Ever seen a 180" screen Zwift setup?
Back story... When we moved to Minnesota ~3 years ago, the house we chose was previously owned by a golf fanatic... The house had a really sweet room setup as a Scottish pub that has a full-swing Golf Simulator, so you can basically play full rounds of golf on dozens of awesome courses around the world during the cold winter months in Minnesota without ever leaving home. This room was a novelty and we used it a few times in the first couple of months and then a for a couple more during social gatherings, but it has literally remained dormant for the past 2 yrs. Let's be honest, I spend my extra time running and riding my bike instead of golfing...
Enter Jess, my thoughtful wife... She wanted to tear out the room and either put a giant sauna or a yoga studio in there... Both of which would destroy an otherwise awesome room which could someday add huge value should we choose to sell this house. A couple of weeks ago, Jess had a brilliant idea... She said something like "I don't know what this new Zwift thing is that Coach P told you about, but... but you seem to like it... Why don't you set your bike up in the golf room and ride inside your stupid video game simulator thingy in front of the giant projector TV..." GENIUS!!!! within about 30 mins notice, I can convert this room back to it's original golf room glory, but for the foreseeable future I may have created the coolest Zwift setup in he entire world, so I figured I'd share...
I still plan to put down some rubber flooring (at least in the middle) and need a stand to put my keyboard and mouse on and to hold some water, etc. But what do you think so far?
Taken from the vantage point of behind my rollers...
Here's on with me standing in front of the screen for scale:
And a slightly zoomed out one so you can see a 19" computer monitor on the right wall for scale:
Enter Jess, my thoughtful wife... She wanted to tear out the room and either put a giant sauna or a yoga studio in there... Both of which would destroy an otherwise awesome room which could someday add huge value should we choose to sell this house. A couple of weeks ago, Jess had a brilliant idea... She said something like "I don't know what this new Zwift thing is that Coach P told you about, but... but you seem to like it... Why don't you set your bike up in the golf room and ride inside your stupid video game simulator thingy in front of the giant projector TV..." GENIUS!!!! within about 30 mins notice, I can convert this room back to it's original golf room glory, but for the foreseeable future I may have created the coolest Zwift setup in he entire world, so I figured I'd share...
I still plan to put down some rubber flooring (at least in the middle) and need a stand to put my keyboard and mouse on and to hold some water, etc. But what do you think so far?
Taken from the vantage point of behind my rollers...
Here's on with me standing in front of the screen for scale:
And a slightly zoomed out one so you can see a 19" computer monitor on the right wall for scale:
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that said, it kicks the shit out of me having my bike on a trainer next to my bed
#cyclingisthenewgolf
I forgot to ask you if you ever got invited to Morgan Stanley's HedgeFondo in VT? can connect you if interested?
Oh, and Zwift will introduce falls on the downhills, transmitted to rollers and rocker boards...followed by virtual road rash and bandages. Helmets will become mandatory.
hint, in my old location, if I got "squirrelly" on my rollers, I could reach my hand out and touch the nearby wall for balance. I only need a few ounces of pressure to catch my balance, but in my new setup, my rollers are in the middle of a wide open room...
On Sunday morning, I did my first real ride on my new setup. Of course I started with a 3-loop Hilly Race with one of my non-EN buddies as one of the guys I was racing against. After an easy ~20+ minute warm-up, I was in the staging area when 3-2-1-GO! I was off like a shot and flew past my buddy (it was his first Zwift race and he missed the front pack which I latched onto). This was a 3 lap race and I knew if I could hang with the lead group up the big ~2:40 hill I'd be in good shape to stay in front of him indefinitely... I turned myself inside out on the hill and used my aero helmet booster after I crested to hammer back in touch with the main lead group again... (so far so good). About ~3/4 of the way through the first loop (maybe 12 mins in), there is a section that quickly dips down and to the left followed by a quick up and to the right turn. When you are watching a computer monitor, you might not notice that the software zooms out a bit, then changes the camber as it quickly zooms back in again to really give you that "weightless" feeling of driving fast on a country road (or a roller coaster).
Long story longer, I was totally immersed in the game (on my life sized screen) and a bit light on brain oxygen and my mind tried to follow the road and movement of the screen and I dumped my bike off of the left side of my rollers. I reached out to catch myself on the wall (that had been nearby for the last ~3 yrs) with my arm and there was no wall. Luckily I was able to unclip and plant my foot on the floor and didn't actually fall as my bike came off the rollers to the left... I saw the pack start to pull away up the hill, but I thought I still could catch them if I hammered. So I lifted my bike back onto my rollers and re-mounted my bike and started to hammer and this is where it went downhill FAST! In my haste to not lose the pack, I didn't notice that when I went off of my rollers that my front wheel dislodged the small cord that attaches the rear roller (that my wheel turns) to the front roller (that is supposed to also turn so my front wheel turns).
Now here's where the physics lesson comes in. The only way you can balance on your bike on rollers is if both wheels are turning. The inertia of that wheel rotation is necessary to maintain stability. Well when you immediately hammer at ~500W to catch a group and your front wheel doesn't turn, you basically wobble 2x and then fall! So... All 200 pounds of me hit the floor beside my rollers and I was even more pissed now... I had to unclip (while laying on my back), then fix the cord that attaches the rear roller to the front roller... then re-attach the thick strap that turns the magnetic flywheel that creates resistance because my new fall dislodged that... Then fix my greasy chain which also popped in my fall to the floor... And after all of that get back into my stupid race because there's no way I was quitting and I wasn't sure if my buddy had passed me while I was fixing my crap with my little stupid Avatar stopped on the side of the road taunting me as other riders passed...
Over the next 2+ laps I was able to work back through the field, picking up a few strong-ish riders on the way and finding people to work with. On the 2nd lap at exactly the same spot, I came off my rollers again. In the entire ~45 min race, I came off my bike ~5 or 6 times. At least once was when we just started going down hill so my Avatar simply drafted as I got back on my rollers and I didn't even lose the gap. I eventually finished the race and still got a great workout in. I joined a few of the faster EN peeps partway through their Sunday group ride for ~20 mins before I ran out of time for the day... (side-note, I'm astounded how fast some of the EN chica's can go up the big Watopia hill, I clearly have a lot of work to do to get into bike shape to hang with that group for any extended period of time).
I've ordered rubber flooring for the room (to cushion future falls
Glad you didn't hurt yourself, or your bike!
Rather than dusting off your high school football helmet and shoulder pads, this floating fork stand gives you 95% of the roller experience while removing the risk of taking a digger.
The smart resistance is essential for Zwift experience, particularly when racing.
Both accessories get my regular usage and my stamp of approval
Floating Fork Stand (FFS)
Smart Resistance Control - Conversion Kit
The Inside Ride smart resistance control is now available as an upgrade kit for existing model H rollers. This system is made by Elite and is part of their "QUBO" product line. It has been adapted for use on the E-motion Rollers and has been fully tested before shipping. Full instructions are provided to install the smart device.
(Full details: http://www.insideride.com/blog/2016/11/8/inside-ride-smart-resistance-control-update )
After amortizing the cost of my rollers over 8 yrs of indoor training, I'm totally comfortable with the thought that I have "earned" an upgrade and the difference in $$ isn't the issue, the riding "experience" and training effect is the #1 priority. (and unlike @Dave Tallo I like new Tri stuff)
So here are the options I'm contemplating...
1) Keep my perfectly fine "dumb" rollers and add the Floating Fork Stand (at a minimum this is a no brainer)
2) Buy a New set of e-motion "Smart" rollers and the FFS
3) Buy a KICKR (and the climbing unit when it's available) and build a rocker system for it so I can still get motion while riding...
Anybody want to give me their thoughts?
I agree - FFS should be a no-brainer. It is easy on, easy off, should you want to go throwback old-school rollers.
I will provide a couple of comments about the "smart" roller attachement and maybe these will sway you one way or another. It works well with Zwift in free ride and racing mode as they adjust the resistance according to the grade. It doesn't play well when attempting to do "erg" workouts and have the trainer set the power. It is average at best when doing "zwift workouts".
The "smart" unit doesn't have a power meter. It goes through an algorithm based on wheel speed to attempt to adjust the resistance to match your power meter. There is a calibration process to link to your powermeter, but I haven't been able to complete this properly. Therefore, I haven't been successful in getting the resistance to work reliably with prescribed, imported workouts, particularly with short interval sets. In my opinion, this is a gap that some won't like. I like erg for some workouts and for sufferfest etc, and for several seasons, erg was my bread and butta. That said, with the explosion of group ride offerings and races on Zwift, I haven't touched my computrainer (my prior go-to for erg experience) in over a year...
I'm curious which route you decide to go... Good luck!
Holy crap, what a setup.
I still haven't decided between a KICKR or new Smart-ish rollers with front fork stand, but after my ride today I installed all of my other "upgrades" to the room with 2 EN flags, new rubber flooring, a new table for drinks and to grab for balance if needed, and I moved my Vasa down into this room as well. Starting to come together.
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Here's how I came to my decision:
I built a rocker board for Jess' CycleOps trainer then moved it up to my Zwift room to try it out. It was a COMPLETELY different experience for me. I didn't have the same immersion feeling, not even close. I didn't feel like I needed to lean or fall off a single time. When riding along the simple admin things were SUPER simple. I could actually get a drink anytime I wanted... I could blow my nose anytime I wanted. I could even take both hands off the handlebars to do things like send a text message on my phone or type things into my keyboard. It required almost zero concentration. I felt a bit more labored in my "just ride along" pace though. However, when it came to the Sprint finish of the race I got an almost immediate power pickup. When I really got on the hammer, the Fluid trainer (and I assume a KICKR) gave me a ton more resistance and I got a LOT more acceleration. It was the first time I was actually competitive in a large bunch group sprint. If this were simply a Zwift Optimization exercise, it would be a no brainer, the KICKER is the Superior tool.
However, this was a training optimization experiment, not "how to win a Zwift race" experiment... In less than a 2 hour ride, I could already feel greater pressure on my sit bones (noticeably worse feeling by a lot). And I think it's the tiny front to back motion (in addition to the side to side AND leaning ability) that makes my rollers feel SO MUCH more like actually riding a bicycle. Yes my rollers require constant attention for hours, but I think that is worth it to make it really feel like I'm riding my bicycle on the real road.
So now Jess has a new rocker-board under her CycleOps trainer and I will soon have new (used) rollers and will be trying out the Fork Stand and Smart Power tool when they all eventually show up.
Please give us an update after you've given your setup a few rides.