Dumb Trainer v smart trainer ftp style!

Dumb Trainer v smart trainer ftp style!

Tonight I did an FTP short test on my turbo trainer at home (elite mag speed). Its a cheap turbo from Halfords I brought a few years ago that Ive not really used until the last year. Ive set it up as zwift requests with the resistance set at 3 and using a speed, cadence and heart rate monitor. Zwift then estimates the power in watts using a power curve designed for each trainer.

Whats your point?
As per my first blog I did an FTP on a tacx flux smart trainer I got an FTP of 257w (suffering with a cold). I wanted to see what difference I could get using my turbo at home, I also wanted to set an FTP for the trainer so when I do workouts then zwift will give a more accurate zone for the trainer I was using. I'm not saying budget turbos are no good and you shouldn't use them, I just wanted to see how out of range they was at giving me my estimated power. 

The Result
A ridiculously hot, sweaty mess.
I managed an FTP of 350w on my dumb trainer at home. I'm pretty sure its around 70watts to much. I feel if I was fully fit I could of managed 280w when I done it on the smart trainer. It just felt a lot easier on the dumb trainer like a lack of resistance. I even managed to push it up to over 400w at the end and I hadn't even emptied the tank.
Conclusion
You can still get a good workout on a dumb trainer as long as it set up properly on zwift and I would advise doing an FTP first on it, then whenever you carry out workouts on zwift the zones it sets for you should be pretty accurate. The only thing I would say is that if you think your pushing some numbers on zwift it probably wont be the same on the road. Its a brilliant training device and whilst we have dark nights and poor weather then zwift will come to the rescue. 

I'm hoping to get out to do some miles sunday, I need to increase my base miles as I haven't really done over 40 miles on the bike outside. It all depends on time if I'm not working Saturday then ill try and get out both days. One of the days ill spend in the roads of Cannock chase, theres some decent lumps/hills so ill probably do a few of them to build the legs up. Enjoy the weekend and get some miles in!!!!!! 



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