Can't maintain over 100rpm on Zwift Ride

Bugs and Support
1

Hi all,

First post so forgive me if I am missing something.

I have been completing the back to fitness plan on my new zwift ride and have reached week five. The workouts this week wanted me to hit 110rpm. I couldn’t seem to get past 95rpm without losing all resistance from the smart trainer. I have set it up per the instruction video but wonder if I need to change something.

I am loving the ride and have no plans to change anything as I have seen a definite fitness improvement already. So I want to ensure I have everything as I should.

Thank you for your help.

2

Hi there. This is normal in a workout using ERG mode. The higher your cadence the more the trainer compensates by reducing resistance otherwise you would blow past the wattage target. This technically shouldnt stop you from hitting the 110 rpm, you just need to spin your legs faster, no resistance is better for that :wink:

3

Thanks Mike,

Glad to hear I have not go anything necessarily wrong. I do find that with no resistance I lose the pedals if that makes sense. I am currently using the supplied pedals.

Do you know of a way to get even a little resistance so that doesn’t happen. Is it worth changing the bias?

4

You can increase the bias, that will help, you may need to turn it back down after.

Either way, it doesn’t matter if you dont hit the high cadence number, just go as fast as you can comfortably, the workout doesn’t really care.

5

Well, thats why u train riding with higher cadence. The more often u do that, the better it gets. Just keep going.

6

Thanks Mike it has been really helpful and reassuring to get your answers.

7

Thanks I will do.

8

The other thing you need to know is that when a power target changes, the trainer won’t instantly move to the new target. There is a delay (which depends on which trainer you’re using) as it moves from one power target to the next. If a new higher power target appears on the screen and you instantly raise your cadence, that will result in resistance dropping until the trainer has adjusted to the new target. Until you get a feel for this, I think it’s better to maintain steady cadence so you can understand how long your trainer will take to get there.