Team BKool CycleChat

[bobinski]

No thanks!!!

It's the Double Dragon ride with Bill and Adam next Sunday so I shall be mostly taking it easy next week

 

[bobinski]

Great write up Adds. Sounds like a fantasric experience and bloody well done on your time and placing. Given how little time you get for real life cycling it speaks volumes for the value of bkool and the effort you put in

 

[Add]

Great write up Adds. Sounds like a fantasric experience and bloody well done on your time and placing. Given how little time you get for real life cycling it speaks volumes for the value of bkool and the effort you put in

Absolutely! All of my training for this was done on the turbo. Did one lonesome road ride of 30 miles last weekend and that was it.
So yes, the value of BKool as a training tool has been invaluable.
I do imagine, however, that Bill will prove this point beyond any doubt next weekend. That is assuming he doesn't shrivel up and die when he steps out into daylight with his bike.

 

[Soarerv8]

Well folks.....that went better than I was expecting. Apart from a sore bum and some very tired legs, I escaped pretty much unscathed.
Camlo and I loaded ourselves, like cattle into Pen R, the penultimate pen to depart, and in it were 1100 other riders. The only Pen after us was T, which had 40 riders in it.
We set off at 8:30am, with blue skies and dry roads, and I stayed with Camlo for probably about 40 minutes, and let the pack disperse a bit, as it was all a bit congested. After about 40 minutes, I latched onto a nicely paced back wheel, of some poor unsuspecting cyclist, and disappeared, without even so much as a goodbye to the wife, into the distance. The next time I glanced back, she was nowhere to be seen, and that was the last we saw of each other till the finish.
I was very conscious of taking it steady, and avoiding blowing up well short of the end, and I kept it pretty steady until 60km in, whereupon, I was introduced to the notorious Tumble.....
This is where I owe you guys a huge debt of gratitude. Thanks to my Bkool training, and my steady start, I was able to power up it like it was nothing. I overtook hundreds of people going up there, and was weaving in and out of silently swearing, sweaty cyclists. No one overtook me on the Tumble, and it just felt great....loved it.
The downside was, it gave me a dangerous sense of invincibility, and I took off like a scalded cat down the other side. I spent the next 40 odd km hopping from one draft to the next, which I can honestly say is nothing like drafting on Bkool. Not once did I shoot straight past them, or brake slightly and watch them catapult over the horizon.
By the time I hit Caerphilly Mountain, the last climb before the drop into Cardiff, the legs were smarting a bit, but you know I love my hills. Stood up on the pedals and emptied the fuel tank into that incline.
I was jiggered by the time I crossed the line, but did it in an official time of 4h 56m, (started my Garmin early, and switched it off late), which was in the top 1/5th, so really chuffed, especially as I thought I was going to blow up.
The food stops were a melee of bikes and bodies, so avoided them, but I had a good dose of Camlo's superfood flapjack, and several chopped up pork pies, 2 bottles of water, and that got me to the end, without even a sniff of a bonk....bit like this evening no doubt. That flapjack is great stuff, Bill, hopefully there'll be a batch made up for next weekend.
The heavens did open at one point, but it only lasted for about 20 minutes, and by the time we finished, we were back on dry roads. Loads of folks with punctures, and saw a nasty accident on the cattle grid at the bottom of the Tumble, where the guy skidded off, unclipping just in time to trap his leg between the slats as he slipped back. I would have offered my assistance, and exercised my first aid at work skills, if I wasn't so bloody selfish...but I am...so I didn't. Besides there was plenty of bodies piling up on him, any one of which could have offered assistance.
All in all, a rip roaring success, and one I would definately do again. Now for a week of recovery, and I suspect next weekend will be a slightly different kettle of fish altogether. An extra 35 miles'ish and an extra 1,000,000ft of climbing.....ish!

Bloomin' well done both of you that is very impressive must have felt great powering past everyone on the climbs. I tend to excell in the same way on the other half of a hill.

 

[CXRAndy]

Home made flapjacks are ace for fueling. I also like the odd banana. I am surprised you got through with just two bottles. I used to drink a bottle per hour, and never needed to pee. But then I probably have a larger surface area to sweat from

Well done to both of you. Will big distance sportives be a regular in the future, got the bug?

 

[Add]

Home made flapjacks are ace for fueling. I also like the odd banana. I am surprised you got through with just two bottles. I used to drink a bottle per hour, and never needed to pee. But then I probably have a larger surface area to sweat from

Well done to both of you. Will big distance sportives be a regular in the future, got the bug?

I should have drunk more, I did finish with a slight headache, which is a sure fire sign for me, that I am starting to dehydrate. But the water stops were just too busy. Literally thousands of people and bikes to negotiate.
I would definitely do this one again, but having said that, we have vowed to spend more weekends away with kids next year, and less events. Camlo has the Ironman coming up, and the training for that takes over our lives.

 

[gbrown]

My ride still not showing in the league - I did a second one yesterday (slower!) and that isn't showing either. Oh well, better look to the second ride now to set a time in the league.

Well done @Whorty I've accepted your second attempt, as it was at the Handicap weight.

What stands out is that you went much faster at the heavier weight, in fact faster than I would have thought possible. I suspect that you were overwhelming the trainer/simulator and perhaps benefiting from the "Blue numbers" or something similar.

It seems that reducing the rider weights uncovers the limitations in the simulations!

User Whorty
PhysicalCondition.AMATEUR_7
Weight 187.39 lb
Distance 3.81 mi
Actual time 0:22:55,6

Weight 95.814 lb
Distance 3.81 mi
Actual time 0:23:43,2

 

[bridgy]

Crazy! Why on earth do Bkool think blue numbers on UPHILLS is a good idea in any way?! We all know from real life that it doesn't matter how hard/fast you pedal, if you stop pedalling on a steep incline you slow down VERY quickly (see "gravity")!

 

[theboxers]

Well done @Whorty I've accepted your second attempt, as it was at the Handicap weight.

What stands out is that you went much faster at the heavier weight, in fact faster than I would have thought possible. I suspect that you were overwhelming the trainer/simulator and perhaps benefiting from the "Blue numbers" or something similar.

It seems that reducing the rider weights uncovers the limitations in the simulations! ##

User Whorty
PhysicalCondition.AMATEUR_7
Weight 187.39 lb
Distance 3.81 mi
Actual time 0:22:55,6

Weight 95.814 lb
Distance 3.81 mi
Actual time 0:23:43,2

I'll be trying merry at my lower, again, handicap weight tonight. Lets see how I do.

Edit

I'll try to get some info from the vectors and post that up as well.

 

[gbrown]

Tomorrow's Handicap is Haytor, quite similar to Merry Harriers x3.

I've adjusted the Handicap weights to take into account the power figures on the Harriers, some of which were quite different to the original figures due to the difference in resistance at the lower weights.

Currently looks something like this, subject to last minute tweaking...

 

[gbrown]

I'll be trying merry at my lower, again, handicap weight tonight. Lets see how I do.

Edit

I'll try to get some info from the vectors and post that up as well.

The stage has closed now, but if you challenge Jlaw (and don't pass him until 0.1 miles) then I should be able to accept the late session.

Good Luck,

Geoff

 

[Randyberlin]

Tomorrow's Handicap is Haytor, quite similar to Merry Harriers x3.

I've adjusted the Handicap weights to take into account the power figures on the Harriers, some of which were quite different to the original figures due to the difference in resistance at the lower weights.

Currently looks something like this, subject to last minute tweaking...

View attachment 129483

Geoff,

I am back home and may be able to take part in tomorrow's handicap if my bike shows up. I cut my real world ride short because of a very busy road with no shoulders in Ontario, Canada but do not plan on going back to work this week. Also leaving my wife alone with Kipster for two weeks was enough.
I rode Haytor in 27:10 way back when you had it as a chain gang race in 2015. You beat me by 6 minutes in that one!
My FTP is 274 and I am still using 201 pounds as my weight( I'm sure I'm heavier).
Add,
Congratulations to you both and good luck to all three (Or all 4 if Camlo is riding) bkool devils on the double devil ride
I read your last post wrong the first time and thought you fiendishly vowed to spend more time away from the kids.

 

[theboxers]

The stage has closed now, but if you challenge Jlaw (and don't pass him until 0.1 miles) then I should be able to accept the late session.

Good Luck,

Geoff

Geoff I'll just be doing it as an experiment. I want to see how it interprets the power again. I'll try and get the bkool and garmin files to display the same info at the same time and do a screen cap of the 2 together if possible.

 

[gbrown]

Geoff,

I rode Haytor in 27:10 way back when you had it as a chain gang race in 2015. You beat me by 6 minutes in that one!

Ah, Glory Days...

That's not how it would go now!

It will be good to have you join the Handicap, I suggest you try a weight of 55 Kg (121.25 pounds) and see how you get on.

Geoff

 

[theboxers]

The joys of trying to get 2 systems to play nice with each other. The session for merry did not save for some reason, I'm sure I saved it!

Anywho I think power wise the avg iirc was about 180watts on bkool, the vectors for about the same time period was 197watts. It felt like I was pushing 200ish watts, I did the pot molle session before and averaged about 220watts

Can't climb for crap. But I can trundle along on the flat'ish sections fairly well