Team BKool CycleChat

[gbrown]

For what it's worth my bkool classic doesn't get any easier on the downs compared to the flats. The only difference is downhill on the screen my speed turns blue and it seems to increase beyond that of the actual speed of the rear wheel. On really steep downhills it doesn't seem to matter how hard I pedal, I don't seem to go any quicker.

It's not getting any easier on the down hills only because your carrying on pedalling hard, when you don't need to!

If your speed has turned blue you are (in simulated) "free wheeling" and you can slow your pedalling to almost nothing, just enough to keep the session alive. While the gradient stays steeply negative you will continue to show the blue speed.

Once your speed drops below the level at which you can pedal faster, you can go for it again having has a good rest.

As you say, on very steep down hills you will never be able to go faster, unless you can pedal at a cadence way beyond most of us!

Unfortunately, those of us without Bkool smart trainers don't currently get this benefit, so down hills are the same as the flat for us, and we get left behind while also exhausting ourselves trying to keep up!

Cheers,

Geoff

 

[Breedon]

Just done the latest mountain goats stage jesus that was tough, can hardly walk had my tea 10 minutes after could hardly chew my food was so knackered.

 

[bobinski]

Re the downhills, I have just done 62 km on Watopia in Zwift. Despite pedalling with near enough the same effort downhill asi do in bkool I don't believe I beat 52kmh. I was overtaken on descents by a few but not many. Riding a compact so and 12-28 which would limit down hill speed.On the other hand I was ok on ascents albeit they are just bumps really compared to a goat ride.
Over a 1000 riders on when I was riding. It can be very competitive, large groups riding and racing together. And lots of moaning and arguments about what settings people are using, who is using virtual power and are they cheating, who is using what smart trainer and what advantage that might give. No one was moaning about bkool turbos!

 

[Whorty]

Over a 1000 riders on when I was riding. It can be very competitive, large groups riding and racing together. And lots of moaning and arguments about what settings people are using, who is using virtual power and are they cheating, who is using what smart trainer and what advantage that might give. No one was moaning about bkool turbos!

I find the complaints about who has what settings, which trainer is best/easiest/whatever a bit strange. If you want 'real life' simulation, then cycle in the real world. If you want a virtual ride, that helps you get fit, keeps you interested, lets you join in with a good community then do BKool.

I have no concern whether someone gets 10% advantage over me on a ride .. for me each ride is about MY relative improvement compared to MY other rides. Am I getting better? Very strange in the virtual world to be concerned by other people's setup. But maybe that's just me I have an idea on BKool which riders ride the same kinds of times as me - but, in the real world they might blow me away, or I might blow them away, or we might still be similar in times ... but is any f this really
important?

Sounds like Zwift hasn't got the great community that you guys have created here and that makes the pain of the cycle worth it

 

[BILL S]

Just done the latest mountain goats stage jesus that was tough, can hardly walk had my tea 10 minutes after could hardly chew my food was so knackered.

I just did it a bit earlier on too. What a killer! I think that's the longest goat league ride I've ever done and it didn't help that I was feeling weak after a fairly rigorous weeks riding. Towards the end I was starting to lose the will to go on and I don't think I could of if it'd been much further. The seat was starting to really hurt too.
Kudos to Ryan for doing it twice.

 

[bobinski]

I find the complaints about who has what settings, which trainer is best/easiest/whatever a bit strange. If you want 'real life' simulation, then cycle in the real world. If you want a virtual ride, that helps you get fit, keeps you interested, lets you join in with a good community then do BKool.

I have no concern whether someone gets 10% advantage over me on a ride .. for me each ride is about MY relative improvement compared to MY other rides. Am I getting better? Very strange in the virtual world to be concerned by other people's setup. But maybe that's just me I have an idea on BKool which riders ride the same kinds of times as me - but, in the real world they might blow me away, or I might blow them away, or we might still be similar in times ... but is any f this really
important?

Sounds like Zwift hasn't got the great community that you guys have created here and that makes the pain of the cycle worth it

Well said Whorty!
I am sure there is a community or more likely lots of them but is a bit disconcerting reading the negative and critical comments as you ride. There was even a "f u" when someone questioned the use of a smart trainer and allegedly riding in such a way as to over ride the resistance. Not much humour about amidst the marshalling to bring and keep groups together. Though I think much of that is done through Teamspeak or similar.
What I did like, apart from the graphics-I am so shallow-was sharing drafting duties with a rider from Canada. It worked really well.

 

[bobinski]

I just did it a bit earlier on too. What a killer! I think that's the longest goat league ride I've ever done and it didn't help that I was feeling weak after a fairly rigorous weeks riding. Towards the end I was starting to lose the will to go on and I don't think I could of if it'd been much further. The seat was starting to really hurt too.
Kudos to Ryan for doing it twice.

I don't think I will ride it out of concern for my knee, my arse and my sanity. I,ll just "borrow" Ryan's slower ride
That alright Ryan

 

[Ryan lawman]

I don't think I will ride it out of concern for my knee, my arse and my sanity. I,ll just "borrow" Ryan's slower ride
That alright Ryan

Ok by me if admin dont mind just do a Short ride and they can edit the time LOL

 

[Whorty]

I just did it a bit earlier on too. What a killer! I think that's the longest goat league ride I've ever done and it didn't help that I was feeling weak after a fairly rigorous weeks riding. Towards the end I was starting to lose the will to go on and I don't think I could of if it'd been much further. The seat was starting to really hurt too.
Kudos to Ryan for doing it twice.

Looks like a 2 hours plus for a Moose like me .... maybe 2.5 hours? That is going to be a sore old ride Better find the vaseline but, on the plus side, for those riders that don't do it, they get my time plus an extra 5%

 

[AAAC 76C]

Thanks for this Ben. I'm going to have to try it for myself as soon as I get the chance.

STEEP SLOPE ISSUE

One for you Bill, you may be able to do an experiment for me.
I am also riding in the BKool Odense 'Januar 2016' league and with all my effort in the Goats and Chaingang I was getting behind so today I had a go at the Mortirolo and guess who was there as a ghost, no other than a Pro BillS.
I had no intention of killing my self today having worked hard yesterday so I thought you may act as a beacon for me in one way or the other.
Off we went and there was some familiar exchanging of positions as the gradients went up and down until the gradients got stupid, 45%, 30 something % and some other 25's and over.
At the first one you were off so I thought never mind I'll gain some ground on the less serious slopes but because there were so many steep/steep bits you were half way in the stage when I was only a quarter way.
Luckily I had the league stage results board open on the screen and I could see there were plenty of folk in the 30 something minute time and the slowest was 59 minutes.
At quarter way through the stage I was on 15 minutes so I guessed it was going to take me an hour to finish so I had nothing to gain by going on as far as league placing was concerned other than the 5%.
When I was going up a 45% I was down to 4kph and I checked this with Bike Calculator and it was about right.
In fact while I was riding I kept the calculator open and checked various gradients and they all pretty much checked out OK with my speed.
Also, because I have been 'playing' with my trainer I have left the covers of for now and at 45% the magnets were fully in the circumferance of the flywheel so in summary I believe my BKool Classic can simulate 45% slopes for me as registered on BKool at 77kg but it was probably at its limit. I have seen pictures of a broken Pro Trainer and the inards are literaly the same with about the only differnce being the fan and fan housing so I guess Pros can do 45% ass well.
Sprinting from this to do the on/off style was a no go as when I went faster the restistance went up propotionaly with the speed of the flywheel as stated before re eddy current braking.
I therefore stopped, saved what I did and went for a steady climb up Ventoux instead at pretty much 350 watts all the way.
Below are the speed and power graphs for the first 5.3 km which I did for you, me, the Odense League Stage leader (on a pro) and the fastest Classic contender other than Valverde who has locked his data.
Could you possibly go to my ride and challenge me (if you can becuase I did not finish) and do the first 5.3 km again but this time when you see the first 45% coming try going into it real slow, 4 kph if you can, and on the next one do your own thing and see what differnce it makes.
Also do this with some of the other 20% plus climbs if you can.
What I am hoping to see is that if you go into the steep slope dead slow you will also end up at 4 kph but if you don't it is possible that they have written a slope limit into the latest trainer firmware, that I cannot download as stated before, in order to try and level the playing field for us BKoolers when we go up against the 'average other trainer' which may be more slope limited. For this they may have chosen the average slope limit or just generalised it in the market range but obviously not 7%.
If this is so I am stuck in a world on my own where I will not be able to compete on extreme courses but in the real world road racing very rarely goes up anything steeper than 20% and certainly would not go a 45% as you would probably have to walk it and if it was wet that may prove impossible in raceing shoes and perhaps even socks.

 

[BILL S]

I don't think I will ride it out of concern for my knee, my arse and my sanity. I,ll just "borrow" Ryan's slower ride
That alright Ryan

Much as I'd like to give you Ryan's slower time (even though it was a good bit faster than mine), Whorty seems to have made you an offer I cannot refuse. Thanks Whorty. Admin have decided to take up your kind offer for Bob

 

[bobinski]

Much as I'd like to give you Ryan's slower time (even though it was a good bit faster than mine), Whorty seems to have made you an offer I cannot refuse. Thanks Whorty. Admin have decided to take up your kind offer for Bob

Bloody Admins!

 

[Baldo Mero]

Just done the latest mountain goats stage jesus that was tough, can hardly walk had my tea 10 minutes after could hardly chew my food was so knackered.

Just did it, I don't know where I found the stamina to finish it. Oh man, I am refuelling beer and cheese like there is no tomorrow

 

[BILL S]

STEEP SLOPE ISSUE

One for you Bill, you may be able to do an experiment for me.
I am also riding in the BKool Odense 'Januar 2016' league and with all my effort in the Goats and Chaingang I was getting behind so today I had a go at the Mortirolo and guess who was there as a ghost, no other than a Pro BillS.
I had no intention of killing my self today having worked hard yesterday so I thought you may act as a beacon for me in one way or the other.
Off we went and there was some familiar exchanging of positions as the gradients went up and down until the gradients got stupid, 45%, 30 something % and some other 25's and over.
At the first one you were off so I thought never mind I'll gain some ground on the less serious slopes but because there were so many steep/steep bits you were half way in the stage when I was only a quarter way.
Luckily I had the league stage results board open on the screen and I could see there were plenty of folk in the 30 something minute time and the slowest was 59 minutes.
At quarter way through the stage I was on 15 minutes so I guessed it was going to take me an hour to finish so I had nothing to gain by going on as far as league placing was concerned other than the 5%.
When I was going up a 45% I was down to 4kph and I checked this with Bike Calculator and it was about right.
In fact while I was riding I kept the calculator open and checked various gradients and they all pretty much checked out OK with my speed.
Also, because I have been 'playing' with my trainer I have left the covers of for now and at 45% the magnets were fully in the circumferance of the flywheel so in summary I believe my BKool Classic can simulate 45% slopes for me as registered on BKool at 77kg but it was probably at its limit. I have seen pictures of a broken Pro Trainer and the inards are literaly the same with about the only differnce being the fan and fan housing so I guess Pros can do 45% ass well.
Sprinting from this to do the on/off style was a no go as when I went faster the restistance went up propotionaly with the speed of the flywheel as stated before re eddy current braking.
I therefore stopped, saved what I did and went for a steady climb up Ventoux instead at pretty much 350 watts all the way.
Below are the speed and power graphs for the first 5.3 km which I did for you, me, the Odense League Stage leader (on a pro) and the fastest Classic contender other than Valverde who has locked his data.
Could you possibly go to my ride and challenge me (if you can becuase I did not finish) and do the first 5.3 km again but this time when you see the first 45% coming try going into it real slow, 4 kph if you can, and on the next one do your own thing and see what differnce it makes.
Also do this with some of the other 20% plus climbs if you can.
What I am hoping to see is that if you go into the steep slope dead slow you will also end up at 4 kph but if you don't it is possible that they have written a slope limit into the latest trainer firmware, that I cannot download as stated before, in order to try and level the playing field for us BKoolers when we go up against the 'average other trainer' which may be more slope limited. For this they may have chosen the average slope limit or just generalised it in the market range but obviously not 7%.
If this is so I am stuck in a world on my own where I will not be able to compete on extreme courses but in the real world road racing very rarely goes up anything steeper than 20% and certainly would not go a 45% as you would probably have to walk it and if it was wet that may prove impossible in raceing shoes and perhaps even socks.

I'll give that a try tomorrow AAAC. I was actually going to challenge you on some mountain ride anyway and see if I could beat you (just for fun) using the on/off power method. I'm a bit concerned that it does actually work then we'll need to decide whether to ban the riding style or allow it for all. The trouble being that anyone not doing it would be at a massive disadvantage. Also ride times could become very unrealistic.

So I'll hit those slopes tomorrow at 4kph and see what happens.

 

[Whorty]

Just did it, I don't know where I found the stamina to finish it. Oh man, I am refuelling beer and cheese like there is no tomorrow

Interesting ... I was 7 mins behind you on Goat 1 (you did 42 mins, and I was 49 mins). Extrapolating that out to Goat 2 with your time of 1hr 46 mins my target Goat 2 should be about 2hrs 5 mins ish hmm wonder if my butt fancies that long in the saddle?