Team BKool CycleChat

[gbrown]

OK how can I put this in a positive light, faaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrkkkkkk. What have they done . I've just tried one of my cool down descents. Nope not any more. Power all the way or take a month of sundays to finish it. -10% and only doing 45kph while putting out 200w, stop peddaling and you slow down. It's like riding the flat with my kickr v4. Power meters, vector v3, are similar.

I may be doing something wrong though

That's how it used to be with non-bkool trainers, until they finally fixed it a few years ago. I would just coast to a halt on -10% gradients if I didn't pedal hard.

 

[Aleman]

He's not a Bkool splitter he's a Bkool splitters son, he's only splitting Bkool til the Bkool splitter comes!!

 

[JuhaL]

He's not a Bkool splitter he's a Bkool splitters son, he's only splitting Bkool til the Bkool splitter comes!!

Qualification for splitting must be hard to get splitted

 

[theboxers]

That's how it used to be with non-bkool trainers, until they finally fixed it a few years ago. I would just coast to a halt on -10% gradients if I didn't pedal hard.

I'm not sure if they've reinstated that feature as I gave up after 5 minutes of trying to get it to roll at a reasonable speed without the need to put out 200W

 

[bobinski]

He's not a Bkool splitter he's a Bkool splitters son, he's only splitting Bkool til the Bkool splitter comes!!

 

[Sjw]

Tween this and real, I prefer real. Set SIM up on my tv and ..... Can't see any difference though I was left in the dust on a 5 mile route!
I'll fiddle with laptop tomorrow

 

[Whorty]

Yes, like the rest of us, expecting Bkool to deliver a working product

I'll give them a go later and see if the Kickr v1 works for me but if still not equal (ish) then i'll be straight back to Zwift. Shame though as the new Bkool graphics on Bob's post looked really good

That was interesting. Jim averaged 214 watts over the 23 mins, i averaged 240 watts. I won by 4 seconds.

The off was downhill. The start for the kickr hasn't changed, very slow and took a bit to spin up. Jim was at least 30 seconds up the road before I properly got going. On the downs I was spinning out so could usually only push about 170-180 watts, on the flats and certainly on the ups I was having to push 260+ just to stay ahead. At one point I was 25 seconds ahead (on a downhill) and chain came off - took a bit to get it back on but only lost 15 seconds so I definitely kept some speed going down even though cadence and power dropped to zero.

Has the sim changed then? Maybe, a bit. But certainly still not level playing field. I would have expected my 25 extra watts would have me further ahead than 4 seconds after 23 minutes.

 

[CXRAndy]

Jim averaged 214 watts over the 23 mins, i averaged 240 watts. I won by 4 seconds

So there is a ~11% difference in power effort(assuming same weight)

From what Geoff said, it looks like Bkool have gone to the dusty cupboard in the back and plugged in their old server with an original algorithm.

 

[<Tommy>]

So there is a ~11% difference in power effort(assuming same weight)

From what Geoff said, it looks like Bkool have gone to the dusty cupboard in the back and plugged in their old server with an original algorithm.

It doesn’t take coasting into account either or general application of power for that matter... not exactly scientific.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if all things still aren’t equal in Bkool land. But you need to do a much more controlled test before trying to get any type of handle on variance.

Having said that, the way whorty describes leaving the line also tells a story. Maybe that’s a problem for all the software companies and explains why Zwift doesn’t use a standing start.

 

[keithaitch]

Good man Keith! I'll definitely set up a league for October. After that we can all decide if we'll keep the bkool league running or if we should really just move to the dark side. Hopefully the next league will have a few more participants than in the summer.

Bill, if in the end there are day 6 or 8 of us remainers, I'd be happy to do that over the winter and if you don't feel up to doing the thankless work of organising things for that few I'd happily share the load with you

 

[Sjw]

Fiddled with laptop and put win10 on it. Sim working now. Worked out it was a kernelbase.dll error or something like it

 

[Bored Man]

First proper go in the ‘new’ sim tonight.. a few observations.

It was harder for the Pro.. I was averaging approximately 250 watts over the past few months, tonight I averaged 180 watts. I wasn’t killing myself but it was much harder.

Dead stops - they’re back... I mean proper back.. almost very hill I hit over 8% - bang... one ghost shot past me on an 11% slope and took a minute out of me.. not good. I would really like to see that sorted very quickly.

Visuals: the drome has had a 3D spruce up and looks a little more authentic but.... the cyclist names have disappeared so you now don’t know who your riding alongside, passing or chasing? Guesswork unless the cyclist has a unique kit.

‘The new camera angles’... what happens here is that the visual plane tilts forward when going up hill and backward when going down hill - to accentuate the incline/decline.. it kinda works but for a few problems.. one is it all goes pear shape if the original upload of gps/attitude is/was out of sync. For a few seconds it doesn’t know what to do. The second and a real pain in the arse is when you’re descending anything steeper than 5%.. all you can see is the cyclist’s arse... so you cant see the road ahead and if you’re following someone like @Daddy Pig you need to be ready to get on his wheel... problem is, you can’t see around your own avatars arse... pull back the view and it loses visual effect imo..

Then finally there is the introduction of ‘aerial spinny cam’ at the finish...

All a bit underwhelming and other than dead stops at least it works.

 

[Daddy Pig]

First proper go in the ‘new’ sim tonight.. a few observations.

It was harder for the Pro.. I was averaging approximately 250 watts over the past few months, tonight I averaged 180 watts. I wasn’t killing myself but it was much harder.

Dead stops - they’re back... I mean proper back.. almost very hill I hit over 8% - bang... one ghost shot past me on an 11% slope and took a minute out of me.. not good. I would really like to see that sorted very quickly.

Visuals: the drome has had a 3D spruce up and looks a little more authentic but.... the cyclist names have disappeared so you now don’t know who your riding alongside, passing or chasing? Guesswork unless the cyclist has a unique kit.

‘The new camera angles’... what happens here is that the visual plane tilts forward when going up hill and backward when going down hill - to accentuate the incline/decline.. it kinda works but for a few problems.. one is it all goes pear shape if the original upload of gps/attitude is/was out of sync. For a few seconds it doesn’t know what to do. The second and a real pain in the arse is when you’re descending anything steeper than 5%.. all you can see is the cyclist’s arse... somyou cant see thebroad ahead and if you’re following someone like @Daddy Pig you need to be ready to get on his wheel... problem is, you can’t see around your own avatars arse... pull back the view and it loses visual effect imo..

Then finally there is the introduction of ‘aerial spinny cam’ at the finish...

All a bit underwhelming and other than dead stops at least it works.

So you're saying that my virtual arse is big as well? At least they haven't invented smellovision...

 

[Bored Man]

So you're saying that my virtual arse is big as well? At least they haven't invented smellovision...

You might well have a humongous virtual stinker of an arse but in Bkool land, mine is considerably bigger than yours.. from behind..

 

[BILL S]

Bill, if in the end there are day 6 or 8 of us remainers, I'd be happy to do that over the winter and if you don't feel up to doing the thankless work of organising things for that few I'd happily share the load with you

Thanks Keith. I'm still not sure if I'll be on bkool for much longer. Also depends on this latest sim upgrade because if the dead stops are back then all the more chance I'll move to the dark side as they are most annoying IMO. I'll set up the October league though and we can see how it goes. If not so well then we can perhaps discuss a handover of the admin duties to yourself and/or others.