I’ve have no complaints on my Direto.
Here’s a few screenshots. I tend to use the cadence tricks Chad mentioned - slow down before the power step, then ramp cadence up to target over 5-7 seconds.
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Those Jepson sprints don’t look too bad, I’d take them over what I was getting. And I think Carpathian Peak should be okay with much slower/longer ramps. They look a lot more gradual so I’m hoping the trainer can handle them fine.
Here’s a question for all the Direto owners. Did you guys do any calibrations with the Elite app (myETraining)? They have options for power smoothing, calibration, wheel circumference. I’m wondering if using the app would affect the trainer functioning in TR. I remember reading somewhere to do an initial setup in the app, then never touch it. Wondering if there’s something in there I can check/change to help.
I vaguely remember using it a few years ago when I bought the trainer. And I just replaced the trainer circuit board a month or so ago because the old one died. Now I’m thinking the new board may need some kind of calibration.
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I think I did it the first time and all setting are then stored on the Direto itself so TR can pull the information it requires. You would prob need to redo if you replaced the circuit board if that is where the data was stored.
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I calibrate the Direto 1x per month using the Elite app. Don’t know if that helps address the kinds of issues you are having. I mainly do it to check the calibration of the trainer. It’s been stable for over two years.
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No, power match and never had an issue. Had read about issues with elite app but with powermatch it’s a no brainer
This is my experience. I do 40/20’s a lot on it and my avg power is pretty much spot on. Yes it takes 5-8 seconds to lock in but I don’t think that changes the efficacy of my workout in any way.
I will trade that time for accurate power and never having to mess with the typical, “is my power off?” issues that come with others. I haven’t seen my calibration move on my Direto since January. Of 2019. Over 250 workouts without having to wonder if my power is off, love that.
Anything shorter I use resistance mode and no issues with that either.
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To clarify, I’m not looking forward to CP +2 because of the 16 minute over/unders… nothing to do with the direto!
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Every now and then I do a spin down calibration in TR and check the firmware in Elite’s Upgrado app.
I use PowerMatch with my Stages and calibrate the Stages before every workout.
I notice slow adjustment as well, but often times it seems like the trainer (or TR) gets better at adjusting the power after a few intervals. For really short intervals like Taylor the trainer sometimes has a hard time hitting the power so I increase the workout intensity a little and this helps the trainer get up to the correct power.
I believe this was a 4% increase of workout intensity. The goal power was 391 and I was able to get each interval within 5 watts of that after I increased the workout intensity.
I’ve done it twice…once when I first got the unit and then another time when it seemed pretty clear my power had shifted vs. my crank PM. Was fine after the recalibration and aligned with my PM.
Actually, I think I did again when I started TR in November, but nothing really changed as a result.
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Chiming in with my own 2 cents, I use a Diretro with Powermatch (4iiii crank arm as the power source). I seem to remember before the Powermatch changes from a year or so ago, that my trainer seemed to overshoot power targets mostly. For example, I’d be doing an over/under ride from SSB1 Mid Volume, and my trainer would tend to be 10-20 watts over the power target. Needless to say that was a bit of a mental struggle when I was holding on for dear life for that minor 95% relief but instead was basically hovering at 100%+ for fairly long parts of the interval.
Since that change, my Direto seems to be a little more shy about adjusting over the power target. It might just be a confirmation bias, but I’m curious if those Powermatch changes had a slight effect on this phenomenon?
For the most part, intervals 60 seconds and over are fine, I did 30/30s last week and rather than use slope mode and manually shift, I just increased the workout intensity to 105-106% and was at or over the original power target. When I do Spanish Needle later in this season, I’ll definitely be using slope mode.
Something else to consider, when I first got my Direto, I used it with Zwift and had a week or two where my resistance changes were really really bad, like when the elevation changed by 1% my trainer would pour on the resistance to a crazy level. I eventually figured out that my ant+ dongle was in a bad spot and not really connecting to the trainer, has anyone discovered the best place to but theirs in relation to the Direto?
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Did you connect your PM to the Elite app at any time during this? I’m using an external PM and power match as well and wondering if that setup needs some calibration.
Also, for the group. Any idea what the calibration offset should be in relation to the the one listed under the trainer? I remember them being close, but they’re off by over 1000 now.
No, I did not…but I also have never used Power match. 
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Oh, I guess I just assumed that you were using power match with your crank PM. Do you record any data from it during TR workouts? Either way, my Direto is off by around 10W compared to my pedal PM, which is why I use power match.
Sorry, didn’t explain that well… lemme clarify…
When I was using my bike with my crank PM, I was not on TR, just riding Zwift. I noticed ~10w difference that had gradually increased over months. I recalibrated the Direto and everything was aligned. Then warm weather hit and I took that bike off the trainer.
When I started using TR back in November, I then put another bike on the Direto, one that did not have a crank PM (it used PowerTap wheels).
So no, I don’t have any TR data from my crank PM rides.
Sorry for the confusion.
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Gotcha. Makes sense now.
Really appreciate this thread, having just come from the one on connection drops, also involving the Direto, which I also just experienced. And thanks to @mcneese.chad for summing up the delay issue, posting a screenshot on what a sprint should look like in ERG mode, and eliciting some Direto images for comparison. It looks like some Direto users get closer, but I don’t even though I’ve tried most of the suggestions with varying success.
These days I switch modes to Resistance (aka slope) for anything under 90 seconds or so. Here is typical ERG behavior in 1 min VO2max intervals (this from Baird last year).
These intervals aren’t physiologically useless. But the combination of delay and response bias (in favor of keeping below target rather than above) means that almost every short ERG interval comes out below target, often 5%, sometimes more, and that’s a downer when you see it as a whole list, and can’t really do much about it. Adding insult is that the instructions are exhorting you to “get ready”, “hold your power,” etc etc, when in fact it is better to come into the interval below normal cadence as @DaveWh mentioned, and if anything go easier. If you actually hit it right at the beginning or slightly before, the Direto freaks out at the spike and drops resistance more quickly than it increased it, so you’re suddenly overspinning. It’s like dancing with someone who doesn’t know how to dance.
Here is a more recent set of same intervals and targets (Bluebell), where it’s easy to spot the two intervals in which I decided to give ERG one more chance:
Which would you take? The thing is, though I regularly go a little over target in Resistance mode (and deliberately on that last one, it feels if anything like less effort for a more satisfying result, because it feels like I can control it better – too high, back off, too low, a little more gas. In ERG it’s an out of control feeling that adds some mental frustration.
As for setup, the Direto is on PowerMatch with a 4iiii left only. A couple years back the combo resulted in a three-way struggle with who was in charge (and I always lost), so I ditched PowerMatch. Last year I tried again after TR announced some tweaks and the same pair now work fine for intervals over 2 min. The Direto is very consistent with itself on spindowns, and very consistently reads 10% lower than the 4iiii, so I use the latter’s scaling feature to keep inside and outside in rough agreement. In fairness, the Direto was a good price and has behaved just fine in longer intervals.
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What gear are you riding in? In my experience, the Direto responds faster in an easier gear. Eg small ring, middle cassette.
Here are some 30/30 intervals from Taylor on my Direto. Things are pretty tight.
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Yes, small ring, middle cog on anything short. Often go to large ring on long easy stuff for smooth feel.
Looking at your cadence it seems like you stay slow well into the interval and wait until the Direto starts to clamp down and then try to match whatever its “slope” is – ie. rate of increasing resistance. I get best results when I do that too – usually. It’s a bit counter-intuitive – and also counter to TR instructions to pick your desired cadence well before the interval starts. If I do that, I get a pretty wild ride for the first 20 or 30 seconds 
