Greetings all! I’m relatively new to cycling and definitely new to indoor cycling and I have a question about Trainer Road. I am using virtual power and a heart rate monitor and my power efforts don’t seem to match with my heart rate. I’m assuming I should either retake the 20 minute test ride or slowly start to increase my FTP levels. I attribute this to being new to the bike and not understanding the various effort levels like I do for running.
For example, I completed Donner today, basically 3x12 minutes at 95-99% FTP and had the following results:
Zone - Power/Heart Rate
Active Recory - 35.4% / 37.6%
Endurance - 1.3% / 59.6%
Tempo - 0.1% / 1.6%
SweetSpot 9.4%
Threshold - 51.6%
VO2Max - 2%
Going by Power it seems like that should be a pretty decent workout, but after looking at my heart rate it doesn’t look like I pushed myself at all.
Looking at your Donner workout, and your 20-min test, it looks like things were calibrated properly for the test (your HR was high)… perhaps your setup is slightly different today for Donner? The big things to check before any workout w/VirtualPower:
same tire pressure as on test-day
same tires as on test-day
same amount of resistance on the trainer. If you turn a knob to engage the rear tire to the resistance unit always make sure you tighten it the same amount. I usually adjust my resistance unit so it’s not contacting my wheel… then spin my wheel so it spins freely … then while it’s spinning turn the knob and stop as soon as it makes contact with the tire. Then turn it 5 180deg. turns from there.
Hopefully these will set you up for a more accurate ride next time.
During the actual FTP test did your heart rate seem to be in the zones that you were expecting? Keep in mind that HR will lag more than Power which is instant data.
I would use that as your starting point, making sure that your FTP was set at the right effort.
Looking at your Donner workout, and your 20-min test, it looks like things were calibrated properly for the test (your HR was high)… perhaps your setup is slightly different today for Donner? The big things to check before any workout w/VirtualPower:
same tire pressure as on test-day
same tires as on test-day
same amount of resistance on the trainer. If you turn a knob to engage the rear tire to the resistance unit always make sure you tighten it the same amount. I usually adjust my resistance unit so it’s not contacting my wheel… then spin my wheel so it spins freely … then while it’s spinning turn the knob and stop as soon as it makes contact with the tire. Then turn it 5 180deg. turns from there.
Hopefully these will set you up for a more accurate ride next time.
Unfortunately I am doing all of those things, to the best of my knowledge. I free the tire completely and inflate to 100 psi. I spin the tire and turn the knob until the roller makes contact, then I turn it 270 degrees. Maybe I will retake the test and make sure I am putting the same amount of pressure on the tire. Someone needs to invent a gauge to allow for consistent pressure.
During the actual FTP test did your heart rate seem to be in the zones that you were expecting? Keep in mind that HR will lag more than Power which is instant data.
I would use that as your starting point, making sure that your FTP was set at the right effort.
I believe everything is set correctly (zone wise) and after reviewing the initial test my heart rate definitely got up to where it’s supposed to be (15.6% threshold and 37.2% VO2 max).