I think the post is a bit misguided, or too as a matter of fact. It would have been better received if it was about advising ERG mode users to also do some work (indoors or outdoors) on manually hitting power targets as well. The beauty of the trainer is that we are somewhat locked in, as holding a power target is a great skill, but more importantly is holding the power for the entire interval each and every time then reaping the benefit it brings.
Edit… WTF is with Power Control™️… trademarking “Power Control”?
I have to say, after reading over this topic, that I suspect a few people who are anti-erg fundamentally misunderstand it, and may not have even used it before.
Record from a power meter with zero smoothing at the same time as you run a workout and you will see massive variations in your delivered power throughout the workout. For a 240 interval you could well be swinging from 260 - 220 or more.
Maybe I am crazy but I am a big fan of ERG for a few reasons. One I don’t have to stare at the screen to keep my numbers in the right zone. Actually one of the reasons I ride indoors a lot I work on fitness not traffic and other outdoor conditions. Two I get to watch old races, podcasts, movies whatever because I don’t have to worry about watching numbers so it is like another bonus to training (I don’t watch much TV so when I train it is the time I do). Maybe if I was a new rider and needed to really concentrate on pedal stroke and form maybe resistance mode would be good.
Also I do use resistance mode at times when I don’t want to follow the workout completely. I have done endurance type workouts with some added sprints so resistance mode is perfect.
I really think he gets something from Zwift because he talks / posts about it a lot. I would also guess yes guess if you are coached by him he promotes Zwift and has you load workouts into Zwift.
If you read more of his garbage you’ll see that he believes gluten is harmful to people without celiac disease and also believes that eating GMO foods changes your DNA. At the least, he lacks a fundemental understanding of human biology and I wouldn’t trust him to buy my groceries any more than I’d trust him to dictate my training plan.
He doesn’t actually have Power Control trademarked nor did he file a trademark application. So feel free to use, post and profit from his great ideas and phrases.
I feel like I have to be more mentally engaged when I’m riding in standard mode over erg mode. Lots of people say with erg you just pedal and don’t have to worry about what gear/shifting/ect. I also like being in standard for things like Bays where they have the 20 second seated sprints in there. Instructions even say think about taking it out of erg so those sprints could possibly be done at a higher power, something about not shorting yourself. Thats resinated to me.
I think erg mode allows me to be lazy in a way that sometimes reduces my training effectiveness. So I don’t think he’s totally wrong. But I’m going to ignore him because what I’ve found is that it doesn’t really matter when I get out on the road.
What I have found is that if I don’t train standing up on the trainer, then I’m not as good at standing on the road. And vice versa. But that has nothing to do with erg mode.
No surprise that an intelligent & deeply thoughtful person like Amber, comes to a conclusion like many of us already shared. The reality is that each choice has merit and should be considered for it’s benefits as much or more so than the deficits.
In a perfect world, we would use a mix to capture those benefits and even add some needed variety to our training.
I have zero respect for Danielson (why would you?)…riding the trainer is a means to an end and erg mode makes these sessions a bit more doable, my progression this year is the same as previous years with a dumb trainer
This is a pretty common technique on the road, he’s just given it a fun new name to make it a “technique”. Pretty certain Sepp Kuss describes this on one of the VN podcasts but not in bro speak.
What he’s describing is what most strong climbers tend to do on longer undulating climbs and you definitely see it in the higher categories more where the guys are seriously fit.
Most riders flog themselves on the steepest sections of a climb because it’s all they can do to get to the top. Better climbers tend to accelerate and crest the hill while pushing harder into the flat/downhill following. The lower gradient means more speed for equal power so you’re putting the hurt on the guys who are pinned just to get to the top and opening a gap on them. Lookout has a bunch of these little rollers and so you can use this technique over and over to hurt your friends and make them hate you while keeping momentum and using less energy. This only works if you’ve got the legs to hit the steep sections and keep a little extra gas in the tank.
I’ve got no opinion on TD one way or the other but figured I’d point out it’s a decent tip. Just not described very well.
