Photo: A proper roller tyre thanks to club mate Sean. Officially a ‘wheel-on indoor trainer’ even though it’s on the balcony (no room in the apartment).
My heart’s calculatin’
My true love will be waitin’
Be waitin’ at the end of my ride
In these times of isolation Jan was just a few metres away.
Climbing hills that didn’t exist and having to pedal downhill. This was my experience of my first ride on my new rollers. At the moment we are still allowed to ride outside for exercise, once a day. In anticipation of a complete lockdown I ordered a set of rollers.
As I have a Wahoo ELEMNT I went for the Wahoo KICKR SNAP. It worked a dream. Easy to set up and the tech all worked. I read The Times and listened to Radio 2 to help pass the time. I wore my ICC kit but selected a classic Pansèr route – the Via Panoramica. I’ve ridden this ride in real life more than 50 times. I know it well.
My ELEMNT tracked me along the map just like real life. That’s where the similarity ended. A mini hill along the completely flat road to Pesaro and 9% inclines along the Panoramica that just don’t exist. Obvious really but I realised that I had to pedal downhill to keep going. No freewheeling at 60km on the descent from Gabicce Monte.
I’ve always resisted getting rollers as I much prefer the open road. My first experience hasn’t changed my mind. A 67km / 783m ride took nearly 4 hours elapsed (I did stop for a real coffee and sandwich along the way). So much slower than I have completed the ride so many times. Strava didn’t even credit me with the climbing. Not much fun.
This is what it should have looked like:
But I did get some power figures that I’ve never seen before:
Next step is to give the Zwift, FullGaz and Rouvy 30 day trials that came with the Wahoo a go to see if it makes it any more interesting.
My Stats
colincanride 
Definitely try Zwift Colin, it’s quite good run. Not as much as the real thing of course. I ended up having a zoom call with some friends as I was doing a recovery ride around London this evening and suddenly ended up going up Box Hill (it’s a lot closer to central London than in real life).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Will do. Maybe 67km was too much for my first go, but that’s a short ride for me normally.
LikeLike
Prepare for some techie issues when joining these platforms, you’ll figure them out and get sorted no doubt, but more importantly have an idea on what you want from them, from this indoor (ok balcony) cycling. In my experience Zwift can offer competition, just getting out (in), big solo ride’s (including big one’s 100 miles with the Alpe de Huez, a ex pro I know just completed a 24hour effort), group rides with people you invite, or alternatively a big range of structured training plans and individual workouts. My advice take them for what they are, no substitute for real outdoors with mates, but we’ll hopefully be outdoors together again soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Mike, I’m just looking to make the time on the balcony more enjoyable. I’m not so concerned about training programmes as I’ve loved my cycling without them so far. I’ll keep an open mind though, you never know what you might learn.
LikeLike