Am I just out of shape?

Trying to figure out if it’s my trainer or I’m just really out of shape. 44, male, 5”6 and 153lbs. Up until 8 months ago was running 20 mpw and had completed several marathons and ultra marathons. For the last 8 months I’ve only done strength and easy walking. Bought a wahoo kickr snap and a zwift subscription. Tire pressure is correct, did a spin down calibration and my ramp test said 113 ftp :face_with_peeking_eye:. During the test it says it that 100w should feel very easy but it doesn’t. I’ve checked my settings in zwift and they look correct. Am I just getting used to erg and out of shape or is there some other settings I need to check?

Assuming the Snap is set up right (tire pressure, 2 turns of the knob-or whatever the directions say, calibrated using the Wahoo app), one question is whether you are in erg mode and peddling at a very low cadence. If cadence is too low (say, below 75 rpm) even low watts feels difficult, in my experience.

Thanks. Tire pressure at 120 and it says to tighten the roller against the wheel until you can’t make the tire slip and did a spin down calibration. Don’t know about cadence bc the snap doesn’t transmit cadence. I’d have to get wahoo cadence sensor.

Seems like a high tire pressure, but depends on the tire, I guess. Also, I used a snap until recently and recall that they advised 2 turns of the knob. A cadence sensor is a good, low-cost investment if you plan to use Zwift for workouts.

You didn’t say which settings you checked, but double check what Zwift has in your settings for weight and make sure it’s the right number for the units you selected (lbs or kgs)

Weight doesn’t influence the FTP power number. Only speed.

Thanks everyone. Going to return the trainer. I had my wife try my trainer with zwift and she is more fit than me and could barely turn the peddles at 100watts. I turned off zwift and just used the wahoo app and it said I was doing 22mph at 45watts

You need a lot more than 45watts to do 22mph.

Is the 100w die to you can’t pedal any faster or is it to hard to turn the pedals over.

What bike do you have on the trainer? What gears are you using?

Right. That’s why I think there is a problem with the trainer. It feels like I’m riding through sludge even at 100 watts or less. My wife was dying at 85 watts on the trainer and then couldn’t even hold 100 watts.

It’s a wahoo kickr snap. I deleted it from the app and started the set up process again. Power was all over the place even with consistent pedaling.

I have a casati laser with campy chorus on the trainer.

I read that if the spin down calibration takes more than 15 seconds that you need to tighten the roller on the wheel. My spin down took longer than 30 second but roller is already indenting the rear wheel so can’t imagine it needs to be tightened

120 psi is old skool :slight_smile: What size tires are you running? Even back in the ‘23s FTW’ days of even 10 years ago, 120psi was the high range with the skinniest of tires and heavy riders. If you’re on 25s even, but def on 28s or 30s, 120psi is likely far too high. My zwift bike is a 2015 Giant, I’m 200lbs running 25s, and they’re ideal around 85 or 90psi.

Not sure if that will make a difference here, but it’s worth looking into.

Good to know! I’m on continental but don’t know the model. It said 120psi on the sidewall so that’s how I picked that number.

What width are your contis? Should also say on the sidewall. The sidewall will give mins and maxes, but you don’t have to put them at the max. And the wider they are, the lower pressure you can run. (I said old skool because a lot of people used to think that made them faster–the skinniest tires and the highest pressures, and they thought they were fast while suffering over every single tiny bump :smiley:)

Haha. No I get it. I’ll check on the width when I get home!

You can check this resource too, pretty good explanation and some general pressure guidelines. I happen to like their point about ‘when in doubt, err on the low side’.

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It is a trainer tyre, not a road tyre. Read the trainer manual.

If it is Conti’s Hometrainer tire, that comes in a 23 or a 32 (at 700c), so those would want very different pressures. Not sure the trainer manual will tell you that, as the manual doesn’t know what tire width you’re using.

Go ahead, double down… lol

I’m confused. Double-down on what? That different width tires need different pressures?

Okay. Consider me doubled-down. I guess.

It’s a continental grandsport 23mm. Not a trainer tire. I really think there is something wrong with wahoo trainer calibration.