Spin down affecting ride score

i have an older KICKR and do a spindown almost every ride. Usually 10 min into the ride. But i have noticed that after the workout it says “- 1:30 (or however long it takes) of pause affected your score”. This seems like a gliche in the system.

Could you switch to doing your spindown after your workout ends? That way, you’re still getting it done regularly, and your trainer is warmed up, but it’s not affecting your workout?

There’s no way to really tell the software not to take those pauses into account because they’re spindowns..

Which model KICKR do you have, and how often does Wahoo recommend you calibrate it?

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Not saying it’s right, but I think the idea is to warm up the trainer first and then do a spin-down.

But I agree, it isn’t necessary to perform a spin-down that often.

Is it actually impacting your score? In many cases it appears the warning is there but the actual score isn’t impacted

Yes I agree.

I think the warning should say that is may effect your score. The current warning implies that the pause definitely did effect the score.

That warning pops up every time there is a pause but rarely does a pause during a rest interval actually effect the score.

Another option is to turn off auto-pause - that way you can do the spin down while the workout is still running and because the workout keeps going you will not get that message.

Just make sure you are back pedalling before your interval starts.

This is what I do.

Spin down calibration is very important with wheel-on trainers. It is done to characterized resistance due to friction between the bike and trainer. There’s a lot from the tire turning on the roller, and it varies a lot with tire pressure and tire temperature, which increases as the tire is ridden against the roller. Direct drive trainers have only the resistance of the belt drive in the trainer. Not only is it much less, but it varies much much less. Because of this, it’s not necessary to do it that often. I do it maybe once a month, and after I completed a workout so things are warmed up. Now, there are thrainers that are self calibrating, so it’s not necessary to do a calibration at all. It’s helps to know that this is only a calibration of the offset, not the gain. That means it only ensures that zero is zero, but not that 100W is actually 100W.

thats a good question. how would i know??

good information. thanks!

There is a table in the completed workout. Here the workout was a 5.0 but I extended it so got a 6.5 for sweet spot.

So the score you earned is on the right??

The left. So for sweet spot it was 6.5/5.0. The 6.5 was what I earned and 5.0 was what Geiger +1 is base.

The trainer will be plenty warm after each workout. :sweat_smile:

Unless there’s some sort of issue, I can’t imagine that their KICKR is wildly off at the start of each workout and needs a spindown beforehand. :man_shrugging:

https://support.wahoofitness.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000382224-Spindown-Calibration-for-SNAP

“ To calibrate your KICKR SNAP for the most accurate readings, a spindown is recommended after a ten minute warmup before EVERY ride, race, or workout.

If they have the kickr snap Wahoo recommends this.

Calibration

  • For the most accurate and consistent power readings, make sure to perform a spindown calibration before each ride.

    • If time allows, the optimal solution would be to perform a spindown calibration after spinning for around 5-10 minutes to warm up internal components and tire to trainer contact.

As does TrainerRoad. https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/360023723132-Wahoo-KICKR-Snap

@jeffrey_Kauffman, what type of KICKR do you have?

When pete was a TR employee he said it was important to do a spin down every ride, no matter the trainer. Probably 5 years ago, but even then, direct drive was most of the market. I have no data to back this up, but it sure seemed like he did.

I’d recommend following the manufacturer’s recommendations moving forward. :+1:

Even back then it was mostly wheel on trainers that needed a spin down every ride. Some direct drive trainers still needed one now and then, but now most, if not all, direct drive trainers auto calibrate.

Exactly

I think it’s 3rd generation