Cadence on Zwift is Wonky in 155-185w Range

When not using ERG mode in Zwift, my cadence is either too low (75-82 rpm) or too high when trying to keep power output in the 155-185w range. It always feels like I’m grinding or spinning out, and can’t find that magical gearing that just works at a smooth 87-92 rpm. Do you experience this, and how do you manage it? I ride Road Bike + Tacx Neo 2T.

What cassette you have? I like using 12-25 cassette indoor get a lot more usable gears as I’m pretty cadence sensitive. And I even changed small chain ring to 42t, running 50-42t indoor that gave me even more usable gears

It sounds like this could be a gearing issue.. :thinking:

If you’re not using ERG mode, your cadence is determined by your gearing, the grade of the terrain, and your power output.

I’ll be curious to hear about your gearing per @hubba’s question.. :gear:

I run a 2T as well, I sometimes can’t find the right resistance to get a good cadence when doing VO2 (in none erg mode) I just tweak the trainer resistance a little to get it right

You can do it in the Companion app or the menu bar, don’t mix it up with trainer intensity slider in settings, that’s something else

Hi @hubba @eddiegrinwald My gearing is 50-34t Front and 11-32 Rear Cassette. It sounds like the ride can be much better by simply changing the rear cassette to a 12-25 (like your’s), 11-28 or 11-25. Does that sound right to you?

@SugarRideAdventures I checked the companion app, and did not see a way to adjust the resistance when not in ERG mode. Will check that again this evening.

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In Workout mode (using the non-ERG mode) you can tune the Incline slope while riding, as a fine tune tool vs pure shifting or cadence adjustment.

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@mcneese.chad @SugarRideAdventures Ah, understood. So you need to be in workout mode for that functionality. That is helpful to know. My primary challenge with finding an ideal / smooth cadence while in the 155-185w range is when free riding.

OK, for regular Sim riding in Zwift, the next tool you can play with is Trainer Difficulty in the settings. You can potentially increase or decrease that (from the 50% default if you’ve not already changed it) to tune the effective grades around relative to your existing bike. Reducing it (to the left) might be my first suggestion to test, but be willing to mess around with it to see if that can help.

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Another ‘tool’ that might be helpful in Zwift would be to change bikes. Maybe try a TT bike, or a gravel bike, or a MTB. These should change the crr and, thus, the cadence for a particular wattage in a gear.