TrainerRoad. What equipment?

fcon

I'm looking to get set up for trainer road so I can train with virtual power. I've seen great reviews and it seems much better value than going out buying a powermeter. With the tests to work out your FTP and set yourself targets based off this there's no wussing out either because the graph will show you whether you've met the goal output power or not.

I'm currently using an exercise bike when indoors but I find it hard to motivate myself to do any interval based training on it. It's so far removed from a road bike and there's no data or feedback from it. Plus I start to cramp up on sessions over an hour long whereas I don't have the same issue on longer road rides.

So I'll need:
-turbo trainer, I know nothing about these as long as its on the TrainerRoad supported list?
-speed/cadence sensor, I'll probably get the garmin edge 1000 version of the speed/cadence instead of the fiddly magnet type?
-ant+ usb stick

I'm thinking of getting the wahoo tickr heartrate monitor instead of the garmin as this is bluetooth enabled as well as ant+ instead of just being ant+ so I'll be able to use it with my smartphone with strava or does this make a difference if I get a garmin edge 510? Will the 510 upload all my rides to strava with the heartrate information from the garmin HRM?

I suppose the thing with TrainerRoad is if I decide I don't think it's as good as I had originally thought it's only a $10 monthly subscription that I can stop and most of the gear I'll have bought will still be useful on regular rides.

Thanks in advance for any advice offered.

trevorderuise

Looks like you have a pretty good understanding of what you'll need. In regards to trainers, if you go to the Help Center of the TR website, you can search "supported trainers" and there is an article with a list of supported manufacturers as well as some recommended models.

Also, Garmin HR monitors are great, but like you said, the Wahoo Tickr and speed/cadence sensor speak both ANT+ and BT, allowing you to utilize native bluetooth on Apple devices on the new iOS app, which can be useful.

You will be able to upload HR data from outdoor rides to Strava if you have a Garmin 510 headunit on either the Wahoo monitor or the Garmin monitor.

You can check out more on the minimum hardware by searching "minimum hardware" on the Help Center, and we have an article with some recommended devices and links to get them.

-Trevor from TrainerRoad

fcon

Thanks for the reply Trevor, glad to see the TrainerRoad staff are quick on the customer service

I looked up the "minimum hardware" and saw the edge headunit was not a necessity for TrainerRoad, I hadn't seen that previously, maybe I might purchase one when the weather picks up and I'll get more use out of it on outdoor rides.

fcon

Well I ordered the gear over the weekend anyway. Looking forward to getting set up once it arrives The legs are going to get a punishing

godtabh

TrainerRoad is great. I've been doing a program for about 4 weeks and have seen improvement in my fitness as measured by power.