Team BKool CycleChat

[LBHIFI]

But you still wouldn't ride like that in the real world unless the terrain forced you to - which is what's happening in the situation you're describing.

Apparently there are several degrees of the on/off technique. Bill took it to the extreme in his mountain test.
The way I'm using it is just by going as hard as a can and keep it up for as long as I can. I often do real life rides like that, but in real life I can hold the pace for much longer. These "intervals" are naturally brought to a stop by "that next corner" or "that top of the hill". Then I get a little break, just a few seconds is enough, end then I go for the next interval.
In Bkool riding such an "Interval" produces an abnormal initial speed because of the late breaking of the turbo, but it is also brought to a stop much quicker than it would in the real life because of the resistance gradually setting in.

The way I ride in the handicap races, I would only ride in the real world if I was doing a time trial.

I don't really see a middle way. In the head to head races you do whatever you can to catch that guy in front of you.

 

[JacobSkovsgaard]

Jacob, sorry to hear you didn't keep your crown regarding the Danish BKool Championships,
Perhaps you should take Lars as a lead out man next year.
However he may not make the best lead out man due to his 'saw tooth riding technique'.

I didn't miss a leadout-man, but I missed a pushmeupthemountain-man ;-)

 

[bridgy]

Apparently there are several degrees of the on/off technique. Bill took it to the extreme in his mountain test.
The way I'm using it is just by going as hard as a can and keep it up for as long as I can. I often do real life rides like that, but in real life I can hold the pace for much longer. These "intervals" are naturally brought to a stop by "that next corner" or "that top of the hill". Then I get a little break, just a few seconds is enough, end then I go for the next interval.
In Bkool riding such an "Interval" produces an abnormal initial speed because of the late breaking of the turbo, but it is also brought to a stop much quicker than it would in the real life because of the resistance gradually setting in.

The way I ride in the handicap races, I would only ride in the real world if I was doing a time trial.

I don't really see a middle way. In the head to head races you do whatever you can to catch that guy in front of you.

Right, the only way to resolve this is for Bkool go make it so you have to slow down for corners or your rider avatar goes flying off the side of the road!

 

[Roleur1]

Geoff[/QUOTE]

I checked out recordings for the speeds of a number of the riders at 4.6 miles in at the end of the -4.6% decline just as it leveled out to -0.8% and got the following ..

Bridgy = 33.3 MPH @ 216 W
AlanC = 34.9 MPH @ 146 W
BillS = 34.9 MPH @ 178 W
Runar = 35 MPH @ 225 W
Roleur1 = 36.8 MPH @ 280 W
RickB = 40.7 MPH @ 170 W
Berty Basset = 32.6 MPH @ 161 W
John18 = 34.3 MPH @ 116 W
Alfie = 33.3 MPH @ 190 W
Steven = 33.6 MPH @ 152 W
Baldo = 34.1 MPH @ 148 W

Fairly consistent, but for some reason @RickB got about 20% faster. It looks like you go for it for a while (247 W) and then coast when up to speed. For whatever reason, @RickB gets about 20% more speed the entire descent than, say @bridgy!

@Roleur1, @Norseman and @bridgy, are you still going for it on the descents to get such power figures?

Apologies if I am giving away anyone's secret techniques!

hello Geoff. I tend to do all my 'go for it' Bkool rides as exactly that..ride em like individual TTs. Give it what you have and dont hold anything in reserve. I have just read Bills post about efficient riding & hes got some great points there which I am going to have to learn if I want to get further up the standings. The descents are also interesting. I did a Bkool ride last night and was getting blue number speeds 11mph faster than my measured garmin speeds. 34mph really and 46mph estimated. I try to ride conservatively on the climbs at my own pace, then pile it on over the top with max efforts. Descents - I also keep the hammer down as its how I road on the road..but look at the speeds against watts....I am putting down 100w extra over Bill for a 2mph gain! I keep the power on to keep my watt average up and see what crazy speeds I can see on the sim.

The big climb on thursday was also interesting. I went over it with irsh al and rick b but both cleared off an left me foe dead shortly after. I was processing lactic acid and was off the 39x25 & onto the 53 x15 straight over the top, but still couldnt maintain the speed of those two.

I am riding Bkool like I would the road but its not the right approach if you are looking to maximise your chaingang results.
I think draughting also helps..I tried it a bit with al and rick last thurs and was convinced I could feel a difference....maybe its all those years of road racing where getting back on the wheel after an effort was key and feeling the mental safe haven of it.

 

[Roleur1]

what do I look for this afternoon for the chaingang re-run? Does Rick lead it again? Am I looking for Rick in the advanced tab then Bennicassim Torreblanca

 

[Roleur1]

Well here is hoping you slow down enough when you get to 'veteran 2'

I doubt it though given you were once a cat 1 rider?

tongue in cheek mate- no offence! The piss taking is all part of the experience. My ambition already exceeds my ability.....cat 1 20 years ago during the height of the EPO era..not that I saw any of that in my time ...EPO currently means Elderly Positively Overweight

 

[Brendan Parker]

what do I look for this afternoon for the chaingang re-run? Does Rick lead it again? Am I looking for Rick in the advanced tab then Bennicassim Torreblanca

I just normally search for "chain" in the live tab, just check there are also a few "humans" in there aswell

 

[kipster]

im not on the ride this afternoon, rugby on the tv and I'm still warming up after a bitterly cold and very wet 39 miles this morning.

 

[CXRAndy]

Epo-Elderly Positively Overweight

Good one

No offence taken

 

[Add]

I'm undecided on the rerun atm. Rugby is winning right now, and my stab at the league run yesterday is still making itself heard.

 

[JLaw]

If you are using a KICKR then you are already at somewhat of a disadvantage, varying according to terrain and the version of the bkool software and firmware.

Up until very recently you got no downhill gravity assist (Virtual Speed) at all, but thankfully they have rectified this in the last week or so, which evens things up a great deal.

But you are left with the higher resistance capability, which Bkool may be looking to minimize by applying Virtual speed when climbing, reducing your speed if they think the resistance of your trainer has maxed out. Not sure how well this works, but only really issue for very heavy riders or on steep inclines above 10% or so.

I have always found the KICKR to be less generous than my bkool pro was, but changes in the firmware and software are likely to vary this, and different trainer units, even of the same model, are likely to vary. However, it is sensible to expect the much more expensive and power meter equipped KICKR to be somewhat less generous in both power and speed.

Some of the "tricks" should still work with the KICKR though, I'm pretty sure the full on from the start did, as it will still suffer from the lack of resistance at near stationary speeds. I guess the effect will vary due to differences in the braking disc and the flywheel.

When I switched from a Bkool Pro to a KICKR, long before the downhill issue was fixed, I became very much less competitive, as Adam will attest to. This even though my regular training on the KICKR soon got me back to my original Bkool fitness level, then all the way up to Active 9. I was working on 10 when I had to stop riding.

Geoff

I can confirm that there's an adjustment for the kickr at high inclines -- my ride yesterday has a couple of (thankfully short) 19%+ climbs where the speed went blue and adjusted significantly downward. At 12% there is no adjustment. Not sure where the "blue line" is, but obviously between 12% and 19% for my weight on the kickr.

Starts are "interesting now", I can stand up and hammer, but my speed is blue and barely registering while everyone else runs up the road. It's long enough to give them a ~20 second head start. And I have to stop pedaling *well* before the warm-up period ends as the virtual speed has kicked in and takes much longer to spin down.

It was more humorous watching the "fog" switch go on/off. I'd be riding, then suddently, I'm in a fog bank and a bike light would go on. Then as quickly as it started, poof, it was gone.. Then a mile or so later, back, then gone again...

Ultimately the amusements weren't enough to keep me from blowing up and crawling to the finish. It was a 3-4 minute improvement, but still slower than I'd been pushing for.

 

[Randyberlin]

I'm undecided on the rerun atm. Rugby is winning right now, and my stab at the league run yesterday is still making itself heard.

It looks like your 40 minutes is going to be tough to beat. You've snapped back to the 3+ watts/kg pretty quickly.

 

[Randyberlin]

im not on the ride this afternoon, rugby on the tv and I'm still warming up after a bitterly cold and very wet 39 miles this morning.

Rule #9//
If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.

 

[Roleur1]

yes but rules 5 and 6 trump that.....

 

[Alfie_Gooner]

Just had a go at The Mountain Goat Stage for this week (Ovaro Zoncolan) and did it in 45 mins, only problem is i thought it would appear on the league as a time but it's not there!.........i think i need to seriously have a word with myself and get the hang of this BKool virtual riding malarky!!!