Another Lower Indoor TP Question

Since switching to a Wahoo Powrlink power meter on my outdoor bike, I’m getting breakthroughs outdoors which are pushing my outdoor TP much higher than my indoor. It’s betwen 17% higher for 5 second power, down to 7% higher for 20m power. It’s very odd becasue if I test the wahoo pm on the trainer, it actually reads lower than my Tacx Neo, so I’m super confused by the different… if only I could get my 5-60s outdoor power on the indoor trainer then I’d be smashing zwift races.

Is the easiest option just to flag outdoor breaktthroughs are erroneous, so that Xert just uses all my indoor efforts (I’m 6 days a week indoors, 1 day outdoors)

Hi Ian. It is common to have more power outdoors. See here:

A few paragraphs in this statement invalidates the referenced study of recreational cyclists –

It’s worth noting that the discrepancy in power might have been exaggerated due to the fact that no fans were used in the indoor trial.

Biomechanics aside, if your indoor trainer setup isn’t dripless for most if not all workouts, you have insufficient cooling. Fix that issue first as it will make a HUGE difference in your ability to complete tough workouts at 100%.

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During your next indoor workout with flat block intervals longer than a minute try switching the Power sensor between your trainer and power meter in the middle of the interval.
Test both RIB (rest-in-between) intervals in blue and work intervals in green.
Watch watts on the EBC rainbow gauge compared to the effort required to maintain the target while in AUTO mode.
Is there a noticeable difference between the Powrlink paired and the Neo?
If so, which one felt easier?