Easier in the small ring?

[bbarrera]

@Cigarmeister

But my HR dropped, the ”speed” dropped almost 20 km/h and my general RPE dropped slightly.

You have a wheel-on trainer, while I have a direct drive (Wahoo Kickr).

I also find RPE easier in little chainring, and have posted about it:

Big vs Small Chainring - Same Power (ERG Mode Gearing)

I have a Kickr for a year, and have only used big ring. I’ve had multiple setbacks this year, but have completed SSB1 multiple times. Each time I’ve improved climbing performance including best HC climb earlier this year (despite lower ftp), first 20mph metric century (flat terrain), and recently was only 3 seconds off a PR on 35 minute climb despite a lower W/kg. Tonight I did Colosseum, a 90 minute aerobic endurance ride between 50-80%. First 35 minutes in little ring, the rest in big ring. …

Ignore the speed. Really not sure if RPE translates fitness gains. What I will say is that the little chainring provides gearing that requires less force / torque to respond to resistance changes. That much is true. Everything I’ve read about inertia so far is speculation.