Team BKool CycleChat

[Add]

Very generous of you Adam - thanks. And sorry for the secret squirrel settings on my cyclechat account - I don't remember ever changing anything! I will have a look at unlocking that.

I would love to join you if I can - I will have to check the diary and find the right moment to seek approval from Mrs Bridgy......wish me luck!

I'm sure Bill will join me in crossing our fingers. The missus negotiations can more often than not be the toughest part of these events.

 

[Add]

Sounds like there's some really dodgy stuff going on here, it also looks like you have made it back to the "big time" @Add (Adam), i'm hoping to be over this dam cold after the weekend and after a bike service should be back on here........and even might consider going outside in "The Real World" for a ride....although i shall have to wrap the bike in clingfilm to stop it getting dirty now it's been so used to being clean through the winter!!!

Bike outside?!? Are you mad? It's nowhere near the necessary 20C that would make that a possibility.

 

[Add]

That said, I do remember the first time I got on my bike after a winter of extreme Bkooling.
I wheelied off the drive and almost smashed into the house opposites garden wall!

 

[gbrown]

Geoff got it on the recording...the sprint at the finish. Unfortunately he shifted to you right as it happened, so you only see me doing what looks like hitting the brakes.
I was right on that magical limit (43-43.5 mph) as you passed me, but I instinctively put on the power to stay with you .

Oh yes, I see at (@ 25:52), you seemed to lose 5 seconds in just 8 seconds, so Bill was suddenly travelling at twice your speed!

Have you reported it to Bkool? I wonder why it only seems to affect you. Is there anything unusual about your setup, computer or sensors?

Geoff

 

[gbrown]

Thanks LB. watched the video last night but it stopped well before the end. I'll try downloading it today and see if it'll run to the end.

If you stream it direct from the link, it is always limited to 15 minutes (and a few seconds). You have to download it to your computer to see the full thing, and it's generally much better quality if you do. May take a while to download 1.5 GigaBytes if you don't have fibre...

Geoff

 

[JamieH]

To be honest mate I did not know you were there, I could only see 4 or 5 other riders. Sounds like a good race.

Feel gutted I missed it. Who finished first? / 23rd

Well I only realised afterwards that you were actually well ahead in terms of time anyway so wouldn't have made a difference.

 

[BILL S]

If you stream it direct from the link, it is always limited to 15 minutes (and a few seconds). You have to download it to your computer to see the full thing, and it's generally much better quality if you do. May take a while to download 1.5 GigaBytes if you don't have fibre...

Geoff

Thanks Geoff. That's very useful to know. I easily downloaded it at work so will watch the full thing at lunch today.

 

[BILL S]

On second thoughts....

Don't listen to Bob. He's just sore that none of his grooming attempts have come to anything.

 

[bobinski]

Don't listen to Bob. He's just sore that none of his grooming attempts have come to anything.

Rumbled...

 

[LBHIFI]

I wish Bkool would drop this blue speed malarky. I am all for it to be realistic to a point, but a turbo is supposed to be harder. If I want to peddle hard or fast I don;t want the simulator deciding my speed is incompatible, Speed is what it is, Rant over

I don't see how we can do without the blue numbers.
If Bkool can't apply the needed initial brake resistance, they may even be the solution to the on/off thing, by doing what you experience when accelerating (done in a more realistic way of course).

 

[<Tommy>]

Bike outside?!? Are you mad? It's nowhere near the necessary 20C that would make that a possibility.

It's quite a nice day down here in the civilised south of England

I briefly considered a few laps of Regent's Park, but then decided to save the old spaghetti legs for tomorrow's bkool dust up!

 

[bobinski]

I don't see how we can do without the blue numbers.
If Bkool can't apply the needed initial brake resistance, they may even be the solution to the on/off thing, by doing what you experience when accelerating (done in a more realistic way of course).

bkool have told Trainerroad and Zwift to expect a big update to the software in April. Initially it sounded like it might just be to address erg related issues in both but perhaps its a more fundamental rewrite. We shall see.

 

[gbrown]

I wish Bkool would drop this blue speed malarky. I am all for it to be realistic to a point, but a turbo is supposed to be harder. If I want to peddle hard or fast I don;t want the simulator deciding my speed is incompatible, Speed is what it is, Rant over

I think the blue speed down hill makes perfect sense (although I think it generally goes too fast) as it makes it realistic and allows you to have a brief rest, just like in real riding. If you want it to be harder, you can set up a proper training session (like intervals) and avoid declines, or just ride one of Bill's Goat sessions!

You can keep pedaling if you want, and if you can get a high enough cadence and a high enough gear you may actually turn the numbers white again, but the effort expended is disproportionate, again just like reality.

The blue numbers when not descending steeply, seem to be an attempt to apply some correction for limitations in the physical properties of the trainer, but they seem to be completely out of proportion for the KICKR. I think they have a lot more work to do here, and when they are as bad as they are of the start line with a KICKR, they should really remove them until they can get it right.

Away from the start line (and downhill) I guess they are applying momentum on a gradient change, but that should only be brief, as we all know that momentum is lost really quickly on the road.

Anyway, I'm all for realism as Bkool is a cycling simulator. Anyone wanting training might be better off using Trainer Road. I would say what Bkool is good at is allowing you to ride indoor, get a similar feeling to riding outdoors, experience circuits you might never get to ride (or are preparing to ride) and to interact with other riders in a way that would be very challenging (and unlikely to happen) outdoors.

Geoff

 

[LBHIFI]

Oh yes, I see at (@ 25:52), you seemed to lose 5 seconds in just 8 seconds, so Bill was suddenly travelling at twice your speed!

Have you reported it to Bkool? I wonder why it only seems to affect you. Is there anything unusual about your setup, computer or sensors?

Geoff

No, not really. I had the unit calibrated by BKool...perhaps they introduced some side effects.
I'm happy that it is close to reality now (at least regarding power), and the "half-speed" thing doesn't bother me to much at the moment.

 

[bridgy]

It would be nice if Bkool clearly and unambiguously explained the full details of when/how/why etc the blue speeds are applied on both up and downhills. It amazes me they've put the effort into a feature that we can see on our screens but we have to speculate through trial and error as to exactly what's going on.

This is the case with a lot of Bkool features though...