Apparently Bkool was just fine until I turned up.....So, bridgy’s appearance in Zwift has burnt out the ZP servers?!?
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I would expect at some point that zwift will have something similar to zwiftpower, but I think they've got bigger fish to fry right now. They certainly seem to be hitting a good mix of important stuff (in-game map, race placement, new routes, group workouts) as well as the things that are much less important to me (more avatar customization). Not to sound flippant, but given what they've already built building an integrated equivalent of zwiftpower is child's play.That right.strange as it may seem Zwift was never intended for racing, more just riding and training so community stepped in with races then Zwift power. Zwift are having to play catch up. Zwift power will probably always be more reliable. It sorts or rather fillets out the categories and because it’s linked to Strava riders can check and compare other riders IRL rides to see if they are weight doping or similar on Zwift. That will be more important to you Cat A riders
Wife got me a roller a while back. Some days it hurts like hell.
bobinski
Legendary Member
- Location
- Tulse Hill
Paul has had a ride on Monte’s Neo. Excellent times and Watts 
40Watts difference, pretty much what we've all experienced. Need to check sections to see if speed is significantly different, I suspect it is.Edit quick comparison nearly 2mph slower on the Neo on a flat long section
I just proves Paul is very powerful, top B or A cat racer.
I wonder now he has sampled the Neo?
Paul came 4th in cat B. Zpower recorded a 7% drop in performance using the Neo.
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bobinski
Legendary Member
- Location
- Tulse Hill
I have run through and compared lots of segments. Really interesting. At times on the course On a par with or slower than some of us and at other times a fair bit faster. I have never raced the course but I am now chomping athe bit to see how near I can get to Paul’s London loop forward lap time. 1m 30 advantage to Paul on a 9 mike course. Can I bring it down by 30s or more?
bobinski
Legendary Member
- Location
- Tulse Hill
Andy, beginning of November last year so almost a year ago- my how time flies!
I honestly cannot recall if it was a Neo ride or not but it would have been a solo ride not a race. So, I would hope room for improvement. I think we need to have Paul borrow the Neo or get one and race in the Kiss races
Someone we know we can chase!
Andy, you are right-it was December.
I honestly cannot recall if it was a Neo ride or not but it would have been a solo ride not a race. So, I would hope room for improvement. I think we need to have Paul borrow the Neo or get one and race in the Kiss races
Someone we know we can chase!Andy, you are right-it was December.
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That was interesting, not a lot of difference between the Neo & bkool.
I do have a theory, that depending how close your body weight is to 75kgs (the figure that most trainers calibrate too) depends on the accuracy, ie. I’m a 98kgs rider and I found the bkool numbers way out but where as Paul is 77kgs and we were both scratching our head and concluded that the Neo & the bkool is not that far out...
I do have a theory, that depending how close your body weight is to 75kgs (the figure that most trainers calibrate too) depends on the accuracy, ie. I’m a 98kgs rider and I found the bkool numbers way out but where as Paul is 77kgs and we were both scratching our head and concluded that the Neo & the bkool is not that far out...
7% drop from Pro to Neo for @bridgy .....I'd take that as it means the Pro advantage isn't as high as anticipated. Assuming a worse case 10% -15% watts decrease for me, racing the flats at around 280 watts, that would have me at around 230-250 (more realistic) watts.View attachment 378692 40Watts difference, pretty much what we've all experienced. Need to check sections to see if speed is significantly different, I suspect it is.
Edit quick comparison nearly 2mph slower on the Neo on a flat long section
I just proves Paul is very powerful, top B or A cat racer.
I wonder now he has sampled the Neo?
Paul came 4th in cat B. Zpower recorded a 7% drop in performance using the Neo.
We don’t think the drop is that big... Paul was free wheeling on the downhill sections (ie. 0 Watts) which would obviously knock the average watts
I was trying to pacify @bobinski as he thinks our Pro advantage is much bigger which is why he loses to us in the virtual world
Edit : I think that makes me a Cat C rider anyway, so I think I'll stick there for now and learn some race tactics before I venture into the world of the B riders.
Enjoyed that on Carlo's Neo - thanks guys, now I need to save up for one 
It's hard to compare one ride vs what I did on the bkool the other day - different course for a start, plus some freewheeling and quite a lot of drafting today. I did the same London route on my bkool in March which is probably a better comparison. When I get a minute I will compare stats.
Either way, still felt bloomin hard work! First time I have used a real power meter so good to have some kind of benchmark
It's hard to compare one ride vs what I did on the bkool the other day - different course for a start, plus some freewheeling and quite a lot of drafting today. I did the same London route on my bkool in March which is probably a better comparison. When I get a minute I will compare stats.
Either way, still felt bloomin hard work! First time I have used a real power meter so good to have some kind of benchmark
bobinski
Legendary Member
- Location
- Tulse Hill
Paul, that was obviously an excellent ride and bang on top end Cat B. I would love to have your w/k- I cannot get past 3.5 over an hour. Short bursts for me.
Oh, the Elite directo is just over half the price of the Neo and 95% as good
Racing has such an impact on watts. I did a zsun training ride on Watopia 8 the other night and we raced - or rather I chased them!-up the kom. I knocked 30s off my PB. 3s faster than you I suspect you can go faster!
Looking at ZP it didn’t seem like there were enough racers for much opportunity to draft Today. But as you say, difficult to read the numbers until you pull up the other ride and there may be other variables at play, not least whether you were racing and drafting on the pro and also your Cadence. I suspect you can go faster!Oh, the Elite directo is just over half the price of the Neo and 95% as good
Ok here we go with bkool vs Neo comparison. Firstly, yes of course the Neo is lovely to use - no surprise there! Very smooth and quiet. In terms of watts etc. I have compared today's ride on the Neo with a ride from March on the same course on the bkool. The watopia course I did the other day was much flatter so not sure how comparable the power figures are (maybe I will get a chance to do this again on the watopia course.....Carlo?!).
March ride on Bkool: https://www.strava.com/activities/918556382
Today's ride on Neo: https://www.strava.com/activities/1230166871
Not a 100% perfect comparison as one ride is a bit longer as it includes a bit more pootling around afterwards I expect, but you get the idea. On the "london loop" segment I was 35 seconds quicker on the neo vs the bkool (23.20 vs 23.55) and average power was 290 on the bkool and 297 on the neo. HR figures do suggest I was trying a little harder today on that segment - but not hugely different (167 ave vs 174 ave HR for the segment).
As Carlo said I tried freewheeling on the long downhill sections so today there were times when I was doing zero watts. I don't think I did the same on the bkool - I certainly didn't on thursday. Also I settled in to a group of 3 or 4 for much of today's ride so there was a fair bit of drafting - although Carlo will confirm I'm a but impatient with that so did probably spend more time on front than I could have!
So read into that what you will! Right, just need my bkool to break now....!
March ride on Bkool: https://www.strava.com/activities/918556382
Today's ride on Neo: https://www.strava.com/activities/1230166871
Not a 100% perfect comparison as one ride is a bit longer as it includes a bit more pootling around afterwards I expect, but you get the idea. On the "london loop" segment I was 35 seconds quicker on the neo vs the bkool (23.20 vs 23.55) and average power was 290 on the bkool and 297 on the neo. HR figures do suggest I was trying a little harder today on that segment - but not hugely different (167 ave vs 174 ave HR for the segment).
As Carlo said I tried freewheeling on the long downhill sections so today there were times when I was doing zero watts. I don't think I did the same on the bkool - I certainly didn't on thursday. Also I settled in to a group of 3 or 4 for much of today's ride so there was a fair bit of drafting - although Carlo will confirm I'm a but impatient with that so did probably spend more time on front than I could have!
So read into that what you will! Right, just need my bkool to break now....!
