What a good looking bloke
I bet he has to fight the lasses off 
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I bet he has to fight the lasses off 
I did a Zwift race on the Bkool Pro last night. I think probably due to user error on my part, the trainer didn't pair completely correctly so only paired as a "power source" and not a "controllable trainer", so the resistance didn't change (just the speed and power figures depending on the slope). This was brutally hard work!
The power figures were quite a bit lower for this ride than when the trainer was fully paired as both power source and controllable trainer (and therefore did change resistance) on my Monday night ride, despite a similar level of effort. Can't directly compare rides as first one was the flat course and the second was hilly, but you'd assume that I was going slower on the second ride with much lower power figures, but looking closer, here's the Strava figures from a matching segment on both rides:
Segment: "Enough of that mumbo jumbo"
Distance: 0.4miles
Elevation: 13ft
Monday - fully paired with resistance changes:
Time: 59 seconds
Speed: 27.5mph ave / 32mph max
HR: 170bpm ave / 173bpm max
Power: 337W ave / 474W max
Tuesday - paired only as power source with no resistance changes
Time: 58 seconds
Speed: 27.9mph ave / 32.4mph max
HR: 169bpm ave / 170bpm max
Power: 296W ave / 326W max
So, speed/time/effort virtually identical - in fact marginally quicker on second ride - but power showing much higher on first.
Not sure that tells us anything we didn't know (i.e the Bkool Pro power figures are dodgy!) but thought I'd share the oddness of it! The overall Watts for the Tuesday "no resistance changes" ride were much lower overall too.
The power figures were quite a bit lower for this ride than when the trainer was fully paired as both power source and controllable trainer (and therefore did change resistance) on my Monday night ride, despite a similar level of effort. Can't directly compare rides as first one was the flat course and the second was hilly, but you'd assume that I was going slower on the second ride with much lower power figures, but looking closer, here's the Strava figures from a matching segment on both rides:
Segment: "Enough of that mumbo jumbo"
Distance: 0.4miles
Elevation: 13ft
Monday - fully paired with resistance changes:
Time: 59 seconds
Speed: 27.5mph ave / 32mph max
HR: 170bpm ave / 173bpm max
Power: 337W ave / 474W max
Tuesday - paired only as power source with no resistance changes
Time: 58 seconds
Speed: 27.9mph ave / 32.4mph max
HR: 169bpm ave / 170bpm max
Power: 296W ave / 326W max
So, speed/time/effort virtually identical - in fact marginally quicker on second ride - but power showing much higher on first.
Not sure that tells us anything we didn't know (i.e the Bkool Pro power figures are dodgy!) but thought I'd share the oddness of it! The overall Watts for the Tuesday "no resistance changes" ride were much lower overall too.
This is probably what Zwift has implemented, for dumb trainers, a profile curve. Looks more realistic Paul. Ultimate test add a PM to Pro unit and re test.
I agree the "dumb trainer" version looks like much more realistic watts. It surprises me that the higher power figures in the first ride don't = higher speed though
Ugh. Failed the ZA7 workout again last night. Like my first run at it, I started cramping in my calf just as the second ov/un set started. I was able to get through the first two intervals on the second set before I had to take the unit out of ERG and gently spin through the 3rd interval. I brought the power up again for the 4th interval, but only survived about halfway through it and came back out of ERG mode for the rest of the workout.
Given I've made two runs at ZA7, I'm going to consider it done as far as ZA is concerned. Just going to pick up one more group ride as a recovery ride and call ZA done.
I don't know if ZA has helped me or not. But the workouts have enough variation to keep my interest, so I'll probably tweak them a bit for future use (the warm downs are, umm, long, and disabling ERG when the power deltas are high). I can certainly see doing ZA7 semi-regularly until I can get through it without cramping. It's clearly stressing me in ways that I need.
Given I've made two runs at ZA7, I'm going to consider it done as far as ZA is concerned. Just going to pick up one more group ride as a recovery ride and call ZA done.
I don't know if ZA has helped me or not. But the workouts have enough variation to keep my interest, so I'll probably tweak them a bit for future use (the warm downs are, umm, long, and disabling ERG when the power deltas are high). I can certainly see doing ZA7 semi-regularly until I can get through it without cramping. It's clearly stressing me in ways that I need.
Jeff I know how you feel. Trainer Road sometimes feel ever so hard to complete the workout. Always the last 20% is increasingly difficult and takes a fair amount a will power to push through and keep form. I have fallen on the last block a few times, so my FTP is pretty much spot on. No point it being easy to finish the workout. Stick with it go back a few stages and build it up again.
bobinski
Legendary Member
- Location
- Tulse Hill
I feel your pain Jeff. I have to do it again before the end of the week. The load on the legs for much of the workout is worse than going up Ventoux! If you do have another go perhaps leave erg off. Don’t worry about stars just finish it?
Your last race suggests ZA has done you good.
The hell of it was I felt better after the first set last night than I did the previous attempt. I brought the power and cadence down for the 10min rest interval, near the end of the rest interval I brought the cadence back up and could feel the calf getting ready to knot up again. Tried to stretch it out on the bike with the remaining time in the rest interval, which may have helped get through the first two work intervals of the second set.
I suspect the spin-ups are stressing my calves more than expected -- 100ish cadence is higher than I'll normally ride for any length of time. Pile the ov/un effort on top and they're primed to knot up. Reminds me a lot of what would happen in one of hte old bkool courses we used to use -- there was a downhill near the end where I'd be spinning hard to avoid getting caught and it was always a delicate balance to make sure I was laying down power, but not cramping up.
Like you, I suspect it's pretty close on my FTP. I was initially bit skeptical, figuring the test over-estimated by ~10W. But the race last week was spot on my FTP at the 50 minute mark.
I'll probably try it without those early spin-ups and see how that affects the second ov/un set. I've had problems with cramps during/after spinning hard on the trainer before.
WRT has ZA helped? It may be more mental than physical. But even that's useful.
I decided to try and let todaysplan make me a 6 week plan. The plan pops up in Zwift workouts, so it's just like the Zwift academy workouts.
Todays VO2 was pretty tough
Jeff get a dimpled massage roller. They are great for calfs, thigh and hamstring massage. Only cost a few $. Like this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0...cd1c-579d-b701-9fcda9e167c7&pf_rd_i=458415031
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0...cd1c-579d-b701-9fcda9e167c7&pf_rd_i=458415031
Did a race in Zwift tonight. I wasn't planning to go hard, more to use the race to try some peloton riding and see if I could learn how to ride in a group on Zwift. After about 5 mins I found myself in a group of about 7-8 in position 85 out of 136. Over the next 20 mins or so we slowly pulled back straggler after staggler such that the front oft the the group was position 61 on the road. I was doing OK, not working too much and trying not to poke my nose out in front when the bl00dy chain comes off 
Keeps doing that recently - I wonder if the gears are misaligned or something. Anyway, by the time I get the chain back on i'm back in 108th 
I pushed on a bit after that and got myself up to 91st. Nothing too impressive but good practice and a 2.8 w/kg and 247 watts.
Edit - just checked Zwiftpower and the league has been adjusted - I'm now 53rd. On the original rankings the first 10 riders were way above the w/kg limits ... ckearly a LOT of other riders were too and I've been bumped up nearly 40 places
Keeps doing that recently - I wonder if the gears are misaligned or something. Anyway, by the time I get the chain back on i'm back in 108th I pushed on a bit after that and got myself up to 91st. Nothing too impressive but good practice and a 2.8 w/kg and 247 watts.Edit - just checked Zwiftpower and the league has been adjusted - I'm now 53rd. On the original rankings the first 10 riders were way above the w/kg limits ... ckearly a LOT of other riders were too and I've been bumped up nearly 40 places
Annoying thing is, the last few times the chain has dropped even when I wasn't actually changing gears! Both times I was in the big ring on the front and I think tonight 3rd largest ring at the back.
It does drop too sometimes when I go from large front to small front but that usually because at the time I'm on the large ring on the back already and so I think this is just my bad gear changing
Check the chainring for a bent or misaligned tooth or have you changed the chain recently, it could be too long?
