New to Zwift and my snap. I have erg enabled, I have also increased the pre-ride settings for resistance. I honestly can’t tell any difference when doing the rides. I am on week 3 of the FTP program and when the interval fires up I am pretty much spinning out to get my wattage. I also notice that when Zwift changes wattage goal my actual wattage magically adjust to match?
Dan, first make sure that your tire is properly inflated. Then, make sure you’ve turned the wheel lock about 2 and a half times to tighten the wheel to the trainer. Do a free ride for about ten minutes and then perform a calibration spin down.
Dan, I am also new to Zwift and a Snap (got one on a great pre-black Friday deal through Wahoo). What you’re describing it hink is normal, and precisely what happened to me (even down to the workout plan). In short, i think your trainer seems to be working as intended.
Essentially, with ERG mode and the FTP workout plan, Zwift is sending your trainer a signal and saying “set this guy/gal at 100w.” So if your cadence is at 90, your resistance would be a little less than if you’re spinning at 85 - essentially it’s just trying to set you at 100 watts, period. So for example if you were to stop pedaling, you’d feel like you were in quicksand when you started pedaling again because the machine would quickly try to figure out how to maintain 100 watts at 20 cadence and increase the resistance dramatically.
That’s also the reason why when you go from 100 watts to, let’s say, 135 watts, it feels like you magically get there - your cadence probably dropped 5 rpms or so, but otherwise you’re probably not feeling a ton of difference because the resistance would not have to change much to produce the desired wattage output. If you were going from 100-200w you’d feel that for sure.
With that being said, whether you’re going up or down a hill, drafting, etc., in Zwfit your not going to feel your resistance change during this FTP workout in ERG mode because the workout wants you at 100 watts. For the purposes of the workout, you’re giving up the realism for efficiency. You can turn of ERG mode if you want, but then you’d need to be much more attentive to your shifting.
To prove to yourself it’s working, just join an event or free ride - you’ll feel the dynamic resistance change in there. Also watch this video wherein this is explained way better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbeliW8uObk
I could be WAY wrong on this, but based on the video and what i’ve read, i think this is accurate.
Edit: Also this is a good article:
https://support.zwift.com/hc/en-us/articles/209980783–How-to-use-ERG-mode-in-Workouts