Fifty Plus (50+) - Compu Trainer- Tips, Tricks & insights

Through a fortunate set of circumstances, I've come into possesion of a Compu Trainer. Have ridden one in various classes, but now I have a machine for personal use. Had up and running in the personal "pain cave" for a few weeks so far, and first observations are these:
1) Having taken several of my usual routes, and ridden them with FTP power set at my measured level, I've concluded you never really are riding as hard as you think on training rides.
2) When I look at my Spin Scan, I seem to be more efficient when under load, vs. when spinning easier, which seems counter-intuitive to me.
3) Using this will either kill me or make me stronger (which was kind of the point in getting it)
4) I hate the "metal man"! Not fair if you don't need recovery for your HR.

Wondering if anyone here has one, any tricks, tips, insights and their own experiences to share. I'll likely post also in Training & Nutrition.

Through a fortunate set of circumstances, I've come into possesion of a Compu Trainer. Have ridden one in various classes, but now I have a machine for personal use. Had up and running in the personal "pain cave" for a few weeks so far, and first observations are these:
1) Having taken several of my usual routes, and ridden them with FTP power set at my measured level, I've concluded you never really are riding as hard as you think on training rides.
2) When I look at my Spin Scan, I seem to be more efficient when under load, vs. when spinning easier, which seems counter-intuitive to me.
3) Using this will either kill me or make me stronger (which was kind of the point in getting it)
4) I hate the "metal man"! Not fair if you don't need recovery for your HR.

Wondering if anyone here has one, any tricks, tips, insights and their own experiences to share. I'll likely post also in Training & Nutrition.

My personal trainer at Vision Quest has us work under light load, about 1% downhill, when we are asked to focus on & improve our pedal stroke.

I have no insights about the computrainer. I haven't used mine since we went all Apple in our house several years ago. I'm working out a deal for store credit at the LBS to get rid of it. Why companies don't write their software for Mac IDK. I've had the same issue with WKO+. I've emailed them so many times asking when they intend to come out with a Mac version. It can't be that difficult to develop.

One thing I do remember about using the CT, my hr was always higher on the trainer than the same power outdoors. I guess that is do to cooling issues. Thus the trainer always seems harder for the same power produced.

Andy - You and I need to talk more!!!:D Any interval files or workouts you have you'd like to share?

Yep, I've got one and I like it. Quite a lot strangely enough.

I assume you have the 3D and the CS software also? If not, they are must-haves.

I have built several .erg files for the CS program which force me to ride certain intervals (mostly 2x20's). The "nice" thing about the CompuTrainer is that it forces you to ride at the set power. If you try to let off a bit, it just cranks up the resistance to where you are still putting it out.

After I had built these .erg files using a simple word processor I was shown this website:

http://63.134.234.143/tri/erg.asp

A much simpler way of designing workouts. You just have to rename the file to a .erg.

Also, you might want to check out these guys:

https://sites.google.com/site/computrainerraceleague/2009-2010-computrainer-race-league-1

Here, you download CT courses each week and ride them as time trials in a friendly competition. It is very motivating because you put the results up for everyone to see.

Good Luck!

Stevie47 - Yes have both as well as the multi rider. Having a hard time with the coaching software ,as I believe there's some basic element I'm not "getting" as regards loading courses. Feels like the learning curve is pretty steep and the coaching software rather archaic. 3D much more user friendly as is the multi rider. I'm running a 14 day free trial of PerfPro, and it makes course building very easy, I can take 3 years worth of Garmin files and create courses from that. I want to be able to build specific interval training courses, and that's challenging as well. Hence the inquiry. By the way, the post duplicated in Training and Nutrition has had 51 views and no responses thus far...(sigh).

1) Having taken several of my usual routes, and ridden them with FTP power set at my measured level, I've concluded you never really are riding as hard as you think on training rides.


Unless you have a power meter. Then you know.

One thing I've seen on the CT's is on older, used units, quite a bit of float in the readings, I was doing some functional testing and could have sworn that the unit curved downward on it's readings. Switched out to my SRM equipped bike and yep, that was the case.

Enjoy the unit.

Stevie47 - Yes have both as well as the multi rider. Having a hard time with the coaching software ,as I believe there's some basic element I'm not "getting" as regards loading courses. Feels like the learning curve is pretty steep and the coaching software rather archaic. 3D much more user friendly as is the multi rider. I'm running a 14 day free trial of PerfPro, and it makes course building very easy, I can take 3 years worth of Garmin files and create courses from that. I want to be able to build specific interval training courses, and that's challenging as well. Hence the inquiry. By the way, the post duplicated in Training and Nutrition has had 51 views and no responses thus far...(sigh).

Just pulled mine out of the closet for the first time this year for one short ride last week. It's been an unusually warm winter here so I've been able to ride outdoors for the most part. What is Perfpro? Do you use it instead of the Computrainer Software. Also how is the coaching software used? I've been using mine with the 3D software only.

Re the CS software: Yeah, it's a bit odd but very useful.

When you start CS you just get a little simple bar menu thingy. Click on "start" then from the dropdown click on "charts". This opens up a windows browsing box which should show a few .erg files that are supplied with the software. I think you can find them online also, or design your own which I have done.

Select one, click ok and the program comes to life. You are good to go.

Hope this helps,

Steve

Re the CS software: Yeah, it's a bit odd but very useful.

When you start CS you just get a little simple bar menu thingy. Click on "start" then from the dropdown click on "charts". This opens up a windows browsing box which should show a few .erg files that are supplied with the software. I think you can find them online also, or design your own which I have done.

Select one, click ok and the program comes to life. You are good to go.

Hope this helps,

Steve

Tried it and the .erg files don't exist anywhere on my computer