Felt_Rider wrote:
Nate, I appreciate the continual improvements to TR. I've installed the IOS updates on my phone and ipad, but have not tried them yet. I installed the new PC version before last night's session and used it.
Yeouch!!!......was what I was feeling in each of the 8 minute intervals. The first two were in my L5 range and the last two were in my upper L4 range based on a custom workout. What I noticed on the upper right side of the laptop display was ERG watts flashing and then the interval target and power meter watts displayed on the upper left side showing the variability between the two sides.
I believe that ERG watts flashing on the right side is new and is showing how the Kickr is applying resistance? It felt as if the majority of the time I looked up at the display the ERG resistance was 10+ watts higher than the target and power meter watts. The reality was it pretty much averaged out at the end and was only a watt or two different than each of the programmed interval targets. Very good result as it has been for me since you guys incorporated power meter control.
When in L5 intensity those spikes that are 10+ plus higher than the target really sting, but I accept those and believe if anything it will help me improve. I can always dial it back a percent or more when I reach the rest periods for the next interval if I feel like residual fatigue is too much on those days, which is what I had to do last night before the last interval. For intensities below L5 should be just fine. Even in the last interval where I reduced the interval to 95% into my L4 range, but much of it still spiked into L5. That last interval was still tough, but I believe this type of variability in ERG mode is similar to how it would appear if I were on the road and is fairly realistic feeling IMO. I was on a route a couple weekends ago with a 15 minute climb where I was in my L4 range and the end result appears very close to how these ERG intervals look in the application with power meter control.
Is this similar to what you and your team have experienced using the new updates along with a Kickr?
Good stuff as far as I am concerned compared to the original condition of the Kickr back when I started using and it was about 15+/- watts lower than 3 of my power meters. I was undertraining for the first two months until the post ride data trends were looking unrealistic.
Had I given that data from those first Kickr days to a coach they would have thought that I was their best athlete and they were the best coach ever. :-) I also noticed you guys now how E-Motion rollers listed as a device. I have a set of those rollers and can install the wireless control when it's available. Have you personally tried the E-Motion setup? If so do you like it? I've been using E-Motion rollers for several years now and think they are one of the best indoor trainers available. I decided not to apply for being the Beta test and will have to wait to see.
Yah, others have mentioned the same more "road like feel" because the trainer is constantly adjusting to try to keep up with your power meter. The guys in the office like it more, I kinda like just a really smooth power output.
You might want to try the manual offset setting for PowerMatch. You can just set it to a constant 15 watts and it will be just as smooth as before.
I'm not sure what ERG watts flashing on the right side is. Could that be a bug?
I have a confession...I've never been on rollers :). There's others in the office that have used it and like it.
I'm really happy with how the iOS app is turning out. We're almost done with video workouts for iOS. Once that's done we're all hands on deck for a complete desktop revamp!
We also just implemented Ride Sync through our website. You can have your rides automatically sync to Strava, Trainingpeaks and Dropbox now :). You can also choose to sync your entire history when you initially setup your connection to the other services. We just released that yesterday. :)
CEO at TrainerRoad Co-host of the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast