Hey just a warning for anyone looking to use virtual power and the fluid 2, there is a big temperature drift in resistance as you go along regardless. Been using for a few months and have been semi going off hr/rpe mostly by now until the resistance kicks in after it heats up.
That is interesting. I have the fluid 2 as well and used virtual power for a few months before I got a power meter (stages) and never had any issues with resistance drift. When I switched from virtual power on the fluid 2 to the stages my FTP tests were within 5w of one another. I might just be your unit.
In a related topic a couple weeks ago, I was bored and went deep into the rabbit hole of the Fluid 2 after someone reported a similar thing: turns out, it’s pretty well established that that trainer does get harder as it warms up, and also that it’s often a very dramatic difference 10-20 minutes in. I was pretty surprised, but I read a lot that agreed with that.
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Do you still use the Fluid 2? Or did you switch to a smart trainer? I have a Fluid 2, and I find the resistance is immense when I’m trying to stay with the workouts. Felt the same when I demo’ed Zwift. I’m not a donkey. But I felt like I was pushing way too hard to stay with people or complete workouts.
I used to have a Fluid 2 but have since upgraded to a Kickr. But I agree with you. It’s like a vertical wall when you get to higher power levels. It will be fine, fine, fine, and then all of a sudden nope, I can’t turn the pedals anymore.
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I still use the trainer but I got a left-sided Stages PM. Works great now
yeah “VO2 max” would become impossible by like the 4th one
@wesmantiger I still use an old Fluid2 with virtual power. How different was the power when you switched to the Stages? I feel around 16-20 minutes the fluid get more resistant.
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yeah from how it feels, at endurance power for me it hits a steady resistance after about 5-10 minutes but then when you do higher intensity the resistance changes more quickly from what I remember. Also, I haven’t done any intervals inside for a few months so I haven’t tested it in awhile.
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