Training & Nutrition - Review of TravelTrac RealAxiom V2 trainer/software

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=21084&subcategory_ID=4120
I've seen VERY few reviews of this product so I thought I would post my own.

My birthday present arrived yesterday! I got the trainer and the l'Alpe D'huez video.

Setting up the trainer itself was straight forward. I'm used to a CycleOps Magneto and I love it, so I was worried that a new trainer would not be nearly as good. I'll be using the Magneto to take to time trials and crits for warm up purposes from now on.

I ended up using my Trek 5200 as that's the bike I ride the least (never race that bike). There is a small magnet and a wired cadence sensor that you attach to the bike and I don't want to pull that off every time I ride outside. There is also a small console that gets mounted on the handlebars so you don't have to reach down and use your mouse to negotiate the software. All parts are of seemingly high quality and the trainer is very stable. I'll have to see how the console and cables hold up to being sweat on, etc.

From the console, a cable with an rj-45 connector goes to the resistance unit. The cadence sensor also plugs into here (the resistance unit). A USB cable goes to the computer. I used my main laptop as it has a TV out (s-video) jack so I can watch whatever is on my screen on my television. Computer required a DVD drive if you use the video courses.

Installation of the unit to my laptop went without a glitch, but then again I do that kind of stuff for a living. But it was a very easy setup. Plug the USB cable into the computer, then plug the resistance unit into the power outlet and you get the request for software. Two minutes later, it was finished. No rebooting needed. I like that.

The trainer came with two video course, but I wanted l'Alp D'Huez so I installed that one. This particular video course is roughly 2.5 GIGABYTES so it took 15-20 minutes to install. After install, I fired the thing up, put my bike shorts on and went for a ride...

I played around a bit on the video course, but today's training involved 2 hours of riding with 3x10 minute intervals so I only played around a little. There is a graphic on screen showing showing road grade in percent and when it hit over 10% it got hard! Since I did need to ride 2 hours, I scrolled through the non-video preset courses and just created my own to see how easy it was. Snap. I created a dead flat 40 mile course and started riding. Creating a course is not exactly what I would call intuitive, but easy enough.

On laptop screen you get to see:
Heart rate (I used my Sigma Sport strap and it worked fine, once I realized that you had to turn on the HRM function in the software. It's defaulted off).
Average heart rate
Time
Distance
Current speed
Average speed
Cadence
Current watts
Average watts
A bar graph that show distance. This sill be usefull when creating routes with slope so you know when they are coming.

Two hours and 15 minutes later, my 40 mile ride was done. You have to do the complete ride to save the data so I couldn't just stop at two hours. The main bad thing about the software is that you can't export the data to Cycling peaks software or anything for that matter and looking at your data at the end of the ride is not real exciting. You can't do anything with it. You view the numbers for the entire ride only and for example I couldn't see my average watts for each interval. That would really help.

I debated between getting this and a Powertap. My price limit was already stretched by the trainer so that's what I opted for and used the Performance coupon code and got 10% off the whole thing. Since I have 4 main bikes with one of them being 10 speed and rest 9 speed, I think the PT would be a burden anyway and not used that often. My trainer though, gets a heck of a workout. Yes I could have used a PT on the trainer, but burning up a tire, then using that on the road, etc etc, well I'm just rambling now.

I give the thing an 8 out of 10 all things considered. Lack of exporting data and lack of creating/viewing intervals docked it 2 points.

Just found this out. On the realaxiom website, you can download a tool to export your data to either .XLS or .TXT format. Installed it and tried to import the TXT file into Cycling peaks software, invalid formating. I don't have Excel (I use open office) so the export to excel function does not work.

One more edit. I was able to take the CSV'd .TXT file and insert it into OpenOffice. Now I can use the spreadsheet and meticulously wade through my interval data. Cumbersome, as it's sampling every second, so a 10 minute long interval is huge in the spreadsheet.

Try opening the txt file with Open Office and then export that file as an excel file or whatever you see fit. You'll need to open the txt file as a .csv file but it should work just fine.

cyclingpeaks can use .csv files. Has anybody tried exporting data to that program?

thinking of buying one of these, but importing is important to me.

thanks
B.

I pickup one up a few weeks ago and just started using it last week. I do enjoy it so :)

Since this thread got bumped back to the top, I thought I would throw in one more edit:

I did a workout with intervals on the trainer while also using a Powertap wheel. Comparing the data post workout shows that the RealAxiom reads 60 watts lower than the PowerTap consistantly regardless of wattage.

100 watts on the RealAxiom shows 160 on the PT. 400 watts on the RealAxiom shows 460 on the PT, etc.

It's made for a great training tool since my coach was able to create a spreadsheet to convert the data so it's readable by Cycling Peaks.

2 Quick questions on the RealAxiom software:

1. Can you import terrain data (gpx or Polar HRM) files to create your own routes?

2. When riding on a custom course that you created does the software show a virtual landscape of just the data and the course profile? The iMagic Fortius software looks like it has you ride through one of three virtual terrains and I'm trying to compare them to the RealAxiom.

thanks,
- tom

2 Quick questions on the RealAxiom software:

1. Can you import terrain data (gpx or Polar HRM) files to create your own routes?

2. When riding on a custom course that you created does the software show a virtual landscape of just the data and the course profile? The iMagic Fortius software looks like it has you ride through one of three virtual terrains and I'm trying to compare them to the RealAxiom.

thanks,
- tom



1. No. Not that I'm aware of anyway
2. No virtual landscape. You see a profile graph (akin to a lifecycle or something where you can see an approaching grade).

Cat4ever - thanks for the quick reply. So it has been a few months since you got the RealAxiom... Can you give us longterm update for your review of the unit or have you been able to ride outside most of time and not really used it much yet?

I'm trying to decide between the RealAxiom and the i-Magic. They're in the same price range.

Can you give us longterm update for your review of the unit or have you been able to ride outside most of time and not really used it much yet?




I have a little over 1,000 miles on the thing since June when I got it. Once my coach created the conversion spreadsheet, it's been a great training tool. So far the trainer and the software has worked as expected. The thing is, is that I rarely use the video courses. Rarely meaning I've used all three once each. I mostly use my own created courses that are based around my workout for the day.

If you do get one (or any other power based trainer) it would be a good idea to find someone with a powertap and use it to do a ramp test and compare the power data. Really, all that matters is consistant data within the product that you use, but it's nice to be able to relate to the thousands of people using a powertap and compare your data to them.

It's exactly what I needed to help me prepare for next season.

I like mine too. Only issue is the website; clearly not created in English and it seems like a few things may be lost in translation. On that note: The webiste is now showing Conconi test and "Training Test" functionality; however, there's no indication (that I can find, anyway) on just how to use these functions. I've downloaded the most recent edition of the software and it doesn't seem like these functions are included.

Has anyone figured this out? Are these new programs you have to buy? I wonder if it's clearer on the Italian version of the website . . .

Thanks in advance!

--DvB

I like mine too. Only issue is the website; clearly not created in English and it seems like a few things may be lost in translation. On that note: The webiste is now showing Conconi test and "Training Test" functionality; however, there's no indication (that I can find, anyway) on just how to use these functions. I've downloaded the most recent edition of the software and it doesn't seem like these functions are included.

Has anyone figured this out? Are these new programs you have to buy?



I just downloaded the latest version of the software as well. No Training or Conconi test option.

I was curious about the comparison between the Fortius and the RealAxiom myself, but ended up purchasing a Fortius.

The Fortius is nice because they keep adding more RLV(Real Life Videos) and other neat functions like a ErgoVideo(out soon) that you ride in a group basically, but you set the wattage of the group you're riding with to make it harder or easier.

My only complaint with the Fortius is they still have some minor issues with the motorbrake unit that on descents you can't get to actual speeds on decents. In the US versions you have a hard time getting above 28 MPH without serious effort even on a 5% downhill. The other problem is that at high wattages the pedaling becomes like pedaling in squares. I found this last night trying to do Power Testing ( 5 sec, 1 min, 5 min). It does seem though that if you put an effort to pedal in circles at the high wattages the pedaling squares feeling goes away without and drop in the wattage.

As far as accuracy goes, it's sort of interesting. I have trouble with my PowerTap SL dropping out occasionally while on the Fortius. I have it working on my fluid trainer and when I ride outside. But what I've noticed is that if you go for a true "Peak" Power, the PT is higher, but when you test over varied times 5s, 1 min, 5 min, they are almost spot on. I'm still not sold on being able to get a good value for 1 min and less testing though. But, it could just be I'm in miserable shape which is likely.

The other problem is that at high wattages the pedaling becomes like pedaling in squares. I found this last night trying to do Power Testing ( 5 sec, 1 min, 5 min). It does seem though that if you put an effort to pedal in circles at the high wattages the pedaling squares feeling goes away without and drop in the wattage.

Are you sure your rear wheel isn't slipping? I've found that on my i-magic I've got to tighten it down pretty good otherwise the pedalling feels "blocky." Or, squares.


As far as accuracy goes, it's sort of interesting. I have trouble with my PowerTap SL dropping out occasionally while on the Fortius. I have it working on my fluid trainer and when I ride outside. But what I've noticed is that if you go for a true "Peak" Power, the PT is higher, but when you test over varied times 5s, 1 min, 5 min, they are almost spot on. I'm still not sold on being able to get a good value for 1 min and less testing though. But, it could just be I'm in miserable shape which is likely.

Not being at all familiar with PT and how it really works, could it be that it's dropping out because the roller isn't clamped firmly to the wheel? I know that the PT is measured at the hub, but I could see it measuring 400W and then 0W virtually instantly due to slippage and just discarding that data.

:shrug:

I just purchased the RealAxiom. As already mentioned, set-up was relatively easy. I didn't change my screen saver settings on the first ride, however. 6 minutes in, I lost all video and was looking at pictures of a recent vacation...

cat4ever- I was on the site recently, the tests you mention are due out early next year. No mention on pricing, though.

I have several questions:

1. My rear tire is already taking a beating. What is everyone using?
2. Do we really need to turn the resistance unit knob 3 full turns after it contacts the tire?
3. I have been decreasing the contact pressure b/t the resistance unit and my rear wheel between rides. Are there any consequences of not doing this?
4. Has anyone found any topographic maps to program the profile of an upcoming race?

Thanks!

1. My rear tire is already taking a beating. What is everyone using?
2. Do we really need to turn the resistance unit knob 3 full turns after it contacts the tire?
3. I have been decreasing the contact pressure b/t the resistance unit and my rear wheel between rides. Are there any consequences of not doing this?
4. Has anyone found any topographic maps to program the profile of an upcoming race?




1. I use my old tires that are no longer fit for racing with. I've used the same tire for 1,200 miles on the trainer and probably 1,500 on the road. Michelin Pro2Race
2. I do, as probably the power/speed would be affected one way or the other with it not turned 3 times. Plus, it's a consistancy thing.
3. I usually forget to loosen the tension between rides.
4. I programmed a couple of races by memory only.

I got one of these for christmas from my wife. I have a few questions if you don't mind.

1) Can you guys tell me what to expect from this thing?
2) Are you still happy with yours?
3) Do I really need 2.4Ghz processor or will a 1.8Ghz processor be ok?
4) How often are you using yours?

Thanks

ModoVincere:

1. I have ridden mine 9 times and have about 120 km now since the first week in December. I live in the DC area and by the time I get home from work, it is already dark. So, it has been nice to be able to spin for a while during the week. The one critique I have is going down hill. When first starting down a "hill", it is quite easy to spin and maintain a pretty good speed. However, after a bit, it becomes quite difficult.

I purchased topographical mapping software TopoUsa 6.0 from Delorme (www.delorme.com (http://www.delorme.com)). I created a few courses that I ride around the house and even put together a course from a race I rode last year. Neat toy, but I don't know how useful the mapping program will be.

2. Yes, I'm very happy. I missed a weekend group ride, but managed 6 "hilly" rides on the V2. I did much better on the next group ride and my legs felt better and I maintaind higher average speeds on the hills.

3. I use a 1.4 GHz laptop. I have not had any problems. I've ridden the included video courses once each. I saved them to the hard drive. No issues.

When I ran the system test, V2 told me that I was running "weak" hardware and it would shutdown some advanced features, but I haven't been able to figure out which features were turned off...

4. It has only been about 3 1/2 weeks, but I get on 3 x /wk and plan to as long as daylight is an issue.

Overall, I am very happy with my V2...

Hope this helps...

Thanks. I appreciate the feedback.

Well I just got the Real Axiom and it was very easy to set up. I only got to ride it for about 10 min as it was late but it was a great start. I will say this about the unit, it is very heavy.

Question: Can you start a video course partway thru it. Sometimes I don't want a big hill, just a light workout with small ups and downs but the video course makes me go thru the big uphill first. How can I start where I want o in the course?

Thanks
Brian

OK I found where it tells how to do that. It is listed on Real Axion's web site unde FAQ. What you do is go start to start a new course like normal and then before you click the next button to start riding you pick new course or something like that and it will pop up two options, new one or modify the existing one, choose to modify. You can then pick the beginning and end point of the course and it is suppose to allow you to save it and you can watch the video during the ride as well.

I purchased topographical mapping software TopoUsa 6.0 from Delorme (www.delorme.com (http://www.delorme.com)). I created a few courses that I ride around the house and even put together a course from a race I rode last year. Neat toy, but I don't know how useful the mapping program will be.


3. I use a 1.4 GHz laptop. I have not had any problems. I've ridden the included video courses once each. I saved them to the hard drive. No issues.

When I ran the system test, V2 told me that I was running "weak" hardware and it would shutdown some advanced features, but I haven't been able to figure out which features were turned off...








What did you buy the topo software for? To my knowledge, there is no course input function except for excel data (which I haven't downloaded that ability from realaxioms website).


I use a laptop as well, AMD Athlon 3200+ with 512 ram and 128 video. I get the "weak hardware" warning, but like you said I don't know what features are turned off.

On opening screen, select "Axiom". At the bottom of the next screen, select "New Course". You can use this part of Axiom create any profile you want. It does look like an Excel spreadsheet, but you don't need an extra add-on from Axiom. If you aren't able to create a new course, you might want to make sure that you have the most recent version of their software.

The topo software allows the user to draw out any course one may want. Topo then provides a graphical profile of the course.

I was able to move my mouse along the profile picking off changes in elevation and distance traveled at key points. I tried not to make the transitions too frequent or too steep. I have only created one course (17.5 miles). It took me about 15 minutes. Riding the profile was fine. But, like I mentioned before, I don't know if it will actually help in preparing for next season's races.

I did my first real ride on the trainer last night. I did the edited course that I made since I had a limited time. It was just over a 9 mile ride. IT WAS A BLAST! I love the trainer. Since it was just my first ride I am sure that my enthusiasm will wain a little bit after a number of rides but no trainer before was ever anywhere near this enjoyable. I really like the computer automatically changing the slope and thus how hard the ride is. I can't wait to try the competitor function to race against my past results and to be able to gage my increasing performance.

I am really considering buying the Topo program that nycom did so that I can program in a couple of rides that I do and so that I can take a race course that I plan to race and practice on it a bunch of times. While it won't give me a wind resistance factor I will at least be able to get an idea on when and where the hills are, thus I will better know how much longer I have to hang on till the top of the hill.

For anyone considering a computer controlled trainer, I highly recomend it. Whether it is the Real Axiom or the trax or the expensive computrainer.

The video is nice if you are listening to music or there isn't a tv program on, however it was nice watching Mythbusters while riding.

I've used the trainer twice so far. I love it as well. I really like being able to watch my heart rate, wattage, and speed in comparison to the slope I am working with. I am very curious as to how it compares to the real world however. The 4% slope on the trainer seemed more like the 8% slope not too far from my house.

On opening screen, select "Axiom". At the bottom of the next screen, select "New Course". You can use this part of Axiom create any profile you want. It does look like an Excel spreadsheet, but you don't need an extra add-on from Axiom. If you aren't able to create a new course, you might want to make sure that you have the most recent version of their software.

The topo software allows the user to draw out any course one may want. Topo then provides a graphical profile of the course.






Yeah, I know how to create a course. I thought that somehow you were importing data straight from the topo program into the realaxiom.

The excel add-on I was talking about is a separate download from realaxioms website to import excel data. Maybe if the topo program exported data to excel, then we could import that, we would have something.

I've spent hours re-creating race courses in my area by trying to remember distances and estimating grades. Tedious.

Item of note...When I programmed in the course I usually ride after work, I entered distances in miles and elevation changes in feet. However, after riding the 17 miles, my history page showed it as 17 km...

Additional note, when programming in a course, only 2 of 3 fields need to be entered- distance and slope (%) or elevation change. V2 software figures calculates the 3rd field. There is a minimums and maximums that need to be followed. The user's guide gives that info...

Oh, I see...I'll look into Topo exporting directly to Excel...

Topo makes software that does what you are looking for use with the CompuTrainer (I think it's around $300). That feature almost made me wait until I could plop down the extra cash for the CompuTrainer...

well if you can't figure out how to export to excel then perhaps we all need to start emailing RealAxiom and telling them that we want to be able to import for certain programs. If enough of us write them, then maybe they will actually make a software update with that feature

Here is my update on the trainer. I still love it. For me I think my most favorite feature is having the competitor and seeing how my strength is improving. When I see a constant increase in my average speed on the same course day after day shows me that I am getting stronger. It is great motivation to see the hard numbers that you are getting better.

Makes me excited for when it warms up a little and I get back out there with the group. (No heckling me about how I live in Phx and complaining about the cold. I am a wimp when it comes to the cold and I have lived here my whole life, so to me the recent temps of 55 as a high is freezing.)

Can't help myself... 55 degrees F is almost shorts weather. It's 10 degrees F right now in southeast Michigan. Buy some tights to put over your shorts and an Under Armor cold gear shirt and get out on the road! :)

I knew someone would have to call me a wimp, oh wait I called myself a wimp first :P I will go out when it is 55 deg as long as that is the starting temp and it will get warmer. However at that temp I am freezing my but off but will do it. I just don't like it any colder. Remember I live in a desert and have gotten use to riding when it is going to be 115 out. Also during Monsoon we are hitting highs of 110 and getting significant humidity. I hear on the tour how it is 90 deg F and it is a blistering hot day and that will be affecting them and I am thinking, wow that is like the perfect temp to be out riding, all be it I am not riding 100 miles only 50-60.

Oh well, at least while I am wimping out I am still getting some rides in, that and it is great since I usually get home late and then want to spend time with the kids before they go to bed (7 and 8pm) so riding on the trainer at 8:30 or 9pm is much prefered to riding outside at that time of night.

My post was more meant to be me complaining about the cold weather here.

In all honesty, I don't think I could ride in the heat that you ride in so you can call me a summer woos. 115F, yikes!

I'm in the same place regarding time. I get on my trainer after the kids go to bed. Time with them is more important to me.

Thats ok, I don't think I would be riding outside 50% of the year where you live. Actually as my wife knows, there would have to be a very huge incentive to get me to move to a cold place like Michigan, and an extra 100k/year would probably not be enough. and no I am not rich where 100k doesn't mean that much, I just hate the cold that much and love the warmth.

More quality time with the kids is definatly the best thing. Although my daughter complained about my trainer yesterday because it was blocking the door for her to get paper to draw on. Although we have joked that we will have to put her bike on the trainer so that she can build up her riding muscles. Unfortunatly I think she will remember me and ask to do that in the next year or so, but will ask for her own trainer.

Curious as to why there is no mention of the Computrainer products in this forum? Just too $$$? Does anyone have comparisons to offer?

Curious as to why there is no mention of the Computrainer products in this forum? Just too $$$? Does anyone have comparisons to offer?

I have a Computrainer Pro and love it. I was going to buy either the RealAxiom or the Tacx iMagic but my lovely wife bought me the CT for Christmas.

To answer your question... it may be because the CT is much more known than the RealAxiom because it has been around a lot longer. I haven't used an iMagic, Fortius or RealAxiom but I have heard they are all very nice and one thing they have over the CT is real life video. That said, the video courses on the CT are nice. I run my PC at 1280x1024 on a 19" monitor and the graphics look great. Another neat feature of the CT is the ability to put pictures in a directory that the software loads and displays as billboards along the course. It evenly spreads them out along the route. My kids get a kick out of it because I put pictures of them up as inspiration to me.

Making courses on the CT is also easy and if you have a GPS receiver then it is pretty easier to make your own courses from recorded GPS data.

Overall, CT is a very solid unit, is very durable, the software runs well on older computers (mine is a 1.2GHz Celeron with 512mb and a 3 year nVidia card with XP) and has an active community. Some bike shops have them available for people to use. They have them set up in multi rider configurations. You mught be able to check one out in your area.

Curious as to why there is no mention of the Computrainer products in this forum? Just too $$$? Does anyone have comparisons to offer?

I am going to guess that it is partly because of money. The computrainer costs $1500 and I am not going to pay that much for it, whcih that is 3 times the price of the others. Its probably also due to that we all are assuming that the computrainer is great and that is what the other two are trying to copy