My FTP is at 214 pr. Zwift, now i do understand that by having a super low quality 250$ stationary bike, its probably not counting it precisely at all.
So i just did my first workout, and the test was something like “do 105W at 85 rpm”
Either i could keep it at 105W and be way under the RPM it wanted or i could hit the “RPM” it wanted and be way over the Watt level it wanted. Is this caused by my low grade bike?
I tried with ERG and the other mode, as suggested by someone in game chat. ERG seem closer to my goal, but still off.
Also how do i use the colors (zone i guess), when doing routes, do i just give it full power in every zone or keep it at lets say: 125W in z2 and 240W in z4 as the workouts want?
is there a guide to help me understand all this? thanks
sorry if non of it makes sense, i know nothing about bicycle slang.
During a workout, you generally can ignore the cadence instructions. The app will complain at you to pedal faster or slower, but that’s not a problem. Usually what you care about is achieving the power.
If you’re in ERG mode, the trainer will modify the pedal load as you change your cadence, to keep the amount of power it wants you to generate the same.
Your pedals apply torque to the crank.
Power is the product of torque and cadence.
So there is an infinite number of combinations of torque and cadence that will give the same power.
If you have a manual trainer (where you have to mechanically shift gears), it can be tricky to get in a gear that matches the load and cadence during a workout. If you get in too easy of a gear, you have to spin impossibly fast for the “torque * cadence = power” to hit its target.
One advantage of a smart trainer is that in a workout that uses ERG mode, you never shift gears. The trainer essentially does that for you, by changing the load as you change your cadence.
The colored power zones relate to how long you should be able to maintain that power level. For initial warmup, use the gray and blue zones. For an endurance ride stay in the blue and green zones. You should be able to ride in the blue zone all day long. For higher intensity efforts (up to maybe 20 minutes), use the yellow zone. For sprinting or climbing a hill, use the red zone.
You kind of do have to abide by the RPM instructions (cadence) but not very strictly.
If the workout is saying to do 100rpm, then 85-90rpm will be fine, but 70rpm or lower will not as that will probably fatigue your legs very quickly (especially if high power is needed) and is also a different kind of workout.
With a smart trainer it’s a lot easier to manage that.