Love the advice on both the forum and the podcast is top notch and very entertaining, I have learnt so much in the last few months. Only just started riding the bike in prep for a hilly century in September and have never done any structured training but have now completed SS1 and 2 and halfway through SB gone from 147 to 193 @72kg. Will hopefully break through the 200 on Monday. Sorry, had to get that if my chest. The only beef I have with Trainerroad is my food bill has gone up dramatically.
Queries
I find a lot of different advice regarding how to calibrate your trainer but I heard @Nate_Pearson is currently using a Hammer. Do you calibrate through Rouvy or Trainerroad or doesn’t it matter as long as you are consistent with your method.
Secondly there is also a lot of different opinions on whether to use Big ring or Small ring. Again does it matter. I have tried both and prefer the feel of the Big ring but am I losing anything.
Rouvy seems to be the best overall from all that I have read.
As far as big vs small, that is purely speculative and personal at this point. There is no hard evidence, and people have found opposing results, which adds to the confusion.
Just had a look at the thread you mentioned and it is really interesting and I picked up one post where the guy mentioned FTP testing.
I gave done all my tests on the big ring and most of the training on the big ring. With a test on Monday I know may use the small ring and see how I go. I gave out in a good block of reading and I can feel and see the improvement so the results should be interesting.
I can get around 20+ watts higher on the big ring on a test. I do everything small ring though as I don’t like the extra noise. So I test small as well.
30/04/2019 - Big Ring 6:30 AM 187 FTP coffee half hour before.
01/05/2019 - Big Ring 15:00 PM 193 FTP Overnight Oats 3 Hours Before
27/05/2019 - Big Ring 15:00 PM 196 FTP Overnight Oats 3 Hours Before this small increase seems to match what other riders find with SB.
28/05/2019 - Small Ring 06:30 AM FTP Coffee half hour before. The RPE for this was it seemed much harder and felt like I was constantly spinning and I checked out at 18:30 when all other tests was 20 ish minutes. It feels as though I am on a cheap spin bike. Also the Cadence fluctuated less on my Garmin.
In conclusion for me very little difference FTP wise. FTP variation could be down to a whole host of things. I also seem to have a 6 Watt difference between Morning and Evening Sessions which fits in with other types of conditioning training I have done over the years. Results have always been better later in the day.
I will be using the the Big ring for the rest of the SB and speciality. It just feels better on the Big ring and I feel as though I am riding the bike without having to constantly concentrate on turning my legs which in itself is a stressor.
