Scott and Kelly's Mentor Group- Closed (Page 7)

Originally posted by crissy_jo



Why yes, yes I do.

Originally posted by crissy_jo

Finally did my first TrainerRoad FTP test. I got a cadence & speed sensor for Christmas so I could use Trainer Road with my new (used) indoor trainer. Every time I tried to jump on and do the test I was interrupted, and I have had a stomach bug for 2 days, so... finally the stars aligned and I got my 1 hour FTP test in. I would like to add in they call this 1 hour test an "8 minute Test" and I find that to be SO misleading. For those of you who have not experienced trainer road you are supposed to max out for 8 solid minutes twice during a 1 hour ride. All I can say is the last 2 minutes of each of those 8 minutes are ROUGH!

I'd also like to state that my power is WAY off the suggested 200 watts. As in WAY under. So after I was done riding I checked (measured) my tire circumference and found it to be slightly larger than listed for my default tire size, so that will help my numbers go up once corrected, and I would like to believe my FluidTrainer2 was more resistance than any other fluidtrain2 in the world and that is my other issue. I'm sure that's it. Hee-hee. I think my average Watts were 80 during the 8 minute test. When I do a spin class my average watts over the entire 1 hour class including warm up & cool down is upwards of 180 watts (and on one spin bike it is nearly 300 average watts - but I think that one is a little off). But this watt thing really shouldn't matter because whatever watts it gives me on TrainerRoad, only relates to my training on TrainerRoad. 80 Watts on TrainerRoad might equal 200 Watts on the spin bikes in the gym. So after my near death experience this morning determining my FTP I was told it is currently 68, and my LTHR is 166. I guess these numbers will drive my target watts during my training over the next few weeks. All interesting info that I would have no idea how to use on my own, but I guess the people at Trainer Road know how to put it to good use.

So now that I am done writing a book on my experience, what has your experience been like for those of you using TrainerRoad? How often did you retest your FTP? How quickly did you see improvements and how much improvement? Did you find the watts to be way off, or somewhat similar to what you would see on a spin bike at the gym.

Originally posted by Brendab

I'm going to take your suggestions and get some aerobars for my bike and then get it refitted. I've been looking at aerobars and there's SO many choices. Would love to get a "good" used set if at all possible and do see them on BT classifieds. Any suggestions OR is anyone ready to sell one they have?

Thanks, Brenda

Originally posted by Brendab

Great story to share: A newer runner in our area is getting ready for her 1st marathon and has been struggling with her long runs. She connected to a FB group that I'm in and this morning 15 of us showed up in shifts to get her through her 18 miler. She couldn't believe all the support she got from strangers (no longer strangers!). Turned out that there were others needing support after reading the post and there were 2 others that showed in a similar situation. We even had transportation to & from the different stops. I love to see the support of other athletes, especially supporting those just getting into the sport. I certainly feel that way about BT and this group!

Cheers, Brenda

Originally posted by Brendab

Great story to share: A newer runner in our area is getting ready for her 1st marathon and has been struggling with her long runs. She connected to a FB group that I'm in and this morning 15 of us showed up in shifts to get her through her 18 miler. She couldn't believe all the support she got from strangers (no longer strangers!). Turned out that there were others needing support after reading the post and there were 2 others that showed in a similar situation. We even had transportation to & from the different stops. I love to see the support of other athletes, especially supporting those just getting into the sport. I certainly feel that way about BT and this group!

Cheers, Brenda

Originally posted by Dangerjim71
Support: if you haven't found a local triathlon club already stop what you're doing and find one right now!!! If there is no tri club near you find a swim bike or run club as it's likely to have at least a couple triathletes in the mix. I can say without a doubt that I wouldn't have made it out of the water of my HIM last summer if I hadn't done so much open water swimming with our tri club. The swim conditions were brutal but I had already swam worse conditions with our club so I knew I could do it.

Originally posted by Kristen

OK - so I am basically in your same place - got the sensor for xmas, did the FTP test and was way under the 200 FTP. So far I've only done some of the low FTP endurance rides, and I have to use a real light gear to do those and stay in the power zone. I imagine it will be much more telling when I do some of the power rides to see if the zones are right for me. I have no idea about spin bikes at the gym - haven't used those.

Originally posted by Brendab

I'm going to take your suggestions and get some aerobars for my bike and then get it refitted. I've been looking at aerobars and there's SO many choices. Would love to get a "good" used set if at all possible and do see them on BT classifieds. Any suggestions OR is anyone ready to sell one they have?

Thanks, Brenda

Originally posted by crissy_jo




Kristen,
I requested that the guys at Trainer Road take a look at my settings and they corrected my power curve. I guess there are two options for my trainer, and of course I chose the wrong one. They corrected the watts and my FTP from 68 to 170 I believe. You might have the same issue. Look through the entire list of trainers and see if there is a BETA option and a another option to select for your trainer.

Originally posted by ccmpsyd



There are many bike/tri websites that offer good deals on bike components. Always good idea to read reviews too. I have Profile Design, which is a pretty reputable brand. There is no need to break the bank on them.

What distance do you plan on racing in the near future? Reason I ask is because I have been told that the time/speed benefits from areo bars during sprint/oly races are really negligible. I have also been told (by a reputable source) that one can go faster if they ride on the drops of a road bike vs areo bars on short course races. The benefits of areo bars can be seen, however, on long course races. So, depending upon the type of helmet you have, you may want to invest in a good areo helmet, as they really help riders, vs areo bars. The reason, apparently, that areo bars don't really add that much in terms of time reduction/speed is the differences in the geometry/design of a road vs tri bike.

Riding in the drops, however, is tough to do throughout the course of a race. Not sure I could do it.

Hope this helps

Chris

Originally posted by DDVMM



What kind of helmet does everyone ride with or recommend?

Originally posted by DDVMM What kind of helmet does everyone ride with or recommend?

Originally posted by uhcoog

 

I wear a Bell Javelin.  I like it a lot.  I recommend going to try on helmets.  For instance the Giro Selector doesn't fit my head.  I like having the shield on the front of my helmet too.  I'm not overly keen on wearing sunglasses on the run so a shield on my helmet works wonders.

[/QUOTE

I agree about the visor. Mine does not have a visor. I wear sunglasses on the run a lot and tried wearing them when I ride but I do not like it because I wind up looking over the bridge of the glasses. So now I do not wear anything, which stinks sometimes because I may get hit with a stray bug or get teary gong down fast descents esp when it is cold. I may try to find better glasses.

Originally posted by ccmpsyd I agree about the visor. Mine does not have a visor. I wear sunglasses on the run a lot and tried wearing them when I ride but I do not like it because I wind up looking over the bridge of the glasses. So now I do not wear anything, which stinks sometimes because I may get hit with a stray bug or get teary gong down fast descents esp when it is cold. I may try to find better glasses.

Originally posted by DDVMM

What kind of helmet does everyone ride with or recommend?

Originally posted by uhcoog

Alright ladies and gents I am in need of stuff to watch while on the trainer.  What are y'all watching at the moment?

Originally posted by crissy_jo



My helmet is a regular bike helmet from Lazer. I think it was around $50, and adjusts very nicely. Not one of the aero helmets, I'm not a contender for any big prizes or long distance rides where I feel I need a space helmet. Maybe when I get good enough to be top 3 overall I will upgrade and sacrifice my looks, until then I'm still slow enough for people to see and recognize (and make fun of), so looks are more important.

I always wear glasses. Way to much debris out there. I have several pairs and my favorite for riding are frameless sunglasses. The ones I currently wear are Tifosi (Vogel), for no other reason than those were the only frameless ones available at the store. I can't stand the frame of the sunglasses getting in my field of view, but I would chose sunglasses or clear saety glasses with a frame over none at all.