Are there any workouts that are basically like a free ride but allow using ERG mode? I was doing some messing around with equipment and wanted to record data while using ERG mode at various powers. I figured a Free Ride workout would do the trick, but it did not allow selecting ERG mode. I understand more typical would be to use resistance mode, but occasional use of ERG mode might be useful. I don’t see a reason why it shouldn’t be made selectable.
Pick a steady erg endurance ride and then use the workout bias buttons (or whatever they’re called) to change the wattage to whatever you want?
4 Likes
And if you have a keyboard handy, these are good to apply.
3 Likes
Zwift does ERG/Free Ride mixed workouts. Just saying…
Good suggestion and workaround. I just did a quick search and see there are some endurance workouts that are a constant power except for a brief ramp up at the beginning and down at the end. I didn’t find any longer than 1hr though. Of course, that’s no reason not to add ERG option to Free rides.
1 Like
I’m kinda new to TR this time around and don’t know what that means. How would that work?
“Changing level/intensity during a workout.” I know about that and is what I would use to adjust the ERG power in a Free Ride workout, except Free Ride workouts don’t allow selecting ERG mode.
Zwift is a different training app, you probably already know that. They have challenges going on right now, and many of the workouts/rides have a mix of ERG and free riding. I can’t remember a workout on TR that mixed both, but there may be some. I ride primarily in ERG, but am doing the Tour of Zwift (race), which is 100% free ride mode and it’s a great idea that they are as trying to do a 90 minute race (ride) in ERG as tough as those rides would be extra painful.
Yeah, ERG and ‘free ride’ are exclusive. You can’t have both active at the same time. Perhaps that’s the best idea of free riding, trying to program yourself to adhere to your ‘set point’ and not be artificially stuck on it. But then a rider can get into the same problem as doing the same outdoors: inclination, etc…
Good deal. I shared it to make sure that base was covered, along with the keyboard shortcut. As written, the Freerides deliberately have no target which negates ERG use. As also covered, any typical workout can be used as the base here and tweaked as needed. So the workaround is there via many existing workouts.
I was going to say that I’ve done the same controlling my Kickr with my Garmin head unit or the Kickr app.
Changing the IF (Intensity Factor) can be a way to free ride, in that you can adjust the demand to what you need/want. I used to do it for some of the TR workouts where I thought that the recovery intervals were too low.
And you CAN free ride TR workouts, just turn ERG off at the bottom of the screen. I’ve only tried turning off ERG during a ride, and it wasn’t pleasant. I’ve never tried to turn ERG off and ride a workout that way. I would assume you could turn ERG on again, but not sure what would happen if you turned ERG off again. It would make an interesting experiment.
I just feel that if the ‘workout’ is trying to accomplish a certain aspect of training, riding in ERG makes that more productive and ‘worthwhile’. Follow? It’s like a prescription. Take the whole pill, but if you need more, hit the buttons and add more, or dial it back too. But one killer routine I was riding needed me to dial down the tops and dial up the bottoms, and that kinda sucked. Too much trackpad usage…
Yep. I’ve done that in some cases, but I’d like to stick within the TR and not have to use additional platforms or apps. There’s no reason to not allow selecting ERG mode in a Free Ride that I can think.
“James Endruance 5.1” Thanks for finding that. I obviously missed it when looking. Now, find me a Free Ride where I can turn on ERG mode and I’ll be happy. 
1 Like