Same here - found the film quite engaging and even felt myself break into a smile at the end (not something I’m renowned for 
)
4 Likes
Agreed. I did London-Edinburgh-London (the video, not the actual ride 
) a month or so ago and felt the same. I’m quite looking forward to doing it again.
3 Likes
I liked the video, tho I don’t think I will watch it again, soon. But it did make me want to go sign up for it. So many of these videos make me want to sign up for these long multi-day rides. Maybe some day…
3 Likes
Top idea. And something that doesn’t cost too much like the above could make it easy to implement.
Challenges and wee promotions like that are a huge engagement thing in all the indoor training ecosystems.
4 Likes
This was a great monthly challenge! I’d done a couple of the rides in December (The Bat, MTB), but both were good to revisit.
London-Edinburgh-London : I actually burst into emotional tears at the ending of the film, even though I’ve seen it before. I wish the TWT prep plan creators realised this was part of the January challenge, because now it’s in the schedule again for next week, but I’ll probably swap it out unless I’m in mood for a good cry.
Tour Down Under 4 : I think because my KICKR CORE takes 5sec to transition, and the segments are 10sec long, I’m getting like half the intended stimulus, so my HR was in low Z2 the whole time except for the attack and the finish. Anyone else have this?
MTB : like Coach said at the start, it’s like going to the dentist, you don’t want to do it but you feel better after. It’s also fun to play around with cadence without having the guidance on screen and seeing them impact. This time I targeted my cadence up higher than the first time (100 vs 90-95) which I think helped me complete it strongly.
The Bat : This is a great ride if you’re in a receptive mindset; I started it a week ago but didn’t have my head on straight so turned it off after 5 minutes. This time, I even applied the positive self-talk before the ride last night to get myself hyped up for it 
love this one
January done, what’s to come in February (and will the challenge rides overlap or conflict with the TWT prep plan?!?!)
8 Likes
Yes I get this too, a bit annoying as by the time you even get near to the a target it has dropped or changed again and trying to do this in level mode would be a nightmare. I did all rides in the one week
1 Like
My Kickr Core was quick enough for the experience, I find. The TSS and IF numbers of the workout were the same as stated in the description. It can’t be that far off then?
In any case, I don’t think it was a particular hard race in the first half, the second half however… 
The MTB one I did today with a Kickr Climb. Now that’s something else altogether!
2 Likes
Are you connected using Ant+? That’s exactly what this sounds like. Ant+ communication is sent every 5 seconds, so if a target change signal is missed it will take 5 seconds to receive the next signal which will often causes these very kinds of delays. This is why I have my Kickr Core connected with BT while my HRM and Cadence sensors all use Ant+ to reduce inteference.
On the other hand, when I rode this I was anticipating every power increase and would increase my cadence a couple seconds ahead of each power target increase which made the increases feel lower than they really were - but if you look at actual power output I was hitting the targets, just at such high cadence that they didn’t feel that bad.
In either case, you’re still getting the right stimulus as it may take a couple seconds to ramp up, but also a couple seconds to ramp down, so it all balances out.
2 Likes
I’ve got everything connected via BT (CORE, HRM, and headphones), and the CORE starts to ramp up at the start of the intervals, but no matter how big the change in power targets, it takes 5 seconds – I assume on purpose to make sure you don’t get bogged down by a huge 200watt change or something. And it does seem like coming down happens more rapidly (1-2 seconds?). But hey, I shouldn’t complain, like @ozmadman said it’s better than doing it in level mode!
@trapmesuf good point, just checked the TSS/IF for the description and my results and they matched, so maybe it was meant to be less intense than I expected!
2 Likes
ANT+ comms for fitness equipment, head units, and the like, normally communicate at 1Hz although ANT+ can go up to several kHz.
The FE-C profile that’s normally used for controlling smart trainers actually allows for negotiation of the channel rate between the equipment, but no-one actually seems to do this, which seems a pity, e.g. power meter readings, trainer responsiveness (it’s programmatically trivial, but would need both ends of the channel to implement it).
AFAIK BT FTMS is, like most BT communications, asynchronous so it can broadcast at a higher rate without any negotiation between equipment. Scratch that, there are synchronous slots available (at least in FTMS 4.0 core spec) although not sure whether used by default.
Running things at once per 5 seconds would pretty much make things unusable I would have thought
1 Like
Some trainers are better than others at handing power changes. I have an Elite Direto but that is slow in responding in whatever gears I select. It’s a good trainer but had I known it was that slow then I would have looked elsewhere. Was highly recommended though by GP Lama and DC Rainmaker who both reckoned that the responses were good??
1 Like
I probably wouldn’t have picked another trainer even if I knew about the 5sec build up – it’s so rarely relevant for my training, as for true sprint training I use level, and these pro rides are fun but not part of my goals. Glad to know it’s not just me anyway.
1 Like
Yes, apart from the pro rides I look a the intervals and if they are say less than 30 secs then I will do that workout or part of that workout in level mode too
1 Like
Have a first gen Direto here, and the response wasn’t that great. Looked in the Elite forum, couple of similar issues there, followed advice and contacted Elite CS who got straight back and gave me a beta firmware. Much improved response, think the firmware version was 062 but was quite a while back, and not near the trainer to check.
They cautioned that the beta firmware might make things a bit more twitchy when keeping a constant target, but i’ve not had any problems (maybe actually a little better than before with large ERG changes).
20 second intervals are fine, 10 is pushing it as takes a few seconds to get up there, but prefer that to an instant/1-2 second jump (and the drop off takes a couple of seconds, so not missing out on any fun 
). 10 on/ 10 off not realistic, otherwise generally fine.
The one thing I do get sometimes is a “sticky” power target when going from high to low, but that’s infrequent and can generally work round it by keeping an eye on the cadence (not letting it drop too quickly).
2 Likes
Can’t remember when I got the trainer, serial number in the 56,000s, but the firmware was from August 2020, name in the email was Andrea B from Elite. Tested firmware initially against The Cure, Igniter, Cash Register, and GCN Power Intervals. Visually there wasn’t a huge difference in the power traces, but the beta one certainly felt a lot “better”.
Might be worth hitting the Elite Direto forum and seeing what’s about.
3 Likes
I finished the Jan challenge with this one today and I think I got all the stimulus you missed
Maybe I’m just a grinder at heart, but that changing up and down every 10 seconds kicked my butt!
3 Likes
Just finished the challenge; started out with the Forearm Plank Endurance Challenge, curious how I’d do after not having done any for months, instead doing 6pack Abs in 4mins: Foundation Training 8pt plank challenge a few times a week for the last couple months.
I managed 4:35, near my longest I can remember from when I used to do these semi-regularly for awhile.
THEN I got on the KICKR Bike to complete the January Challenge today, since I’ll won’t have access to indoor rides again till February. I started out with The Bat, which didn’t hit me terribly hard when I did it in December, so I hoped it would be similarly manageable and leave a bit for the next one.
OUCH! My quads, which I flexed firmly to maintain good form and endurance during the plank effort, felt absolutely spent from the get-go. I suffered through those 6 interval combos, knowing the next workout was going to be tougher after that.
Final workout was the UCI World Cycling Centre: Mountain Bike races. WOW. I FEEL like I just completed 2 mountain bike races, on technical and very physically demanding courses. I haven’t raced in several years, but the rush came back to me. The 1st-person video from the racer’s handlebars gets you into the action up close, and you FEEL the frustration when the course jams up in front of you and you’re off the bike a bit, and you REMEMBER the sudden obstacles that appear in front of you, threatening your happy little ride…
VERY SATISFYING last workouts before taking off to travel (to my Dad’s 90’th birthday party!)
5 Likes
I have had contact with Andrea before when the main board when doolally a few months from new. They were pretty quick then with a replacement. I have emailed them again to see if there is any firmware updates. thanks again
3 Likes
I don’t mind those quick changes as I seem to be able to just get a very short breather which I think helps more psychologically that physically
4 Likes