e-rider
Banned member
- Location
- South West
that all depends on what setting you have your turbo set to!!!
legs not aching
- Thread starter bainy16
- Start date
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with the advise i beleive this is what i'm doing as its just my breathing that is really heavy so looks like i need to put more effort in so the legs feel it
Ningishzidda
Senior Member
The bike's gearing has nothing to do with intensity of a turbo workout.
Its the rpm of the turbo's roller that determines the intensity. To get this up, the bike's drive wheel needs to be spun faster. Try mounting the bike's computer on the rear wheel and riding at a road representative speed.
Its the rpm of the turbo's roller that determines the intensity. To get this up, the bike's drive wheel needs to be spun faster. Try mounting the bike's computer on the rear wheel and riding at a road representative speed.
Ningishzidda
Senior Member
Check the turbo's owner's manual to find a setting that is a resistance curve that is about 180 Watts at 20 mph ( if its a race bike ), 200 W at 20 mph ( if its a sports bike ) or 220 W at 20 mph ( if its a touring bike ).
I don't know much about the high end fancy turbo trainers and for all I know that's how they do work but certainly your statement doesn't apply to my low end Satori.
Ningishzidda
Senior Member
If that’s the Tacx Satori, it is a ‘rolling road’ for a bicycle. Magnets are moved in and out to adjust the amount of braking on the flywheel and roller. A cable with a lever on the end is used to adjust the magnets to raise or lower its turning resistance.
Each resistance setting has a curve of Watts vs Speed, so can simulate different Cd bikes and road gradients.
To make the roller and flywheel simulate a road traveling at 20 mph, the rear wheel of the bicycle under test must push the roller round. The roller on this Turbo is not driven by an electric motor.
It is up to the bike’s rider to make the bike’s rear wheel rotate to the required speed. When the bike’s rear wheel is rotating the turbo’s roller at a speed to simulate 20 mph roadspeed, the rider can ‘look up’ on the graph in the owner’s manual to ascertain how much power he/she is putting into the rear tyre.
There is a ‘transmission loss’ factor on all bicycles, about 3% for a race bike, so if 200 Watts is at the rear tyre, 206 Watts is at the cranks. This is the major drawback with turbo trainers. Bicycle owners don’t know the transmission loss of their bikes. It could be 2 – 15% depending upon lubrication and wear.
The parameters that change when the cyclist changes gear while maintaining a 20 mph simulated roadspeed are crank speed and applied torque on the crankshaft. NOT power.
When a low gear is used, the perception is that it is difficult to maintain due to the cyclist ‘spinning out’ with lower pedal pressure. When a high gear is used, the perception is that it is difficult due to mashing and high pedal pressure.
When an appropriate gear is used so cadence suits the rider’s muscle type, he/she is in the Goldilocks zone.
To not have ‘aching legs’ after a turbo session could be due to one of three things. Speed sensor is faulty. Resistance actuator is faulty. Human error.
Each resistance setting has a curve of Watts vs Speed, so can simulate different Cd bikes and road gradients.
To make the roller and flywheel simulate a road traveling at 20 mph, the rear wheel of the bicycle under test must push the roller round. The roller on this Turbo is not driven by an electric motor.
It is up to the bike’s rider to make the bike’s rear wheel rotate to the required speed. When the bike’s rear wheel is rotating the turbo’s roller at a speed to simulate 20 mph roadspeed, the rider can ‘look up’ on the graph in the owner’s manual to ascertain how much power he/she is putting into the rear tyre.
There is a ‘transmission loss’ factor on all bicycles, about 3% for a race bike, so if 200 Watts is at the rear tyre, 206 Watts is at the cranks. This is the major drawback with turbo trainers. Bicycle owners don’t know the transmission loss of their bikes. It could be 2 – 15% depending upon lubrication and wear.
The parameters that change when the cyclist changes gear while maintaining a 20 mph simulated roadspeed are crank speed and applied torque on the crankshaft. NOT power.
When a low gear is used, the perception is that it is difficult to maintain due to the cyclist ‘spinning out’ with lower pedal pressure. When a high gear is used, the perception is that it is difficult due to mashing and high pedal pressure.
When an appropriate gear is used so cadence suits the rider’s muscle type, he/she is in the Goldilocks zone.
To not have ‘aching legs’ after a turbo session could be due to one of three things. Speed sensor is faulty. Resistance actuator is faulty. Human error.
I'll admit you've blinded me with science there. Perhaps my problem was that I didn't really understand the point about gearing and intensity. My basic thinking was if I set the turbo resistance to a certain level (n) and then do a 30 minute session spinning a lowish gear at 90 rpm then if I later did the same (n), 30 min @90 rpm but in a higher/harder gear then that session would be more intense that the first 30 min session.
Rob3rt
Man or Moose!
- Location
- Manchester
It would be.
