Team BKool CycleChat

[CXRAndy]

@BILL S

I tried to hold 300watts, the cadence got too slow below 60rpm., food belly.

I will throw on the 50/34 crankset for hilly courses. I will have another stab at it. I did an experiment or two to try and sling shot onto inclines. First few attempts I tried, winding cadence Up to 143rpm. Bkool said no way, speed went to zero and it asked if I wanted to quit session

I think I have found away to maintain a little speed so it doesnt collapse to virtually nothing. I now know powering into the base of a climb doesn't work for me

 

[CXRAndy]

Wow. Aaac. Blistering time It looks like the old firmware isn't held back by the new software allowing decent speed into climbs.?

Then again you were hitting 600+watts

 

[BILL S]

Wow. Aaac. Blistering time It looks like the old firmware isn't held back by the new software allowing decent speed into climbs.?

Then again you were hitting 600+watts

Wow 6 minutes ahead of me having a good day and I gave it everything! It'll be interesting on Thursday where I think its the saw tooth profile so the difference could be even more.

@CRXAndy, do you think you'll be back on a pro at some point?

 

[AAAC 76C]

Wow. Aaac. Blistering time It looks like the old firmware isn't held back by the new software allowing decent speed into climbs.?

Then again you were hitting 600+watts

The watts comes from the speed, not my legs, if BKool does not slow you down like it should then it simply calculates your watts from your speed on the incline hence mega watts. I must admit that once again I put my all into the climbs and have learnt my lesson of not blowing yourself up on the descents rather accept that others will descend faster and try and take it back on the climbs,
I had a good lead on Bill at the top of the first climb and I expected to loose it all on the descent, particularly considering I have left my weight at 76kg, which is actually my weight give or take the odd kilo on the odd day.

 

[BILL S]

@BILL S

I tried to hold 300watts, the cadence got too slow below 60rpm., food belly.

I will throw on the 50/34 crankset for hilly courses. I will have another stab at it. I did an experiment or two to try and sling shot onto inclines. First few attempts I tried, winding cadence Up to 143rpm. Bkool said no way, speed went to zero and it asked if I wanted to quit session

I think I have found away to maintain a little speed so it doesnt collapse to virtually nothing. I now know powering into the base of a climb doesn't work for me

I think on the pro it really depends on the slope. Below a few percent you can still power into the slope but more than about 4% its wasted power and you slow to 4mph or so. Sounds like it's even worse with the kickr though. I did notice LB overtake me going into a climb on Thursday before he almost went over the handlebars as he sharply stopped just meters ahead of me. For some reason he was able to go just that little bit further than me before the anchors got slammed on. Possibly he was just going faster at the time.

 

[AAAC 76C]

I think on the pro it really depends on the slope. Below a few percent you can still power into the slope but more than about 4% its wasted power and you slow to 4mph or so. Sounds like it's even worse with the kickr though. I did notice LB overtake me going into a climb on Thursday before he almost went over the handlebars as he sharply stopped just meters ahead of me. For some reason he was able to go just that little bit further than me before the anchors got slammed on. Possibly he was just going faster at the time.

Just had a look at our stats and other than the obvious quick loss of speed you guys get now in the climbs, and it looks like they have swung it the other way on this, my speed is far more constant over the last portion of the stage where it is predominantly downhill. This is because most of the inclines where too short to actually slow me down on my old firmware but they were like brick walls for you lot.

Edit - Lars, Bridgy and my numbers are literally identical other than the average speed and I am 5 kph up which obviously resulted in a quicker time which is good evidence to show that I didn't win rather my firmware did (with a little help from me).
If you remove my multiple higher transient power spikes from the equation my average watts would be down on the other two and so if our firmware was the same I would not have beaten them.

 

[BILL S]

The watts comes from the speed, not my legs, if BKool does not slow you down like it should then it simply calculates your watts from your speed on the incline hence mega watts. I must admit that once again I put my all into the climbs and have learnt my lesson of not blowing yourself up on the descents rather accept that others will descend faster and try and take it back on the climbs,
I had a good lead on Bill at the top of the first climb and I expected to loose it all on the descent, particularly considering I have left my weight at 76kg, which is actually my weight give or take the odd kilo on the odd day.

But I guess your lead just steadily increased. It didn't seem that slow to me except the lack of slingshots and the even worse forced braking into hills but the rest felt normal enough. It could be a mile/hour or so slower on the flats and downhill though and it'd be hard to notice.
There was another rider with us on Thursday. An outsider who joined and he was Amateur but he totally kicked our 4sses. I think he ended up about 6 minutes ahead as well, but I did overtake him nearer the beginning up some hills. He was getting mega slingshots though and going considerably faster downhill. No idea how he was doing it.

 

[theboxers]

@bobinski was that a live ride to westerham and back? I know those roads very well unfortunately

 

[bobinski]

@bobinski was that a live ride to westerham and back? I know those roads very well unfortunately

It was. Getting to know the minor roads off the main roads and remarkably traffic free. 100's of cyclists though

 

[CXRAndy]

@bills I will try the kickr for a month, then will re assess.

I think the guy who joined and won quite easily maybe suffering/benefiting from older firmware. He hit ridiculous speeds on some descents for low power

 

[theboxers]

You went by the top of White Lane, one of the top 100. Also you went past my manor using Layhams Road .

If you see a mamoth riding a GT Grade that will probaby me if you are in the area again

 

[bobinski]

I do think the latest updates have brought the pro closer to reality. There is a point on the ride today where we turned off the pilgrims way, at about 20mph and into Brasted hill wihich averages 14% with higher spikes. Speed collapsed to 4mph and was not helped by frantically changing gears. 220w so not great though better timing and the right gear and cadence may have produced more watts.

 

[theboxers]

@CXRAndy I am still on the old fw. While I can't climb for crap , I can with very little power descend like a demon. I was joined by 3ac on a warm down session I do, i was about half way. One of the longer descents available (col de la madelaine).

I average <50 watts @ <50 cadence @ >56mph. When I looked in on aaac when I was done he was doing 120 odd watts iirc @ 90 odd cadence at 45ish mph. Mr does have his uses sometimes .

 

[AAAC 76C]

I do think the latest updates have brought the pro closer to reality. There is a point on the ride today where we turned off the pilgrims way, at about 20mph and into Brasted hill wihich averages 14% with higher spikes. Speed collapsed to 4mph and was not helped by frantically changing gears. 220w so not great though better timing and the right gear and cadence may have produced more watts.

I didn't get off of my 52 ring for stage 5, but I have got a 32 sprocket on my cassette.
It's easy to forget reality when you do all your riding indoors.

 

[AAAC 76C]

@CXRAndy I am still on the old fw. While I can't climb for crap , I can with very little power descend like a demon. I was joined by 3ac on a warm down session I do, i was about half way. One of the longer descents available (col de la madelaine).

I average <50 watts @ <50 cadence @ >56mph. When I looked in on aaac when I was done he was doing 120 odd watts iirc @ 90 odd cadence at 45ish mph. Mr does have his uses sometimes .

I was warming down but even putting a big effort in does not have the same effect as increasing your weight, however on my pre 2.04 Classic I drop like a brick, probably at least 5 minutes quicker on a descent like Madelaine.