Team BKool CycleChat

[Whorty]

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

Cheers I don't recall seeing any blue numbers on my first attempt and I definitely changed the weight. What happened though, is after I finished the ride didn't save. It only saved after I logged off and on the BKool software a few times. I wonder if by the time the ride saved I had changed my weight back and it thought I rode it at 85 kg even though I really rode it at the handicap weight. Who knows?!?

 

[Soarerv8]

Every year I do a very wussy version of an Aboriginal walkabout and go off on my bike for 3 or 4 days for a bit of a bike around. My 4 days of freedom are fast approaching so I thought I would get my CX bike out for a bit of a test run today. To replicate the amount of gubbins I take I chucked 10 litres of water into my pannier bag (not quite as waterproof as it sounds, I put it in bottles first) and also put my bar bag on that probably has about 5kg of assorted cr*p, melted lockets, sticky bits of money and biscuits in it.

So bearing in mind I was on my CX bike with nice chunky tyres, and about 15kg of stuff in addition to my usual bulk I was really impressed with the boost that using bkool had given me over the winter. Wasn't that far off my (admittedly sluggish) pace on my road bike from last year especially up the hills, a big relief as my wander about includes Cumbria and Yorkshire this year and they have some uppy downy bits to deal with. The things I did notice today compared to using bkool were:

You have to think about what to wear when going outside a lot more, no ambling to the garage in your Jim jams and the British weather means that you have to take stuff for every eventuality

I set off down the driveway then had to turn round and ride back up it to get the water bottle I left in the garage. I then did the same thing and had to come back for my helmet because I had forgotten that I wear one of them outside.

You don't need a fan but the one inside doesn't chuck dust grit and fly's into your eyes

I have come to the conclusion that I am a tourer not a racer (cyclings version of being a lover not a fighter) partly down to my physical state but mostly down to my mental attitude. I suspect you fast guys have a "RAHHHHH BIKE FASTER MORE POWER" thing going on in your head on the road whereas I have "ooh look a bunny with a friendly face, ooh look the road outside the glass recycling facility is all sparkly, ooh look a cloud that looks like Rachel Riley, mmmm Rachel Riley" mentality which means I suddenly find I am ambling along very slowly.

Conversely before pushing myself on bkool I can do a bit of a warm up, on the road as soon as I set off the strava clock is ticking so I zoom off without warming up which I think is why my knees now feel a bit iffy.

All this being said though I did really enjoy getting some fresh air and I didn't get maulled by bears so largely a success.

Roll on 2 weeks time.

 

[theboxers]

One good thing I found out tonight. I am now back below my lowest weight from the beginning of December last year. Currently @130.1 kg and I did not have a light weekend ,.

Just hope I can stay healthy and keep it off .

 

[Whorty]

One good thing I found out tonight. I am now back below my lowest weight from the beginning of December last year. Currently @130.1 kg and I did not have a light weekend ,.

Just hope I can stay healthy and keep it off .

Great going @theboxers

 

[AAAC 76C]

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")!

They have blue numbers on the track as well so why not in climbs.
You can climb low gradients quicker than you can descend on them as well (ever noticed that?)
Drafting does not work as it should (definitely noticed that!)
You get to watch a big white board for ten minutes warming up.
When you press H on the move to try and remember how to take a screenshot you just get an explanation of what you can see on the screen which is pretty easy to understand anyway.
When you transition from downhill or level into a climb you can get huge power over-swings and fly up hills like a man possessed and faster than Pantani not on EPO (then!).
You can now accelerate quicker than BSim adjusts your resistance hence the On/Off technique, Sling Shot Starts and the above 'pro Slings'.
All these are the improvements that have been forced upon us as the SW/FW has 'devloped'.
On a good point the intro of the 3D mode and track sessions are magic compared with what was i.e. Google Earth and riding aimlessly around a track for ages.

But for me the biggest advance has been joining in with the shabby lot on Cycle Chat and racing live sessions followed by hours of banter.

PS: There is a theoretical place for them in climbs and that is when you have reached the SW/FW determined flat line when the blue numbers should show a slower speed for the same watts as the slope increases but oddly enough if you speed up the trainer can create more resistance so I wouldn't like to go much deeper than that because I don't know the math.
I think what Geoff is eluding to is that once your reach the imposed limitations of resistance you can gain a speed benefit and therefore reducing our weights could actually slow you down.

 

[theboxers]

They have blue numbers on the track as well so why not in climbs.

I think what Geoff is eluding to is that once your reach the imposed limitations of resistance you can gain a speed benefit and therefore reducing our weights could actually slow you down.

I did the merry triple, no not tipple, Triple, that was used for the adjusted weight handicap again, tonight (at the new weight Geoff had assigned me). The power on bkool was down on the vector readings. The time I achieved was about 2 minutes quicker than my original run last week iirc. It is currently MIA from my listing.

There does seem to be a point where the SW/FW does seem to throw some oddities out there and gives reading that do not make too much sense.

I think I need to seriously set about taking readings at various gradients (resistance) that bkool generates for my weight, cadences and power from the vectors using different tyre sizes and pressures as well. This will help point me in the right direction for a setup that gives consistantly similar readings on both bkool and vectors. It is a shame that I can not get parity between the 2 systems .

Still I back to losing weight again

 

[theboxers]

OK. The Merry Triple has appeared in my list. The session was done at my new lower weight (assigned by Geoff).

Old time 24:21. New time 22:28 (off league ride).
Old power 173.3 (vectors power 192). New power 173 (Vectors power 197).
FTP Old 148w. New 148w
Bkool P/W. Old 4.4w/kg. New 5.0w/kg
Avg HR. Old 132bpm. New 142bpm.
Bkool effort rating. Old 111%. New 111%.

Hard work for me last night

I think I need to do an unadjusted weight run now, trying to keep out of the blue.

Edit to add FTP figures, these were generated on the adjusted weights runs.

 

[BILL S]

Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to make it tonight as me and my bike are getting all ready for a "real world" ride at the weekend with Adam & Bridgy . Right now I'm not sure what scares me the most, Racing (lets face it, it's a race) with them, or that it's out in the real world instead of the turbo.

This is a pity because my new handicap weight has been considerably lowered by Geoff who took pity on me for my slothishness last week. Not sure if the new weight of 60kg would make me go faster or slower though. Might get a chance to try it out early next week hopefully if I'm in any fit state.

Also, can we get someone else to start Thursdays and Saturdays Chaingang ride from the League tab please?

Normal business hopefully resumed next week (or is that being a little optimistic?).

 

[bridgy]

Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to make it tonight as me and my bike are getting all ready for a "real world" ride at the weekend with Adam & Bridgy . Right now I'm not sure what scares me the most, Racing (lets face it, it's a race) with them, or that it's out in the real world instead of the turbo.

This is a pity because my new handicap weight has been considerably lowered by Geoff who took pity on me for my slothishness last week. Not sure if the new weight of 60kg would make me go faster or slower though. Might get a chance to try it out early next week hopefully if I'm in any fit state.

Also, can we get someone else to start Thursdays and Saturdays Chaingang ride from the League tab please?

Normal business hopefully resumed next week (or is that being a little optimistic?).

Gulp

 

[RickB]

Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to make it tonight as me and my bike are getting all ready for a "real world" ride at the weekend with Adam & Bridgy . Right now I'm not sure what scares me the most, Racing (lets face it, it's a race) with them, or that it's out in the real world instead of the turbo.

This is a pity because my new handicap weight has been considerably lowered by Geoff who took pity on me for my slothishness last week. Not sure if the new weight of 60kg would make me go faster or slower though. Might get a chance to try it out early next week hopefully if I'm in any fit state.

Also, can we get someone else to start Thursdays and Saturdays Chaingang ride from the League tab please?

Normal business hopefully resumed next week (or is that being a little optimistic?).

Jealous! Really wish I was joining you guys for that one. Sounds pretty epic. All the best to the three of you on it.

 

[theboxers]

Just looked at tonights session . Have been up it on the 100ish league. 30 minutes @209 watts. I think this is going to hurt, again, .

 

[LBHIFI]

Doing a real life time trial in few hours so not going to make it tonight.

 

[JLaw]

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...

Paying the price for last week's effort I see. Are we shooting for a ~20 minute ride again? Planning to be there with the usual caveat WRT my meeting running over.

 

[kipster]

I'm out again for tonight, got a work meeting at 8:30pm, Thursday's not looking likely either. I'll be out on the road tomorrow so this week won't be a complete loss.

 

[<Tommy>]

I'm in tonight

Looking forward to it too having missed last weeks fun. I'm guessing I'm going to struggle but I need to get back in the groove sharpish! By biscuit intake has been consistent even if my cycling hasn't.