my question would be, what kind of devices I need - in general - to properly train with Trainer Day indoors and outdoors. Maybe with additional information about “minimal setup” and “optimal setup”.
For indoor, I’m thinking a minimal setup would be a home trainer w/o power meter and only cadance sensor (to generate virtual power), and optimal would be a power based bike trainer or roll (like any of the Tacx or Wahoo trainers to which you attach your road bike, sending your power value via bluetooth), a heart rate monitor, and a cadance sensor?
For outdoor, I have absolutely no idea. Do I need power sensors on my road bike padles? Is there a different way? Since I don’t have a Garmin or Wahoo device attached to my bike, but only use my iPhone for tracking my speed and route, I’m not familiar with the way they facilitate workouts.
For indoor I imagine minimal is speed sensor? Cadence (which comes before the gearing) might not be enough information? Optimal is a smart trainer, either wheel-on or direct drive (replaces rear wheel). The smart trainer can work in ERG mode which will auto-magically control your power output. Heart rate monitor is optional. Almost all smart trainers will output cadence as well.
I don’t have experience here but for outdoor I assume optimal would be some kind of power meter (on crank, pedal, or hub) and either the Trainer Day app or a bike computer to direct the workout.
Part of the question here is how much do you want to exactly track? Do you want to follow a general training plan or do you want an exact power profile while you’re doing the workout? For example, you might not need an exact power profile on a long outdoor ride at Z2/Z3 since this is not an intense ride, mostly just time on a bike.
Personally, I have a smart trainer so I’ll do the high intensity intervals indoors where I can measure the power profile accurately. Once the weather is decent again, I’ll do my outdoor rides with a GPS app and a heart rate monitor (since I don’t have a power meter).
Hi Erik, you will have a significantly better experience and much more accuracy if you buy a power meter. Something like Assinoma single sided pedal is fine. This is great solution for outdoors. For indoors the best experience is a direct drive smart trainer (well smart bikes might be better but much more expensive). Something like a Wahoo Kick Core, or a Tacx Flux S are the most common lower priced options. If you want you can just use a power meter and buy any indoor trainer such as rollers, or a dumb trainer. It really depends on your budget. I would not use a speed sensor if you can afford something better, but in worst case you can use a speed sensor indoors with a roller or dumb trainer but outdoors it would be difficult if not impossible. You can also get something like a 4iii or stages power meter for $299. So best budget setups are around $500 but significantly better would be closer to $1000-1200 for both indoor and outdoor.