Team BKool CycleChat
- Thread starter Peteaud
- Start date
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Goldwolfie
Veteran
- Location
- Chesterfield
Well thats one I hope I never see again, at least until the next time. Grind city tonight.
60 cadence, just under 6mph and under 60 minutes. The devils staircase is a good description
Well done mate - I agree that was one I won't be trying again on Saturday.
At least I can now aford to get my team White kit washed and repaired for Tuesday.
<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
Add
Guru
- Location
- Powys, Wales
Ask me again tomorrow
I just might do that. I would quite like to try and ride up it in the seated position, although it will probably take Velcro and Mitre Mate to keep me in the saddle.
In theory you should get blue numbers above a certain gradient depending on your weight.. What psi did you run? If your wheel still spun maybe it wasn't low enough.
AAAC 76C
Large Member
- Location
- LIVING THE DREAM
When your wheel spins it means you haven't got enough grip!
Blue numbers is when BSim is calculating your speed based on 'the conditions'.
It was once restricted to downhills but in an attempt to level the playing field they have introduced it elsewhere namely on slope transitions and on attaining your/the maximum gradient after which I believe it is supposed to give you a slower speed fore the same effort so if you max gradient was 12% and you rode through it to 15% and maintained say 350 watts it would slow you registered speed down although physically your trainer ground speed has stayed the same.
They also crop up in track sessions, god knows why as they seem so totally irrelevant there however Track Stats are pretty dodgy full stop!
The trouble with the transitions is that it seems to want to give you say 20 seconds to move from condition A to condition B were the condition change is a gradient increase. We all know that if your riding an 8% into a 12% you don't get 20 secs of inertia more you almost immediately feel the effects of the change in gradient and you speed reduces accordingly (unless you check in a big fist full of watts).
In BSim if on the cusp of this transition you do chuck in a big fist full of watts and accelerate into it BSim gives you some free speed for a period of time which I have not made the effort to discover.
For me it works the other way as well, i.e. if I crest a climb with some big watts on straight into a descent the resistance stays on for a longer period than you would expect in reality.
To me its almost like they have someone writing code that isn't that hot in Physics but reasonably good at code and in a effort to introduce parity and reality they have done pretty much the opposite.
Also I didn't think cadence had much to do with this blue number surfing but realising today how hopeless the Pro units are a measuring cadence and noticing how much better I could surf I think there may be a link in the algorithms.
Anyway if nothing else today I have introduced some new BKool slang.
First we had the Pro Sling and now we have Blue Number Surfing or 'Surfing the Blue'!
theboxers
TheBoxers on Cycle Sim sw
- Location
- OTC (on the couch)
The blue numbers, uphill, are when you are going faster than the software expects. I surfed the blue numbers all the way up, just edging into the blue by .1 or .2 mph. I was able to do this by being mindful of the power I was registering.
There were a couple of times where the power to speed was a lot lower than it should have been (it shows blue speed). I chugged up the hill, strike that mountain, at a steady 180-210 watts. When I slowed to relieve the legs the SW thought I'd stopped (as I was going so slow) and went into low resistance start mode. When I started pedalling again I would get a lot lower resistance leading to a lower power to get the same speed. The SW does evetually catch up but you can make impressive gains if done incorrectly
. But I managed to control myself and not make too much of the advantage.
Also I have an inbuilt advantage in that my weight means that the trainer resistance max's out at a quite low gradient (about 5-6% in the SW). By that I mean I will still get the max resistance that the trainer is capable of, but it says I am going up a 5-6% slope. This means I can stop or almost stop and then power through the low resistance start, but maintain that lower resistance longer by keeping the speed higher than expected on higher than 6% slopes. It's not easy but it is repeatable
. The lighter you are, the higher the max point is in gradient terms, the harder it is to go faster than expected 
. If that make sense
.
Now I have the super power, of climbing in the blue, worked out. It is very difficult to not use it.
There were a couple of times where the power to speed was a lot lower than it should have been (it shows blue speed). I chugged up the hill, strike that mountain, at a steady 180-210 watts. When I slowed to relieve the legs the SW thought I'd stopped (as I was going so slow) and went into low resistance start mode. When I started pedalling again I would get a lot lower resistance leading to a lower power to get the same speed. The SW does evetually catch up but you can make impressive gains if done incorrectly
. But I managed to control myself and not make too much of the advantage.Also I have an inbuilt advantage in that my weight means that the trainer resistance max's out at a quite low gradient (about 5-6% in the SW). By that I mean I will still get the max resistance that the trainer is capable of, but it says I am going up a 5-6% slope. This means I can stop or almost stop and then power through the low resistance start, but maintain that lower resistance longer by keeping the speed higher than expected on higher than 6% slopes. It's not easy but it is repeatable
. The lighter you are, the higher the max point is in gradient terms, the harder it is to go faster than expected . If that make sense.Now I have the super power, of climbing in the blue, worked out. It is very difficult to not use it
.
<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
From my perspective I don't really want to back off. I want to push as hard a tempo as I think I can get away with without blowing up. The times I get aren't as relevant to me as my power numbers as I know I'm well off where I want / hope to be. If on a stage like that I get an unfair advantage id rather delete the stage result as AAAC did, or not attempt another of the league stages. So as to not gain an unfair league position.
bobinski
Legendary Member
- Location
- Tulse Hill
That may all be correct AAAC but I get my cadence from a wahoo cadence sensor. If it doesn't connect I notice bkools cadence readings are hopelessly out a lot of the time. I may try this ride again in manual rather than auto connection and see what happens.
theboxers
TheBoxers on Cycle Sim sw
- Location
- OTC (on the couch)
Go on you know you want to
theboxers
TheBoxers on Cycle Sim sw
- Location
- OTC (on the couch)
theboxers
TheBoxers on Cycle Sim sw
- Location
- OTC (on the couch)
