Overall, the resistance I experience on my Kickr seems very accurate, based on inclines, speed, etc. Very impressive. However, there is one aspect that doesn’t seem accurate to me. When I am coming down a steep hill at speed and then the hills becomes less steep, the resistance seems to high.
Obviously, I’d expect more resistance compared to the earlier (steeper) part of the hill. However, the resistance seems more than I’d expect, to the extent that it feels like I am going uphill (even though I might still be on, say, a 5% downslope).
A little tricky to explain but I’m wondering of other folks have this same sense.
well it’s not like the kickr is going to be able to replicate something like -10%… I just don’t think it has that ability… This is a kickr issue not really Zwift. Downslopes will always be a problem on a trainer.
I think there are a few places where the visual doesn’t quite match the grade. I’ll bet if you look at the elevation profile where you feel the resistance pick up, the profile shows an incline. There are a few places where I think the graphics show what appears to be a downhill but is really a false flat or slight incline.
Greg, the profile I am talking about shows up as a negative incline (I’m looking at the numerical figure not just trying to figure out the graphics). I see this as I come half way down the final hill large hill. If memory serves, it has grade of about -5%, but then goes to about -2%. That’s still downhill but it doesn’t feel right at that point - it feels like I’m climbing. I’d accept that this is a little subjective but just doesn’t feel right to me.
That said, in other parts of the course the incline vs. resistance relationship feels right to me.
Not sure if this is it, but the subjective feeling is always going to be different on a trainer because you can’t feel the wind resistance. As a result, it feels like you have a huge tailwind when descending. At least for me, this makes me expect to be going faster than I do in the simulation.
Indeed the downhills were too hard on a KICKR unit and the values were changed a little in the update that went out around new years. The downhills hopefully require a much bigger gear now to spin down.