I’ve recently bought this new trainer and immediately tried it with Zwift. I’ll try to describe the problem I’ve stumbled upon and would like to ask, if it’s a trainer’s specifics, or Zwift’s one.
Imagine I ride on flat, say 90rpm and 250w. Now the hill comes, the resistance increases and I stand up, drop my rpm to 65-75 and would like to continue riding standing for a while applying more power, say 350w. But after a small lag what trainer does, seeing that my cadence has dropped, it lowers the resistance making me unable to ride standing any more since it’s becoming way too easy. Is there a way to avoid this? Does this happen with all FE-C trainers? Should I change the setting to a “classic” trainer?
Similar experience happened while doing an FTP test in Zwift, I was trying to hold my 270watts while seating and after each 5 mins performed some quick bursts while standing to engage different muscles and relax quads, but the trainer was doing the same, lowering the resistance as soon as I started riding with lower cadence. I think it negatively affected my ftp result.
Do you have a similar experience, any suggestions?
What you’re describing sounds like ERG mode, where once you go over your proscribed wattage target it’ll drop the resistance. Are you sure you weren’t set to do a workout?
In the first case no, I was just riding in London.
In the second case, FTP test is formally a workout in Zwift, yes, but it shouldn’t limit me since it’s meant for measuring my max power output, right?!
When you launch Zwift do you start you rides by first choosing a workout? If so this the problem. Don’t choose workout just click RIDE at the bottom and it’ll put you into the normal riding mode.
Zwift thinks you failed because your cadence dropped too much - it drops if from Erg mode - I would try not using a cadence sensor in your settings, then it won’t see the cadence drop and should stay engaged.
I have the same problem with erg mode…tried the above suggested fix and it was a little better but still pretty much locked up when I started the intervals, Elite does not seem to be responsive to this issue.
It’s not an Elite issue, it’s a Zwift issue. Perhaps a user choice to disable this protection or choose a threshold where it engages would be a good idea.