Just started this week, haven’t biked much lately due to a pinched nerve in my back (seeing chiro to get that fixed, taking forever). I have an Elite Suito combined with my Mountain bike, I need the mtb since the dropper seat post is essential right now (back limits my ability to get my leg over the seat when dismounting). I am quite sure my conditioning is terrible.
So, the issue I am having is the periods where it asks you to do like 85 watts at 80 rpm. I can do one of those, but not both! I am typically about 65 rpm to hit the target wattage. If I hit 80 rpm, then I am at like 100-105 watts. My questions are:
Is there something in the setup that may be causing this? I have done at least one short ftp ride.
Should I switch to my road bike, and do something to overcome the seat issue (I dunno, a step stool or something?). Not sure if the road bike would be considered more smooth in terms of power/rpm.
Am I just that out of shape? (probably) I am doing 20-30 minute rides so far, while getting used to this and tempering my seat bones.
Any suggestions or ideas would be awesome, thanks! (ride on!)
I know just for myself that if eg. I’m in a high gear, my Direto seems to have a higher watt floor on the low end so I have to move to an on-bike easier gear.
It does, but there is an optimal gear combination. Typically, you want small front chainring + whatever rear cog gives you a straight chain-line. (for me, that’s 3rd from lowest gear)
This results in a quieter drivetrain and more responsiveness to power and cadence changes.
I did a bunch of testing on this today, with no good results. Shifted all over the place, nothing changed at all. Still pretty much always 62-70 rpm to hit the target wattage. At this point, I think I just need to improve my conditioning.
I am wondering if I need to crank up the difficulty, I got a ANT+ usb dongle today so I could see my heart rate, and I was always around 110-115. I think I manually set the ftp to 130, seems like maybe I could go a bunch higher? I was never sweating. Or maybe need to do a more challenging ftp ride? I am really unclear on how to get that done.
Seems like I can’t post a link to my ride report. Ugh.
Looks like the “Ramp Test” has some very tall red bars, the “Ramp Test Lite” not so much. Do I just ride until failure, or what mechanism is there to end the ride if I am dying? lol
Keep seated and try to match power until your cadence drops below ~60rpm max. When you are dead, stop pedalling and it will ask you to confirm you are toast, say yes and it will then give you a cool down.
Did the FTP test today, got clipless pedals on. New FTP is now 275, made it to 380 level. I can do better, forgot to turn on my fan and was wearing a long sleeve shirt, so I was overheating for sure. But have a good new baseline, thanks everyone for their tips!
Yeah, spot on, I sadly got away from them due to faceplanting a couple times due to the back issue (couldn’t unclip). I will be ohh so happy when this back is fixed. But no faceplanting issues while riding the trainer, that’s for sure!
Well I hope you have fun and can enjoy it especially without the risk of tipping over. Another thing I would highly advocate for would be a professional bike fit, especially if you have a nagging injuries or nerve issues. While a proper fit from an educated professional can cost a little bit, the comfort and enjoyment derived from such an expense has always been worth it in my book.