Indoor training

hello everyone, first forum i have joined. i have been researching but need more info to rate my rides. first off i have diamondback interval 18 speed sitting on a tripod trainer (magnetic resistance) only have 71 rides on it since december but according to my calculations i have average rpm 115 trying to achieve between 22-23 miles in an hour, my resistance only at 2 but riding in 15th and 16th gears. right now it is kicking my ass by the end of the hour. can anyone advise me where i'm at on some kind of grade scale so i know where i'm at. thanks

 

That's the trouble with trainers, they're not calibrated.
Doesn't really matter much, since stationary bikes don't go anywhere, at any speed.
If you ride for your own benefit you're better off simply monitoring trends. Doing a set mileage at a set resistance 10% faster (or doing more miles in a given time) is an improvement no matter what.
Unless you have a Heart Rate Monitor to track your effort level, ride at a pace/resistance where talking gets difficult but not impossible.
If you want values that are comparable, you need a bike/trainer that can measure watts.

A 115 rpm average cadence is kinda high. Most aim for an average between 80-100. 115 is more like sprints.

 

Thanks I have tracked heart rate via app on phone and taking my radial pulse I have seen and read where to slow rpm, lower gears , but higher resistance. My training mostly for lower back injury and to ready for getting out soon.

 

I forgot or didn't explain my set up. I'm riding my own bike on a tripod trainer with my cycle computer.

 

Yeah, but you're still not going anywhere, at any speed. You're missing the influences of air drag, head/tailwinds, climbs and descents.
Only thing that lets you compare your stationary ride to a real ride or to someone elses stationary ride is a power meter.

 

It's true that its far easier to upset your knees by pedalling slow-and-hard compared to hard-and-fast.
But a 115 average is HIGH.
You begin to lose efficiency at that rate.
70-90, 80-100 thereabouts is the generally recommended average.
It's a good skill to have for sprints, but unlikely to be a good cruise average.

A 22 mph average would be a good result for a group ride - if the resistance you're using is representative of real-life conditions.

 

If your trainer is one of the supported ones, an application like Zwift or the Sufferfest can infer a virtual power based on the speed of your rear wheel. The idea here is that they know the speed / power curve for your trainer, so if they know speed they can infer power.

I find both of those applications excellent, although I am preferring The Sufferfest. Check them out - both make riding a trainer much less boring.

 

I love trainers. And I love the recent developments in smart trainers and trainer-resources such as Zwift. But, I will throw out a note of caution about relying on a trainer's speed to power relationship as a proxy for power. I own three trainers, including a CompuTrainer Pro. I also have a power meter on all of my bikes. I have done a lot of experimenting with the variables that create resistance on trainers, which in turn drives the relationship between speed and power. I was shocked to discover the variability introduced by tires, tire wear, tire inflation and press-on force. To introduce more consistency for my CT, I developed my own tools to set press-on force with a torque wrench. I'm not diminishing the value of trainers, including dumb trainers, at all. I am suggesting that one should treat the supposed speed to power relationship of a given trainer (any trainer) with a great deal of skepticism.

 

Agree with the above posts. There can be lots of variability, especially with higher intensity interval sessions. I like to create a separate FTP for each bike or trainer and also for indoors vs out. Takes a bit more work to track things...but, I think the data is more meaningful this way.