do 20 seconds or so up Col de la Madeleine from the leagues tab so I'll have the dummy ride to adjust.