Team BKool CycleChat

[Baldo Mero]

Yep, had spotted an email and accepted him in Bill.

Thanks to both! see you there.

 

[Rob_H]

Does this mean the bkools and the vortexes will get to have a proper shootout? Might be interesting to do Rob's calculation and see how close they are on this ride.

Problem with the Bike Calculator is it's aimed at finding out how quick you can go up a hill with different variants, so I don't think it understands the physics of going downhill. Re. trusting different trainers. I really wouldn't trust much with BKool at the moment. The best suggestion I have is to try and adjust each non BKool pro rider to fit in the correct position based on w/kg over the course. But this pretty much removes all of the fun of riding/racing with other people. I mean the rides are still good for fitness but it's hard to try and beat somebody sprinting for the finish when you know you are going to have a totally different time when it's adjusted.

 

[Rob_H]

https://www.strava.com/activities/462986767
i use a classic dont know if it's the 1 or 2

Weight: 75
Watts: 260
Strava: 20.50
BikeCalc: 23.52

 

[Ryan lawman]

Thanks Al, Here are your details:
Weight: 81
Watts: 370
Strava Time: 16.58
Bike Calculator: 18.19

So your effort looks correctly calculated. Strangely a bit more accurate than Bill S's, I'm adding all of this data to a spreadsheet so maybe we can spot some trends over time. I think for the next stage I'll try and ride with Ryan's ghost the whole way and see how different the results are. It seems like it should be something @Bkool could fix if they were interested? But I can't see me keeping paying a subscription when it's so far away from real life, especially not when Zwift seem to have all of this stuff working well.

If anyone else wants me to add their Goat 1 attempt, then throw up a link to your strava activity.

https://www.strava.com/activities/464373595. here is my strava link if u want it ..

 

[RickB]

Have the bkool bike in pieces at the minute but gail put her road bike on the trainer yesterday so I'll make do with that.

Be interesting to see if it affects performance in any way.

 

[Insomina]

Man Flu as well. I'm going to try the sweat it out method. Dont know how long I will last though.

 

[BILL S]

Problem with the Bike Calculator is it's aimed at finding out how quick you can go up a hill with different variants, so I don't think it understands the physics of going downhill. Re. trusting different trainers. I really wouldn't trust much with BKool at the moment. The best suggestion I have is to try and adjust each non BKool pro rider to fit in the correct position based on w/kg over the course. But this pretty much removes all of the fun of riding/racing with other people. I mean the rides are still good for fitness but it's hard to try and beat somebody sprinting for the finish when you know you are going to have a totally different time when it's adjusted.

Yes, the biggest problem is the removal of the fun if rides need to be adjusted. A year or so back I seem to remember Rick had a trainer which didn't have equal resistance (I'm sure Rick will tell us what the trainer was) but rode the leagues anyway. I think it's fair to say that Rick was/is quite into his turbo'ing and wanted to maximise the fun side of it too so bought a bkool pro knowing that he'd have many hours of fun/pain/torture and that it'd be money well spent. Not that I'm suggesting that everyone without a bkool unit goes out and buys a bkool pro, however if you expect to be using your turbo 7 days a week 52 weeks a year for many years then perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea. Who knows, maybe something new will come out that blitzes the bkool unit and software and I'll have to shell out for that as I'll be wanting the best turbo experience possible. Back when Geoff bought his Wahoo Kickr I was also very tempted because I really liked the unit but Geoff soon reported back with the down side of having one vs the bkool pro so I decided against it.

 

[Rob_H]

Yes, the biggest problem is the removal of the fun if rides need to be adjusted. A year or so back I seem to remember Rick had a trainer which didn't have equal resistance (I'm sure Rick will tell us what the trainer was) but rode the leagues anyway. I think it's fair to say that Rick was/is quite into his turbo'ing and wanted to maximise the fun side of it too so bought a bkool pro knowing that he'd have many hours of fun/pain/torture and that it'd be money well spent. Not that I'm suggesting that everyone without a bkool unit goes out and buys a bkool pro, however if you expect to be using your turbo 7 days a week 52 weeks a year for many years then perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea. Who knows, maybe something new will come out that blitzes the bkool unit and software and I'll have to shell out for that as I'll be wanting the best turbo experience possible. Back when Geoff bought his Wahoo Kickr I was also very tempted because I really liked the unit but Geoff soon reported back with the down side of having one vs the bkool pro so I decided against it.

Interesting point of view. I think the main problem for BKool is that Zwift seem to be doing a far better job on accuracy of simulation. I expect BKools hand will be forced to fix these issues if they want to progress. There main selling point isnt a selling point for any other turbos so they have a pretty fundamental problem.

 

[bobinski]

Arghhhh, first I couldn't get into the ride coz bkool kept disconnecting then after starting 3 mins down I caught Rick and again go disconnected. Normally I can ride on and wait for the server to connect but nowt. My avatar disappeared and I waited a while pedalling away furiously while everyone overtook me before giving up. So so frustrating.
Trying to get in to spectate ....

 

[RickB]

Yes, the biggest problem is the removal of the fun if rides need to be adjusted. A year or so back I seem to remember Rick had a trainer which didn't have equal resistance (I'm sure Rick will tell us what the trainer was) but rode the leagues anyway. I think it's fair to say that Rick was/is quite into his turbo'ing and wanted to maximise the fun side of it too so bought a bkool pro knowing that he'd have many hours of fun/pain/torture and that it'd be money well spent. Not that I'm suggesting that everyone without a bkool unit goes out and buys a bkool pro, however if you expect to be using your turbo 7 days a week 52 weeks a year for many years then perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea. Who knows, maybe something new will come out that blitzes the bkool unit and software and I'll have to shell out for that as I'll be wanting the best turbo experience possible. Back when Geoff bought his Wahoo Kickr I was also very tempted because I really liked the unit but Geoff soon reported back with the down side of having one vs the bkool pro so I decided against it.

Yep, thats pretty much it. Felt like I was cheating as anything over 6% and the resistance didnt change! It was an Elite Realtour trainer and it was/is very good. A work Colleague (Jamie) is now in the leagues using it - he's just starting out in cycling and didnt want to spend too much at this point.

Thing is it works pretty much identical to the Bkool trainers except it couldnt generate enough resistance on the big hills. Felt pretty good everywhere else which makes it sound like the Vortex trainers really arent set-up anywhere near as well.

Interesting point of view. I think the main problem for BKool is that Zwift seem to be doing a far better job on accuracy of simulation. I expect BKools hand will be forced to fix these issues if they want to progress. There main selling point isnt a selling point for any other turbos so they have a pretty fundamental problem.

Agreed - the bigger Zwift gets and the more pressure will be on Bkool.

Arghhhh, first I couldn't get into the ride coz bkool kept disconnecting then after starting 3 mins down I caught Rick and again go disconnected. Normally I can ride on and wait for the server to connect but nowt. My avatar disappeared and I waited a while pedalling away furiously while everyone overtook me before giving up. So so frustrating.
Trying to get in to spectate ....

Didnt even see you Bob but i did notice you were cutting in and out.

Lost about a minute as the chain came off twice and I had to dismount to fix it!!

Is it just me or was that a real energy sapper??

 

[RickB]

Bridgy and Rob - you certainly kept me at it there! Good race!

 

[bridgy]

Yep, thats pretty much it. Felt like I was cheating as anything over 6% and the resistance didnt change! It was an Elite Realtour trainer and it was/is very good. A work Colleague (Jamie) is now in the leagues using it - he's just starting out in cycling and didnt want to spend too much at this point.

Thing is it works pretty much identical to the Bkool trainers except it couldnt generate enough resistance on the big hills. Felt pretty good everywhere else which makes it sound like the Vortex trainers really arent set-up anywhere near as well.


Agreed - the bigger Zwift gets and the more pressure will be on Bkool.


Didnt even see you Bob but i did notice you were cutting in and out.

Lost about a minute as the chain came off twice and I had to dismount to fix it!!

Is it just me or was that a real energy sapper??

I thought you might have had mechanical problems Rick, as I kept catching you right up - you seemed to always fix it just as I caught you though and off you'd shoot again!

Aren't they all a bit ?!

 

[bridgy]

Bridgy and Rob - you certainly kept me at it there! Good race!

I think Rob and I finished on exactly the same time! My ride hasn't been added to the league yet though...

 

[bridgy]

OH it's there now - 38:56.2 vs 38:56.9!!!!

Can't get much closer than that!

 

[rob01792]

No u had me. ive never felt so ill after a ride. takes me back to my weight lifting days but i was in my twenties then and my body could take it
It was nice to see rick for once he normally way out in front