I’ve had my computrainer for some time, but never really paid much attention to it with the nice weather and having to do long rides on the weekends, which I’m not willing to do on a trainer. So I decided to do ride a half ironman course this past weekend just to see how I would do…and low and behold…I really suck!!! I’ve done a real life hilly half Ironman in 2:50, but my computrainer ride on an equally hilly course put me at 3:20…I’m attributing this to constant pedalling and no downhill coasting, but what I wanted to be a motivator turned out to be a real downer…has anybody experienced this???
I can barely break 28min for 10 miles on my computrainer. I’ll avg something like 235 watts for a 10mile TT. I do 20k outside in 27 something. The computrainer to me as well seems harder.
I can’t keep the same cadence either. On the CT I’m always around 85 rpm, outside I’ll spin for hours at 105.
The brightside is I feel stronger after a couple of weeks of solid CT riding.
CT is much harder than outside for many reasons. Put on your race wheels and get into the aerobars, and you still won’t be going any faster.
Same here. I think CT speeds seem about 2-3 mph slower than they do outside with the same effort. I agree though that I think the CT is great for ME work. I also feel much stronger riding outside after riding inside on the CT for a while.
we use one as well and i think it might have to do with how you calibrate for each ride. are you all calibrating it each time?
Don’t even try to equate CT workouts to real life workouts of supposedly the same distance. That’s no more fruitful than comparing times over 56 miles on a dead flat vs a hilly course or windy day. Compare CT to CT and look for improvement. Over time you’ll get to know what your differences are between CT and real life.
I do, but I don’t really wait the whole 10 minutes for the trainer and tire to warm up. I usually start with the resistance around 2.5 or 2.6. I find that it’ll drop down around 2 by the time I’m done with my rides.
Still, I’m finding a pretty big variance between outside riding and CT riding.
i agree that they won’t be the same but try setting it to 2.05-2.10. see if that helps!
Good, this makes me feel much better about things. I did calibrate the CT before I used it, and I guess I should try to calibrate it to that number every time to keep things consistant??? Seems that way to me. I’m just glad that I was able to sit on that trainer and ride for over 3 hours…I’ve never been able to do that before, so if anything the CT makes time go by.
like everyone else I too find the CT so much harder than the road. In fact getting the calibration to 2.5 (as recommended by my ex-coach) is a job in itself. On the road I can get my hrt up to the 180 range but on the CT my legs will give up on me before I hit 155! I did use my ex-coaches CT and found his much easier so maybe its a CT quality control issue.
I have got to the point where I dont compare speed and hrt between road and CT, and have separate reference points for both. Staying on the CT for 3hrs is actually pretty good going considering there is no coasting and you have to pedal down hill. The most I have done is 4hrs in prep for IM NZ and my butt hurt bad!
just did the IM Canada course on Saturday. It took 6 hours and 35 minutes. My ass killed and same above me knees. Not changing positions and coasting will hurt your time and your comfort level.
The vibrations get to be pretty heinous after a while. It was raining Saturday morning, and I almost climbed onto the CT for 4 hours, but decided to go out instead. I’m really glad I did, because it turned out to be a beautiful day. 4 hours on the road is better than 4 hours on the CT anyday. That is, better for your brain and definitely better for your ass.
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The default calibration for the CT is 2.00, so if you don’t set it, that is the setting. However that does not take into account friction based on tire pressure, how tight you have the roller cranked down, etc. I do not know how this affects the output readings.
CT is a lot harder than outside riding. IMO. Now if you want a really hard workout, try doing the CT with Powercranks. 
My Wife road a few 100 milers last year getting ready for Ironman Brazil on the trainer. I only managed 1 long ride of about 4 hours.
I always try and ride out doors. My training area is pretty good for riding outside. When the temps dip though, it is back on the trainer or rollers. CT seems to make riding on the trainer a little more enjoyable, but not much.
If they updated the software so that you could watch a DVD while windowing the bike course, then the time would fly by. Well, it would be nice if my wife would bring me a sandwich, too. 
I second your statement, though. The winters here(MA) are cold and long, and 2-4 hours on the CT is way better than 2-4 hours on a spinning bike. Although, the spinning bike’s saddle is softer.
Calibrating it to the same value time after time will do nothing to change how it feels. That’s the whole point of calibrating it, so that it measures the same whether the readout is 2.5 or 2.1 or 2.05. That calibration is simply to determine the conversion factor that the firmware uses to calculate the wattage. The value goes up or down depending on the pressure at the tire/roller contact patch. Again, this is just to make sure that when the machine reads, say, 200 watts, that it is the same time after time. Now. . .the calibration that determines the accuracy of the 200 watts (assuming the user calibration is done), is a factory calibration. You’ll have to send it back to CT if its off. This isn’t usually necessary more than every few years. And the only time that will really become apparent is if you have another power device such as a PowerTap. If the CT and PowerTap read consistently more than ~20 watts different (due to where the power is measured), then you have one or the other that needs calibrating.
There. . .sufficiently confused?
For you, the only thing you should really be concerned about is that the CT reads the same on every ride. For that reason, don’t short change the user calibration setting. If the pressure reading is actually, say 2.4 and you haven’t re-calibrated from 2.1, then the watts on that ride will not be comparable. And that reading will change day-to-day just from loss of tire pressure. For best results, always run the tires at the same pressure and do try to calibrate to about the same value, say 2.1, on every ride. . .the more variables you can keep the same, the more you can trust the repeatability of the power reading.
since you are on your own bike–is the reason why peoples knees hurt because no coasting?? My knees kill me on a regular stationary so I don’t use one–never have used a CT though?
I did a couple of time trials on computrainers and my average was about 2-3mph slower than on the road in the same conditions. I think its harder, but ive only used a computrainer those two times.
Doesn’t matter whether the calibration is 1.75 or 2.5 or anywhere in between. Just make sure to set it to where it actually is after about a 5 minute warmup.
I have found below 1.75 to slip and above 2.5 really chews up the tires. Usually get it between 1.90 to 2.15 on the first try by turning it 5 quarter-turns from first contact after inflating to the same pressure.
Nice. You essentially said what I said and used only two sentences to do it. At times my garrulity knows no bounds.