Simon’s a Willesden CC club mate and has written a miserable (ie. accurate) post on turbos..

thefixedfactor.wordpress.com – tyranny of the turbo

Speaking of turbo training, I’ve just got a CycleOps Jet Fluid Pro from The Bike Whisperer. It’s a snazzy fluid trainer unit and I used it last night for a 2x15min session and to compare my wired and wireless Powertap units. Bad news, since my Wired PT appeared to be reporting below that of the Wireless unit. So, I’m not going crazy, they are different. No wonder I struggle to hold my FTP on the Rubble!

I set both PT power averaging for 30 seconds (the slowest updating option) and the speed averaging to 5 seconds. The rough results are below:

39×17 Stealth TT machine

26kph 200W

30kph 260W

40kph 460W

39×17 Ribble Winter/Audax

26kph 170W

30kph 225W

40kph 450W

So, unless I’ve missed some variable (I forgot to even out tyre pressure), it wasn’t in my mind that the Wired PT is reading lower. So when I’m trying to do FTP at 270W I’m actually around 300W. Although, it could be the wireless one reading high.. hmm..