Team BKool CycleChat

[AAAC 76C]

Armstrong will ride as part of a four-man team with George Hincapie, Christian Vande Velde, and Dylan Casey in the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo mountain bike race in Arizona in February.
Despite currently serving a lifetime ban for doping, Armstrong is allowed to ride in the event as it is not run under USA Cycling regulations.
>>> Lance Armstrong’s Strava stats show he’s still in great form as he trains with Cannondale pro
The event will see the riders try to cover as many laps of a 16 mile course in the Arizona desert as possible over a 24 hour period.

Are you doing this one Bill?

 

[bobinski]

Well basically this http://www.zwiftpower.com/race.php?id=2780
The FR shows -33% which apparently means the latter part of the race was that %lower intensity compared to the first. There was no noticable change just a whole bunch of bloody hard work

That's some serious power there TobiC. I cannot help with your query. I found my pro overestimated watts by 30-50 on the flat but underestimated a little on inclines. I base that on comparison on my NEO. There are a lot of bkool users on the Zwift Facebook page but you probably know that. @RickB who pops in here every now and again uses a pro in Zwift for resistance but a PM for accurate power and might be worth messaging him. Also @Ryan lawman who puts out similar power to you.

 

[BILL S]

Armstrong will ride as part of a four-man team with George Hincapie, Christian Vande Velde, and Dylan Casey in the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo mountain bike race in Arizona in February.
Despite currently serving a lifetime ban for doping, Armstrong is allowed to ride in the event as it is not run under USA Cycling regulations.
>>> Lance Armstrong’s Strava stats show he’s still in great form as he trains with Cannondale pro
The event will see the riders try to cover as many laps of a 16 mile course in the Arizona desert as possible over a 24 hour period.

Are you doing this one Bill?

Being a fan of 24 hour races I really wish I had the motivation to do one right now. I've pulled out of my usual one (which is this weekend) due to the lack of wanting to deal with: driving up north of Inverness, trying to spend 24 hours riding round a muddy track, becoming ill after 18 hours, sitting in the car for 2 hours and sleeping a bit. Going back out for 4 more hours, feeling totally beat up, not getting into the top 10, throwing lots and lots of muddy things into the car, driving 600 odd miles back to civilisation, having to spend hours cleaning and replacing bike clothing and parts.
Yeah, I really think I'm going to struggle to do that again. 6 years in a row is enough for me.

 

[TobiC]

That's some serious power there TobiC. I cannot help with your query. I found my pro overestimated watts by 30-50 on the flat but underestimated a little on inclines. I base that on comparison on my NEO. There are a lot of bkool users on the Zwift Facebook page but you probably know that. @RickB who pops in here every now and again uses a pro in Zwift for resistance but a PM for accurate power and might be worth messaging him. Also @Ryan lawman who puts out similar power to you.

Thanks for the suggestion @bobinski in the BSIM has anyone experienced a kind of settling in period or does it behave well for everyone?

 

[Breedon]

@bobinski I get to pick up my new toy in a bit will need to borrow my mum's ipad this weekend or today to try it out on apple (shudder)
@kipster I've got a email from Road grand tours
Welcome to the Road Grand Tours alpha test!

Your account has just been activated.
You can now login at www.roadgrandtours.com and download the Windows and Mac versions.
Let us know if you run into any problems and please don't be shy with the comments or suggestions.

Get in

 

[bobinski]

Thanks for the suggestion @bobinski in the BSIM has anyone experienced a kind of settling in period or does it behave well for everyone?

Unfortunately experience for many pro users in Zwift etc would suggest there is a lot of variance in power output that may depend on tyres, pressure etc but also perhaps variance in units. Short of a dial in there is no way to calibrate. So, perhaps request a dial in with bkool?

 

[bobinski]

@bobinski I get to pick up my new toy in a bit will need to borrow my mum's ipad this weekend or today to try it out on apple (shudder)
@kipster I've got a email from Road grand tours
Welcome to the Road Grand Tours alpha test!

Your account has just been activated.
You can now login at www.roadgrandtours.com and download the Windows and Mac versions.
Let us know if you run into any problems and please don't be shy with the comments or suggestions.

Get in

Oohh! If you are on FB there is a tacx neo user group with lots of helpful users, vids on set up etc. Don't forget to update the firmware! Crucial.

I have been trying to get an invite to the beta.

 

[JacobSkovsgaard]

Don't worry aaac, DP is back and I have been following the thread (I've been away with work over the last few days).
My issue with Jacob's proposal is that I'm OK at a one hit session but really incapable of longer (multiple sessions) or indeed anything where there are hills let alone a mountain stage. It is possible that I can cut my weight by around 5kg in the next 5 weeks but that will still leave me at 95kgs, and that means no ales or snacks for 5 weeks

I have tried to find three stages that is fair to everybody. A mountainstage without descenting isn't fair, because it can make so big differences in time that it is not possible to win back at flat sessions. On the other hand there must be some hills for the light guys, because they might get blown away at flat sessions.
I would also like to have a session from each country, showing what they are known for. Therefore I have chosen a various mountainstage from Spain, a course with a lot of small up/down from Denmark and a velodrome-session to celebrate the greatness of British trackcycling :-)
* http://www.bkool.com/profile/detail/241144?durationType=DISTANCE&lapCount=1
* http://www.bkool.com/profile/detail/293692?durationType=DISTANCE&lapCount=1
* Velodrome 20 km

I have decided to make the breaks between the sessions a bit longer, to make it easier to recover a little before the next session.
Right now the plan is (but can be changed):
10.50 (Danish time): warmup
11.00: Stouby - Sejet (DK route)
11.50: warmup
12.00: Cinctorres-Ares (ES route)
13.00: warmup
13.10: Velodrome 20 km (GB route)

Let me hear your reactions to this, as it is still possible to change most of the things :-)

 

[JacobSkovsgaard]

I have tried to find three stages that is fair to everybody. A mountainstage without descenting isn't fair, because it can make so big differences in time that it is not possible to win back at flat sessions. On the other hand there must be some hills for the light guys, because they might get blown away at flat sessions.
I would also like to have a session from each country, showing what they are known for. Therefore I have chosen a various mountainstage from Spain, a course with a lot of small up/down from Denmark and a velodrome-session to celebrate the greatness of British trackcycling :-)
* http://www.bkool.com/profile/detail/241144?durationType=DISTANCE&lapCount=1
* http://www.bkool.com/profile/detail/293692?durationType=DISTANCE&lapCount=1
* Velodrome 20 km

And don't be afraid that you race against a Danish elite-team. Our team will also mostly be old men 40+, drinking a little too much redwine.
The young guys rides outside in the cold weather, while we old men are too smart for that and rides bkool instead :-) :-)

 

[bobinski]

And don't be afraid that you race against a Danish elite-team. Our team will also mostly be old men 40+, drinking a little too much redwine.
The young guys rides outside in the cold weather, while we old men are too smart for that and rides bkool instead :-) :-)

40+??
That's positively young on this forum. Now, if they were 50+

 

[Marino.g]

Sorry if this is covered elsewhere but has anyone experienced high watt output with a pro on Zwift initially, for it then too drop by around 33% 15-20 minutes into a ride with no noticeable change in resistance almost like it's calibrated itself?

I had similar issues and contacted Bkool Support and Zwift support.
It might surprise a few here on the forum so make sure you are sitting down "The Bkool support were very good " and that they could rectify the issue by connecting to your laptop or pc using team viewer (remote access) at a pre-agreed time as long as you give them 24hrs notice.
Having said that I'm never home during the day so I haven't been able to arrange this but I've been messaged by others to say it has solved the issue.

At the moment I'm happy to stay with the Bkool simulator.

 

[bobinski]

I had similar issues and contacted Bkool Support and Zwift support.
It might surprise a few here on the forum so make sure you are sitting down "The Bkool support were very good " and that they could rectify the issue by connecting to your laptop or pc using team viewer (remote access) at a pre-agreed time as long as you give them 24hrs notice.
Having said that I'm never home during the day so I haven't been able to arrange this but I've been messaged by others to say it has solved the issue.

At the moment I'm happy to stay with the Bkool simulator.

That's great to hear. I made 4 attempts by email and 2 FB prompts to get a dial in with no success though they did ask me to rate their customer support. Who knows, they may have been overwhelmed if they have sold a lot of pro's especially in Denmark. Hope you get yours sorted. Another expensive option is to use a power meter in Zwift just using the turbo for gradient changes.

 

[AAAC 76C]

I have tried to find three stages that is fair to everybody. A mountainstage without descenting isn't fair, because it can make so big differences in time that it is not possible to win back at flat sessions. On the other hand there must be some hills for the light guys, because they might get blown away at flat sessions.
I would also like to have a session from each country, showing what they are known for. Therefore I have chosen a various mountainstage from Spain, a course with a lot of small up/down from Denmark and a velodrome-session to celebrate the greatness of British trackcycling :-)
* http://www.bkool.com/profile/detail/241144?durationType=DISTANCE&lapCount=1
* http://www.bkool.com/profile/detail/293692?durationType=DISTANCE&lapCount=1
* Velodrome 20 km

I have decided to make the breaks between the sessions a bit longer, to make it easier to recover a little before the next session.
Right now the plan is (but can be changed):
10.50 (Danish time): warmup
11.00: Stouby - Sejet (DK route)
11.50: warmup
12.00: Cinctorres-Ares (ES route)
13.00: warmup
13.10: Velodrome 20 km (GB route)

Let me hear your reactions to this, as it is still possible to change most of the things :-)

Bit disappointed with the Danish Stage Jacob.
I was hoping for a video session around Sylt, in the summer along the beach front.
We would have to ride slowly to take in the natural beauty.

 

[BILL S]

I do think you could easily time some more time off, jacob is only 58 minutes something.
A course for tomorrow's run at 5 maybe?

So who's up for doing the WC stage 6 tonight a 5pm instead of the usual CG re-run?

 

[theboxers]

Well I'm now back on the bike in bkool . Good news is I have retained some of my fitness from before Christmad . Bad news I am nowhere near where I was at the end of November .

Good news, my brother is now one of the loons involved in bkool and indoor turbo training . Bad news, he is seriously unfit . The string of words sent to me by text, last night, after his session, is unpublishable in polite company .