I use a kickr core and 4iiii single sided power meter. When first using power match my ftp dropped from 309 to 270 which showed up the over estimation of my trainer.
Riding outside I can hold about 250 watts for an hour average and 235 for 2 hours. However inside powermatch workouts are killing me. I feel it’s the irratic power jumping around trying to correct itself all of the time. Cadence indoors has become very hard to maintain at 85-90 where as outside I can easily achieve this.
Has anyone else found a solution with a similar setup? I love the idea of using the same power source inside but not if it results in such a jumpy workout. Is it better to just turn off powermatch and adjust ftp when riding outside?
If you continue w/Powermatch, it should feel better. It can take a bit of getting used to. You really have to be smooth w/your cadence. Even after you are used to it, you will still be able to feel those micro-adjustments, but they won’t feel so erratic. Again, the key is keeping your cadence smooth.
You could always turn off ERG and use your 4iiii as the power source. This would give you the same power source both indoors and outdoors.
Thanks for the reply, can you just explain a little more what you mean by turning off erg and using the 4iiii as power source and how this differs from power match? Thanks again,
In simplest terms, PowerMatch is using the 4iiii power to regulate resistance of your trainer in ERG mode.
TR explains it here in full detail:
I suggest giving it some time and trying to be smoother w/your cadence before giving up on Power Match. Again, it can take a bit of getting used to.
As for turning off ERG, you can switch to resistance mode. Once you do so, you have to manage the power output yourself (i.e., shifting gears, adjusting cadence as if you were outdoors).
Are you sure the indoor drop in power is due to Power Match? Cooling indoors is often a huge limiter.
One reason for powermatch issues that’s been raised before is riding in higher gears. Putting it in the small ring often seems to smooth out the effort in erg mode.
Also, this review suggests that the Kickr Core is a little slow to respond to changes in resistance. Not sure what to do with that information though other than spend more money…
This sounds more like unfamiliarity with ERG mode, less than ideal gearing and maybe lack of sufficient cooling.
For ERG mode (with or without PowerMatch in use, focused purely on your cadence. Ignore lower and do NOT try to adjust your power. Let the trainer and app do that. Be as smooth as possible at your desired cadence.
What gearing have you been using? As suggested, ERG often performs better with slower flywheel speed. Try the small ring I’d you have been using the large.
Make sure you have one or more REALLY good fans. Cooling indoors is often ignored or undervalued. It makes a MASSIVE difference once you have sufficient cooling.
With a KICKR, you can use the Wahoo app to tell the trainer to use the PM (4iiii in your case) as the measuring device and turn off TR’s PowerMatch feature. I’m assuming the Core is the same way. Far better option in my experience and you still get the benefit of one PM doing all the measuring (indoors and outdoors).
Tonight I did another ramp test in the small ring and using the wahoo app to tell trainer to use power meter. Powermatch within TrainerRoad app was turned off. The score was very similar 263 instead of 265 (I am fairly fatigued tonight) but the power chart and overall feel was so much better and smoother…
Here are the workout charts for comparison, thanks so much for the advice I feel like my workouts will be achievable now without the power bouncing up and down so aggressively
Hi,
i have very similar problem. I just switched from SF to trainer road with smart rollers Elite NERO and 4iiii one-side wattmeter, and during the workout the power reading changed from power meter to rollers, as you can see on the picture and it was huuuuge difference, powermatch was ON.
I felt like the rollers are not controlled by trainerroad app(running on PC) was to easy and then on rollers source the load was significant. I dont understand why there is so huge diffrence, same zone and almost 20bpm higher. The source should be taken frm 4iiii so i dont understand why the rollers looked like not controlled and easy.
you can see that jump in the middle of interval.
I’m a bit confused… if I have PM and trainer (suito) power readings come from PM if I use power match? Or it comes from trainer as someone mention above?
If you pair a power meter and a smart trainer, TR will display power data from the power meter. AFAIK, that is true whether you use PowerMatch or not.
As to your power drop, that leads into the typical considerations of having sufficient cooling, motivation and potential differences in trainer inertia and gearing, not to mention training mode (ERG, RES, STD). Lots of factors can lead lower power inside.
