Hi All,
Not sure if this has been covered on here, but I can’t find anything specific to my set up or anything that helps.
I’m new to Zwift and have signed up for a training plan, which I’m enjoying except for the fact that ERG just isn’t working. I’m up and down through the gears like a boy racer in a Vauxhall Corsa to try and match cadence and power.
My set up is something I’d researched before I started and something that should work. I’m on a Tacx Flow wheel on smart trainer + Android phone + Bluetooth set up. If I match to cadence the power just never drops to appropriate levels when I need to spin up, nor does it put resistance up when I am asked to cycle in a low cadence.
Please tell me there’s an easy fix. Any help would be really appreciated!
Thanks!!!
Hi @Jim_Callaghan1
This is hard to answer.
But you will need to find a gear that is able to generate the appropriate resistance. The trainer May take a few seconds to reach the correct resistance. If you keep changing gears the trainer can’t catch-up.
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Thanks, Gerrie.
On my last session I thought I would do just that to definitely ensure its the ERG thats a problem, so I did as the Zwift instruction says and popped it on the big ring at the front and middle ring on the back, so there was no cross-chaining.
I didn’t change gear once and the watts only ever went up with the cadence and never settled and came back down. It was all relative as though ERG wasn’t trying to adapt resistance at all. Do you have any other ideas on what I can check/things I can change to try and resolve the issue? It’s a real shame because I’m only at the end of week one and I already feel to be benefiting from the training, but the ERG thing is kind of killing the fun of it.
Thanks again for your response.
When you are in the pairing screen make sure to pair the trainer as power source and controllable. If you us ant+ use the fe-c option.
Check that ERG is on. You can find it on the companion app and on the onscreen menu.
Ignore any cadence targets in the workouts for now, just try and keep a constant cadence and see if the trainer adjusts resistance to produce the correct power (at least in the right ball park) after a short delay.
Hi Steve. Thanks for that. I’ll give that a shot then. I might have the wrong understanding of what’s supposed to happen. I thought ERG was meant to build or drop resistance during workout to meet the required power output for that interval and the cadence part was my job! Sound about right? If so, if it only works if I keep a constant cadence will I actually be doing the workout?
Thanks again.
You are correct Jim.
But I think Steve’s suggestion is just so you can test ERG and get used to it.
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Hi Steve.
Thanks for the suggestion, but it didn’t work. I maintained 100 cadence when the required power output should have been 115 and it stayed around about 160 watts output, so therefore wasn’t adjusting resistance accordingly.
I asked Tacx and they suggested I try their app to see if it works there and it seems to work, i.e. in their power training, if I manually increase or decrease the set point watts, the resistance reacts accordingly. I assume that means ERG is working on the unit itself.
Does anyone have any more ideas on ERG vs Zwift please? Or does anyone know how to get this enquiry over to Zwift themselves?
Thanks,
Jim
Hi @Jim_Callaghan1, did you ever check that you are using the trainer connected as “controllable” as Gerrie suggested?
Post a screen shot of your pairing screen so we can see if there is an issue.
Hi all.
I’m new, but I got set up to do some winter training and ERG just doesn’t work on the plans whatsoever. I’m on Tacx Flow + Bluetooth or Ant+ + Windows or Android. No combination of these work. I know ERG works because it seems fine in the Tacx app. I was concerned it was my trainer, but, even though it is a cheaper one, it is still a lot of money to get set up for the average person. Really disappointed.
Is anyone getting a response from Zwift?
Can anyone suggest another way of training that will work please? I would be so appreciative!
Thanks.
Hi @Jim_Callaghan1
Can you please post a picture of the pairing screen.
Hi all.
I see this thread dating back to Aug. Did anyone ever get anywhere with this?
I just got a trainer and sim mode in and around watopia is fine, but what I really got it for was some winter training and ERG just doesn’t work whatsoever. Mine is a tacx Flow tried on both android and windows 10, via both Bluetooth and ant+.
If this is an ongoing issue with no fix in the pipeline can anyone suggest a way to train or a plan that doesn’t require ERG please?
Thanks.
Posting on multiple threads don’t help.
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Trainers need a spesific wheel speed to be able to modulate the power especially the wheel on trainers.
Changing a few gears up or down. May help the trainer.
I am still thinking that the trainer inot paired as controllable or not using ant+ fe-c profile. Or another device is taking control.
You don’t need it to train, just use your gears to increase or decrease the power.
Post a pic of your pairing screen please!
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Hi Jim
This issue got fixed in the following update version of Zwift and is working great now.
Cheers,
Janne
Hi all.
Thanks for the quick response. Yes - it pairs as controllable. I switched to Ant+ to ensure no interference from any other Bluetooth devices. It’s a bit of a puzzle. I flip through gears naturally sometimes because ERG isn’t working to try and get power to meet required cadence, but unfortunately no joy
I popped in a question with support via email who have said they’ll take a look. Thanks so much for the help guys.
The question is does the trainer simulate the gradient when free riding?
Yes. So the trainer and Zwift communicate fine in Sim Mode, but not for ERG.
Thanks again.
Ok so atleast you know that controllable is working.