Why use Trainer Road if I have a power meter?
I was reading some posts on the dashboard re Trainer Road and it got me thing. I don't use TR, but know many of you do. I also realize that many who do use it also have a power meter. I am curious to know what advantage do I gain using TR if I have a power meter? Thanks.
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Second, I just joined EN today, so I haven't even had a chance to see the EN specific workouts in TR yet, but the library of workouts in trainerroad is awesome. And, that doesn't even count the Sufferfest workouts.
Third, if you upgrade your trainer to an electronic resistance trainer (Computrainer, Wahoo Kickr, etc.), your watts are set for you. You just hit the cadence that you can, or want to, maintain for that set.
Lastly, the electronic resistance trainer itself captures and transmits your power numbers to the computer. This has allowed me to pull my race bike (the one with my power meter) off the trainer and use a secondary bike (cheaper) for indoor training.
I too am an evangelist for Trainer Road. I only use it 4-5 months a year when I'm riding more indoors. I costs less per ride than the nutrition I'm using, and is worth more IMO. Does it "help" me in the sense that it makes me faster? Maybe ... if it makes it more likely that I am willing to do the workout and see it to conclusion.
Without explaining why, I'd say TR makes my OS workouts more tolerable, almost fun, easier to do. I have yet to hear from anyone who has tried it and said, "What a waste". Like many other folks, I assumed at first blush that it was not worth anything to me, given my PM, CompuTrainer, Training Peaks, and all the associated analytic software. Its sorta like doing running intervals on a premium composition track vs trying to grind them out on a city sidewalk. I can get them done both places, but, given the choice, I'll spend the ¢ to drive 5 miles to a track rather then run outside my door, as its so much more enjoyable to knock out hard fast intervals at the local college or HS. Same thing with TR - I don't *need* it, but I *prefer* it.
Now, if you mix things up and get a few Sufferfest videos and drop those into a TR workout (non-EN) that is where the bang for the buck happens.
Rock on!
John
Is setup easy? I assume it'll be run off my laptop?
And to Paul's point, I also have a cycleops power beam pro - this is essentially a trainer with a pm built into the flywheel. I got this prior to joining EN, and subsequently got a quarq to ride outside too. This cycleops system has virtual software (like a computrainer), which I rarely use now. But I have gotten in the habit of preloading my EN bike wko's into the joule for the trainer so that my resistance automatically changes for prescribed times and intervals. Is this what essentially what tr will be doing? Would it be overkill?
Thanks again.
Here's the thing I am having trouble coming to grips with... There are a ton of people who use it and love it. It cost $10 a month. TR will refund your money within the first 30 days with no questions. And it takes about 10-15 mins to setup and install (maybe an extra day of lag time to get access to the EN workouts). Most people already have an ANT+ stick laying around because of past Garmin watch. Most people have a laptop these days or an old PC in a closet somewhere. The Risk is basically that you waste 15 mins and discover that EVERYONE that has previously used it is a liar and the thing stinks and you wasted 15 mins of your time (maybe 30 mins...). Sorry to sound crass, but why are we even having a discussion about it. Just try it for a few EN workouts. Or for one of your sufferfest videos or similar if you already have them. If you hate TR after a few tries, stop using it and tell us why you hated it. If you like it, tell us why so we can point future people to this thread.
Okay, back off my soap box now...
Has anyone tried to use TR on a Samsung Tablet? It uses a normal browser (chrome), has bluetooth, so I can't see why it couldn't work on it.
I tried it for a few months and it got to be a drag/ time consuming , just another thing to do, setting up my lap top making sure things work as with all electronics/ gadgets something goes wrong it distracts from my ride.
I'm good with a radio in my pain cave Sirius or Pandora a power tap to display my numbers I don't need yet another screen to show me the same thing a device on my bike is showing me.
Question: I have 2 trainers - 1 cycleops power beam, which I was able to link easily to tr and the other is a bottom of the line cycleops trainer that I take with me when I travel. Any problem using tr with 2 separate trainers? It doesn't seem like it would be an issue.
@Brad if you are using TR for Virtual Power you will have to tell it each time if you change trainers.
I just reread your question about ERG there is no ERG on TR you have to work for the power not have it adjust to it and you spin. It will do that with your powerbeam I think because the power beam is doing that internally. I t will not do it with a plain old trainer. If you have a kickr it will provide ERG as well. Personally I think it is cheating the workout to have it in ERG mode but......
@ David - thanks for presenting the alternative perspective. In one sense, we agree - TR is not a necessity to getting an effective workout. And if it does not provide value to your workout experience, then for sure it's something to drop - there's so much other friction involved in just getting on the bike trainer.
Funny thing, yesterday, I did a little time study to see just how long and for what reasons it took to get going on a trainer ride in the OS. Here's an exhaustive list of what I did:
Of those tasks, fiddling with TR took the least time - certainly less than mixing nutrition and bringing it to the bike, less than getting the TV program I wanted to watch on screen, less than linking my earphones to the TV, and less than I otherwise would with the CT software. It took less than one minute for the TR portion of the process, out of a total of 34 minutes (including the flat tire). From a time ROI perspective, adding TR seems pretty minimal compared to all the other stuff I'm doing and the value I get from them. For me, though, it provides enough added motivation that I am more likely to get a full workout in. Also, the post ride analysis is done for me, right there on the screen at the end of the workout - no fooling around with opening up another program or selecting intervals or anything. And then its saved in the cloud, so I can refer back to it any time I want, and share it with others if I want.
Again, David, thanks for adding balance to the discussion.
No, and TR doesn't have an app (yet). You need to download the TR software and install it and then sync the ant+ stick with the software and then with your trainer. Since Android (and iPad) won't let you install regular software it won't work on it. In short, you need a regular computer.
@Al
My bike is always on the trainer using a Lemond.
I have TR hooked up to a 55 inch screen with a laptop. I turn on the Laptop (actually awake it; I don't even turn the laptop off) get the workout I want turn my garmin on, wake the PM calibrate and go.
It aint that big of a deal. I have over 420 hours on TR and was a Beta user when Nate first came out with the software.
Love it Love it Love it.
@ Ray - in part, my long list of tasks is because I'm a fuss budget (see my age below), and in part it's because I'm riding on my upstairs porch, which has French doors opening into the room where my one and only TV sits. Although I have 5 bikes (tandem, commuter/touring bike, TT bike, 2 MTBs), I haven't sprung for one to just devote to the trainer. I don't want to leave my bike outdoors in the damp PacNW weather, so I move stuff back and forth each ride. The plus is I'm riding outside on a covered porch in 45F temps so no fan is needed. And since I insist on audio visual distraction, I have to deal with getting that ready. But yesterday, I realised, this is taking longer than it should, so I examined things to see what was taking so long to "just get on the bike and go". It appears to be 20 minutes minimum to do all the stuff to get from "sitting around in regular clothes" to start pedaling.
I added a Wahoo Kickr over the holidays. I just bring my laptop into the pain cave, connect it to the TV and ride. Here's my set-up
@Paul- I just saw your question re loading wko's. I have been loading them onto my joule from my pc manually. I find that it's a lot easier than manually adjusting the resistance on the joule as I ride the trainer, especially on vo2 intervals that are on/off type intervals. Also, just as everyone using TR has stated, it keeps me honest since I input the wko ahead of time when I'm not under duress of fatigue! This way I stick to whatever wko I input and the only way to get to the "reward" (recovery) is by finishing my interval. Funny thing is that I started doing this out of necessity since the joystick broke on my joule and I cannot adjust resistance while I'm riding anymore. I simply login to the cyclops app on my pc, go to workouts and add a new one. Then I transfer the wko's to my joule and I'm all set. Don't need a pc or anything while I ride. I can follow all the intervals on the joule itself. Once you have a bunch saved, you can either reuse the same ones or tweak them slightly to make rides longer or shorter rather than input an entirely new one.
@ Brad - I will cry if my joystick ever breaks, but then I might start using mu Joule Garmin which has been collecting dust for the past year and half. My head hurts just thinking about the process of loading a workout to the Joule. I know it can upload manual workouts but that sounds too hard to do. Are you building them in PowerAgent?
@Paul - Just want to clarify one thing about electronic resistance trainers. An electronic resistance device controls the resistance against a rider's pedaling effort without the need to change gears. If the interval calls for 250 watts, the resistance adjusts based on whatever cadence the rider is performing.
Just like on the road, or on a trainer using gear shifting, pushing the pedals at 250w is harder at lower cadences. Another way to say that is that I can ride at 100 rpm or 60 rpm at the same 250w without shifting gears on an electronic resistance trainer. What changes is the force of the resistance coming from the flywheel.