So, I’m using an unlisted trainer - a Giant -Cycl-o-tron mag. I am currently going thru the list of supported trainers in order to find one that emulates my setup. I use a hard tail mountain bike with tubeless mavic wheel set and slick tires. The speed and cadence sensor is a bontrager and works with zwift as well as the standard garmin ANT+. What happens if I ride with an unlisted trainer is the power watt is very low. Classic trainers also have charts in the knowledge base for resistance levels. My trainer ranges from L 1 2 3 4 5 H. Which resistance level should it be set to and what kind of power should I expect?
I contacted support and they sent me a picture of the power curve on my trainer and the elite red roller. They claim it matched and I haven’t changed it since. It may give me a bit of an edge whereas it seems I go faster but still I’m putting in a good effort and for instance the hour and a half I put in today going 26 miles felt like a good 1,000 calorie burn compared to other gym stationary bikes I’ve used. This just makes it enjoyable.
You should have a shifter for resistance. I put a book under the front tire to have the bike sit back a bit. I keep the resistance at a 3 sometimes higher. You should be able to have a bit of effort into your spinning but not overly difficult. Adjust as you see fit. I think most trainers are set at 2 or 3. I could be wrong.
Keep it somewhere in the middle. I use my hear rate to manually set the resistance. If I want to achieve 140-150 BPM then I adjust the resistance until I get it.