I have a possibly dumb question about the trainer I am using. This is my first real year of committing to structured training, and previously only really did party rides. I am now training for gravel races with the intent of just enjoying them, not necessarily being relevant to the outcome of the race. My question is, I am currently using a very cheap RAD cycling trainer (that feels like riding through sand) with virtual power. It is not supported by TrainerRoad, so I am not sure how accurate my whole setup is. Would I see much benefit by switching to a supported trainer/ rollers, or am I just wasting money and chasing accuracy that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things? Thank you for your thoughts. Here is the link to the trainer I use:
Virtual Power use, even with a “supported trainer” can still have widely different results with respect to accuracy. All the variables lead to some being dead on while others are way off “real power” values.
If you haven’t already done so, a quick email to support@trainerroad.com with the link above could be helpful. Maybe they can do a quick review and recommend at least a guess to a trainer setting that might be better for your needs.
Either way, as long as you are consistent with your tire pressure and roller pressure, you should get consistent results from day to day. The main issue may rise from testing and then performing workouts to your measured FTP. Trainers can have very linear response (usually magnetic trainers) or non-linear response (usually wind and fluid trainer). If you guess wrong and use the opposite one for your trainer, it may impact the estimated power and where you need to be for your various zones of training.
That’s why I’d do my best to at least guess as close as possible to a similar trainer. If you get that, I think you can get fine training.
Awesome. Thanks for the response. I think that is my main concern, if the trainer I pick has a drastically different power curve will I be misjudging the power of each interval? I guess I am less worried about the accuracy of my FTP number but more worried about the accuracy that I’m putting the correct effort in as required.
If support does not have a suggestion, they may tell you what they told me about my ancient rollers. Find a PM to borrow and try multiple ones and see what matches. I found a roller set that is close to my rollers and just use that option (when I am on rollers).
I borrowed a rear wheel with a PowerTap hub. Took about 30 minutes for me to resolve everything.
I wish TrainerRoad supported keeping a couple of (dumb) devices qued up. But I can see not doing that as well.