Disable ERG mode *per* block

I know you can choose whether ERG mode is on or off before starting a workout which is cool; some want it, some don’t.

Now what would be even better is to be able to disable the ERG mode for *specific* blocks of the workout.

 

Indeed, the thing with Smart Trainers is that there *is* lag in adjusting resistance which is fine for blocks longer that ~45 seconds but when you are expected to ride 10s at a very high wattage, it is difficult for the trainer to adjust and then for you to adjust the cadence to that new resistance.

Also, these short intervals being, more often than not, very high wattages, the very accurate wattage matters very little : if your FTP is at 280W and you are expected to ride 10s @660W, that is just a way to say : give it all you got for 10s.

With that large jumps, the adjustments of smart trainers are difficult to manage when on the bike and the intervals often turn out to be not as good as expected.

In the same time, ERG is really cool for keeping a steady wattage for an extended amount of time.

 

Which leads me to my request that is to be able in the edition of a workout, to disable the ERG mode on specific blocks rather than a global setting on the whole workout.

Agreed…although I would also like an erg offset dial ie on shortish intervals say 40sec my neo always takes 2 seconds after passing the balloon to react which is frustrating not just at the start but when you are dieing and cross thd finish you still have to keep pushing for another 2 secs so I would like a erg offset dial which you could set in this example to 2 seconds and zwift would send the power change to the neo 2 seconds early thus the changes could be aligned with the start/finish banners.

I’ve had this thought for a while too, but I think the trick is making the user experience clear.  Right now a simple on/off toggle for ERG is simple (and that still causes some confusion) but this would add a lot more variables to consider.

So I was thinking on it more and what I think makes sense is to have a time threshold for intervals where ERG mode is used.  So if you have ERG mode enabled then a secondary setting be active that you could say “don’t use ERG for intervals under 30 seconds”.  You could adjust the duration to be something else, like 45 seconds, if you prefer.

This approach might resolve the conflict or confusion when the workout file says “use sim mode” and the checkbox on the screen says “use ERG mode”.

I have the same issue and think Duane Gran’s suggestion is really good. How do we go about getting Zwift’s attention on this matter?

@Rad Hart-George, this feature request IS the way to notify Zwift. They built this system to do exactly what you want.

I’d like to be able to toggle it on and off during a ride simply to make the “free ride” efforts more predictable during tests.  For example, if I’m doing a FTP test and within the 20 minute block where your output is truly being measured the idea is to maintain the max wattage you can handle for that period.  If you’re hit with a 10% incline in the game and your trainer reacts by jacking up the resistance your cadence will be affected, different gears will need to be selected, your wattage can spike, etc.  Basically, it makes it difficult to sustain your targeted effort due to the changes in resistance.

I know the work around for this is to simply start the workout mode with ERG disabled but that takes the fun out it when you’re not in a “test” block.

Jason, if you are doing an FTP test, you should not feel any type of gradient, you should not need to change gears based on the game.  The only thing it affects is your speed in game (i.e. 200 watts up a hill will be slower than 200 watts down a hill)

Right now I’ve seen a few suggestions I love:

  1. In-game toggle - toggle it on and off using (for example) ZML or the basic user interface
  2. Set it before a workout to be enabled during certain workout blocks and disabled during other workout blocks
  3. Enable a way to set it so that it only is enabled for “workout blocks longer than <your choice> time periods”

Any of these would be great.  I did (or tried to do) a microburst interval workout today.  Had ERG mode on like I always do, and the resistance at 300% is simply not realistic.  In “just ride around” mode I can maintain over 800w for 15+ seconds, but in ERG mode I barely could maintain 650w for 5 consecutive seconds out of a 15-second block.  I purposely had to stop pedaling so that ERG mode would disable, so I could do the microbursts (and I was able to do them when ERG was disabled).