Team BKool CycleChat

[JacobSkovsgaard]

My new Bkool Pro seems to produce more accurate watts on Bsim - even had sessions giving me less avg. than my power meter. But it is not consistent and some sessions has been 30 watts over.

But I see a lot of session on Bkool where riders average well beyond 400 watts for long periods. If that was real they would be challenging Wiggins hour record in the real world, so I'm pretty sure that is not for real - even if 30 of those watts were extra Bkool watts.

So I don't think racing is on equal terms, even between Bkool turbos.

However, I am going to continiue to try and get some BKool racing going this winter. I don't mind being demoted if I can just get some consistancy going. I can always go to Zwift when I want some accuracy .

FTP over 400 watt is not that unusually in the real world. You find "a lot" of Danish A-, B- and H40-riders who can do that.
That said, it is still much easier in bkool than the real world

 

[LBHIFI]

FTP over 400 watt is not that unusually in the real world. You find "a lot" of Danish A-, B- and H40-riders who can do that.
That said, it is still much easier in bkool than the real world

With all due respect, I think that is a bit of an overstatement. As I recall, a former B danish TT champ (now A rider I believe), avg. about 360 watt in a 30 min. TT I rode with him.
Nick Bensley's (https://cyclingtips.com/2015/02/putting-the-hour-record-in-perspective-how-does-an-amateur-compare/) 380 watt made him the 13th fastest TT'er in Australia, so +400 watt avg. for an hour is reserved for the few IMO.

Anyway, I was just saying well beyond 400 watt, but to be more precise it is beyond 430 watt, which I believe is what Wiggins did to obtain the hour record.

 

[<Tommy>]

I think Jacob you're referring to ftp (20mins?) where as Lars was talking about average over an hour. I think we all know BKOOL's watts are crazy. I'm pro 3 on bkool last time I checked. I think that's over 400 watts. If I could maintain 250 watts for an hour in the real world with my power meter I'd be a very happy boy!

 

[theboxers]

It's always interesting to see VR Strava segments where they are common to both Bkool and BigRingVR... the KOMs and top positions seem to be dominated by those who have ridden a Bkool ride covering the segment. Many of those KOM times are just plain crazy.

As a check and balance. I have a Bkool Pro and have created quite a few rides of my own (video + tcx) using BigRingVR. I've then created Strava segments which mirror some of the same segments which exist on the real rides. My times on those segments are very similar and consistent across the real and virtual.

I did a comparison of a BRVR session and re-run, on an imported to Bkool copy, of that session. I was 15 minutes quicker on Bkool. I did a very similar Avg power 167 to 171, Avg Cad on both was 77. I recall seeing blue speed numbers on Bkool but it was only 0.2 or 0.3 mph quicker than the edge unit was showing iirc. I am unsure where the 15 minute difference came from. These are the 2 sessions.

Original BRVR session imported to Bkool
http://www.bkool.com/bkoolSessionHistory/showSessionSummary/4276362

The re-run of the above session on Bkool
http://www.bkool.com/bkoolSessionHistory/showSessionSummary/4301711
http://www.bkool.com/bkoolSessionHistory/showSessionSummary/4301711

 

[CXRAndy]

Smoother speed profile so average speed is higher.

 

[GoiLRT]

Hi,

Interesting bkool watts discussion....

Here 2 different bkool sessions with my rotor inpower power meter.

First in the last test upf i have done, on march, and summer cup first stage...

The results are quite similar on the ftp test, but to much error on the summer sesion.

 

[bobinski]

With all due respect, I think that is a bit of an overstatement. As I recall, a former B danish TT champ (now A rider I believe), avg. about 360 watt in a 30 min. TT I rode with him.
Nick Bensley's (https://cyclingtips.com/2015/02/putting-the-hour-record-in-perspective-how-does-an-amateur-compare/) 380 watt made him the 13th fastest TT'er in Australia, so +400 watt avg. for an hour is reserved for the few IMO.

Anyway, I was just saying well beyond 400 watt, but to be more precise it is beyond 430 watt, which I believe is what Wiggins did to obtain the hour record.

There are some ex pros- Adrian Timmis for example- and Cat A IRL riders on Zwift and you can see the watts he/ they put out over hour long races and it's much more realistic. 400w plus over 20m is not that common. Adrian wins or places well in lots of A races and averages 350ish watts and 4.5-5w/k 20m to an hour. He would register more on pro in bsim or on a pro on Zwift

 

[theboxers]

Smoother speed profile so average speed is higher.

Yes, but I am unsure why. With the power being similar I am trying to work out why the speed was so much higher. My registered weight in both systems is the same, so similar powers should have resulted in similar speeds.

I will take the BRVR as a more representative time because of the lower speeds. It does what bkool used to do. It lowers the speed to match the current weight, power and grade. Although I will not get the full resistance, for my weight, at anything above 6%, ime. I do get the speed I would most likely be traveling at.

 

[CXRAndy]

Bkool units have always had a smoother speed profile, so coming off power doesn't instantly drop in speed. My Kickr used to have a very sharp sawtooth on speed.

 

[theboxers]

Ah OK. I have not tried another trainer so have nothing to compare it to. As much as I liked the 'improvement' on speed when riding uphill after the last fw update, it does give a bit of a false impression of my abilities . But only in bkool

 

[JacobSkovsgaard]

With all due respect, I think that is a bit of an overstatement. As I recall, a former B danish TT champ (now A rider I believe), avg. about 360 watt in a 30 min. TT I rode with him.
Nick Bensley's (https://cyclingtips.com/2015/02/putting-the-hour-record-in-perspective-how-does-an-amateur-compare/) 380 watt made him the 13th fastest TT'er in Australia, so +400 watt avg. for an hour is reserved for the few IMO.

Anyway, I was just saying well beyond 400 watt, but to be more precise it is beyond 430 watt, which I believe is what Wiggins did to obtain the hour record.

This spring my ftp was 360 measured with quarq and I'm just an average M40-rider.
Jeppe Tolbøl is an average B-rider and have done several ftp-tests over 400 watt this season.
Of course there is a huge difference between 20 min and 1 hour.

 

[LBHIFI]

Hi,

Interesting bkool watts discussion....

Here 2 different bkool sessions with my rotor inpower power meter.

First in the last test upf i have done, on march, and summer cup first stage...

The results are quite similar on the ftp test, but to much error on the summer sesion.

Those are truly impressive numbers .

 

[LBHIFI]

This spring my ftp was 360 measured with quarq and I'm just an average M40-rider.
Jeppe Tolbøl is an average B-rider and have done several ftp-tests over 400 watt this season.
Of course there is a huge difference between 20 min and 1 hour.

Well, you are huge guys and need big watts to be competitive .

But what's probably even more crucial, is doing it in a race. I bet your max 1 hour max in a race is significantly less.

 

[JacobSkovsgaard]

Well, you are huge guys and need big watts to be competitive .

But what's probably even more crucial, is doing it in a race. I bet your max 1 hour max in a race is significantly less.

Absolutely. I need to be smart and hide myself in the middle of the peleton, otherwise I don't have a chance. My average watt in a 3 hour M40-race is around 270.

 

[GoiLRT]

Those are truly impressive numbers .

With 95kg I think that are normal numbers....