Training suggests turning off ERG for sprints... doesn't work as instructed

General Discussion
#1

New user here. Started a training plan this week and got to the sprint/strength session today. The commentary says to disable ERG mode and “shift to the big ring” “go all out” “maximum effort”, etc

So I followed the on-screen prompts but failed the first two sprints; I was at double the target power and being told to “reduce power”. These were only 10 second sprints so they were over before I could adjust. Part of the problem is the lag between leg input and on-screen feedback.

So for the rest of the sprints I just left ERG on and it capped the power and I collected the rest of the gold stars… lol.

Question for those more experienced at these trainings - am I missing something here? When it says “maximum effort” without ERG mode am I supposed to ignore that and try to match the target power? That’s quite a challenge with 10 second sprints while fiddling with the ERG mode and getting hands back on the bars, shifting, and waiting for the power+cadence readings to stabilize.

Is it better to just leave ERG mode on for all training?

Edit: Wahoo Kickr

#2

You should go max effort and ignore the target power. That is how I see it.

A better way is the coach should make it a free ride block.

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#3

Thanks - that was my thinking too, but if I stuck with that approach, my workout would not have been marked complete.

I guess that doesn’t matter if it doesn’t change the rest of the schedule. I’ll see how it goes with the rest.

#4

Turn Erg Mode off. It can’t react fast enough to give you a any sort of accurate numbers in a ten-second sprint.

Second note: Yeah, I got marked down for exceeding the recommended power level in my training plan too. Took me a while to figure out why.

My takeaway: Ignore it. I’m not doing the training plan to collect Gold Zwift Stars. I’m doing it to get stronger, fitter, and faster on the bike.

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#5

Yeah that’s what I figured - I just switched ERG off for the whole set on my last strength session. Fiddling with the companion app while setting up for each sprint is nuts.

And for the stars, I agree. First time around though it did make me think I was missing something or doing something wrong. The “coach” and/or the parameters coud be adjusted to make that clearer to newcomers.

Perhaps it’s all part of Zwift aiming for that late 20th century 3D game vibe: quirks and all.

#6

I like to (ab)use ERG for sprints when primarily working on speed skills (140 rpm or above). Starting the effort by wildly overshooting the power target creates kind of an inverse spiral of death with the resistance progressively getting easier and easier, making it easy to maintain cadence target while still producing significant power.

#7

I wish I could make it work this way; totally get the resistance drop as the cadence increases - that’s one thing I like about ERG,

Problem I have is that my new Kickr seems to do too good a job of capping power. For the sprints I can hold 2.5x what Zwift wants if I switch off ERG, but I’m stuck in the power jail when I do it with ERG. The Quarq gives similar numbers. (I don’t usually go beyond 120-125 RPM)

Not a great loss though: I’ve run without ERG before Zwift and can adjust back to that when needed.