Never had a problem with ERG and use it for most of my trainer workouts. Think people forget that ERG mode is not(!) meant to be like outdoor riding, and pretending it is causes all the problems. When you start a workout, you don't stop. Your cadence will have to be >85 for the whole time to be reasonably comfortable. Standing up and down is not a problem (I do it every 10 mins for comfort) so long as you understand how to do it. I enjoy the harder sessions, being able to just tune into the music and suffer without having to worry about maintaining a particular power yourself.
Great post, Jesse. I'm an old fat neverwas who came back to cycling after a 25 year layoff. I've found ERG mode to be brilliant in helping me transition from HR-based training and learning how to maintain longer efforts at higher power output. Having a power meter on my roadie really made me realise how 'lazy' I am on the road and how that inability to keep the power on point was limiting my progress. ERG mode is helping me overcome that. Cheers.
This was a good explanation. To me, variation is the key. I do some training in erg mode, some in sim mode and at least some riding outdoors throughout the year. I think erg is at its best in longish intervals up to zone 4. One thing I've noticed is that my pedaling rarely feels great in erg mode.. it's kind of hard to explain but when riding outdoors you feel strong and feel like "pedaling circles" so to speak, that great feeling rarely is there when on erg mode. The satisfaction you get from erg mode session is more afterwards because (if) you were able to exactly hit the planned watts in your workout.
I always use ERG mode. I don't like 'simulated' riding, and I like that it keeps me honest. The real proof about how successful it is for training is coming in the next few weeks. After 3 months riding almost exclusively on the trainer getting out on the road will be an adjustment. After one Tuesday night bunch ride I didn't feel great. I think the strength is there but the repeatability isn't. Time will tell.
I’ve trained for a long time without erg mode and only recently had access to it on a newer turbo trainer. So approaching erg mode for the first time but as an experienced cyclist. I’m in two minds about it to be honest. It keeps you at a nominally constant power, but I’m not sure if that’s actually useful since you can ride at the same power in two very different ways, at different low cadence, high torque and low heart rate - or high cadence, low torque and high heart rate. The effect of these on your cardiovascular and muscular systems will be markedly different even though you’ve completed the same exact workout on paper. It also feels very unlike true outdoor riding. So apart from producing nest looking workout graphs to satisfy your OCD during workout analysis I’m still somewhat unconvinced or at least on the fence for now.
Great video. I think there's a huge benefit for those who have other stresses in their life that ergo can take the cognitive load off. I've got a few young kids, and without ergo I would struggle to motivate myself to think through a set while tired! Do hate the slow pickup/spiral of death in short ones though so you're on the money Jesse!
If using erg with cadence variations, I tend ramp up or down earlier to allow for the trainer resistance change. Totally agree with erg being useless for very short intervals. Happy with the Kickr Core but for short and maximal efforts - erg is a no.
I generally very much prefer ERG mode, but in addition to it being not a good fit for short intervals, I find it also too boring for very long intervals. Like riding 2 hours in Z2. I guess it comes down to the question: how precisely do you want to hit the prescribed wattage - with ERG mode you can easily stay within +/-5W of your target, without ERG it will be more like +/-15W if you're good at it. I also find ERG mode incredibly useful when the variations in interval intensity are not that big. Like when doing over-unders. Without ERG mode I find it really hard to hit such targets. Even when the individual intervals are pretty short, like 30 seconds ON / 90 seconds OFF. I'm not really bothered by the ERG mode lagging a bit, as the lag in ramping up the power is compensated by similar lag in ramping down the power, so I find it evens out. When I do such intervals without ERG, I always tend to ramp up the power too much at the start of over-part and drop the power too much at the start of under-part.
took me so long to realise ERG was killing my sessions, much prefer non-ERG now I've built up some experience (Im still relatively new to riding). The death spiral is real!
Wahoo kickr user and cadence variation is easy on erg mode. If you want to stand up or do lower cadence efforts just drop it 2 gears. Resistance stays the same but at lower cadence then when you have finished and need to sit down just knock it back up 2 for your regular cadence. Don’t know why every 1 thinks you need to keep it in the same gear for Erg. At the end of the day the trainer keeps the power the same to what ever cadence your doing. Never hit the spiral of death in 3 years.
I would be one of those folks JB… haven’t had mine that long and I’ve just left it in whatever gear it was in. I honestly didn’t know it was ok to shift the gears while in erg mode… wow… 🤦🏽♂️
I don't see a reason to ride a different cadence that you would do for a normal effort on the road, or not in erg mode. But erg mode does tend to drive you cadence lower than normal because the resistance can continually pile on as you lose focus
Yeah longer efforts yes erg it just locks U in better for those intervals , under 2 minute efforts were U are going back and forth a lot switch that erg off 👍🙂
Erg mode requires a metal fortitude.. you have to be up for the session, otherwise it will eat you for breakfast especially when doing VO2 max ( 3-5 mins) intervals 🙈🥊🥵🥵🥵🥵🤮🤮.
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Never had a problem with ERG and use it for most of my trainer workouts. Think people forget that ERG mode is not(!) meant to be like outdoor riding, and pretending it is causes all the problems. When you start a workout, you don't stop. Your cadence will have to be >85 for the whole time to be reasonably comfortable. Standing up and down is not a problem (I do it every 10 mins for comfort) so long as you understand how to do it. I enjoy the harder sessions, being able to just tune into the music and suffer without having to worry about maintaining a particular power yourself.
Great post, Jesse. I'm an old fat neverwas who came back to cycling after a 25 year layoff. I've found ERG mode to be brilliant in helping me transition from HR-based training and learning how to maintain longer efforts at higher power output. Having a power meter on my roadie really made me realise how 'lazy' I am on the road and how that inability to keep the power on point was limiting my progress. ERG mode is helping me overcome that. Cheers.
ERG seems like its ideal for sweet spot training. I use it for that and I think its great. Maximal efforts? Not a chance.
This was a good explanation. To me, variation is the key. I do some training in erg mode, some in sim mode and at least some riding outdoors throughout the year. I think erg is at its best in longish intervals up to zone 4. One thing I've noticed is that my pedaling rarely feels great in erg mode.. it's kind of hard to explain but when riding outdoors you feel strong and feel like "pedaling circles" so to speak, that great feeling rarely is there when on erg mode. The satisfaction you get from erg mode session is more afterwards because (if) you were able to exactly hit the planned watts in your workout.
Great timing (awaiting delivery of a Kickr) and information - many thanks for the clarity on this which is greatly appreciated.
I always use ERG mode. I don't like 'simulated' riding, and I like that it keeps me honest. The real proof about how successful it is for training is coming in the next few weeks. After 3 months riding almost exclusively on the trainer getting out on the road will be an adjustment. After one Tuesday night bunch ride I didn't feel great. I think the strength is there but the repeatability isn't. Time will tell.
I’ve trained for a long time without erg mode and only recently had access to it on a newer turbo trainer. So approaching erg mode for the first time but as an experienced cyclist. I’m in two minds about it to be honest. It keeps you at a nominally constant power, but I’m not sure if that’s actually useful since you can ride at the same power in two very different ways, at different low cadence, high torque and low heart rate - or high cadence, low torque and high heart rate. The effect of these on your cardiovascular and muscular systems will be markedly different even though you’ve completed the same exact workout on paper. It also feels very unlike true outdoor riding. So apart from producing nest looking workout graphs to satisfy your OCD during workout analysis I’m still somewhat unconvinced or at least on the fence for now.
Great video. I think there's a huge benefit for those who have other stresses in their life that ergo can take the cognitive load off. I've got a few young kids, and without ergo I would struggle to motivate myself to think through a set while tired! Do hate the slow pickup/spiral of death in short ones though so you're on the money Jesse!
For me erg mode is great as you dont have to think about anything else then producing the power you need to finish the workout.
Great visuals w the flowchart
If using erg with cadence variations, I tend ramp up or down earlier to allow for the trainer resistance change. Totally agree with erg being useless for very short intervals. Happy with the Kickr Core but for short and maximal efforts - erg is a no.
I generally very much prefer ERG mode, but in addition to it being not a good fit for short intervals, I find it also too boring for very long intervals. Like riding 2 hours in Z2. I guess it comes down to the question: how precisely do you want to hit the prescribed wattage - with ERG mode you can easily stay within +/-5W of your target, without ERG it will be more like +/-15W if you're good at it.
I also find ERG mode incredibly useful when the variations in interval intensity are not that big. Like when doing over-unders. Without ERG mode I find it really hard to hit such targets. Even when the individual intervals are pretty short, like 30 seconds ON / 90 seconds OFF. I'm not really bothered by the ERG mode lagging a bit, as the lag in ramping up the power is compensated by similar lag in ramping down the power, so I find it evens out. When I do such intervals without ERG, I always tend to ramp up the power too much at the start of over-part and drop the power too much at the start of under-part.
took me so long to realise ERG was killing my sessions, much prefer non-ERG now I've built up some experience (Im still relatively new to riding).
The death spiral is real!
How do you see avg power??? I personally hate using ERG mode as it’s not realistic when I ride outside.
Once per fornight... I use my trainer for 3 out of my 4 rides per week hehe ;)
I have a sb20 stages, how do I turn erg mode off before a race.
Wahoo kickr user and cadence variation is easy on erg mode. If you want to stand up or do lower cadence efforts just drop it 2 gears. Resistance stays the same but at lower cadence then when you have finished and need to sit down just knock it back up 2 for your regular cadence. Don’t know why every 1 thinks you need to keep it in the same gear for Erg. At the end of the day the trainer keeps the power the same to what ever cadence your doing. Never hit the spiral of death in 3 years.
I would be one of those folks JB… haven’t had mine that long and I’ve just left it in whatever gear it was in. I honestly didn’t know it was ok to shift the gears while in erg mode… wow… 🤦🏽♂️
I love ERG mode. I just go into zombie mode. No thinking, just suffering.
Is it better to try to keep cadence higher on erg mode?
I don't see a reason to ride a different cadence that you would do for a normal effort on the road, or not in erg mode. But erg mode does tend to drive you cadence lower than normal because the resistance can continually pile on as you lose focus
Yeah longer efforts yes erg it just locks U in better for those intervals , under 2 minute efforts were U are going back and forth a lot switch that erg off 👍🙂
Can’t agree with some of these points. These include that
for hard short efforts the trainer will find power quicker than the rider
Erg mode requires a metal fortitude.. you have to be up for the session, otherwise it will eat you for breakfast especially when doing VO2 max ( 3-5 mins) intervals 🙈🥊🥵🥵🥵🥵🤮🤮.