Team BKool CycleChat

[Monte]

Some extra info for those of us that have been querying the latest bkool firmware.

This afternoon I changed my weight in my profile from 210Ilbs to 182Ilbs as an experiment. Well the results were excellent,

1. Power reading (still low) but loads more realistic to effort
2. Speeds were about .5mph slower than my Garmin speed & cadence sensor (I can live with that)
3. Resistance on the climbs felt far more realistic, and looked a lot closer to power readings that you would expect

Question for the league/groups administrators - are you happy for me to leave my weight at 182Ilbs until I can resolve this issue with BKOOL, I know the guys that have ridden with me will know & can see in the stats that what i'm saying is honest but appreciate the new members that haven't ridden with me before could question if I'm cheating or not. I really enjoy the Thursday evening chain gang and now I feel like I have a normal setup or a lot closer to my previous trainer I would like to join in - there's no way I could of handled riding with the algorithms incorrect.

I do have an appointment booked with BKOOL for Friday afternoon where they are planning to dial in and look at the software on the trainer and I will keep you posted and obviously if we do resolve the issue I will alter my weight again - (will save me a few quid at the same time as I was tempted to buy a Taxc Neo).

 

[burndust]

Some extra info for those of us that have been querying the latest bkool firmware.

This afternoon I changed my weight in my profile from 210Ilbs to 182Ilbs as an experiment. Well the results were excellent,

1. Power reading (still low) but loads more realistic to effort
2. Speeds were about .5mph slower than my Garmin speed & cadence sensor (I can live with that)
3. Resistance on the climbs felt far more realistic, and looked a lot closer to power readings that you would expect

Question for the league/groups administrators - are you happy for me to leave my weight at 182Ilbs until I can resolve this issue with BKOOL, I know the guys that have ridden with me will know & can see in the stats that what i'm saying is honest but appreciate the new members that haven't ridden with me before could question if I'm cheating or not. I really enjoy the Thursday evening chain gang and now I feel like I have a normal setup or a lot closer to my previous trainer I would like to join in - there's no way I could of handled riding with the algorithms incorrect.

I do have an appointment booked with BKOOL for Friday afternoon where they are planning to dial in and look at the software on the trainer and I will keep you posted and obviously if we do resolve the issue I will alter my weight again - (will save me a few quid at the same time as I was tempted to buy a Taxc Neo).

I would hold off on the neo monte...tacx are notoriously crap when they first roll out they're products...been hearing about all sorts of connection issues on the neo...I know you've tested one fine but I'd still hold off

 

[mangowifi]

Just blitzed Alp D'huez in 49min35, does it take a while to show in the league?

Dropped my chain at the bottom too....oops!

 

[bobinski]

Software update on bkool. It has honestly taken over an hour to download and install without issue, including removing old software too. Let's see if it addresses people's concerns about power/resistance though nothing in the notes about this.

Just seen Monte's post. good news then

I have no objections to your suggestion Monte which seems perfectly reasonable.

 

[mangowifi]

Software update on bkool. It has honestly taken over an hour to download and install without issue, including removing old software too. Let's see if it addresses people's concerns about power/resistance though nothing in the notes about this.

Strange, took 5 mins here and didn't need to remove the old software.

 

[Monte]

Software update on bkool. It has honestly taken over an hour to download and install without issue, including removing old software too. Let's see if it addresses people's concerns about power/resistance though nothing in the notes about this.

Just seen Monte's post. good news then

I have no objections to your suggestion Monte which seems perfectly reasonable.

I have done the update, likewise only took a few minutes but I think its a bsim update rather than a trainer update - happy to be corrected...

 

[RickB]

Thanks for the head start Rick I logged onto the warm-up but when the countdown got to about 6 mins it quickly changed to 30 secs!!
Needed those few minutes on you going up the last hill , saw you were catching and i was running out of gas fast !
JonBon

Lol. You hardly needed the head start you're time wad still a minute faster than me once the head start was deducted. Really enjoyed that course though. Was running on empty myself but was scrapping with a couple of riders and sensed they were fading so pushed hard to get a few seconds on them before the final small climb. Really felt like a race!

 

[RickB]

Some extra info for those of us that have been querying the latest bkool firmware.

This afternoon I changed my weight in my profile from 210Ilbs to 182Ilbs as an experiment. Well the results were excellent,

1. Power reading (still low) but loads more realistic to effort
2. Speeds were about .5mph slower than my Garmin speed & cadence sensor (I can live with that)
3. Resistance on the climbs felt far more realistic, and looked a lot closer to power readings that you would expect

Question for the league/groups administrators - are you happy for me to leave my weight at 182Ilbs until I can resolve this issue with BKOOL, I know the guys that have ridden with me will know & can see in the stats that what i'm saying is honest but appreciate the new members that haven't ridden with me before could question if I'm cheating or not. I really enjoy the Thursday evening chain gang and now I feel like I have a normal setup or a lot closer to my previous trainer I would like to join in - there's no way I could of handled riding with the algorithms incorrect.

I do have an appointment booked with BKOOL for Friday afternoon where they are planning to dial in and look at the software on the trainer and I will keep you posted and obviously if we do resolve the issue I will alter my weight again - (will save me a few quid at the same time as I was tempted to buy a Taxc Neo).

I have no issues with that Monte. Be glad to have you with us and know that you'll always be fair in what you do

 

[BILL S]

Question for the league/groups administrators - are you happy for me to leave my weight at 182Ilbs until I can resolve this issue with BKOOL, I know the guys that have ridden with me will know & can see in the stats that what i'm saying is honest but appreciate the new members that haven't ridden with me before could question if I'm cheating or not. I really enjoy the Thursday evening chain gang and now I feel like I have a normal setup or a lot closer to my previous trainer I would like to join in - there's no way I could of handled riding with the algorithms incorrect.

I do have an appointment booked with BKOOL for Friday afternoon where they are planning to dial in and look at the software on the trainer and I will keep you posted and obviously if we do resolve the issue I will alter my weight again - (will save me a few quid at the same time as I was tempted to buy a Taxc Neo).

Monte, I'm more than happy for you to resolve the problem this way and continue in the leagues. You've declared it anyway so fully transparent as far as I'm concerned. I'll be interested to hear what feedback you get from bkool when they dial in.
I must admit that my new unit feels a bit of a struggle compared to the old one but not by a massive amount. I am a few minutes slower up d'Huez which is a bit of a sore point, but I'll solidier on and just hope that I get stronger to match what appears to be a bit more resistance. Yours sounds much worse though. Good luck in getting it sorted.

 

[mangowifi]

3rd place in the league, happy with that! Mont Ventoux next on the list.

 

[rob01792]

monte r the watts more stable with the adjusted weight

 

[Whorty]

i rode hardknott pass last night in the top 100 league - but it's not showing in the league yet - any ideas? I changed my weight over the weekend (87kg down to 85kg) as I've lost some weight (woo hoo) - could this be why?

 

[Whorty]

The resistance max's out then the software does a few calculations and spits out a number calling it your speed (that's when the speed numbers turn blue, as does the air at times). For me currently 18% on a 34/32 @ 60 rpm is about 1.8mph (the garmin speed sensor reports 5mph).

I only get accurate speeds up to about 5.8% after that they tend to be blue numbers.

interesting as yes, the numbers did also turn blue. I thought I was pedalling so hard that I started 'freewheeling' uphill LOL

I'm 85kg weight, so this seems to match what others in the heavier category are seeing.

 

[RickB]

The only condition for Chaingang (and mountain goat) membership is that they are active Cyclechat members -

We have the following names wishing to join the Chaingang group currently - Anyone know any of the following?

RAIMAN
JoseChuMTB
Jerry Paris
Gary Barrett

Love to see more people signing up but want to keep the community spirit of giving help (and abuse) to each other.

 

[BILL S]

The only condition for Chaingang (and mountain goat) membership is that they are active Cyclechat members -

However amateur and pro riders are also allowed to join in. Elite riders don't even bother asking!!!

(a little bit of help and a little bit of abuse)