Trainer Calibration question

1

Hello all,

I’m wondering when you all calibrate your wheel on trainer?
About 6 months ago I bought a very basic smart trainer (Tacx flow smart). On dcrainmaker’s review I read he does suggest calibrating before starting a workout for better results. But Tacx says to do it after a 10 min warm up. My trainer is in an unheated part of the house, nice during summer, and now during winter it won’t drop below 7°C (45°F). After my last Full Frontal (my first during the colder weather) I did see some big improvements. Which got me wondering whether this could be due to calibration beforehand making the trainer overestimate power? For example if I calibrate after a workout I have to tighten the knob about 4 turns, so a lot more pressure on the wheel. For the moment I’m on the TOS prep plan(novice) so no real heavy workouts.So far only butter has been really hard but then again it could be just because I’m on new numbers.
So since there is quiet a big difference between a pre and post workout calibration, when would you suggest to calibrate.

Thanks!

2

I’m using a 15 years old wheel on Tacx flow (made smart via the open source FortiusAnt software). It has a definite difference in resistance between cold trainer/tyre and warmed up trainer/tyre. I calibrate after either doing something like the 15 minute open or at the end of a session. At the moment the bike is living on the trainer and I find that as long as I keep the tyre pressure consistant it’s rare that I need to adjust the tension.

3

Thanks for the reply. I have tried calibrating after a session and I could definitely feel the difference in effort during the next workout. So for now I’ll just keep calibrating before my workouts, this way I keep my current workouts based on my numbers with pre workout calibration. And when I have a new full frontal I’ll calibrate after a warm up to “reset” my numbers which will maybe be more realistic.