I have a cyclops non-smart trainer hooked up to TrainerRoad and it seems to give consistent power reading and my workouts run fine.
However, what I really miss versus zwift is the speed and distance the rear wheel is travelling. (I have a speed and cadence sensor set up on the rear wheel.)
I notice that as I am linked to Strava, this distance and speed information gets uploaded to strava after each TrainerRoad workout along with the power data etc.
I know this speed and distance data isn’t necessarily completely accurate but it probably isn’t far off. That accuracy versus the real world isn’t that important, but it is consistent.
I also know this data isn’t needed to complete workouts. All you need to do is maintain a certain power figure for a set period of time etc.
However, a custom workout I would like to be able to run for example is how quickly I can complete a set distance on the trainer. I do TT’s and it would be nice to set myself a workout of doing a 10 mile TT in a certain time or a 25 mile TT etc.
It is not important how it compares to the outside world as it will be just comparing indoor rides with each other to check on my specific TT progress against time.
Can this be activated somehow? The data is obviously there in the background, otherwise it wouldn’t get posted to strava.
Maybe make it so that this can be toggled on or off etc. It would be very useful and interesting to see live. Zwift does it. I’m sure TR can too.
The root of the issue here is that we do not have a way to virtually estimate your power speed . Zwift uses an algorithm that factors in a variety of variables including your weight and power output to determine how fast you would theoretically be going outside on the road.
The speed that we measure on the other hand is simply your wheel speed. On some trainers, this may roughly equate to speed/distance on the road. On others, this may be wayyyyy off. For example, trainers with different resistance modes will register different mileage and speed depending on the mode you use. An even more extreme example is ERG trainers which could register either 30 mph or 15 mph at 200 watts depending on your gearing.
For this reason, we do not display your speed since it is not an accurate representation of your speed outdoors and has the potential to mislead our users. Power is the one, perfectly consistent metric so we want to emphasize it’s importance and encourage our users to use it as their objective benchmark.
That being said, it is possible that we may develop a Virtual Speed algorithm in the future, however, it is not currently on our roadmap and has no ETA at this time.
Thanks so much for sharing your feedback, and good luck with your training
Check in the manufacture app settings that connects to your trainer. For instance, I use a Wahoo Kickr and in Wahoo’s app settings I can turn on Erg Mode Speed Simulation. This setting adjusts my speed based on power/watts and not wheel speed (which is affected by gearing and cadence). So when I upload to Strava my miles are consistent no matter my gearing or cadence, which is an issue without Speed Simulation.
Though miles don’t matter much, I at least wanted consistent results since 90% of my training is indoors. Also, I’ve found when doing TR workouts outside vs inside the mileages are pretty close, within 5-10%. It’s interesting, though not all that valuable, to look at mileages in large snapshots (seasons) and year over year.
I had no idea that was a feature, thanks! At least it makes a little more sense when people talk about speed/distance on the trainer with that enabled (otherwise your speed chart is just a cadence chart with the axis shifted arbitrarily).
Rightly or wrongly I sometimes feel like doing a workout based on how many miles I have cycled rather than time.
I want the option to toggle on or off the screen, the distance I would have hypothetically travelled during a workout.
Sometimes I want to just ride 10 miles on the trainer as fast as I possibly can. Or I may want to ride 50km and then take a break etc.
Whether these are perfectly accurate with the real world is not the point. This basic feature should be available and I find it rather bizarre that you can’t at least toggle it on.
I use a good but dumb trainer and when my rides get loaded to strava via TrainerRoad when a workout is complete, it shows a theoretical distance on strava. Presumably, this is simply based on what TrainerRoad has passed on in terms of number of revolutions of the rear wheel etc.
Please let us have this feature. It is one of the few things I dislike about TR.
@colinio started another thread with that post and it was merged into this one so it’s quite possible they haven’t read the posts because they didn’t know they existed.
To the person who wrote “ffs”, don’t be so rude. You did what i expected. Being pleasant to people across the internet is not that difficult…
It’s still something i want as a paying customer.
Just because it may not be accurate with a smart trainer doesn’t mean it can’t be activated for people with non-smart trainers.
I merged it because we don’t need multiple separate posts, from the same person no less, on the same topic for a Feature Request.
There is already an “official” answer from Bryce above. They have it on the “wish list” and will address it if and when they feel the time is right. That is just like any other Feature Request in the forum.
As with any other new post to an existing thread, this will show up in the “Latest” feed for any and all TR reps that come to the forum.
Couple that with the fact that Bryce already replied above, he is likely also “Watching” this thread (like so many others in the Feature Request world), that he will be notified of any new posts to existing threads.
All that is to say, that new posts are not likely to be missed or ignored. Even if they are, tagging a TR rep in a new reply is far better than another duplicate post. There is a big benefit to having the related discussion in one place.
If people aim to increase the awareness, they should use the existing posts. This is done to a particular degree on the upload swim/run request here.
Zwift does not give you a speed and distance based upon your setup (i.e. based on your speed sensor). Zwift calculates speed and distance based on your power output, your weight and your height. Go on a 10% slope in Zwift, and look at the speed displayed on Zwift vs on a bike computer. You will see the (wide) gap.
This is true, with one caveat. For those using Virtual Power in Zwift, there are only giving Zwift speed info. Then Zwift takes that speed, along with the specified trainer in the VP setup, and calculates a Virtual Power. That VP value is then used like any other power value from a smart trainer or power meter.
Sounds somewhat derogatory, but perhaps its not meant that way.
Still, i would like distance and speed based on the data TR could calculate using my set up. It knows my cadence and could easily know the standard road wheel circumference and hence workout distance and hence speed over a given time.
Regardless of how accurate it is, it would be consistent for my bicycle and my workouts for me.
It seems SO basic to get this working, even if it is something that is toggled on or off. Maybe even just do it for dumb trainers if TR doesnt want to “mislead” users.
It’s months since i first mentioned it and for something so basic i am rather disappointed. (One of the very few disappointments).
