I’ve been having some problems with my Elite Direto not ramping up quickly enough. Today, I did Jepson which is 4x8-minute intervals between 95-99% FTP including 3x5-second sprints at 150% FTP. The first problem was with the 5 sec sprints at 150%. I know they’ve talked about slow ramping up to high sprints not being a huge deal, but looking over my workout, my peak power for those sprints were around 20-30W low for every sprint. There are 12 sprints total and I had 3 where I actually even hit the target, and that was a 1 sec peak that hit it and went back down. Most were 2-3 seconds around 20-30W low, some as low as 50W lower than the target. So I felt like they weren’t doing anything.
The second part that’s bothering me is thee ramping up to threshold. Going from the recovery valley up to the threshold interval took between 15-20 seconds to hit the target power. That seems really slow to me. I maintained my cadence, it just took forever to ramp up to the target power. Is there anything I can do to speed this up?
From everything I have heard on the Elite side, they are just plain slow on adjusting in ERG. Never heard anyone claim they were great, especially if they have used other brands.
As far as tricks, I think you can play with gearing and/or cadence to get things moving faster.
For sprints:
Consider shifting up to harder gears. Something like 2-3 in the rear about 5-10 seconds early before the sprint.
Hold the same power initially, which will make you decrease your cadence a bit.
Right before the sprint (about 2 seconds to go is when TR sends the resistance change), HAMMER for the sprint and get your cadence up to your “sprint” rpm’s. This should “over-power” the trainer and get your watts ramped up quickly.
Upon completing the sprint, let the flywheel spin down 5 or more seconds and let your cadence drop to what you had right before you sprinted.
Then undo the shifts (2-3, or whatever you did) to return to your normal ERG gearing.
For regular intervals:
You may be able to slow your cadence a bit prior to the interval. I’d start a slow decline about 30 seconds early and aim to be at something like 70-80 rpm prior to the normal sets.
This forces the resistance unit to clamp down a bit, which allow you to manipulate it, like we do in the sprint above.
When the interval starts, ramp your cadence up very quickly to your normal ERG planned cadence.
It just might help you bridge the gap by effectively getting the resistance unit set harder via the cadence drop. I have used mild forms of both of these tricks on all my trainers, but I have never ridden and Elite to know if it will work there.
Awesome! Thanks for the answer, I’ll try these tactics out on my upcoming workouts.
Yea, this has been my only trainer so I have nothing to compare to, and it’s unfortunate that it seems to being an Elite problem. It hasn’t been a huge problem, but a noticeable one for sure. Maybe if I stay consistent on it I can convince my wife to upgrade around Black Friday.
Had the same frustration with my Direto. Was fine for Zwift and long interval TR sessions, but erg mode was pointless for anything with intervals of 90 seconds or less. Finally bit the bullet and bought a Neo2 when they went on sale last fall. The difference is night and day. Wish I’d done it from the get-go. When I bought the Direto, I thought I was cleverly saving hundreds of $$$ buying it instead of a Kickr or Neo. The power meter was super accurate, and the slope/power limits were in excess of anything I need. I didn’t even think to worry about how quickly erg mode adapted. Oh well, live and learn, right?
Not something Ive experienced with my direto, can take a few seconds to hit target but never 15-20. My setup is a 4iiii pm, use powermatch and normally run an android tablet with bluetooth
Honestly, not sure. And I expected this with erg mode on. The bigger problem was that it was never reaching the target power for those intervals, always (except for 3 intervals) around 20-30W low. If it was just slow, that’s one thing. But it was slow AND low.
I’ve had this trainer close to 2 years and I feel like this is a new thing. I don’t remember it having this problem in the past. I’m using Assioma pedals power matched to the trainer, using my iPad. Maybe something with the pedals being slow?
This isn’t the first problem I’ve had with this trainer either. I’m on my 3rd circuit board as the first two shorted out or broke, I’m not sure. This last time it took Elite over a month to get me the new board, which was annoying to say the least. And it’s really only been with the new circuit board that I’ve had problems. Elite has been good with replacing but to have this many problems isn’t what I expected given the money I spent. And I’m starting to feel like you that I should have just spent the big bucks for a more reliable trainer.
I am getting a decent overshoot peak and overall “area” of the kick is more or less on point.
Keep in mind that the precise values here probably don’t matter as much as the general spike and recover demand, so try to get close, but don’t sweat the fine numbers.
I’ve only had mine two months, wonder if there is a software update for yours? One other thing that might be worth checking is if the adjustment mechanism on the resistance unit is sticking
Funny…was just talking about this with my buddy today. He has a H1 and I have a Direto. Showed him the graph from my workout today (very squiggley) and his was bang-on. Mine was also noticeably higher than the prescribed power (but that was because I was concurrently doing TdZ Stage 5 and I was semi-purposely over-powering the ERG).
Exactly…I did Taylor-2 on Tuesday. Started the 30" intervals in my usual 52x17 or so…was spinning madly and it took 10-12 seconds to get up to power. After about 5 of them, I just shifted up 3 gears and BANG…was on power level within 5" at the most, usually sooner.
As noted above, the Direto will definitely let you overpower the ERG if you “insist” and won’t dial you back. So today, I was supposed to 3x12’ @ FTP…but also did TdZ. So I was “chasing” guys during my workout and my power was 10-15w higher for the whole first 12’ interval. the Direto never adjusted enough to bring me “back” (possibly because of gear choice? The Direto does have certain floors and ceiling for gears).
I actually like the variability vs being 100% locked into the prescribed power…but as noted, you just need to take a few steps to ensure compliance on the shorter intervals.
Wow, mine look nothing like that. The first set was the best of the workout. I get a peak close to the target but not at/over. The third sprint in that series peaks over, but not by much. The second set you can see a similar thing happened, even when going up to 105% workout intensity in the final sprint. The single sprint was the worst of the bunch, a full 60W low at its peak, not much over FTP, and not the point of the workout I felt like.
You probably hit the power floor. Cheaper trainers (including my Flux S) tend to have pretty high minimum resistance. I can only do the recovery parts of workouts on my easiest gear, otherwise I overpower it. On a long gear (say 52x12) at a decent cadence there’s no way it can bring me back.
I think if I had tuned out Zwift, it would have been able to bring me “back”…but yeah, there is no doubt there are floors and ceilings for some years on the Direto.
I actually like that aspect,took me awhile to appreciate the flexibility of it, but I do now.
For comparison these are 3 sprints in jepson from my workout this morning. I guess we are in the same spot. Not super excited about carpathian peak +2 on Saturday.
Also a direto, but i did buy and install the wired cadence sensor from the drivo. I think it makes a difference in reaction time to large changes, but its hard to be sure. I tend to do the stuff @mcneese.chad recommended above.
