I’ve been Zwifting for just 5 weeks and I’m doing the Back to Fitness plan. This week’s workouts called for a high cadence (110) at different target watts but if I was to stay in the target wattage zone I had to keep my cadence in the mid 80’s to low 90’s.
I managed to gain a star for each section of the workouts but was constantly seeing the pedal faster message.
Can anyone explain why that is ?
Thanks in advance.
The stars are awarded on the basis of sticking to the power target, and aren’t to do with your cadence.
What sort of trainer do you have?
Thanks Steve. I have an Elite Suito T which I keep calibrated. It just seems to me that the cadence target is unreasonably high, given the low wattage targets (in the 60s for some sections).
Your trainer should adjust its resistance, in ERG mode, to keep to the power target. So the higher your cadence, the lower the resistance should go. But it can take a few seconds for the trainer to adjust. Are you sure you gave it enough time for the resistance to decrease while you kept up that high cadence?
If it is very low power and high cadence you can change gears to get to the target. Some trainers have a range where they can hold power so at a set cadence.
Ah, probably not. When I hit the cadence target, if the resulting wattage was too high I’d reduce the cadence almost immediately. Sounds like that’s where I was going wrong?
Could be. Try holding the cadence and see if the resistance reduces further. It not, try changing gears (something you don’t normally do in ERG mode), as Gerrie said.
tried popping the bike into the easiest possible gear?
Thanks Ben. I should have mentioned that I was using the lowest gear in my OP. I’m going to try Steve’s suggest of giving the trainer a chance to react to the higher cadence. Cheers.
Gents. I’ve just completed a workout without changing gear and concentrating on cadence rather than power. The session was harder than previous ones but I still managed to win stars for each segment. Thanks for your input, I now get Swift 
I use a Tacx vortex and notice it can be a little to react when you change power or cadence when doing a work out. I use my gears all the time to find the sweet spot. I use the companion app which find really useful when doing a workout.
I’m having the same issue, also on the 5th week of Back to Fitness. I squeezed through the first workout this week, The Rainbow, but couldn’t finish Touch of Egypt, which surprised me as I’ve been killing the workout plan thus far!
I’m cycling at 0 resistance just to barely meet the cadence yet am soaring over the power. Any tips on how to make this goal more achievable would be so helpful! (For context, I’m using a spin bike without a trainer or any kind of auto-resistance adjustment so all adjustments are done manually.)
Does anyone else have trouble maintaing these high cadences? My legs just don’t want to spin that fast. I really struggled with Egypt and Pyramids workouts…Is there a technique that’s alluding me or is it supposed to be hideous?
Just do your best, Trish. Spin as quickly as you can while still being smooth.
Next time, see if you can go 1 or 2 rpm quicker.
Repeat for all eternity. Perfect practice makes perfect.
Hi Trish, in my view a lot of the training plans are not ramping up the cadence requirements in a reasonable way. Being able to deal with different cadences requires training/practice like everything so out a sudden throwing a target cadence of 110rpm at you is simply demoralizing if you are not used to it. There are some training plans which in my opinion get that bit better. I completed the FTP builder and while the target cadences were very often uncomfortable they always seemed achievable. With the FTP builder however there was a massive ramp up in intensity from week 3 to 4 and then again to week 5 which would have been unachievable for some again. In other words the FTP builder was also not perfect. While it got the cadence bit right, it was off the mark in other areas.
I did the touch of egypt last night. Like others I had done the ones before ok.
I managed to do the first two pyramids but blew up on the third and fourth - I simply could not hold that cadence.
It did feel a massive ramp up from the previous one.
Maybe this one would be a good one to come back to to see if I do better.
Posting to say - you’re not alone if this one hurt you 
S
Hi all,
Same topic here, I have a tacx flux 2 connected, software up to date, calibrated each time, running at a target of 85 rpm steady state but in fact when I count the cadence is at 105 rpm. How does swift calculate the cadence if it doesn’t know the size of my cassettes and on which gear am I ?
Btw I have a 21 speed (3x7)
Thanks
Nick
Hi @Nicolas_Am_Dadaism, Welcome to Forums. This is Juan from Zwift. I appreciate you taking the time to use this space to share your doubt.
Cadence is measured differently with a smart trainer than with a cadence sensor. The crank and pedals know how many times they turn. However, smart trainers have a built-in power sensor that can detect your cadence through an accelerometer, which detects changes in speed and acceleration. The information obtained is processed with an algorithm.
I hope this information has been useful to you.
Zwift doesn’t calculate the cadence. It displays whatever your trainer transmits. If you find it’s not accurate, get a cadence sensor that measures crank arm revolutions.
Paul, the only gear connected to the trainer is the back one, zwift is calculating a cadence since I’m reading a value in the software which differ to my road speed. In example, when I stop turning my cadence speed goes to 0 and my road speed will remains until the trainer flying wheel stops.