Reaching out to know if anyone knows of some form of sensor that can measure distance while on a wheel-on, non-smart trainer ( FWIW a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine) or regular, basic, rollers, that is readable by a Polar Vantage wrist unit or Polar Beat app. Don’t need or want power or want to be on Zwift - ONLY looking for a distance measurement!
Thanks in advance.
What about a speed sensor on the wheel? I’m pretty sure it detects wheel rotation speed, and can then provide speed and distance more accurately. It’s great for gravel bikes where GPS might get spotty, but I think it’ll do what you want on both the wheel-on trainer and rollers.
Something like this
I presume your goal is to track tire wear?
If so, basic wheel magnet connected to a recording device different from your primary recording device.
I presume your goal is to track tire wear?
No. I would like to know, for purely vain reasons, what the distance is for a one hour roller ride, or a 90 min session of intervals on the non-smart-trainer is. That’s all.
I’m thinking, surely there must be a simple way of doing this, without getting into power meters and Zwift, or a smart-trainer?
I presume your goal is to track tire wear?
No. I would like to know, for purely vain reasons, what the distance is for a one hour roller ride, or a 90 min session of intervals on the non-smart-trainer is. That’s all.
I’m thinking, surely there must be a simple way of doing this, without getting into power meters and Zwift, or a smart-trainer?
There is no distance on a stationary trainer. What you’re looking to measure, even if admittedly for vanity purposes, is meaningless because it can be so easily manipulated. Makes no more sense than trying to calculate vertical gain on a trainer.
It appears the Polar Beat app now supports ANT+. If that’s the case, then you can get either the Wahoo or the Garmin wireless/magnet-less speed sensor that straps around your rear hub and pair it to the Polar Beat. You will need to do a wheel rollout with you on the bike and the rear tire pumped up to the proper pressure to determine the circumference of your rear tire since the speed sensor needs this info.
There is no distance on a stationary trainer. What you’re looking to measure, even if admittedly for vanity purposes, is meaningless because it can be so easily manipulated. Makes no more sense than trying to calculate vertical gain on a trainer.
Yes there is distance on a stationary trainer. One wheel revolution equals a specific distance based on tire size, tire pressure, rider’s weight. I train on a dumb roller, so I carefully measured my wheel circumference as posted above and fed this info into my Wahoo App and Bolt. When I’m outdoors, I use the same circumference for speed and distance since it’s more accurate than GPS. Why would I want to manipulate this for my own training purposes?
There is no distance on a stationary trainer. What you’re looking to measure, even if admittedly for vanity purposes, is meaningless because it can be so easily manipulated. Makes no more sense than trying to calculate vertical gain on a trainer.
Yes there is distance on a stationary trainer. One wheel revolution equals a specific distance based on tire size, tire pressure, rider’s weight. I train on a dumb roller, so I carefully measured my wheel circumference as posted above and fed this info into my Wahoo App and Bolt. When I’m outdoors, I use the same circumference for speed and distance since it’s more accurate than GPS. Why would I want to manipulate this for my own training purposes?
Why? Well, as the OP said, for vanity’s sake.
The bigger question, why do you want to track it? The indoor effort does not correspond to the effort required for a similar distance outdoors.
The bigger question, why do you want to track it? The indoor effort does not correspond to the effort required for a similar distance outdoors.
One reason I want to track it because I want to know my monthly or yearly total mileage for info purposes. Plus, my indoor effort on a progressive resistance roller corresponds pretty close to my outdoor effort for the same distance at the same wattage. 200 watts on the roller for 20 minutes yields almost the same distance, +/- 0.01 miles, as 20 minutes out on a flat stretch of road with no wind.
While I get what you’re trying to do & you know this as well as anyone Steve, the body doesn’t understand km’s. It understands frequency, duration & intensity.
What about an Old style wired bike computer, and mount pickup it to rear chain stay and computer unit to top tube between your legs. You don’t need to see anything on it, but it may be possible to see it between your legs. If I have the same tire at a fixed pressure, then if I see 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 kph speeds, then I have a rough feel for the relative effort. 40kph is harder than 36kph at the same tire pressure and press on force. While I don’t know if 40kph was measuring 240W, 250W or 260W, after a while, I just knew the relative intensity of my workout. Your total distance travelled will be a proxy for kilojoules for the ride, even though you are more measing kilojoules. For the same tire pressure and press on force a 37km ride will be relatively more work than a 30 km ride which is all you need to know if you always compare with the same setup.
I have this STUPID track near my house that is 440m. Don’t ask me why it is 440m…the only reason I can think why is that 440 yards is 400m and the people building it used meters instead of yards so the stupid track is 10% too long. All my track running times at this track are annoying because it is not so easy to compare with other tracks. However, it is 1km from my house, so I have been to this track something like 2000 times over 20 years, so I no what my spits on this non standard track are.
If you use the same tire with same press on force, you can get close to measuring between rides (and before others jump on me, I realize that tire pressure changes during ride due to PV=nRT) so keep a steady airflow over your tire so that “T” does not go up, because if it does, then P goes up and suddenly 35kph at hot temp is 40kph at cool temp noting that T is measured in degrees Kelvin so there is SOME tolerance for tire temps rising by a few degrees C since that is not much in Kelvin.
I velcroed a Garmin speed/distance sensor to the solid wheel of my dinosaur spin bike, along with the cadence sensor on the crank. Works perfect, and the effort per mileage is close enough to outside, to keep me happy. It gives me plenty of data to compare and track. I also don’t do swift, or use power. And it’s working well for me, as I’m racing as well as ever. And not wearing out any of my bikes indoors. I have the old spin bike set up to the same coordinates as my tri bike set up, with clip ons and decent ISM saddle. I’m approaching 50K miles with this set-up… well at least according to the circumference of the wheel. I don’t know why the simple sensors wouldn’t work perfect in your situation, unless I’m missing something.
You can find cheap BT/ANT speed sensors on Amazon that would do this if you program your computer or watch wheel circumference. I had this setup in rollers a few years ago. I’m under no illusion that the distances were correct, but it does motivate you to push on for another 5k sometimes.
Any cheap wireless speed sensor (attaches to hub) or speed/cadence (attaches to chainstay) sensor that broadcasts in BTLE should work.
Hub Senor
Chainstay Sensor:
Here’s one for $25: https://www.amazon.com/Scosche-Bluetooth-Smart-Cadence-Sensor/dp/B00AHDXP66
I have one of these I’m not using if you’re interested (used it for a dumb trainer Zwift setup before switching to a H1).
And inexpensive rear wheel computer will give you speed and distance. They are 20 bucks and most people have some in the corner of the garage
And inexpensive rear wheel computer will give you speed and distance. They are 20 bucks and most people have some in the corner of the garage
As do I in the corner of my garage.
Key detail is that I would like said unit to broadcast right into either my Polar Beat app or Polar Vantage wrist unit.
Bluetooth one?
Wahoo Blue SC Speed and Cadence Sensor, Bluetooth / ANT+ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NW882KM/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_P6HXBCEQDKQ116R7FAQX?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1