In the last weeks my threshold workouts started feeling much harder. The first time I thought I was just out of fitness tired/hangover, but this last one still felt harder, so I turned on my bike computer to check the crank power meter values and it was reading about 20W higher (watching it live).
This kinda just happend all of a sudden. I remember before the numbers were more or less in line visually speaking.
Comparing a bit of threshold effort recorded on both my Elite Tuo via TR on my Macbook and my Single Side Quarq power-meter on Wahoo Bolt v2.
I’m not entirely sure what to do or debug now. I don’t really care about them being offset, is more that I feel like it just happend and it wasn’t like this before, which is annoying for training since all of a sudden it feels different and I might need to adjust my FTP.
This kinda happened also last year, but at the time I had changed rooms for the trainer. I’m wondering if it could be related with temp of the room since temperatures just plummeted here (also the trainer feels super warm to the touch).
Also thinking it could be the bike? I recently had to clean the chain because I went for a bike ride last monday and it felt sluggish.
Or I’m just unfit. That’s also possible.
Any ideas how to go about debugging this? It’s just bothering me that it feels inconsistent.
For starters, try unplugging your trainer for 5-10 minutes to let it “hard reset.” Ideally, keep it unplugged between workouts (if you don’t already).
Next, check to see if you have any firmware updates available:
It could be worth calibrating your Quarq as well – though if you have a more recent Quarq, it should have MagicZero Auto Calibration and you may be able to skip this step.
Finally, make sure PowerMatch is enabled, which will allow you to use your Quarq to control the resistance on your Tuo. TrainerRoad will measure the power offset between your Quarq and Tuo and adjust the resistance of your Tuo based on that offset in power and the current interval target.
Give those steps a go and feel free to let me know if you have any additional questions!
Here is what DC Rainmaker had to say about calibrating the Tuo…he also said the 110 psi was pretty much essential.
There are some key steps to getting the Elite Toaster to work consistently from a power accuracy standpoint. Aside from pumping up your tire, in my experience the rest of the steps only need to be done once a month or so.
Pump up your tire to 110PSI (7.5 bar)
Do a 10-15 minute warmup on the trainer
Get off bike, and unlock the Tuo lever (so, it’ll slide the unit away from your tire)
Now, adjust the upper rear knob so that the tire just BARELY touches the roller
Now close the lever, so it presses on nice and tight
I have done all of these steps but the 110 psi, since when I take the bike outside 110 psi is a bit high.
Still strange because the pressure didn’t just “change”, anyway worth debugging.
Ray seems to think the 110psi is critical…so I would definitely make that adjustment and see what happens.
Oh, if you haven’t pumped up your tire yet, then undo the latch we just closed on the rear of the trainer, and pump up your tire to 110PSI/7.5bar – the specifics matter here. Don’t be free-styling this – just trust me, use these values (because this is what Elite uses, and it makes a difference for wheel-on trainers). Then, on the back of the trainer, you’ll adjust the upper knob (that’s basically inside the lever) to just barely touch the tire.
I would argue that is probably more of a consistent PSI than a specific number.
If the calibration was done at x psi, OP needs to be sure his tire pressure is always X.
Exactly my intrepertation, and something I always kept more or less consistent.
I have just done a few rides and I think the issue was indeed having it turned on for a long time. I will updated with full explantion soon.
I got home, I had left the trainer unplugged this time (I usually leave it plugged for days). Did a little Z2 7min effort (Scotty) and it seemed to be tracking correctly.
Ended the workout, inflated back tyre to 110 psi, started doing another Scotty. More or less the same power in both power meters for 2.5min, so I stopped did calibration, another 2.5min of riding and it was still looking good.
At this point I was convinced it was leaving the trainer plugged in and posted my reply on the forum.
Started doing my programmed SS interval workout and as soon as I reached the warmup highest interval at 166W the problems started, and now was reading arround 180W on the pedals.
So I went down to a faster gear. Did the next interval, and it was more or less the same.
Until I turned up cadence to arround 90-92rpm. Then I started noticing the difference was getting smaller, and judging by the data the difference was arround 8W only, which I find acceptable, and could be just to the fact it’s a single side power meter.
Now I have not yet calibrated the Quarq power meter because this one doesn’t have bluetooth (I think), and I need to figure out how to pair it with the app.
Still not satisfied with this because the power drifts even more the higher the power which makes long Threshold a bit dificult.
The only thing I can. think expect the trainer is the drive train but not sure how to test that.
