Can a 300PT get me up Mt. Diablo <1:00?

[Squint]

Hey Squint,

I'll have to ride Deer Creek, I haven't done that one before. I've been heading up toward Evergreen from Golden lately (before the weather turned for the worse), but it's an inconsistent climb above Buffalo Bill. I'd really like to find a consistent 3000'+ climb that's ridable from to home to truly train at/near FTP.

Deer Creek/High Grade is really popular. The whole road was repaved with shoulders last fall. Even the downhill side has a shoulder. On weekends in the summer, there are a lot of cars parked at the base of the climb so many people do drive in to ride.

The whole climb is about 3000' and should take around an hour. I don't think you can find a steady climb this long without going further north or west.

 

[PaulMD]

So Paul, how are you liking yours? I'm loving mine, although the chain finally stretched a bit after about 600+ 'miles', and now there is no way in hell I can get the wobble out. I'm having someone out to look at it tomorrow to see what can be done. Other than some minor quirks and crappy software (been spending lots of time in Excel lately), it's great...

Hi Jeff, I wish I had never bought the Pro 300PT. The 1850 dollars is a waste of my money. I could better buy a 500 dollar spinningbike with a 3000 dollar SRM crank because then you can train by power. With a powertap hub in a flywheel you can't because a change in temperature changes the accuracy of the PT and a flywheel has a big change in temperature during a work out...

 

[cPritch67]

warner,
one thing that I do for simulated climbing on my PT300 is place a sheet of plywood underneath the unit, propping the front end up many inches. That should help, when you can't get out of the house.

Paulmd,
I'll be looking for your other thread about the heating flywheel impacting the PT's readings.

 

[J-V]

Hi Jeff, I wish I had never bought the Pro 300PT. The 1850 dollars is a waste of my money. I could better buy a 500 dollar spinningbike with a 3000 dollar SRM crank because then you can train by power. With a powertap hub in a flywheel you can't because a change in temperature changes the accuracy of the PT and a flywheel has a big change in temperature during a work out...

As I wrote in your thread, my unit absolutely does not do this, and I'm guessing your PT is defective; it certainly should not drift based upon heat. Stick with it, get the flywheel replaced, and I'm certain you'll love yours every bit as much as we're loving ours.

J\V

 

[jbvcoaching]

Hi Jeff, I wish I had never bought the Pro 300PT. The 1850 dollars is a waste of my money. I could better buy a 500 dollar spinningbike with a 3000 dollar SRM crank because then you can train by power. With a powertap hub in a flywheel you can't because a change in temperature changes the accuracy of the PT and a flywheel has a big change in temperature during a work out...

Not to change the thread, but for $1850 I'd get a PT SL and a Kurt Kinetic Pro "Rock & Roll".

 

[PaulMD]

Not to change the thread, but for $1850 I'd get a PT SL and a Kurt Kinetic Pro "Rock & Roll".

Yeah, but then you don't have a fixed gear spinningbike with a road cycling feeling.

 

[jbvcoaching]

Yeah, but then you don't have a fixed gear spinningbike with a road cycling feeling.

Buy a second PT wheel, a pro hub set up fixed for track use. Swap that in while on the trainer. Now you've also got a track wheel (I presume you ride/race track if having a fixed is important to you).

The 18lb flywheel and "rock & roll" feature ought to handle the "road feel" part.

Or just leave the road bike in one gear on the trainer...

 

[john979]

Buy a second PT wheel, a pro hub set up fixed for track use. Swap that in while on the trainer. Now you've also got a track wheel (I presume you ride/race track if having a fixed is important to you).

The 18lb flywheel and "rock & roll" feature ought to handle the "road feel" part.

Or just leave the road bike in one gear on the trainer...

Before I purchased the PT300 Pro, I thought about doing such, but I was concerned that the 18 pound flywheel would not provide enough inertia. I know I am not going to be happy until I buy a Velotron.

 

[J-V]

Deer Creek/High Grade is really popular. The whole climb is about 3000' and should take around an hour. I don't think you can find a steady climb this long without going further north or west.

Just a quick update for those interested in how the 300PT has impacted my life. This was posted to another forum, but is directly relevant to the Mt.Diablo goal.

Here's a quick synopsis of my power tests since getting the 300PT and it's effects upon my local TT climb: Lookout Mountain here in Golden is about 1250' of climbing in 4.5 miles 'pillar to post', i.e. about 5.4%. It's my local TT climb fitness indicator. My previous personal best on that climb was 29:14 on 07/28/05, in '06 I didn't break my PB, but almost surely could have (by maybe 0:30?) in late December if the weather hadn't turned.

Entries by date (all power data is from 20-min*0.95 method on the 300PT, no power data on bike yet):

[Started using 300PT on 12/26/06]

12/31/06 PTest (20-min*0.95) = 209.7w, 82.4 Kg
01/02/07 re-test (fresh) = 234w, 81.6 Kg
01/09/07 = 238.5w, 81.1 Kg
01/21/07 = 256.4w, 79.5 Kg
01/28/07 = 253.7w, 78.2 Kg
02/05/07 = 27:44 (PB by -1:30), 79.9 Kg [kreuzotter calc = 269w @9.72mph]
02/10/07 = 268.1w, 78.1 Kg [last power test]
02/10/07 = 27:44 (PB by -1:30), 79.9 Kg
03/05/07 = 26:19 (PB by -1:18), 79.0 Kg
03/21/07 = 24:53 (PB by -1:27), 78.2 Kg [kreuzotter calc = 308w @10.87mph]

The calculated 269w (from http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm) on 2/05/07 compares pretty favorably with my last power test, which was 268.1w, 5 days later on 2/10/07. Interesting that they appear to correlate; I really need to do a power test on the 300PT in the next few days to see where I'm at. That thing has changed my life.

So, today's ride pretty much broke what my race-goal was going to be for the 'Pillar-to-Post' race in early May. I guess I need to set a new goal. My average speed of 10.87 mph is about what I need for the climb up Mt. Diablo (to break an hour), though it's a 3200' climb, so now I need to work on being able to keep this pace longer. Yuk.

Cheers!

-J\V

 

[tanggoman]

As far as Diablo goes, I've spent a lot of hours on that mountain, and can't wait for one more turn. My title of this thread was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, hoping to get the input of both those familiar with Diablo, and others who use the 300PT. It's a long-term investment not intended for any specific goal, but I will certainly put it through its paces trying to attain the 10.8 mph up the mountain, which according to some preliminary estimates on AnalyticCycling.com will require about 285 watts for 60 minutes. I don't know where I stand, but I do know that sounds a bit ugly.

I live just a stone's throw away from Mt Diablo and I have to say since I got my PT late last summer, I have tested my power output, only from Northgate to the Ranger Junction Station (roughly 6.5miles, 8%-12% avg grade), and this route is hella hard if compared to the other side, which is Southgate. From my data last summer the fastest I got was, again, from Northgate to Junction, was around 37min at an average power of ~235W.

I've been slowly building up again to that same output as last year as daddy duties kept me off the bike for most of the quarter this year, but slowly getting there.

 

[J-V]

I live just a stone's throw away from Mt Diablo and I have to say since I got my PT late last summer, I have tested my power output, only from Northgate to the Ranger Junction Station (roughly 6.5miles, 8%-12% avg grade), and this route is hella hard if compared to the other side, which is Southgate. From my data last summer the fastest I got was, again, from Northgate to Junction, was around 37min at an average power of ~235W.

I've been slowly building up again to that same output as last year as daddy duties kept me off the bike for most of the quarter this year, but slowly getting there.

My data from back then shows it's about 1780' in 6.4 miles, which would be more like 5.3%, but my numbers could be a bit off. North Gate was my training ride, used to go up there 3 or 4 times a week in the summer, and tried to summit at least once a week. I think about 34:00 was the best I ever did it, and it is indeed much harder than South Gate (about 1% steeper if I recall).

Good luck getting back up there for some rides, it's a great place!