Hey I'm thinking of not treking to Ride Brooklyn for the month of February. Does anyone want to take over my 7:45 spot. Goes to the first person to contact me.

You have to calibrate your trainer properly. This means warming up for 10 minutes and then re-calibrating. The device itself needs to warm up somewhat.

The protocol is like this:

1) put bike on trainer, tighten resistance wheel
2) ride for 10 minutes or so
3) spin up as fast as you can go then STOP, wait for wheel to spin down - there is a magic number that should show range is 2.00-2.25
4) if you get the right range, do nothing - if you don't you have to tighten/loosen and return to step 3

Basically the range you should see on any normal day is +/- 30 watts from what you're used to seeing - that takes care of fatigue, having a good day, etc.

If you see numbers that are way off; something is probably way off.

BUT THAT IS NO REASON TO RUIN YOUR WORKOUT

At the end of the day your heart, lungs & legs don't care what the screen showed - they just need the work. Don't waste an hour recalibrating, or bail because you're too far behind.

The beauty of the sessions is that we can all ride together regardless of how fast we're each going.

Last time I checked, the guy finishing last got way more encouragement than the guy finishing first.

Yeah, you just pick on my music.

This session almost exactly matched my quarq.

hey ALL,
RyanJ et al...thanks for insights.

i did have a BLAST! riding@Ride Brooklyn with/near JohnM, MichaelP, EricR, RyanJ, NossonS, &Vald.

Fact is, i have/had no idea about my cycling metrics incl: wattage, cadence, heart rate, &thats been fine so far, but, clearly time to a. learn parameters(if only for comparative&BS purposes)& b. confirm machinery is properly adjusted(Murray@Ride Brooklyn did input my weight 150lbs + 17lbs). Hope to sit in again next week!

BTW, i heard Vlad say his new powermeter was spot on with the Computrainer results. the workout was intense(esp. given extra 28minute ridetime), more than satisfying...just a bit humiliating as indicated on BIG 'Arati2600' SCREEN. c'est la vie.

great music, MP!
-h;>

@Marc - a couple of weeks ago, my onscreen average was over 20w below my Quarq. So, who knows what is right week from week. I have taken pains to try to get the power nubmers closer than ever this year:

1. always use the same trainer
2. warm up the tire and trainer for over 20 minutes each session
3. recalibrate my power meter frequently
4. keep drum pressure between 2.25 and 2.5 (Jules runs it too low)

Well, color me impressed. I'm looking forward to some strong team performances in the local 1/2/3 races this year indeed! Keep on, keeping on gents.

I would have thought that since the computrainer is working off the rear wheel rather than the crank, the numbers generated should be several percentage points lower than a crank-based power meter and a few percentage points lower than a hub-based power meter.Basically, the power at the crank should be higher than the hub,the hub should be higher than at the tire because of various components flexing.

Assuming the room gets hotter over the course of the session, zeroing the offset should minimize changes.

All the same, what matters more is what you did last week and this week.

All you 300 watt an hour people:

Nevermind, the link didn't work. But you're awesome.

@ Jeff - so are you
@Mugwunp - I spend enough time for the PM to acclimate to the temp of the room and do the backpedal several times during the ride. I don't trust the Computrainer number one bit and its too variable trainer to trainer. However, I do trust my PM, so compared to the prior week - lower AVP b/c this week I wasn't sprinting every 5 min. Same AVP as teh week before that, or a bit lower, but this week, we really didn't draft. I know I didn't want to and wanted a steadier ride.

The room probably cools down due to the open door. Here is the temp chart for Wednesday's ride. The last calibration of the computrainer was done just prior to the start of the session at 47:48 into the ride.

All the PM data from the night: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/145046780

Are there any 6pm folks willing to swap to 7:45pm (this week only) ?

OR - if there is a 6pm sub spot that opens up - I call first dibs - and then my 7:45pm spot is available for anyone that wants it.

thanks

JC

I'm not going to be back in town on time on Wednesday, so my 6 is up for grabs.

thanks Ryan.

It's official, I'll take Ryan's 6pm, my 7:45pm is up for grabs.

Ill take 745 thanks

Still getting over flu. My 6PM is available. Anyone want it?

My 6pm is also open. I won't be able to make it. If it's dry I'll hit the park later on.

id rather take a 6pm slot if thats ok. i need to wake up very early tomorrow and the adrenaline needs to taper down before I can shut my eyes.

Ok, Alyosha gets Mitch's spot and I get Jules's spot. I have an engagement later, so 6 works better for me.

That leaves my 7:45 spot open.

hey Kissena - we have a spot for the 7:45 Wed night computrainer opening up for the remaining 4 weeks in February. Cost is $70.00 (17.50 a week) - payable in advance.

Contact me asap if you want it, otherwise I will contact the usual suspects from outside of the club.

thanks.

the damage done during the 7:45 sesh.....

Um, 305 for an hour? I saw Grant drinking a 22 of Heineken upstairs before this.

so THAT"S where i'm losing power. i was drinking a 22 of Heineken DURING this.

7.45pm

...

Ragot smashing it up, business as usual... Ox Perlberg made huge bridging move to regain front. Norm did same in second session cranking some serious watts (numbers are from 2/3rd's thru).

Looks like trainer #5 is the "lucky" trainer. Grant averaged 309 and Nosson did 312!

Trainer #4 was singing sweetly too... 278w avg and my avg HR for the ride was 144bpm.

I've been using #4 for my other rides wherein I've might near blown-up trying to stay at 300w for 5mins... on those days I had set the resistance to 2.34, but last night I warmed-up my tire real nice, and then set resistance at 2.42. Or, maybe I forgot to push the "set" button and it was still set to 3.something (must have, since it was massively easier to pump the watts). Only other diff was that I used my Hed wheel instead of fulcrum and I ran slightly lower pressure. Anyhow, it was a much different feel last night.

calibrate, warm up, calibrate again...

if the computer thinks the pressure is greater than is actually registering, you will fly...

@ Eric. When you say calibrate again, is it anything more than doing the spindown from +25 and pressing F3 again? I am assuming doing that overwrites the calibration.

BIKE SETUP
Slack the tension off the generator and load in your bike (standard "silver" road skewer only on rear wheel).
Clean the gunk of your tire with a rag and the isopropyl alcohol (Pete likes us to do this for traction and to avoid crud getting ion the working parts).

CALIBRATION PROCEDURE (from manual)
The calibration procedure involves pedaling the bike up to 25 M.P.H. (about 40 K.P.H.) and then coasting
to a stop. During the coast down, the Rolling Resistance is measured electronically. Make sure you’ve
sufficiently warmed up the Load Generator and bike tire as described before proceeding.
Rolling Resistance Calibration Program -- The Procedure

Step 1 -- Turn your CompuTrainer ON. Press F2 to enter Ergometer mode and ride for about 10 minutes
increasing the wattage to 150 watts using the [ + ] key. This should sufficiently warm up the tire and Load
Generator to equilibrium temperature (rolling resistance decreases as system temperature increases).

Step 2 -- After the warm up, press the [ + ] and [ – ] keys simultaneously to return to the Calibration
Program. In Calibration Mode the LCD display will show the letter “ U” (standing for ‘uncalibrated’)
and the number 2.00 (2.00 stands for 2.00 lbs and is the default value when the CompuTrainer is
uncalibrated) in the lower bottom half of the display. The number 0.00 appears in the top half of the
display and indicates MPH.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can calibrate from within any CompuTrainer PC program as well (see the
operator manual for the program for further details). If you plan to do so, you might
want to do a preliminary calibration (as noted here) first. Because accuracy of load
and wattage depends on calibration, you may want to calibrate in Stand-Alone mode
before running any important tests. <<
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Step 3 -- Begin pedaling. Once you have reached 12 m.p.h. the word “UP” will appear on the bottom
right hand corner of the display. Continue pedaling faster. When the speed reaches 25 mph the word
“UP” disappears, at which point stop all pedaling and let the wheel coast to a stop. The rolling resistance
measured during this test will appear at the top of the screen. Repeat this step about 2 or 3 times to make
sure the number repeats +/- a few hundredths of a pound.

Step 4 -- When satisfied. save the calibration value by pressing F3. The number will automatically
replace the default value of 2.00 at the bottom of the screen. Calibration is now complete.
Once saved, the calibration number will remain in memory until the CompuTrainer power switch is
turned OFF.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A value above 5.00 is considered excessive by the software and cannot be saved. In
this case check for low tire pressure, high press-on force, etc. Make adjustments to
reduce the rolling resistance to below 5.00 lbs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Important Notes:
An error during calibration of 0.01 lb. equates to a change in load of 1/2 watt at a speed of 25 m.p.h.. You may wish to
repeat Step 3 more than once to confirm your rolling resistance value repeats to within .05-.10 lbs. If the value continues
to drop for two consecutive measurements, this indicates that the tire and Load Generator may have not yet reached
a stabilized operating temperature. Warm up the system several more minutes and repeat Step 3.
It is not necessary that the calibration numbers read exactly the same on a daily basis, this assuming the values don’t
vary too much, i.e. 2.00 pound compared with 3.00 pounds. Because rolling drag is “always there”, setting too much
rolling drag for a flat course would make loads feel like hill climbs. You should always set the press-on force appropriate
to the workload to be encountered. If a flat course, then less press-on force. Hill climbs will require more. For advice
on setting an optimum Press-On Force number, see the technical appendix on page 23 of this manual.

is this an inappropriate point to mention that Brooklyn Fish Camp is now sponsoring a $30 all you can eat shrimp/beer fest on Wednesday nights? i'm sure they wouldn't mind 10 sweaty guys in kits at the bar laying waste to the morning catch.....