I am new to trainerroad and am using virtual power on my Giant Cyclotron Mag. I double checked that the Mag was set up properly. Well, when I did my first ramp test it came out to FTP of 432- which is most certainly not true. Does anyone else use the Mag and have this issue?
I reached out to the support folks (SUPER helpful by the way) who mentioned that I might be able to adjust the power curve manually in the settings to get things a little more accurate- but that’s a bit out of my wheelhouse. They did mention that this particular trainer is common with this issue.
The training will work fine with the inflated number and I’ve been through a few workouts and it’s working- it’s just odd with the really high FTP.
Does anyone else use the Giant Cyclotron Mag and have this issue, and maybe could guide me through this power curve thing?
What support? And how do you manually adjust a power curve? I’ve tried attaching a similar bike with a power meter and adjusting the wheel circumference setting in the TR app until the power reported from TR and power meter matched, but, last time I tried that a year ago, the wheel circumference setting in reality often for some reason got reset to 2096 and output “wrong power”. Maybe they’ve fixed that by now.
I’m guessing you don’t have a strain based power meter to use? In which case it’s fine to train on the basis of the virtual power number as long as it’s consistent between rides. Whenever you decide it’s worthwhile and viable to invest in either a true strain gauge power meter or a smart trainer then you will need to retest to allow for your new ‘source of truth’.
TrainerRoad Support at support.traineroad.com . They were very helpful, at last coming to the conclusion that we could perhaps change the power curve, however it is a bit of a tedious process and I don’t see an option to do so it may have to be via support and redoing ramp test(s) I might just deal with it as it IS working it just seems odd for 400 FTP and when I did the ramp test for example it went off the charts & beyond.
I checked my wheel circumference and I had it set to 2105 mm based on my 700X25 wheels.
Unfortunately no power meter or smart trainer for me at the moment- but after all this, I am certainly saving for one I am certainly glad that I am not one to brag and didn’t tell anyone that I had a 400 FTP haha
Yes, a few workouts in and things seem to be working with it set at 400 so I can at least train and get better for the time being.
I just looked it up and I see that it is a variable resistance unit. The power curve that TR is using is likely only based on one of the resistance settings. It might be worth getting in touch with support to see if they know which resistance setting they would recommend for your trainer.
Yep, we discussed that. My first ramp test came in at 432FTP and then support and I talked that over and they said to dial it up a few so I moved it all the way to the hardest setting and did another test, this time came out with 400FTP
The other variable with a wheel on trainer is how hard you have cranked down on the wheel with the resistance unit. For ‘dumb’ trainers I’ve always done this by feel…I just hop on and try to make the resistance feel about right at around 25kph at 90rpm.
@tylerdhart, did you get any further with this? I have the same thing using the Cyclotron Mag and I’m getting a super inflated FTP! It doesn’t really bother me as the workouts are bang on in terms of effort level and I’m seeing the benefits, but it means when it uploads to Strava my averages are a bit high!
I’m not in a position to get a power meter etc but would be interested to hear if you find a way to bring the virtual power readings to a more realistic number! E.g tyre pressure / resistance settings on the mag.
Unfortunately I have not found a solution. I agree with you that it is still beneficial because I just finished base and did another ramp test which is now in the 440’s… LOL. The TR support folks have excellent customer service (probably the best I’ve ever seen) however still no solution. I think I’m going to buy some Favero Assiomas as a lower cost solution for power accuracy, after rabbit holing for a month to figure out my options.
I have the same issue with sync to Strava
Sounds like it’s just one of life’s great mysteries hahaha at the moment I’m also recording the sessions on my Garmin Edge 810 (which gives me more realistic stats), uploading that to Strava and disabling the auto-upload from TR to Strava. I do miss the epic TR graphs that appear in Strava but it’s not a biggy!
Hi there @giveitthebeans, I’m having a similar issue with the Giant Cyclotron but at the moment I am finding the workouts pretty easy - I am busy working through the Traditional Base training plan but am finding that my HR is not climbing much over 130bpm (my threshold HR is around 150bpm).
When I was using the Cyclotron I did experience that to start with and used to increase the workout intensity of those workouts. I think the problem I had was I undershot the FTP test (I use the 20 minute test), but on subsequent tests my pacing improved and I think the FTP was more realistic and I didn’t have to adjust the intensity of workouts.
I ended up using the Cyclotron for about 3 months and did see an increase in FTP! I actually managed to get a Kurt Kinetic Rock & Roll 2nd hand (for £20) and I’m now using that with Virtual Power which is much more realistic - I’m not in a position to get either a power meter or smart trainer but can definitely recommend the Kurt with virtual power as a cheaper option!
I might just deal with it as it IS working it just seems odd for 400 FTP and when I did the ramp test for example it went off the charts & beyond.
I am certainly glad that I am not one to brag and didn’t tell anyone that I had a 400 FTP haha