Team BKool CycleChat

[Old Bob]

There is no way to calibrate these turbos trainers like a power meter. They do not have a true strain gauge. Also the power readings on Bkool can be different to a true power meter, + and -, dependant on bkool registered weight.

Make sure you have set your weight correctly in the profile page. The resistance is set using your weight as part of the calculation. My 5% (I'm 128kg) for someone who is lighter would be like 10%.

Thanks for the info mate, i'll check the settings

That's odd because most say the turbo power is a little under reality however as the Boxers says make sure you have set your weight in your profile correctly.
Also make sure your rear tyre is fully inflated.
A lot of the calibration carried out on other turbos is related to the clamping force of the turbo roller onto the wheel but as the BKool Turbo roller does not clamp onto the wheel this is not required.
Lastly, regardless of what you can achieve on your reality rides train on your turbo to the effort on the turbo not what you can achieve in real life however that said most find that they can complete courses quicker on the turbo as there is no braking or cornering required.
A recent firmware upgrade has resulted in some dead stops when climbs starts which is pretty much the polar opposite as to how the Bkool Turbo behaved before.

Most importantly have fun and enjoy the live racing and pre and post race banter.

Good info, cheers mate... And thanks for the warm welcome!

 

[Goldwolfie]

Living not that far from Skegvegas I would suggest not hanging about there too long.

Enjoy the ride though with good weather should be great.

Yep - I know what you mean, 30 hours or so will be long enough. I'm catching up with an old school mate of mine, so no doubt we'll be sampling a few pints of Batemans.

 

[theboxers]

@Goldwolfie do you have a Summer Cup stage waiting for approval? It is showing you with 1 stage outstanding. As much as I'd like to do better in the rankings, doing so because of a dns/dnf would feel a bit hollow .

 

[CXRAndy]

Just completed stage 9 and my final leg of the summer cup. I had setup several ghosts of around 1.05hrs, optimistic I know,. Well with 2 miles to go i was still in the thick of the ghosts and beginning to think I could do a great time. BANG, last mile I lost nearly 5 mins to the ghosts I couldn't hold enough watts for the incline, and even using Erg mode to allow me to keep in my cadence zone, I blew up.
I was hoping to just creep onto the bottom of page 1, very much doubt that now
Congrats to my ghosts
Very tough last climb for big guys!

 

[theboxers]

Just completed stage 9 and my final leg of the summer cup. I had setup several ghosts of around 1.05hrs, optimistic I know,. Well with 2 miles to go i was still in the thick of the ghosts and beginning to think I could do a great time. BANG, last mile I lost nearly 5 mins to the ghosts I couldn't hold enough watts for the incline, and even using Erg mode to allow me to keep in my cadence zone, I blew up.
I was hoping to just creep onto the bottom of page 1, very much doubt that now
Congrats to my ghosts
Very tough last climb for big guys!

I recognise that situation. I got kicked all over the place right up to the last mile, , sw/fw.

 

[Goldwolfie]

@Goldwolfie do you have a Summer Cup stage waiting for approval? It is showing you with 1 stage outstanding. As much as I'd like do better in the rankings, doing so because of a dns/dnf would feel a bit hollow .

Cheers TB
Yep I've still got Stage 10 to do and will probably do that tomorrow. I've been looking after the grandkids this morning and my legs were feeling like lead after only a 5 mile round trip. I think I over did things yesterday so will not near the turbo today.

 

[bridgy]

I notice on Facebook there's a velodrome challenge thing on Bkool tonight. They give no details about it really but it says it starts at 7pm UTC+2 or GMT+2. For those of you who've done these events before, does this mean it will be 6pm our time?

 

[LBHIFI]

Welcome back Bill, hope you had a good hols!

"Thanks" Boxers & Goldwolfie for the reminder that the chaingang league was ending - I was going to do a nice steady ride but did all the sprint stages back to back instead to complete the league. Ouch

I only think I did a half decent time for the first one and never really recovered properly after that!

I tried to finish the last two stages today, but was feeling too tired and nauseous after a busy and "wet" weekend.

 

[JLaw]

Just completed stage 9 and my final leg of the summer cup. I had setup several ghosts of around 1.05hrs, optimistic I know,. Well with 2 miles to go i was still in the thick of the ghosts and beginning to think I could do a great time. BANG, last mile I lost nearly 5 mins to the ghosts I couldn't hold enough watts for the incline, and even using Erg mode to allow me to keep in my cadence zone, I blew up.
I was hoping to just creep onto the bottom of page 1, very much doubt that now
Congrats to my ghosts
Very tough last climb for big guys!

So I decided to experiment a bit with ERG mode in a similar manner on bkool based on CXRAndy's notes that he's been using it to keep his cadence up during climbs...

Essentially I'm taking my benchmark ride, but riding all (or most) of it in ERG mode. It's just a big long climb, and it has always seemed like I don't have the right gearing to spin like I want with my road bike.

First, getting into ERG mode sucks. Yea, it's just pushing a key, but getting into a reasonable power range if you're starting on a significant incline is hard. It'd go a long way if we could go into ERG mode and then adjust up/down by say 5 watts with keypresses.

That would also help considerably when using ERG mode on a ride to bump up/down the intensity as well. I'm experimenting with starting slightly below my target wattage, then bumping up twice during the ride. However, to do that I have to drop out of ERG mode, then get the desired wattage, then reach over and re-engage ERG mode. Unpleasant at best.

I still see the simulator drop me out of ERG mode without any obvious reason. Somewhere around the hour mark I'll be spinning along and boom I'm dropped out of ERG. The only thing that's been consistent is it happens around the hour mark. I've seen it on multiple rides. If I re-engage ERG, it'll drop out again within 10-15 minutes. At which point I give up on ERG and just finish the ride. This is part of what drove me away from bkool to zwift.

Even with the lameness noted above, I've been able to complete much of my benchmark ride using ERG. It seems to help me pace better by avoiding the jack-rabbit start and desire to stand up and mash regularly with the net result being faster overall times. Sadly, there's no ERG mode in real life :-)

The one other tidbit is after downloading the rides into GoldenCheetah, you can see the gear ratios in use. As expected, I'm in a much lower gear ratio than my bike actually supports -- which may argue I should get a new cog cluster with more appropriate (for me) low end gearing. I can't quite get down to a lowest gear ratio match, but I suspect the more of the ride I can do at a reasonable cadence the better my overall times will be.

 

[bridgy]

I notice on Facebook there's a velodrome challenge thing on Bkool tonight. They give no details about it really but it says it starts at 7pm UTC+2 or GMT+2. For those of you who've done these events before, does this mean it will be 6pm our time?

Sorry, just remembering there's lots of people on here from all over the world - I mean is it 6pm "UK" time!

 

[LBHIFI]

Sorry, just remembering there's lots of people on here from all over the world - I mean is it 6pm "UK" time!

Yes, it's 6 pm UK time.
It says 19:00 (7 pm) here and the time is always 1 hour later here when we do our live Chaingang sessions.

 

[<Tommy>]

Sadly, there's no ERG mode in real life :-)

Good post Jlaw cheers. Sounds a bit fiddly to get going.

As I understand it the new shimano electronic gearing out next year has the capacity to run something similar, automatically changing gears in conjunction with a power or cadence meter. But you'll have to pay a premium for the privilege!

 

[bridgy]

Yes, it's 6 pm UK time.
It says 19:00 (7 pm) here and the time is always 1 hour later here when we do our live Chaingang sessions.

Thanks - yes it was 6pm. Was about 34 people doing it and I think I came 8th in the end. Wasn't helped by a phone call from my wife halfway through, but the first 5 or 6 were much quicker than me!

 

[CXRAndy]

Bridgy, you were up against some serious power monsters! The guy who won it was producing 500+ watts for mile after mile

 

[bridgy]

Bridgy, you were up against some serious power monsters! The guy who won it was producing 500+ watts for mile after mile

Well I hadn't seen the watts but that doesn't surprise me, they were really shifting! If the Cyclechat Chaingang has taught me one thing though, it's how t to get a fast start! Despite being stuck on the line for a bit (this keeps happening recently) I was in the lead for a bit at the start, and got a Strava KOM! Unlike the fastest guys though, I couldn't keep that kind of power up!