I always find myself turning ERG mode off and going back to Standard mode. I just feel like I ride better when I have full control of the gearing and can really use the flywheel once I’m up to speed.
Does anyone else notice this too? I guess a trainer can only react to the numbers you give it, doesn’t really know what low or high cadence feels best for each rider since that’s so individual.
I typically do all my indoor work in ERG - unless it is a super easy spin and I am not using TR, easier than messing with bike computer or Saris app to set the Watts in ERG. Easy to just shift to the bike to the desired effort.
You can influence how ERG feels a bit based on the gearing you use, it has been discussed on the Podcast in the past (2019?) how Jonathan preferred setting to a pretty easy gear in the small chainring because it reduced the smoothing of the flywheel to your effort, you could get behind/ahead of the effort and required some torque/force at times very similar to mountain biking.
Where Nate (iirc) would do much of his work in the big ring and liked the flywheel - smooths power and makes for a good consistent workout experience. I usually shift to harder gearing as my workout goes on, to smooth out the effort a bit.
The cadence is not really effected by your gearing or ERG - its the rate that you are pedaling, just keep pedaling quicker (85->95) and watts will go up over target barely (or a lot if you do change quickly)… then ERG drops resistance back a bit, then you stay at 95rpm. Yes the ERG when you get tired will eventually start hunting for the watts… and then your cadence will drop if you are not hitting it… then the death spiral can insue! lol Usually I can just get out of saddle crank out a 5sec effort… get back on top of it, over target a hair, then sit back down and spin up the cadence 10-15rpm.
I used to do all my workouts with the Elite Suito on resistance mode as its handling of ERG is terrible. I’ve done all my workouts so far on the Elite Avanti actualy in ERG as it seems to handle it better. Although at the same side I switched my single side power meter for double side Asimoa PRO R and that may me the diference. I do find Elite’s software on either to ramp on ERG to hard at the very start when its supposed to be a Z1 warm up, I tweaked my knee slightly last week, so I might try ‘resistance’ mode again 
For trainer workouts, it’s ERG mode all the time. Only for very specific situations do I not use ERG mode, like very short maximal efforts, FTP tests (other than the ramp test), and of course sim riding. I started using ERG mode back around 2010 on Computrainers. The thing I like most about it is it’s a merciless taskmaster.
ERG for everything under threshold, manual for anything threshold or over.
On a Saris H3, 100% Erg
ERG for everything on my Tacx Neo. Can’t cheat, have to do the full work.
I always agree with your posts 
Sometimes lately I do think about turning it off because I’m worried about overdoing it on very long efforts, but mostly I’m on the trainer to suffer and erg delivers! I love the game.
Erg mode for easy Z2 and shorter high intensity like VO2max and anearobic.
Always standard for longer duration muscular endurance in tempo, sweetspot and threshold. I find RPE is lower in standard, possibly due to some micro breaks thats not possible in erg mode.
ERG mode always, just netflix and pedal
I ended up doing both last night. Resistance mode for 5 secs to get started without pulling my knee again (Elite trainers fire on ERG too hard and ramp it up straight away for some reason at the start), I then used ERG in the warm up and tempo intervals, before swithching back to resistance mode for the first 9-10 minutes of my threshold intervals, then switching it back on (ERG) for the last 2-3minute of the threshold blocks, I kept ERG on for the Tempo bookend and warmdown.
As a counterpoint to pretty much everyone else I never use erg mode.
Apart from not liking how it feels I don’t like being locked in to an exact power target. The output I can sustain comfortably for a threshold interval might vary by 15 Watts even in the same week depending on how I’m feeling and I’m only riding for fun.
Apparently that’s a minority view though and I’m not doing 30/30s where I could see the obvious benefit.
I never use ERG. And it’s probably bro science, but I feel that having to find the right gear/cadence combo for a given effort is a better proxy for real riding/racing. When racing, your cadence is often at the mercy of the terrain and the dynamics of the race, so I think it’s good to train with some cadence variability. I guess you are always free to vary your cadence when in ERG mode, but I think I’d fall into the trap of just sticking on the same cadence where I’m most comfortable.
