Rocker Madness: Hill Climbs
So, yesterday I questioned whether or not the Endurance Rockr was capable of increasing power on the bike. Today, with pretty good legs, I attempted to ride some of Zwift's mountains and hills. (I started the Three Sisters Route, but I got pulled off the bike after about an hour). I also happened to find myself running out of clean bibs, so I wore probably the worst one I own, some Chinese team kit knock off that I bought years ago. The results were interesting.
The original Zwift hill climb was going well, but I decided that I had to make an adjustment on the Endurance Rockr and stopped 3/4 of the way up. Several people had advised me to run the pressure as low as possible on the tubes that control the rocking side to side. I just couldn't take the feeling of instability anymore. I added some pressure to each side and rebalanced the platform with a stiffer feel. Perfect in my opinion, but it messed up that hill as a test for whether or not there was any difference in power. On to the Epic KOM climb.
The Epic KOM climb was a huge challenge for me when Zwift added it two seasons ago. In my 8 times up the hill (I would have thought I tackled it more than that), it is always a challenge and it provides a good 25 or so minutes of effort. We really have no climb like it around here.
Today was the best effort I have ever made up the KOM, and I can say that I am not in the best shape of my life right now. Last winter I was in much better shape, but this year I have been busy and using the excuse that I am not trying to burn out too early like last year. You can see the result below...
9 seconds isn't a ton, but you can see that it was quite good. I think that the Endurance Rockr really did help on the climb. Maybe not purely with power, but the ability to stand and grind out the hard parts and the comfort of the rocker plate helped. I did not really try to set a PR, just that I did go for it a little when I saw I was close. At the bottom, I was simply trying to just keep a steady pace, so I was a little surprised when that status meter popped up, and I noticed I was 5 minutes ahead of my last 30 day PR.
In less than a week of having the Endurance Rockr, I have to say I am enjoying the trainer a lot more because of it.