Got a query, which seems to be something of a weird problem for me, havent seen this come up as a query/request.
I currently sync trainerroad workouts to Zwift, just to make thing more interesting/fun. I also do them in ERG mode (wahoo kickr). I’ve realized however that this results in my cadence getting lower and lower (<75) as time goes by, and i tend/started to struggle at higher cadences both indoors and outdoors.
Is there a way to manage/control cadence for synced training sessions, such that I am prompted/alerted if cadence falls below a certain range, or even the training session’s recommended cadence range?
I believe TR deliberately refrains from having cadence ranges applied during their workouts, like you would sometimes see in Zwift workouts, as they determined the ranges to be too individual to make universal recommendations. Even in the workout instructions, they usually just state to be above a lower boundary or increase by 5-10 rpm.
Instead it’s up to the user to select the cadence range they are most comfortable with.
Your cadence dropping during a workout is actually quite a normal sign of fatigue to be expected especially with harder workouts. As long as you do not drop way below you self selected range, it should be fine (unless there’s knee pain involved). If it drops too low or you start feeling pail, your workout is likely too hard for you and you should reduce intensity by some means.
I actually want to control/manage cadence during workouts since my legs/body automatically do them on the lowest possible cadence, since I am usually multitasking on Netflix/YouTube.
And it’s a bad “habit” I’m trying to kick, since higher cadences is an impt part of training/conditioning. Hence my recent realization that I’ve started to struggle at higher cadences on rides.
Guess the only way is to keep monitoring my cadence during Zwift rides then.
Never found low cadence to work well in erg mode. I’m perfectly OK pushing low cadence up a hill in real life, but in erg mode anything below about 80-85 just turns into a doom loop. Obviously as the cadence drops the resistance ramps up, and feels like below ~80 the legs aren’t turning quick enough and that resistance starts to really get noticeable on the parts of the pedal stroke where power is lower. Which then slows me down more until I feel I’m pedalling squares. Would either focus on maintaining higher cadence if you think that’s something you need to work on, or just turn erg mode off.
