Team BKool CycleChat

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Hi Randyberlin, Because I joined this group only recently I missed the first race, am I able to ride it to join everyone else who have completed it? And if so is there a link for me to follow to allow me to ride it?
Thanks Damo

Yes. Do it as many times as you like to try to improve your time. Like I said in a past race @adski and Tommy kept trying to beat each others time. It seemed like they must have ridden it 5 or 6 times after one would take the lead by a few seconds. It got beyond crazy. They both way overdid it. Like collapsing afterwards.

https://riders.rouvy.com/route/317652
 

DAMO62

Member
Yes. Do it as many times as you like to try to improve your time. Like I said in a past race @adski and Tommy kept trying to beat each others time. It seemed like they must have ridden it 5 or 6 times after one would take the lead by a few seconds. It got beyond crazy. They both way overdid it. Like collapsing afterwards.

https://riders.rouvy.com/route/317652

Thanks,
 

Stevers

Senior Member
Location
Mendip Hills, UK
Kudos if you manage that climb with a 38x28 :notworthy:
So Rouvy gave me a new FTP of 238 on the back of that climb - a bit optimistic that! Looking at wattage/heart rate, I don't see how lower gearing would have helped me. However climbing seated on a 16/17% slope as I was doing today isn't my reality outdoors. In BKOOL I needed 32x28 to tackle that sort of slope, and that would suggest that Rouvy is more like 80% reality compared with BKOOL and outdoors.

As far as gearing is concerned I used to live next to a club racer who was only nine years older than I was. He would have had 44x25 as his lowest gear, both when racing, and on his 100 mile training rides over Cranborne Chase - 38x28 is a soft option compared with that!
 
Last edited:

Stevers

Senior Member
Location
Mendip Hills, UK
I have the neo bike which has a ‘virtual cassette’. I set it to the maximum which is 53 - 10, and I find myself spinning like mad on the downhills. I think maybe I have to get used to it.
My old Stac Zero Halcyon offered no resistance at all downhill, and spinning out with no resistance was extremely unpleasant. I was concerned that the powered downhill of the Tacx Neo would be even worse, but in fact it offered about the right amount of resistance once I'd moved to 52x11. To quantify, on the Copacabana ride my max cadence was 116 at the top of the long descent, but that soon settled down to just below 100 - by then I was on a solo TT effort to hold off the chasers. Not being mechanically geared the Tacx Neo Bike is more of a spin bike and perhaps that's the rub.

Have since remembered that my Rossin road bike is 52x12. With 11/13/15 I often feel between gears so 12/14/16 might suit me better on rolling terrain. However, whilst I hadn't considered 116 cadence as 'spinning out', 120 is considered the upper limit for most cyclists, so it's got to be 52x11 on the trainer for me.

Of course there's that thing the French call 'souplesse': https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/souplesse-the-art-of-perfect-pedalling
 

<Tommy>

Guru
Location
Camden, London
As far as gearing is concerned I used to live next to a club racer who was only nine years older than I was. He would have had 44x25 as his lowest gear, both when racing, and on his 100 mile training rides over Cranborne Chase - 38x28 is a soft option compared with that!

I started watching cycling around the time Lance Armstrong started winning. I think at that point there was a lot of machismo around grinding the lowest gear possible. But maybe he was one of the first guys to have a much higher cadence style.
 

<Tommy>

Guru
Location
Camden, London
My old Stac Zero Halcyon offered no resistance at all downhill, and spinning out with no resistance was extremely unpleasant. I was concerned that the powered downhill of the Tacx Neo would be even worse, but in fact it offered about the right amount of resistance once I'd moved to 52x11. To quantify, on the Copacabana ride my max cadence was 116 at the top of the long descent, but that soon settled down to just below 100 - by then I was on a solo TT effort to hold off the chasers. Not being mechanically geared the Tacx Neo Bike is more of a spin bike and perhaps that's the rub.

Have since remembered that my Rossin road bike is 52x12. With 11/13/15 I often feel between gears so 12/14/16 might suit me better on rolling terrain. However, whilst I hadn't considered 116 cadence as 'spinning out', 120 is considered the upper limit for most cyclists, so it's got to be 52x11 on the trainer for me.

Of course there's that thing the French call 'souplesse': https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/souplesse-the-art-of-perfect-pedalling

I think the neo bike is supposed to replicate real mechanical gearing. I assume it’s close but I don’t know how accurate it is to be honest. You might be right that rouvy is less than 100% too though. That would make sense to me as I’m surprised the gears I can climb on as well as how quickly I spin out going down.
 

berty bassett

Legendary Member
Location
I'boro
never thought I would say it but - maybe this calls for a downhill course one of these days to see what happens ? I know bkool days , any advantage I had going up was quashed as soon as it went downhill , would be a good experiment, and could be a good lesson in drafting and braking
 
Last edited:

berty bassett

Legendary Member
Location
I'boro
never thought I would say it but - maybe this calls for a downhill course one of these days to see what happens ? I know bkool days , any advantage I had going up was quashed as soon as it went downhill , would be a good experiment, and could be a good lesson in drafting and braking

well it didnt take long for randy to like that ! I hadnt even finished typing !
 
I loved my neot2 I always thought it seemed to be accurate. This Wahoo Kickr I'm using now seems to be a little stingy.
 

DAMO62

Member

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20261019_150442_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20261019_150442_Chrome.jpg
    50 KB · Views: 0
Top Bottom