I was wondering if there is a way to see the spin scan while I am riding a cours (3D) Also, I raced my friend this morning (lots of fun by the way) and she beat me by 1/10 sec!! But we av the same speed, her power avg was 182, mine 177. Her rpm were 101, mine 88. we weight the same… so… does that mean I have better efficiency than she does at that speed? trying to understand the system here!
You can do it from the box you mount on your handlebars - try F3 or display - that should let you scroll through a few options.
I can do that while I am riding a course?
Hit “D” (i think) on your keyboard and you should see a split screen of your spinscan and your road. Not sure if it works when you are racing someone though. Are you racing your friend live or against a file performance? If you are using another program to race your friend live then I’m pretty sure you won’t get spinscan as it is just for CT software. If you go to Computrainer web page and download the manual, at the end is a chart with all the keyboard and controller button functions. As far as your data, you need to make sure the same bodyweight is entered into the program. I think most add 20lbs to BW for their bike. That will make a big difference if you did and she did not or vise versa. If the data as you report it is accurate, then I would say yes, you are more efficient. You are doing the same work with less power. It would be interesting to compare heartrates as well.
I was wondering if there is a way to see the spin scan while I am riding a cours (3D) Also, I raced my friend this morning (lots of fun by the way) and she beat me by 1/10 sec!! But we av the same speed, her power avg was 182, mine 177. Her rpm were 101, mine 88. we weight the same… so… does that mean I have better efficiency than she does at that speed? trying to understand the system here!
Youcan see a split screen spinscan/course by hitting the F2 key, but only if you are riding alone. If there are two riders, you can either see yourself or the spinscan.
You cannot conclude anything about efficiency. First of all, computrainers (when well calibrated) can be off by up to 5%, or 7-8 watts when riding about 180 watts. So the difference may not be real. Two perfectly factory calibrated computrainers will exhibit different behaviour when calibrated differently for tire pressure. The lower the calibration number (the number between 0 and 5) the faster you will go for the same wattage. Wattage will still be accurate but speed will be different. You should always set the setting at 3 plus or minus .1. This will replicate factory calibration settings, prevent slippage on steep slopes and insure reproducibility ride after ride. With a setting of 3, you will be slower on the CT than on the road for similar wattage. The two riders should use the same setting or the one with the higher setting will be at a disadvantage.
Suppose now that both computrainers were perfectly equally calibrated (factory and for tire pressure), her higher average wattage could simply mean that she rode the uphills and downhills differently. this would likely mean that you probably hammered the uphills more than her, and relaxed a bit more on the downhills.
If you race your friend often, make sure you use the same tire calibration number, and switch computrainers regularly. This should help rule out the factors discussed above.
Francois in Montreal
It is hard to hit the keyboward while I am riding as it requires me getting off the bike:-) Yes, we add 17 pounds to our weight (per my coach). Her heart rate av was 171 and mine was 163. But I have a lower LTH than she does, she is a roadie…
Thanks francois…I did calibrate it lower than she did… 1.5 today versus 1.8 when she rode… she rides on mine, i save the file. coach says to keep it around 2… But I have to use both heands to twist the darn thing, I figure maybe that was too much pressure. i thought it was because of efficiency…last week, I raced the pacer, it av 150, i av 170 and the darn STILL beat me!
{You should always set the setting at 3 plus or minus .1. This will replicate factory calibration settings, prevent slippage on steep slopes and insure reproducibility ride after ride. With a setting of 3, you will be slower on the CT than on the road for similar wattage.} reply
what setting? are you saying always adjust tension so that the calibration number is at 3 plus or minus .1? that would be exactly the opposite of information from racermate.
can you please clarify?
what setting? are you saying always adjust tension so that the calibration number is at 3 plus or minus .1? that would be exactly the opposite of information from racermate.
can you please clarify?
The important thing is that you should keep the calibration number the same for every ride to insure reproducibility. IOW, it does not matter that much if the CT is off by 15 watts, as long as it’s always off by 15 watts.
A six point calibrated CT unit is calibrated at 200 and 300 watts, at cadences of 80, 90 and 100 rpms. If you are Lance and riding at 450 watts or a midget at 60 watts, there a good chance the unit will much less accurate. I was told (this part is second hand information) that the units are calibrated with a 3.0 setting with a Michelin Axial Pro. This is the rationale for the 3.0 setting. A 2.0 setting is too low for me as I get tire slippage on high grades and low cadence. However, I did not observe any significant wattage differences between settings of 2 and 3 when compared with a power tap.
I don’t know which racermate information you are refering to, but I doubt they say anything opposite to that.
Francois in Montreal
Thanks francois…I did calibrate it lower than she did… 1.5 today versus 1.8 when she rode… she rides on mine, i save the file. coach says to keep it around 2… But I have to use both heands to twist the darn thing, I figure maybe that was too much pressure. i thought it was because of efficiency…last week, I raced the pacer, it av 150, i av 170 and the darn STILL beat me!
I would not keep the calibration number below 2, even if you don’t experience slippage at a lower setting. I agree with you, it is hard to twist the darn thing. They should make the handscrew (or whatever it’s called) much larger.
I don’t use the pacer often but it is very tricky to setup. I don’t know exactly how it works, but they must use a mathematical formula to relate its speed to the specified wattage. And the stupid metal thing always goes at the same wattage wheter uphill or dowhill so it’s very hard to follow downhills. The idea with the pacer is not to compare watts but to use it as a rabbit. You can adjust the pacer wattage on the fly with the ± keys. This way you can set it low for warmup and increase it untill you hit your target wattage (independently of the pacer wattage). Very good workout for high wattage at high cadence on the downhills.
Francois in Montreal
PS: es-tu la personne qui est venue nager avec les Antilopes quelques fois au cours des dernieres années ? Si c’est le cas on a nagé dans le meme couloir. Y doit pas y avoir tant de quebecoise exilées au Etats-unis qui font du triathlon.
Oui c’est moi, Sophie:-) Bonne memoire! merci pour les renseignements… Je ne savais meme pas que je pouvais ajuster le “pacer” pendant une session. C’est bon a savoir, ca peut etre frustrant! comment ca va avec les antilopes? le monde est petit… Au lac plaid en juillet, j’ai reconnu Isabelle sur le velo!
Sophie… tu vois, j’avais oublié ton nom, donc j’ai pas une si bonne memoire que ca … Les Antilopes vont tres bien. Une cinquantaine de membres reguliers, une belle atmosphere et des nouveaux commanditaires.
Il y avait 12 antilopes a IMLP dont Isabelle qui a eu une super course. J’etais aussi a la ligne de depart, mais 6 jours apres la naissance de mon premier enfant (donc 5 jours sans dormir), j’ai abandonne apres 70 km sur le velo. Pas de jus pis pu d’adrenaline… Maman Anik (qui nageait aussi dans le meme corridor que Isabelle et moi) est presentement en preparation finale pour IM Nouvelle Zelande, ou nous passons plusieurs mois dans le cadre d’un congé sabbatique de recherche (et de maternité pour Anik). Quel beau pays… Tu dois mettre IMNZ sur ta liste. De retour avec les Antilopes en Aout. Au plaisir de t’y revoir.
Francois
Le monde est petit ca c’est vrai! Bonne chance a Anik et amusez-vous bien en Nouvelle-Zelande:-)