Originally Posted by
John_V
With the name Hydrogel, I'm assuming that it's fluid trainer. Does it have any type of resistance setting? If so, you may want to play with a few settings until you find the right one. I don't know of too many fluid trainers with adjustable resistance, but that is one of the things I really like about a magnetic trainer. And with a remote control for the resistance, mine can be changed, as needed, while pedaling.
They are quite different than riding the road, but better than nothing in bad weather; just a little boring at times. They are great for rehab, too.
Magnetic trainers are somewhat linear in resistance. If you pedal twice as fast, the resistance is about double. To accommodate different riders, the trainer has adjustable resistance levels.
Fluid trainers are like riding outdoors with wind resistance. Air drag goes way up as a riders speed increases. So just shift to a harder gear to increase resistance on a fluid trainer.
Here's the
power needed for a Kurt Kinetic fluid trainer, with my comments. Kurt says it matches riding up a 1% grade outdoors.
10 mph 70 watts. Easy cruising for me.
20 mph 250 watts. Working hard to maintain this, and I'll back off after a while.
30 mph 650 watts. I can do this for few seconds at a time.
40 mph 1400 watts. Wow--Cat 1-2 bike race 10 second sprint power!