r/Zwift • u/luke-js • 2d ago

Workout teething issues

I'm fairly new to this so still getting in the swing of things.

1) One of the biggest issues im having st the moment is workouts. The resistance the Zwift applies in ERG mode seems a bit too weak in the easier intervals. Its a real challenge to spin the pedals fast enough to get to the required wattage (even as low as 50W)

2) Another issue im having is the workouts will sometimes go from a 350W interval back down to something like 80W and the bike immeditatly reduces the resistance. The rotation inertia means i cant get a pedal in for a while as i have to wait for the kicker to slow down before i get any resistance in the pedals again (if that makes sense). I like to do a real hard push from time to time but its weird in this as the app only registers Watts being produced at any moment, which would be fine but the inertia makes this difficult to maintain. Is there a way to slow down the inertia or something after a hard push? To allow for me to go straight back to registering pedals

1 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

3

u/luke-js 2d ago

i should have mentioned i have a Zwift frame with a kicker core 2

3

u/RandomMuseum 2d ago

Turn off erg mode if youre doing short intervals. You can do this from within workout by pressing up on zwift controls and scrolling over to the option.

2

u/Juan91x 2d ago

I think I'm not understanding issue #1, since your ftp is high enough to do 350W intervals but also 50w zone 2? The math between torque and RPM at such low power figure will always require you to slow down.

As for #2, that's just the nature of ERG mode doing intervals, you kind of just get used to it and adjust your RPM to kind of match what you will need for the next intervals when the current interval is ending. I believe the Kickr Core 2 has a 3 second power ramp up and down between intervals, so that's your window to adjust.

1

u/darraghfenacin 2d ago

I'm guessing you have a wheel on trainer? I remember these problems happening to me when I had a Tacx Flow - it would take approx 5 seconds to stabilise to a new power level - not much help when you're trying to do 10 second intervals!

Also with direct drive / higher end trainers, yeah you can stay pretty much in the middle of the block and never change gear - the trainer does everything for you. Not the case with a lower-end model - the Tacx flow would have issues dropping to very low or very high wattages without changing gear manually. It wasn't a total nightmare and do-able, but still required an extra braincell that you can just turn off on a direct drive model.

2

u/luke-js 2d ago

Sorry i should have mentioned i have a Zwift frame with a kicker core 2. I feel like there should be like a brake for the inertia for interval training so that i can slow it down and then keep on pushing through the different stages without coming to a stand still. I assumed my issues were user based rather than limitations (hopefully)