Hi, I am a fairly good runner (sub 36 minutes on 10k, 2.48 marathoner) looking to change to indoor cycling because of frequent injuries. I have a couple of questions:
What are the main differences between bikes in different price ranges. For example a Kickr bike for 3000 dollars, a Zwift bike for 1500 dollars and a BH Sport Lyon bike for 700 dollars. Is it a good strategy to buy a “cheap” one and then upgrade?
For how long will I have to live with sadle soreness? I cannot imagine riding for even 2 hours with as much pain as I get in spinning sessions at my gym.
What is a good training program for me on Zwift if I want to get good as soon as possible (having in mind that I have the endurance but not the legs, as my quads die before I even get my HR up to an equivalent of 5 seconds per mile slower than my marathon pace HR). I am willing to do 90 minutes per day now, and up to 3 hours per day when my sadle soreness go away.
If you can estimate, what FTP is equivalent to my 2.48 marathon PB (which places me in the top 1% in most marathons).
Is it an advantage to be light when indoor cycling, as it is with running?
How many threshold or vo2 max sessions can you do per week? As a runner I found that 3 was the maximum if not doing double treshold days. Can you do hard sessions every other day when cycling?
Get a good bike fit and good cycling bibs and you’ll be fine. It’s a rite of passage / you get used to it thing. Getting out of the saddle even if only for 5 seconds every 15 minutes can make a big difference
That all depends on what “good” means to you.
No idea. Do a ramp test to get a rough idea of what your FTP is and go from there.
Yes, but only uphill. On the flat a good big guy beats a good little guy, usually.
2 or 3 for most people, if - as you should - you’re going hard on your hard days and easy on your easy days.
Ok, so what are the advantages of a 3000 dollar smartbike to a 700 dollar smart bike?
Ok, but approx how long do I have to put up with it, are we talking about weeks, months or years?
Well, lets say top 1% of everyone on Zwift (which I assume is about equal to my running skill, as I assume the Zwift population is somewhat equal to the marathon-runner population in terms of skill).
I will. What is a good FTP for a complete beginner (but with running experience)?
Are there any flat races on Zwift or do they all have hills?
The 700 dollar bike will not accurately measure your power. It is too cheap to include a real power meter. Almost none of the “smart” spin bikes make any accuracy claims or allow for calibration. The BH bikes are not supported by Zwift. That doesn’t mean they will not be usable, but if compatibility problems arise, Zwift support will shrug and direct you to BH. The BH Lyon has a maximum power level of 500W which is lower than many/most fit people can produce, at least for sprints. The BH Lyon offers manual resistance control which means there will be no terrain simulation and ERG mode workouts will not be possible. If you are interested in training for performance, or competition, or comparing your fitness to other athletes, it is a poor choice.
The Zwift Ride bundle comes with a popular mid-range smart trainer (Wahoo Kickr Core) that has none of those problems. The same trainer could be used with a bicycle if you want. The manufacturer (Wahoo) also offers excellent support and is known to provide some level of service after the warranty expires. That trainer is also well understood by the community since there are so many of them in use. That is a good place to be.
As for training, I suspect you can train up to a decent level in a few months but will continue to make smaller gains over the course of a few years. The best training plan would be one designed for you either by a coach or via one of the adaptive training platforms that are integrated with Zwift like TrainerRoad, TriDot, Xert, etc. Zwift plans give you a pile of workouts for each week and leave it up to you to decide the order and scheduling. If you are working too hard or not hard enough, the plans will not detect that or adapt in any way. The adaptive plans, or a coached plan, would answer the questions of what should I do today, and should next week’s plan be altered based on how this week went.
“Is there a reason you’re not interested perhaps in an indoor trainer setup that includes a real bike, so you can take your riding outdoors sometimes?”
Yes, I am not yet sure if cycling is for me. First of all I want to be able to get at least as good at cycling as running, second sadle soreness is so bad I would not continue if it does not go away after some time of training. So I am hesitant to spend that much money before I know I will do this seriosly.
John: “300 watts give or take based on 75kg weight, but goes down or up for lighter/heavier.”
Ok so its easier to get a higher Watts/Kg if you are heavier?
For the saddle soreness issue, bike fitting is the most important factor. That means ensuring that your position on the bike is right, leg extension is right, saddle shape and design is right, saddle tilt is right. Getting professionally fitted is the best solution, but if that’s not practical you could also try one of the bike fit apps, and go to a shop to get assistance with saddle selection. Of course decent bibs are also necessary, and if chafing is a problem, use chamois cream.
You said:
The problem with the cheap BH bike is you will not know how good you are because it can’t tell you. You can get a workout by making your legs go around in circles but beyond that you will have no useful information about your performance.
what bike have you used that has given you so much trouble with saddle sores? Was it a gym bike with those super wide and padded seats? Those things suck and are nothing like a “real” bike seat.
Not necessarily. it is all about power to weight… some people are super light but lack power, some people are heavier and more muscular so they have higher power… don’t get too hung up on this right now as a beginner… focus on finding a good bike (don’t get a spin bike for $700, it is junk) and just start by riding around Zwift, do some group rides and events like the Big Spin… then as you get familiar with the platform you can start training and doing workouts if that interests you.
I was looking at it as an option that could be the same as you might consider spending. Eg. $3k could get you a real bike + a trainer. Cycling outdoors is quite a bit different feeling than riding on a stationary setup. At least for myself, I can go ride for 3hrs outdoors, while indoors I don’t want to even try anything over 1.5 hrs.
You asked about FTP, which isn’t weight based. I was using a calculator to equate a marathon finishing time to an idea of what FTP you might have.
ht tps://alancouzens.com/blog/Run_Power.html
that is impossible to answer, you can only measure it with multiple power meters to see where it would fall in comparison to a known good calibrated power meter.
Also, every BH spin bike that comes out of the store would probably give you different power readings, there is likely no consistency.
the saying goes, want to drive a cyclist crazy? give them 2 power meters. Don’t ask what happens when you give them 3 power meters.
The only way to find out how a specific bike performs would be to install some known good power meter pedals like the Favero Assioma and record power numbers from both the trainer and the pedals at a variety of power levels and cadences so you can compare them. Unfortunately none of the well known reviewers of smart trainers review the accuracy of spin bikes, probably because it’s mostly a waste of effort.
Ok, but how much might they be off by? I mean, could the smartbike show 350 watts (or 70 watts) when you in reality are at 210 watts? I just want to know how much inaccuracy we are talking about, is it 5% or 500%?
Sorry that is unknowable without the testing I described, and it could be both high and low in different scenarios. The bottom line is if you care about accuracy, buy a product that makes a verifiable accuracy claim and has been evaluated against that claimed level of accuracy. Cheap spin bikes like that do not offer any accuracy claim, and are not tested. It’s common for them to derive power from cadence, which is very wrong.
Ok, its just that if no claims at all can be made with at least a ball park estimate of how much they are off, how can one even know that the are off? If they could be as much as 500% off, then any newbie would be able to win a category A race if he is lucky enough to have the watts overestimated, right? Is this happening?
