I’m doing the 4 week FTB using an Elite Directo XR smart trainer. The trainer connects fine, but at the very start of my workout the resistance is so hard I can barely turn the pedals to get my avatar moving. After a massive struggle it eventually eases up and is fine for the rest of the ride, but takes well over a minute for the ERG to kick in and requires heaps of effort and energy. Why is this happening and how can I avoid it? Thank you.
turn ERG mode off at the start
Sounds like the spiral of death, are you spinning the pedals as the workout loads at the start or sitting stationary waiting?
1 Like
Have you done an FTP test to set your Functional Threshold Power close to what it should be? Take a look at how it’s set In your user profile of the game app. If the FTP number is really high - the game thinks you’re stronger than you actually are, and will start you out with too much resistance.
For the short term, you can manually bump down the FTP number by say 25% and see if that lowers the resistance to a manageable level. At some point, go into the Training section when you log in to the game, and do a ramp test or a longer FTP test to set this more accurately.
I know what you mean. Why it happen I don’t know it is new (about 6 to 10 months).
How to avoid it: don’t stop pedaling while selecting a workout.
Thank you. I’ll give that a try.
You might be right. I’m not peddling as the game loads. Sometimes I’m not even on the bike as the game loads. So that’s likely to be the problem.
Thank you. I think that’s key. You need to be peddling as the game loads.
1 Like
Just bumping this old thread, was this ever looked at as an issue?
My other half was trying to do a workout last night and couldnt get started as simply couldnt turn the pedals to start the workout. In the end I had to jump on & spin the pedals out to get the resistance to back off.
I had to put out 480\500w at about 30 or 40 RPM to get it moving - My other half weighs about 50kg, she would have needed to put out 8-10wkg from a standing start when cold just to get into a workout. That has injury all over it.
This isnt trainer specific which points it towards it being in Zwifts sphere to fix.
1 Like
The best in this case is not to stop pedaling since pairing. It will get a bit harder but not that hard.
Its not always possible and it shouldn’t be happening.
If it is a Zwift issue it should be recognised as one and ownership taken of it - I get there is a potential workaround but that’s not how software companies should work and not everyone will be aware of the workaround if they dont viist these forums.
Perhaps Zwift HQ or their users need to produce an official workaround thread\web page for all the known issues that simply get ignored.
1 Like
I don’t think it is a Zwift issue. I think it is a ERG issue. The trainer set the resistance high because the speed is low (zero). So if you are already pedaling the speed is not zero and ERG can engage.
Another option may be to turn off ERG before the workout start and turn it on once you get up to power.
Tried switching erg off, no improvement.
Zwift applies ERG before the ride has started, which I believe is the issue - They should be waiting for cadence to be applied before initiating ERG or more sensibly the timer to start before applying ERG controls.
We dont get this issue on TR - If TR do something in the background to auto disable for the first 5 seconds or gradually introduce resistance they are doing it better than Zwift.
Interesting that some of the newest trainers from Elite and Wahoo have a new feature that make it easy to resume an ERG session in terms of building resistance more slowly.
I have been doing a few workouts recently (for the first time), and generally don’t even step onto the bike, never mind start pedalling, until I have selected everything and the workout has loaded and is ready to start and I have not experienced this issue at all.
I am riding a Tacx Flow Smart, which is generally considered the absolute cheapest full smart trainer for use on Zwift (and others).
could you try pausing the workout before you start, pedal for a few seconds then unpause it?
Also - which trainer are you using? and do you have the trainer as power source too or using a different powermeter?
Just adding I have the exact same issue and again its on the Elite Directo XR. I run a PC with an ANT+ USB dongle from Garmin. The trainer firmware upgrade has not helped.
I have the same issue with ever since I started to use Android tablet.
My workaround is to tap the button to disable ERG mode, then tap it again to enable ERG mode. Then it works fine.
I’ve been testing and monitoring the issue on my set up for the last couple of weeks and found its only happening in a Workout. I also tried what someone has suggested where it helps if you are already pedaling when the Workout starts - this really helps and in the last few tests its pretty much 100% reliable that if I’m pedaling before starting the workout its fine - if not, the issue will occur. If I have the issue it sometimes helps to take it out of ERG mode for a while but more often than not is that I have to power off everything and try again.
This is the solution, you can’t start a workout and not be pedaling or you will go into the “spiral of death”