Team BKool CycleChat

[bobinski]

I might have to look at Zwift. Does it have lots of rides like Bkool?

Only 2 soon to be 3 routes. Looks great, very stable, and lots of established rides/groups. But, and it's a big but, it has none of the variety of bkool nor anything like the community we have here. Training regime IS better though you cannot use erg mode at the moment because of bkools ant+ fec protocol though this affects trainer road etc. too.
I don't find it that friendly a place though others experience is different. It is very user friendly and very receptive to suggestion. Quite gamey as a result but I don't have too much of an issue with that.

 

[Monte]

Geoff, can you stick me on the handicap chain gang list, although I might struggle to get online in time as I take my lads football training on Tuesday evenings but if I can get a clean get away I should be able to be ready for 8 o'clock.

 

[theboxers]

Oh hell I'm the fox again . Hope I don't cock the start up

 

[Add]

6th from last in the handicap? Pfffft, pay your own subscription!

 

[Goldwolfie]

Dammit lost my usually rock solid connection at 40 mins everything else working in the background but live Bkool died. Finished it blind which was a bit sad. Was going so well up to there @Goldwolfie

There were some weird graphics going on. It looked like both of had decided to turn around and cycle dowhill, only to change your mind again and turn again

@Soarerv8, I wondered where you had disappeared too - I thought at first you had turned around and gone back down the hill.

We had kept it going quite well up to that point, but I was starting to suffer and once you'd 'left the scene' I really struggled and thought the finish would never come.

I could see that @Insomina was closing on me, having started sometime behind us, so that helped spur me on - so well done to you both, I was well beaten in the end.

 

[BILL S]

6th from last in the handicap? Pfffft, pay your own subscription!

The 4/5 of us drafting should haul you down pretty quick.

 

[Add]

The 4/5 of us drafting should haul you down pretty quick.

And you can fully expect me to tag on the back for as long as I can hold onto your coat tails.

 

[Vertego]

Can I just say, before we expend any more emotional energy on this, that I am touched by your offers to pay for a subscription, but I could not possibly accept, not because I am "British" but because I am allergic to commitment and do not want to feel any obligation to keep doing the leagues!

As for helping Bkool work out the bugs, I think I would love that!

The best job I ever had was when a small software company, who's software I had been using, then hired me, and my first task was to fix all the bugs I had reported before they hired me! I think most software people prefer writing new code, but I am much happier fixing and improving existing code!

I think I should also add that I think that the bkool software is pretty impressive, and they clearly have some very clever people on board. It could definitely do with some time spent on identifying and eradicating bugs and tightened change control. These things are expensive, but as I was taught, it is much cheaper to get it right than to have to correct it later.

Now, back to the cycling, I'll be posting a first stab at handicaps for the new stage, so you can all prepare your horrified responses...

Geoff

Geoff, I do not participate in the challenges (too scared?) but do recognise the effort that you put into the community. You won't accept everyone's gesture of funding contributions. But you did say that you could be able to continue to assist if someone was prepared to open up their premium subscription.

I think you have proved your trustworthiness, so if it helps, I'm happy to assist. I'm sure that as you don't ride you're not going to 'break my stats, and even if you did, it would probably be to my benefit

 

[gbrown]

I think Geoff is over estimating my capabilities. We shall see Tuesday

Apologies if my estimates result in anyone having a lonely ride, be assured that anyone who takes part this week will get a more accurate Handicap next week!

The format is designed to shake things up, and even if the initial Handicaps do not provide a close finish for everyone this time, it will swap things around compared to a straight forward start together, and it should hopefully throw up some opportunities to ride with people you may not normally see much of on the course.

It is difficult as this is such a different type of terrain.

Most of the "estimating" is taken from the relative strengths in the Tin Can Ten Time trial, as that was the last Handicap. However, that is a very different terrain, and those of you who like a moderate climb will do better, those who don't will likely finish slower than estimated. It really needs a first run through to sort things out, so Handicaps should be much better next time. By the third run we should have a nice close finish.

I'm not sure how much drafting will help as speeds are down on a climb, even if it is not that steep. I'd like to try something like last weeks chain gang sometime, as although it was probably too long, the gradual downhill raises speeds and should give great benefits from drafting. Too steep a decline and it's not possible to go much faster, but flat to a slight decline allows high speeds to be reached, but still gives benefits from drafting.

If anyone can suggest a suitable length course (up to around an hour for the slowest riders) with long flat and gently declining sections that could be a good one for a future Handicap, I'd be pleased to take a look.

Geoff

 

[gbrown]

Geoff, can you stick me on the handicap chain gang list, although I might struggle to get online in time as I take my lads football training on Tuesday evenings but if I can get a clean get away I should be able to be ready for 8 o'clock.

@Monte it would be great to have you on board. If I remember correctly, you were quite tenacious on this kind of terrain and even though you were heavier than me, I had great difficulty getting away from you on these kind of gradients.

Difficult to suggest a first handicap with nothing to base it on apart from your fitness level. For a first run I try to err on the side of caution, as watching someone win easily can slightly spoil the session.

What do you think about starting alongside TurboTommy and CXRAndy at 12:30? Plenty of people to catch, but you still have a head start on all the fast guys. You will possibly still get caught this time, but I bet they struggle to get away from you...

Geoff

 

[gbrown]

Geoff, I do not participate in the challenges (too scared?) but do recognise the effort that you put into the community. You won't accept everyone's gesture of funding contributions. But you did say that you could be able to continue to assist if someone was prepared to open up their premium subscription.

I think you have proved your trustworthiness, so if it helps, I'm happy to assist. I'm sure that as you don't ride you're not going to 'break my stats, and even if you did, it would probably be to my benefit

Thanks to everyone who offered to help, I'm going to pay for this months subscription and see how we get a long. I do enjoy watching the races and working to get the finishes as close as possible, so it's worth it to me.

I don't know if we will be able to keep the sessions going through the longer days coming, last year we gave up on the Chain Gang sessions after April. However, we have more riders now, so perhaps there'll be enough demand for the 8pm weekday slot to keep it going a while longer?

Geoff

 

[JLaw]

Ooh, flashback to compiler writing at Uni in the early 80's, sounds more exciting than it possibly is!

Nowadays I am an expert in switching things off and then switching them back on again!

Geoff

I hated compilers at the Uni, but once I started doing them for real, it stuck hard. At this point I don't think I could enumerate all the backends and optimization work I've done.

 

[JLaw]

Geoff, to be honest I don't think you should be out of pocket for running a league and not actually riding. I'd be more than happy to contribute to a Bkool premium subscription for you. The are 38 members of the handicap league, if we all contributed a couple of quid or so, that would cover the costs of the subscription.

I'd happily chip in as well; paypal would seem to be the easiest way to reimburse Geoff for his subscription costs.

 

[JLaw]

@Soarerv8, I wondered where you had disappeared too - I thought at first you had turned around and gone back down the hill.

We had kept it going quite well up to that point, but I was starting to suffer and once you'd 'left the scene' I really struggled and thought the finish would never come.

I could see that @Insomina was closing on me, having started sometime behind us, so that helped spur me on - so well done to you both, I was well beaten in the end.

IIRC, it's a glitch in the gps trail created by the garmin online tool -- that route was not created from actual ride. Bkool takes that glitch and makes it a little loop.

Few folks bother riding that particular road as it's an interstate freeway. It's far more interesting to take a mtn bike up Big Cottonwood, over Guardsman pass, then down through the Deer Valley ski resort. Or up Millcreek, over the Wasatch Crest and down through Park City Ski resort. I've done both. I recommend staying in Park City overnight before reversing the route to go home.

Anyway, looks like I've got some ghosts to try and chase down. Y'all seem to be just out of my reach on most rides, but that won't stop me from trying.

Update: Kept up with y'all for a while... Fell slightly off the pace (~10 seconds), then suddenly y'all jumped to a ~30 second gap that I wasn't ever able to close again and ultimately finished a few minutes back. An unknown (to me) rider joined during warm-up and eventually chased me down after ~8 miles. He must have blown up as I reeled him back in and ultimately finished 3-4 minutes ahead. Overall a ~6 minute improvement over the testride I did last month.

 

[Monte]

@Monte it would be great to have you on board. If I remember correctly, you were quite tenacious on this kind of terrain and even though you were heavier than me, I had great difficulty getting away from you on these kind of gradients.

Difficult to suggest a first handicap with nothing to base it on apart from your fitness level. For a first run I try to err on the side of caution, as watching someone win easily can slightly spoil the session.

What do you think about starting alongside TurboTommy and CXRAndy at 12:30? Plenty of people to catch, but you still have a head start on all the fast guys. You will possibly still get caught this time, but I bet they struggle to get away from you...

Geoff

Cheers Geoff, just for clarity - start time 8.12 & 30 secs... Which should give me enough time to get ready after my dad taxi duties.