Team BKool CycleChat

[burndust]

Can you report it to BKOOL, I had similar on Thursday, only 147mph

Interesting I noticed yday on a climb bkool was showing 2mph whilst I was actually doing about 8..according to my Garmin

 

[gbrown]

Tips for improving reliability of simulator ...

Just a few suggestions from what I've found has helped to improve reliability of the Simulator...

1) If at all possible, DO NOT USE WIFI, it's not as fast as is claimed, has higher latency, and tends to suffer from interference and drop outs.

2) If you can't get a network wire connection use Powerline adapters to connect through the mains, they usually give much better throughput than WiFi. I've lost count of the times I've replaced peoples WiFi with powerline adapters for Sky's Catch Up and seen their download speeds improve ten times or more!

3) If you do use Powerline adapters, try to use at least AV200, as the throughput is again no where near what is claimed. If at all possible plug them straight into the wall socket, rather than using an extension block. This is recommended by the manufacturers.
I use a matched pair of AV600 (with Gigabit ports) plugged straight into the wall sockets in adjoining rooms and still only get around 200Mbps. This is faster than my Internet so that's OK.

4) Run the simulator on a Windows PC if possible. Windows 7 seems to work well, I haven't tried it on Windows 8 or 8.1 (spit). The iPad version was a disaster, and of course relies on WiFi.

5) Position the Bkool trainer as close to the ANT+ dongle as possible. Not easy, as you want to face the screen and the trainer is therefore at least a bike length away. I have found this to be a real problem, as it only seems to work about a bike length away, so if your front wheel isn't touching the computer it starts to drop out. A nice long USB extension lead can resolve this problem. I lay it along the floor and position the ANT+ dongle under the middle of the bike, so it is close to the bkool and also my heart rate monitor and cadence sensor.

ANT+ is a very short distance protocol, and is only designed to cover the area of a bike, for obvious reasons. I think Bkool are expecting people to have laptops on tall stands alongside the front wheel.

6) Don't run other programs in the background while running the simulator. Definitely don't run any Garmin software or anything that may try and talk to the ANT+ dongle.

And a couple of recommendations for best performance

7) I would recommend a PC with a discrete graphics card if possible, or at least the latest CPU's with integrated graphics, as the 3D simulation will be fairly demanding. Even if the card is not expensive, it will be faster than integrated graphics.

8) Get fibre broadband if possible!

9) Keep the dog out of the room ...

Cheers,

Geoff

 

[Randyberlin]

I'm using widows 8 on a cheap laptop with a HDMI cable to the TV and haven't had any problems since the tip about the usb extension cable. And the latency from Alaska must be crazy.

 

[gbrown]

i was James, bloody start of it was slow, got on the first climb and sodding chain came off when going down must of dropped a minute there.. you all had gone by then

160 BPM avg! my max is only around 170

i thought i was pretty fit but gosh you lot are monsters!

I just got your ride to approve and it shows zero speed for 42.589 seconds.

Still posted a great time!

 

[gbrown]

Will do. I think the dog may have stepped on the escape key looking back!!!!! Once the screen comes up saying do you want end the session it goes haywire!

Your ride is showing in Classification attempts, asking for approval or rejection. It shows as session not completed and low velocity (paused) for 85 seconds. Actual time is 14:34.7.

I won't delete it yet, best if we leave it if Bkool are going to take a look.

Hope it works properly for you next time, I was enjoying our ride together, until you went supersonic!

Geoff

 

[gbrown]

I'm using widows 8 on a cheap laptop with a HDMI cable to the TV and haven't had any problems since the tip about the usb extension cable. And the latency from Alaska must be crazy.

Bkool should point out clearly that the ANT+ dongle must be within a bike length of the actual resistance unit (i.e. the rear wheel) to be reliable.

I moved my bike back 2 inches and reliability dropped to pieces, until I used the USB extension lead to get the ANT+ dongle behind the front wheel.

Geoff

 

[S Kirk Esq]

Bkool should point out clearly that the ANT+ dongle must be within a bike length of the actual resistance unit (i.e. the rear wheel) to be reliable.

I moved my bike back 2 inches and reliability dropped to pieces, until I used the USB extension lead to get the ANT+ dongle behind the front wheel.

Geoff

Hello all. Well, that was fun! 90km/h top speed? Awesome I particularly enjoyed the Grand Theft AutoBkool moments where people pottering about had to jump out of the way as I roared past, afterburners flaming. I almost got them!. My bike handling skills have also gone through the roof as I took 90 degree corners at breakneck speeds.

On the serious side, generally it seemed like for the downhills I was superman, and as soon as the gradient went up somebody strapped an anchor to my back. I've not quite experienced that before. I'm 94kg (6' tall, not that Bkool cares about *that*) so maybe it's over-doing the compensation.

It's a tough ask expecting all our trainers to be equally calibrated in the real world. The only ay we would ever tell is to meet IRL, and that's an equally tough ask. The issues with uploading etc., problems with individual glitches and so on are another matter. They ought to sort those. Ultimately: it's good fun, and a hell of an incentive racing the rest of you, regardless of the strange effects.

Geoff, thanks for organising the ride. In return I finally did the test you asked me to do (10mph, 20mph and 25mph on that flat track). You can see the session here: http://www.bkool.com/bkoolSessionHistory/showSessionSummary/968633

Finally, regarding the ANT+ dongle: I've never had a problem. I use a Mac via Wifi with the new OS X BKool software but I used to run a Windows VM and that was also fine. I'm wondering if maybe the Powerline adapters are interfering with the ANT+ signal? Powerline adapters are absolute buggers for interference.

Cheers,
Simon

 

[soterios]

ANT+ is a very short distance protocol, and is only designed to cover the area of a bike, for obvious reasons. I think Bkool are expecting people to have laptops on tall stands alongside the front wheel.

I actually get the Iron board out, and put it in front of the wheel with around 10 cm gap to my brakes... my macbook sits on there and also i put my massive floor fan on there directed at me!

Funny enough on the WIFI i get a better connection tethering my phone! no clue how! Sky broadband is pants (even the FTTC one)!!! Virgin broadband is immense but there Tivo is horrible

 

[Pedro2015]

5) Position the Bkool trainer as close to the ANT+ dongle as possible. Not easy, as you want to face the screen and the trainer is therefore at least a bike length away. I have found this to be a real problem, as it only seems to work about a bike length away, so if your front wheel isn't touching the computer it starts to drop out. A nice long USB extension lead can resolve this problem. I lay it along the floor and position the ANT+ dongle under the middle of the bike, so it is close to the bkool and also my heart rate monitor and cadence sensor.

ANT+ is a very short distance protocol, and is only designed to cover the area of a bike, for obvious reasons. I think Bkool are expecting people to have laptops on tall stands alongside the front wheel.

9) Keep the dog out of the room ...

Two excellent ideas, ordering the extension now and the dogs out in cold ;-)

Your ride is showing in Classification attempts, asking for approval or rejection. It shows as session not completed and low velocity (paused) for 85 seconds. Actual time is 14:34.7.

I won't delete it yet, best if we leave it if Bkool are going to take a look.

Hope it works properly for you next time, I was enjoying our ride together, until you went supersonic!

Geoff

How do I report a specific ride to bkool?

 

[gbrown]

How do I report a specific ride to bkool?

I usually paste the URL to the ride into the support message.

 

[Pedro2015]

Your ride is showing in Classification attempts, asking for approval or rejection. It shows as session not completed and low velocity (paused) for 85 seconds. Actual time is 14:34.7.

I won't delete it yet, best if we leave it if Bkool are going to take a look.

Hope it works properly for you next time, I was enjoying our ride together, until you went supersonic!

Geoff

How do I see this in the group, I can only find Thursday rides in the league

 

[gbrown]

You probably can't see it, but the url is

http://www.bkool.com/classificationAttempt/show/43182

Geoff

 

[gbrown]

How do I see this in the group, I can only find Thursday rides in the league

I would just give them the session rule from your activity

http://www.bkool.com/bkoolSessionHistory/showSessionSummary/968501

There is clearly something amiss, just looking at the flat power and speed reading towards the end!

 

[camerauk]

Well just done the Dipford Loop and it says my ride is not valid as it finished on the 17th Jan is this correct I thought it was Thursday to Wednesday
Is this another BKool error or is it me thats got my dates wrong

 

[Runexeter]

Well just done the Dipford Loop and it says my ride is not valid as it finished on the 17th Jan is this correct I thought it was Thursday to Wednesday
Is this another BKool error or is it me thats got my dates wrong

That's a shame, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Bkool, they are really annoying me at the moment.