differing watt output between free ride and workout

hi all 

my issue is this,

when i use a workout program i am capable of maintaining a 200+ watt output at a cadence of between 80-90 for 20+ minutes however when in free or group ride i cannot get anywhere close to the same output, even when in some of my highest gears at the same cadence.

is there a setting that i’m am missing that makes such a big difference as while i am really enjoying the workouts i cannot keep pace with others on simple low level group rides.

i have a qubo digital smart b+ trainer so its all automatic and yes i have the ERG function on when using a workout program.

any advice welcome

I assume you pared the trainer a a controllable unit and power source.

Also check the trainer difficulty slider that it is to the right, try it at max.

 

 

 

Hi and thanks for the response 

the trainer is a smart version so it’s paired across power, cadence etc all in the unit so this I don’t think is the issue.

The trainer difficulty was set at 50% and I have only moved it slightly to the left to see if it makes any difference (it didn’t), why would moving this to max make a difference?

If you move the trainer difficulty (TD) all the way to the right it will simulate the hills at its full %. so @ TD50 a 5% hill will generate trainer resistance of 2.5% hill or  on TD100(max) it will generate 5% hill  resistance.

 

Also it will be helpful if you link Zwift to your Strava account then you can compare your workout mode results to you free ride watts. 

So your paring screen look something like this, Power source, Controllable trainer, Cadence and maybe Heart rate?

 

 

Yes my pairing screen is like that except that mine shows the same code across all three (power source, cadence etc)

i don’t have a starva account but I have done workouts on the elite app and these compare in a workout with swift but I’m not sure if I can do that in free ride mode as this is where my watt output, w/kg seems really low, hence why I can’t keep up.

any suggestions