Team BKool CycleChat

[Bored Man]

@Jim Brown @Whorty,

Just finished stage 2 with no ghosts. Less than a minute behind Jim and barely ahead of Whorty.

Good effort @Randyberlin - another between me and McWhortface..

 

[Bored Man]

I joined a few of the 'locals' for a ride today for a few hours. They were great company and not a VR Sim between them.

A high of 5 degrees, absolutely honked down with rain all the way round and one of them wore shorts.. rock hard... I learned today that my legs do not do freezing cold rain - lord they're aching.. good crack..

 

[Randyberlin]

I joined a few of the 'locals' for a ride today for a few hours. They were great company and not a VR Sim between them.

A high of 5 degrees, absolutely honked down with rain all the way round and one of them wore shorts.. rock hard... I learned today that my legs do not do freezing cold rain - lord they're aching.. good crack..

You're getting into Kipster's Rule #9//
If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Fair-weather riding is a luxury reserved for Sunday afternoons and wide boulevards. Those who ride in foul weather – be it cold, wet, or inordinately hot – are members of a special club of riders who, on the morning of a big ride, pull back the curtain to check the weather and, upon seeing rain falling from the skies, allow a wry smile to spread across their face. This is a rider who loves the work.

 

[AAAC 76C]

You're getting into Kipster's Rule #9//
If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Fair-weather riding is a luxury reserved for Sunday afternoons and wide boulevards. Those who ride in foul weather – be it cold, wet, or inordinately hot – are members of a special club of riders who, on the morning of a big ride, pull back the curtain to check the weather and, upon seeing rain falling from the skies, allow a wry smile to spread across their face. This is a rider who loves the work.

I remember that joy well.
Setting off in the early hours looking forward to your turn as lead so you can get out of the jet of water coming from the back tyre in front.
That wonderful feeling as your hands go from cold to numb as they slowly freeze and then the pain grows as your core temperature rises with effort and thaws your extremities.
Then as the day goes on and your energy drains the heat of your core retreats leaving only a shiver in its wake.
Oh the joy of riding in the wet and cold!

 

[Bored Man]

You're getting into Kipster's Rule #9//
If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Fair-weather riding is a luxury reserved for Sunday afternoons and wide boulevards. Those who ride in foul weather – be it cold, wet, or inordinately hot – are members of a special club of riders who, on the morning of a big ride, pull back the curtain to check the weather and, upon seeing rain falling from the skies, allow a wry smile to spread across their face. This is a rider who loves the work.

Alas I cannot lay claim to achieving such status. I didn't look out of my window, watch the pouring rain and smile.. no no no no.... I dressed slowly with one eye on my email, just in case I received a message suggesting we postpone.. nothing - they really do have brave hearts up here.. it was freezing..

At the cafe stop, during discussions, we all determined that had it not been for others cycling, non of us would have gone out in it had we been cycling alone.. still 25 miles to go, still pouring down and as Mr AAAC says - cold to the core.

Nice to meet new folk though and subsequently since then, there have been a few more messages from people asking if they can come along on the next ride.. Nice..



Me at the back on the climbs..

 

[Daddy Pig]

Me at the back on the climbs..

But at the front of the que for the bar....

 

[Bored Man]

But at the front of the que for the bar....

I'm a Yorkshireman... I'll let you make your own mind up.

 

[Whorty]

I did a velo ride yesterday that @Jim Brown had done the previous day. Jim did the 1 hour ride and managed an average of 40.1 km/h. I could see that Jim had rode at an stable speed for about 30km, then the last 10km went a bit crazy! So I kept my average at 40.3 km/h all through, knowing that Jim would ride like he stole it and speed past me at times (which he did and was quite funny seeing his ghost speeding past )

Anyway, my point of the exercise was to compare numbers as there is no hill on the velo so effectively at the same speed we should have the same/similar power numbers. This is not the case though as you can see below.

Jim averaged 40.1 km/h, but I average 40.3 (says 40.5 but it took half a lap to slow down and stop). Note my watt/kg is larger and my watts are 25 more (over 10%)

I don't see how I need 25 watts more (215 to 191), produce more watts/kg, have a HR of 166 compared to Jim's 116, my cadence is 89 to Jim's 86. I also burnt off 100 more calories.

Does this seem right?

I did have some ghosts but no one to draft as I was going faster than all ghosts but when I passed them I did get a slight boost.

Anyone explain the discrepancies and why I would need to push more watts on a flat velo to maintain the same speed?

My numbers

Jim's numbers

 

[AAAC 76C]

I did a velo ride yesterday that @Jim Brown had done the previous day. Jim did the 1 hour ride and managed an average of 40.1 km/h. I could see that Jim had rode at an stable speed for about 30km, then the last 10km went a bit crazy! So I kept my average at 40.3 km/h all through, knowing that Jim would ride like he stole it and speed past me at times (which he did and was quite funny seeing his ghost speeding past )

Anyway, my point of the exercise was to compare numbers as there is no hill on the velo so effectively at the same speed we should have the same/similar power numbers. This is not the case though as you can see below.

Jim averaged 40.1 km/h, but I average 40.3 (says 40.5 but it took half a lap to slow down and stop). Note my watt/kg is larger and my watts are 25 more (over 10%)

I don't see how I need 25 watts more (215 to 191), produce more watts/kg, have a HR of 166 compared to Jim's 116, my cadence is 89 to Jim's 86. I also burnt off 100 more calories.

Does this seem right?

I did have some ghosts but no one to draft as I was going faster than all ghosts but when I passed them I did get a slight boost.

Anyone explain the discrepancies and why I would need to push more watts on a flat velo to maintain the same speed?

View attachment 347860

My numbers
View attachment 347861

Jim's numbers
View attachment 347863

Perhaps Jim had some ghosts.
He had a whole team of them when I was riding with him on Saturday.

Plus did you ride on your drops or tops?

 

[AAAC 76C]

Giro is only 3 weeks away.
Time to start wearing pink!

 

[Whorty]

Perhaps Jim had some ghosts.
He had a whole team of them when I was riding with him on Saturday.

Plus did you ride on your drops or tops?

Always on the hoods ... can't get on the drops with my back!

I did wonder if Jim had lots of ghosts but the ones I saw on his results only seemed to have completed a small portion of the course so I didn't think he'd drafted the whole ride ... but that could explain the big watt differences (and confirm the power savings by drafting in BKool)

 

[Bored Man]

Perhaps Jim had some ghosts.
He had a whole team of them when I was riding with him on Saturday.

Plus did you ride on your drops or tops?

Hi @Whorty - I did have ghosts on my ride and was spinning round at low watts and HR. The idea was not to use too much up. In the last 10k I started sprints to gain laps on the ghosts (which was a stupid thing to do).

I've done it before for the hour. Load ten ghosts and slowly but surely they ramp up the pace during the hour. It's a nice workout - plus the avatar rides the slopes which adds a different dimension to what can be a dull ride. I'm sure that if I hadn't had ghosts, did the same distance and weighed the same as you - it would be closer?

I'll do it again with your ghost later this week but ride side by side with your friendly ghost. Or you can join me at an agreed pace.

@Jim Brown

 

[AAAC 76C]

Always on the hoods ... can't get on the drops with my back!

I did wonder if Jim had lots of ghosts but the ones I saw on his results only seemed to have completed a small portion of the course so I didn't think he'd drafted the whole ride ... but that could explain the big watt differences (and confirm the power savings by drafting in BKool)

I only ride on the tops now, in doors.
The only reason I have brakes is to hold the shift levers in place.
I have even been looking for some cheap 2nd hand DI2 so I can just fit some Tri base bars and climbers buttons and do away with the drops and levers.
Alas DI2 is still not common enough to command reasonable 2nd hand prices so my Turbo Bike mods campaign money will get spent on the Mini (A car, not a skirt).

 

[Whorty]

Hi @Whorty - I did have ghosts on my ride and was spinning round at low watts and HR. The idea was not to use too much up. In the last 10k I started sprints to gain laps on the ghosts (which was a stupid thing to do).

I've done it before for the hour. Load ten ghosts and slowly but surely they ramp up the pace during the hour. It's a nice workout - plus the avatar rides the slopes which adds a different dimension to what can be a dull ride. I'm sure that if I hadn't had ghosts, did the same distance and weighed the same as you - it would be closer?

I'll do it again with your ghost later this week but ride side by side with your friendly ghost. Or you can join me at an agreed pace.

@Jim Brown

That makes 100% sense then - drafting on the velo can save about 10% power. I added some Lapdog ghosts but they only wanted to go at 37 km/h so they were pretty useless. If I was going at 41 km/h they sat in my draft, but if I slowed to let them come in front they slowed too. Was quite frustrating!

I'd seen your numbers before the ride so I knew you'd gone a bit crazy in the last 10km. I was 4 laps ahead at the 10 km mark when you went off like Cav with the finish line in sight I knew if I kept my average speed at 40.1 km/h we'd be finishing at about the same time but I was surprised by the number differences.

Be interesting if you use my ghost but ride with it rather than draft it, to see what numbers you get. Add a couple of slower ghosts (a lapdog and a Diesel) too so that every now and then on the track you pass them and they give you a speed boost as I got. But I didn't get to draft anyone so if you do the same you should have similar numbers.

I'll ignore you heart rate though .. as you clearly don't have a human's heart!!

You should burn an extra 100 calories too

 

[CXRAndy]

Dont analyse Bkool algorithms, it will make your brain melt The number sometimes tally up but you get different results and vice versa.