More Tacx Facts

My free trial of the Tacx training app has ended. Basic functions of the app will continue to work, but subscription-only functions are now unavailable. The subscription has different payment options. Interactive riding environments are available in standard definition for $9.99 per month or $99.99 for one year. To get high definition video, the price goes up to $13.99 per month or $139.99 for one year. At least for now, I am content with the free tier. If I were going to pay for an indoor training environment, then I almost certainly would return to Zwift.

Before Thursday’s 1-hour ride, I abandoned my efforts to calibrate power on the Tacx trainer, which I knew was inaccurate. I stole the Favero power-sensing pedals from my Scott Addict and installed them on my Trek Boone, which is on trainer duty this winter. Power numbers for Thursday’s ride were comparable to my most recent 1-hour outdoor rides in Zone 2, and they were much higher than those that the Tacx reported on earlier rides at the same perceived effort. I rode for 30 minutes on Friday and for 90 minutes earlier today, again with power numbers consistent with my expectations.

There’s a good argument for using the Favero pedals all the time, indoors and outdoors. Unlike heart rate, which naturally varies in response to things like fatigue or illness, and unlike Rate of Perceived Exertion, which is completely subjective, power is always an objective measure of how hard you’re working. Whether my Favero pedals are strictly accurate is not important, but the trends revealed by their measurements are! If I want my indoor training to translate to better performance outdoors, then it makes sense to get performance metrics from the same source. And if I go back to the Saris trainer, then it will be interesting to see how its power numbers compare to those from the Favero pedals.

The best case for continuing to use the Tacx app is that it integrates seamlessly with Garmin Connect. Many of the Tacx-specific badges are available only with a subscription, but there are two more “freebies” that I would like to earn. After that, I might abandon the Tacx app and the Tacx trainer. The remaining incentive to stick with them would be small indeed: Garmin Connect values long Tacx rides more highly than long rides on other trainers. Garmin awards 4 points for every Tacx ride of 75 kilometers (46.7 miles) and 8 points for every Tacx ride of 100 kilometers (62.2 miles). Garmin’s 50-mile trainer ride is worth 4 points, but you can earn the badge only once. Garmin doesn’t have a 100-mile indoor ride. Its 8-point indoor ride–repeatable and available on any trainer–is based on a duration of 4 hours. If your goal is to game the system to maximize points, then the 100-kilometer Tacx ride accomplishes the same thing as the generic 4-hour ride in less time as long as you average more than 15.55 mph, and a good Zone 2 average of 17.77 mph gets the job done with 30 minutes to spare. But even 3:30 on the trainer sounds like a lot to me! I was more than ready to be done when I hit 90 minutes today.