This morning, I got onto my smart trainer (TACX Neo) and Zwift, as I do every single morning. Picked a course in the France map and away I went. There was a “bug” I already noticed at the very start which never happened before: the map loaded, but my trainer wasn’t immediately recognized. After a few seconds of pedaling, it came back and all seemed good.
Little did I know, I was in some sort of mode where the hills in the map (inclines and declines) did not vary my trainer resistance. Instead I slowed down/sped up in the map – so there wasn’t any technical “cheating” going on. But this was not workout mode, at least not one I’ve seen before: there was no workout screen, no encouragement for me to pedal at a certain watts.
Personally, I actually loved this mode. It simulates 0% incline through the whole course, and allows me to vary my power via faster/slower pedaling as I get less/more tired.
In answer to the question “how do I get it again”, you could go into the settings and reduce Trainer Difficulty to 0, which should have the same effect.
Thanks everyone, very helpful responses. The trainer to 0 difficulty is a nice way of doing it.
I don’t want this forever, but there are times where I can see I’d benefit from this type of training. Especially when I am doing courses (as an event perhaps) where I really don’t like the elevation changes for at least part of the course (e.g. I really hate when there’s small hills every 10 seconds with elevation changes that require either constant gear shifting, constantly getting out of the saddle, or really strong legs to power through).
Just remember that even if you don’t feel the hills your speed will drop if you keep the same power, so if you are riding with a group you will have to change gears.
I had the same experience yesterday, on France map, Zaris smart trainer. Maybe the server was overloaded? I raised difficulty setting to 100% but didn’t help. Just updated the Apple TV app & will try again. Strange—Never happened before.
