Doing the Christmas club runs has allowed me to ease into using the NEO and explore how it works in the bkool world, just in case anyone wants to know. It definitely seems harder to generate power but that observation is complicated by a few strange quirks. On anything between -2 and up to 0% I need to generate power or the unit slows to a standstill, and quite quickly too. Anything between 0% and 2% feels like 3-4% on the bkool pro. If I am not generating 170w+ I slow pretty quickly, especially at the transition point which over the last few days gave me lots of time to watch to watch TT and Brendon and Whorty apparently coast on past

The good thing is that any perceived disadvantage seems to disappear once the incline increases to 3% and above. I know we were not racing, at least not till the end eh Breedon, but I could stay with the others up to 9%. Anything above that was frigging hard .
I think the NEO brings a few advantages, aside from the obvious of being able to stand and grind out on a sharp incline or on a sprint. Speed seems to carry over really nicely from the top of a climb into a drop or even a flat, so long as I keep pedalling though not necessarily applying lots of power. The benefit is disproportionate to the effort being applied. It's almost like an acceleration, albeit short lived unless on a gradient the drop is 4% or more. Also, unlike on my pro I don't need to pedal like crazy on a drop of 5% or more to maintain speed. As long as I turn the pedals the unit accelerates although applying a lot of power brings benefits too. Mind you it comes as quite a shock, when applying power downhill,as the gradient eases, to feel the brake kick in and slow the bike. I will have to learn to anticipate that and gear accordingly. Interestingly, none of these foibles or quirks appear in Zwift.
I know I will be at a disadvantage in the leagues but that may only be temporary. Bkool will have to find a way to even out the differences between turbos in order to attract as many non bkool turbo owners as possible. I am an optimistic guy
