Week One

My first week of training is done and all the performance files are in the hands of coach Wharton. Despite a couple of technical bumps in getting the CompuTrainer up and running, the ErgVideo software ran flawlessly. The seamless process of receiving the coaching plan, selecting the ride, and doing the workout, is really amazing. And the quality of the workout is pretty intense.

Last night’s ride was a tempo club ride--very much like any home town club ride you might be used to. What a great feeling to be able to get in this kind of workout from the comfort of my home, at night while it is raining outside!

One thing I notice right off the bat is that ErgVideos force you to give it your best. An hour into the ride when the rider in front of me sprinted ahead to catch up to a group up the road, I really didn’t want to follow him. But the power graph at the top of the screen told me I would have to if I wanted to complete the workout! The more I get used to the software, the better I get at reading the upcoming sections of the ride by looking at the graph. A dip to zero watts followed by a sharp rise: stop sign or turn ahead. You can easily see in advance when it will be your turn to pull at the front. After a long stretch at 100% I found that seeing that little dip in power coming down the road kept me motivated to keep pushing just a little more, knowing that a rest was coming...

In terms of the mechanics of the system, there are a few things to make sure you have right. The CompuTrainer connects to a computer using a serial connector. Being a Mac user, I haven’t seen a serial port on my computer--well, ever. The latest Mac I bought even dropped the Firewire 400 in lieu of the faster firewire 800 and USB 2 ports. For most users I suspect that they will be using a serial to USB adapter, and they are not all created equal. ErgVideo has a nice video tutorial that explains which is more reliable.

http://www.ergvideo.com/Support.aspx

I ordered one, updated the drivers, and it worked flawlessly. $19 well spent.

Other than that, it is important to do a proper warm up to get everything calibrated (10 minutes). Just build this into your workout routine--it will keep your rides consistent and accurate. Make sure you have whatever you need while you ride at hand. Water, gels, TV remote, phone, a towel, etc. should be at arms length, because you really don’t want to pause the workout to get up and get something you forgot.

One final point about this entire system. While it provides, in my opinion, an unparalleled quality of workout for an indoor training system, it does require that the user be comfortable with diving into aspects of software that the casual computer user might not normally be required to explore. Be prepared to tinker a bit to get everything running optimally.

I think it is important to keep in mind that the developers of these tools are developing to a relatively small market (compared to say, the market for Halo). The time and effort is being spent in making sure the software gives us the best workout possible, in an easy to use interface. In the case of the CompuTrainer Coaching and MultiRider software, that interface is, um, somewhat aesthetically dated. That said, it is functional, and the ErgVideo Inc. software works in such a way to keep it in the background for the most part.

Now, a day of rest, and then on to Week 2!

Ken