I’ve recently started “experimenting” with the ERG and Resistance settings. For years I’ve always used ERG.
My question: What should I set the resistance to when I switch from ERG to Resistance?
When in ERG mode I have the resistance setting at 100%
However, when I switch to resistance mode, I leave the resistance percentage at 100%. If I make the switch from ERG to RESISTANCE during the workout the transition is not that bad. However, when I start a workout in RESISTANCE mode with the setting at a 100% …it’s not the most “comfortable way” to begin a ride.
I’m thinking when I want to do the entire workout in RESISTANCE mode I should drop the resistance to 30-40% at a minimum.
Can someone clarify this setting issue for me? Thanks!
I recommend trying the Resistance Percentage around 20-40% (as you have found), then you control your power target with a combination of shifting your gears and setting your desired cadence, more or less like riding outside.
I was thinking about making a feature request around this: when switching from ERG to resistance mid-workout make the switch at exactly whatever resistance level the trainer was using to hold the power in ERG mode at that moment.
Guessing it would have to be an option for users to toggle on and off since it almost certainly wouldn’t suit everyone, but it would mean I might actually start switching modes when instructions suggest it could be beneficial (usually anaerobic and sprint workouts where exceeding the ‘target’ is encouraged). As it is now I just use resistance mode so seldom that I usually decide it’s more effort than it’s worth to switch into it and then try to figure out what setting I need to make sure that small-ring/mid-block at my current cadence delivers my target recovery wattage.
That’s especially true if it’s just for a small portion of a bigger workout. I’m more likely to go through the effort if I know the entire workout is going to be like that.
I did ERG almost exclusively for 3 years, then switched to resistance and use it almost exclusively now. What has worked for me is finding the combination of resistance and cadence that gives me a typical “recovery” power setting when I’m in the easiest gearing, and work from that–depending on the working target, may need to tweak up or down a little, but otherwise once it’s set generally good until a significant change in FTP.
I have Tax Neo 2T. Using ERG only for recovery-endurance workouts and longer tempo-sweet spot workouts. All thresholds-Vo2-Anaerobic workouts are done using resistance mode at least for the part of the intervals. Initial warm-up and cool down mostly again in ERG.
So my usual setup is on 22%. The bike is an MTB bike with 1x34 as a front chainring, and road cassette on the trainer 11-32. Works great