Multiple bikes for TR use, different power setups

I started using TR about a year ago using my tri bike on a basic, fluid trainer and added a Stages left-side PM after a few months of using virtual power. I’m seriously considering picking up an H3 and putting my road bike on it, while leaving the tri bike set up as is. I have pretty much abandoned outdoor riding for the foreseeable future and would like to make use of the road bike again which has sat for nearly the entire last year, so I’m thinking of splitting training between the two different setups. I want to keep both setups because I really don’t want to waste time with swapping out bikes on the H3.

From the thread I found below, it appears that TR won’t handle multiple bike/power setup profiles for a single user which I suppose I’ll just work around. I might try Rouvy and/or Zwift in the future, though I’m not sure.

Are there any other downsides or complications I might encounter by using two bikes w/ different setups as described for my training? I’d probably connect them all to the same laptop, but not running both at the same time ever. I’m really not pursuing any goals right now other than just staying fit on the bike, plus some running and swimming – no plans for future tris or anything else right now. If I do start another TR plan again and establish my FTP on a ramp test, I’d probably do the test on the road bike / H3 and just adjust workout intensity or temporarily alter FTP as needed for a single weekly endurance ride on the tri bike.

Also, are there any compatibility issues with a 10-spd cassette on the H3?

Appreciate any feedback / experiences with doing this.

I find that with different setups, it is just good to know the offset between the power readings of the two setups. So you will want to test your FTP on both. As long as you know they are usually about 10 or 20 watts different than each other (for example), you can change your FTP accordingly. Just change your FTP in the TR app before you load your workout and you’re all set. It’s as easy as that!

Obviously, it’s not the best option, but it does work. I have had multiple setups (between home trainer and one at work) and that is how I got around it. The only thing is that you have to ignore the numerous FTP changes that will be denoted on your Career in TrainerRoad.

I hope that helps!

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You can use the workaround of @Tucker, whereas I hope TR will do better in the future. My hint would be to check if your PM has an offset option (don’t know if Stages left side has it, my 4iiii has that configuration option for example) and then to align it with the H3 so you can use a common FTP for your setups.

Got this from another thread, but I think the preferred way to go is to leave profile FTP setting alone, so keep it for bike #1 – that way your FTP history will be consistent. For any ride on another bike, adjust the ride intensity up/down based on the ratio of FTP values for the two bikes and then, after the workout, adjust the workout FTP to that of the bike used for the particular workout.