I ride normal spd-sl road pedals when I commute on the bike but for some reason using those pedals or Shimano mtb xc style pedals and shoes ruin my right foot on the trainer. No idea why – but it messed up my right foot for ages. No issues when out on the road though.

Something similar happened to me during lockdown, when I was using the turbo every day – turned out I had the cleat slightly twisted, and while it didn’t make any difference on the road I ended up with a dodgy knee. On road I’m guessing I move about a fair bit more, standing up, shifting on the saddle etc., and a slightly offset cleat isn’t as important. Anyway these days I use some old Time Atacs which have a huge amount of float.

Yeah I don’t wish to repeat my foot pain which stopped me being able to run / hurt when I walked etc. I think I’m fairly good at spinning circles on flats rather then just mashing downwards – so will continue to do that on the turbo. I don’t expect to be especially fast at Zwift racing but it’s just to replace muddy night rides every week once the slop arrives. Going to do a ramp test tonight and start off another TrainerRoad block of training. Has got up to 250ish ftp and down to sub 75kgs but it slipped with a back spasm I had. Think I’m probably down to about 225ftp at a guess and up to 76.5kgs so I’ve got some work to do.

I used to love Time atacs- the grey and green composite ones with just the bars on each side and nothing else fancy!

My setup, back of the garage:

HT on a Flux S. Started out with a laptop and WiFi and quickly upgraded to AppleTV, ethernet over powerline and the TV borrowed from the caravan. Two cheap fans from Argos plugged in to Alexa do the job well enough.
Only thing i’m not happy with – AppleTV remote is awful, any recommended replacements?

AppleTV users – I’ve posted about this before, but does anyone else struggle with updates? Whenever an update is available, I click to download from the app store, but it just switches to a screen saying “coming soon.” I always have to delete the app and reinstall it.

ATV owner here – never had a problem. I have it apps to auto-update, and if I know an update is happening I turn it on a few mins early. If I’m short of time I will go to the app store, select Zwift explicitly and update from there.

I don’t use the ATV for much else, and it is the 4K version, so there is little else on it – that might be a factor.

Which bit says ‘coming soon’ – the app store or zwift itself ?

Yeah I never had an issue with updates on the apple TV, again I had apps set to auto update, it was always updated when I turned it on.

Of course, it tends to get stuff later than pc like the new home screen but that’s another matter.

No problems with AppleTV updates either. Auto updates on, it just does it.

Quick Zwift question; I’m doing the Zwift Academy workouts but I struggle to keep the power in the right band, often wandering well above the target. Should I be using ERG mode for these? (I’ve never used ERG mode so don’t really understand the difference).

Ta

YES!!!

ERG basically ‘makes’ you output the required power regardless of cadence…
Definitely use ERG for workouts!

DrP

The Zwift academy baseline ride is a group ride though isn’t it, not a proper workout. Are the rest of the ‘workouts’ the same or proper workouts?

If the latter, 100% use erg mode, and change into the small ring at the front with a gear that gives a straight chain line, the trainer well be quieter and will work better like this, as gears don’t matter.

After the Baseline ride, the rest are workouts.

I’ll try ERG mode for the next one, ta.

oh yeah.. DON’T CHANGE GEAR IN ERG MODE!!!

DrP

oh yeah.. DON’T CHANGE GEAR IN ERG MODE!!!

DrP

Unless you have to do micro 15 second intervals at 120rpm or something stupid where erg mode would mean you’d end up spinning away but with no resistance… 😁

But yeah, generally just let the trainer do the work!

Yeah – baseline is a normal ride – so you feel the terrain as you would on a normal ride.
Chill through the non-times segments and then smash it on the timed bits.
Important thing is to carry on riding down the volcano after the last segment until the blue banner. I’ve seen quite a few people moaning about it on the forum, as they have quit the ride after the KOM banner at the top & have then lost the ride stats.

When doing the workouts – definitely ERG mode – and also use the inner ring (assuming you are on a 2x set-up) and aim for somewhere around the middle of the cassette. I think I generally run on the 4th cog from biggest (on a 2×9 set-up.
If you keep to the big ring, it is harder for the trainer to sustain an even resistance & you will find your power trace is more choppy.
I’ve noticed halfway through a workout that I’ve been in the ‘wrong’ ring & upon changing to the inner ring, the subsequent intervals are much ‘smoother’.

I did the ZA1 workout yesterday afternoon. It was quite a good one – tough but achievable.
I’m still not sure what the Zwift Academy hopes to achieve? 6 workouts are a solid start, but aren’t gonna have a massive impact on your fitness.

I’m just using ZA as an introduction to the concept of a training programme. I hope to undertake something a bit more meaningful/effective over the winter. My major concern is that strict adherence will rule out “pleasure” rides when weather allows.

Zwift used to be pretty strict and prescriptive for it’s training plans…
An update several updates ago made it a bit more leanient, which is good.

I mean, you’ll get the MOST if you stick to it religiously, but…. in reality you’ll struggle to fir 5+ rides a week in, PLUS real life rides and kids etc!!!
Do what you can – it all helps!

DrP

I’d recommend Trainer road for a training programme. It’s more flexible than Zwift from what I hear. I’m going to try Zwift for racing but keep trainer road for a training plan.

If you get to a workout and you don’t have enough time it lets you pick a similar alternative with a shorter duration. Or you can just browse the list based on type of workout / duration / difficulty etc. Really good.

New cardio fan position on my turbo table right in my face is excellent – it’s powerful enough you need to keep your mouth shut otherwise it blows your lips about like a dog sticking their head out the window of a moving car 🤣

I think I pushed hard enough I nearly passed out after – the fan kept me going right up to 186bpm on the heart rate. Got a 240ftp which is better than I expected after so much time off my bike. Pretty much had nothing left – that’s the best attempt at a ramp test in terms of extracting every last bit of leg power / lung power I had to give.

I’d recommend Trainer road for a training programme. It’s more flexible than Zwift from what I hear. I’m going to try Zwift for racing but keep trainer road for a training plan.

They’re both pretty prescriptive, you’d be better off sticking your social rides in a planner, then figuring out what your weaknesses are and planning a few specific sessions around those with some common sense around recovery etc.

e.g. if you do Wednesday night as a chilled evening group ride, and a long ride on Sunday morning, stick in some appropriate interval training on Tuesday (when your fresh from Sunday), and Thursday or Friday once you’ve used Wednesday as a recovery ride.

Rigid adherence to a generic plan isn’t going to be optimal in any sense anyway. So a generic plan that says do 4 x 10min FTP intervals every other day isn’t going to be optimal if either you’re not fit enough to do that every other day, or fitter than that and would get more benefit from doing 5 (or more) intervals. That’s why real life coaches are £££ more than off the shelf training plans, it’s the reviewing.

Yes – although trainer road now has adaptive training. It’s early stage but based on your feedback from each workout it will change what you have scheduled. So if you find one too easy it’ll modify what’s coming up and vice versa. I’ve found it quite decent so far with that.

I always select low volume training (3 times a week) and see how that fits in with what I have planned outside. I suspect I’ll mostly do one mtb ride on a weekend of a reasonable length. Then one Zwift race midweek with 2 trainer road sessions around those

I can’t inspire you with the internals as it’s not finished but I’ve just erected this Tuin log cabin in my garden for my static bike and as my bike workshop. Next jobs are flooring and electrics. Sometimes I get an audience:

Cheers for the replies above about Apple TV, I’ll make sure auto update is on.

Which bit says ‘coming soon’ – the app store or zwift itself ?

When I’m in the app store, I click the button that says “update,” the screen goes blank, then a very pair pink colour and it says “coming soon!” across the middle of the screen.

I can delete and reinstall the app so it’s no big deal really, just a pain in the arse coz I have to re-enter my log in details every time

joebristol
Full Member
Yes – although trainer road now has adaptive training. It’s early stage but based on your feedback from each workout it will change what you have scheduled. So if you find one too easy it’ll modify what’s coming up and vice versa. I’ve found it quite decent so far with that.

I always select low volume training (3 times a week) and see how that fits in with what I have planned outside. I suspect I’ll mostly do one mtb ride on a weekend of a reasonable length. Then one Zwift race midweek with 2 trainer road sessions around those

Ever looked at Xert? It does everything you say there automatically, including adjusting for outside rides (as long as you at least have an HR monitor on). In fact it’ll even adjust the workout whilst you’re in the middle of it if you’re doing better/worse than expected

Never heard of Xert. Sounds cheap at $9.99 a month. Would have to see if it’ll work just off an iPhone or iPad as I don’t have a laptop / Apple TV yet.

I’ll see if DC Rainmaker has reviewed it as he seems to really test things well.

Would love to get stuck back into some race action but still can’t get the damn app to load.

I’m fairly new to TrainerRoad but the adaptive training is doing its job, I’m on low volume which is 3 rides a week, with the harder/longer ride at the weekend.

Within this you have your FTP but you also have workout levels, as you complete workouts you progress within those levels, obviously a higher level means a harder workout. There’s a perceived exertion question after most workouts, if you answer relative to to workout (so easy/moderate for a endurance z2 workout) it’ll progress your level so the next workout is a bit harder.

It does start you off at level 1 for everything so it’ll be a little easy to start with but as Joe said if you’ve done a ride that should be within your ability and you found it really hard, it won’t put your level up so won’t make next week’s workout as hard or harder. When you get an FTP bump it also reduces your levels a bit, as you’ll be going up in difficulty with the increased FTP so it chooses easier workouts to be at the same level.

I had my first missed workout of the plan on Sunday, really wasn’t feeling 1.5hrs of over/unders so it automatically adapted the training and moved this workout to this weekend.

Including outside rides within adaptive training is something that’s coming on TrainerRoad so that should be good.

They also have the AI FTP, which for me (on a single test) has been 100% accurate. 😜

They’re both pretty prescriptive, you’d be better off sticking your social rides in a planner, then figuring out what your weaknesses are and planning a few specific sessions around those with some common sense around recovery etc.

Unfortunately for me I need workouts in the calendar or else I don’t do them, having 3 set rides every week is a good thing for me.

Time will tell though – tbh the main thing it gives me over zwift training is more options, there’s not that many training plans on zwift when you look at it. My TR plan has 2 base phases, a build phase focused on short power (for me) and then a speciality phase based on gravity riding (enduro/downhill). And you can put in events so it can build you up to those events and then taper off the week before. It’s just a lot more training focused that zwift!

I can’t inspire you with the internals as it’s not finished but I’ve just erected this Tuin log cabin in my garden for my static bike and as my bike workshop. Next jobs are flooring and electrics. Sometimes I get an audience:

Get out! 😲😎

Jesus that’s a zwift cave with a view!! Bastard! 🤣

Had a look at Xert and not sure about it. I think adding Zwift alongside trainer road for the winter is probably best for me and going to give that a go

Had a look at Xert and not sure about it. I think adding Zwift alongside trainer road for the winter is probably best for me and going to give that a go

Zwift running with TrainerRoad below it on the same screen is perfect for me, keeps the engagement of zwift with the route completion etc but you get the far better training schedule/features of zwift. TR on its own can be a bit too dull tbh.

I do a Xert – Zwift combo most of the time. Works well too for that extra little bit of engagement

joebristol
Full Member
Had a look at Xert and not sure about it

Anything in particular you’re not sure about? From memory the DC Rainmaker review is pretty old, so I might be able to answer some questions. Turns out I’ve been on it since 2019, found it worked far better for me than TR

I just tried a road bike again.

In some ways I like how they make power, it does in some ways seem easier than the hybrid to increase power and in some ways to cruise too.
But they’re really not nice on hands/arms for me, even trying various positions didn’t help much.

https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=3110927

I tried 3 times to break, one of the me and 4 others managed 3s on the group, but as with most C races, it ended in a sprint. I’d flogged myself too much trying to break it up.

Apologies for hijacking this thread with a beginner question, but there appears to be tons of knowledge on here and this is hopefully a simple question! If I had a smart trainer and didn’t want to use Zwift etc (it’s a lack of convenience and to some extent cost thing), what options are there for running a workout from my Garmin Edge?

I’ve looked on Garmin Connect at workouts, but they all seem to be strength/conditioning. Training plans sound right but really, I just want 2 or 3 programs to run when I have the time, rather than trying to commit to a weekly program. Is there anywhere you can get a basic interval session, put it on the Edge, press play and have it control the trainer accordingly?

vww
Free Member
Apologies for hijacking this thread with a beginner question, but there appears to be tons of knowledge on here and this is hopefully a simple question! If I had a smart trainer and didn’t want to use Zwift etc (it’s a lack of convenience and to some extent cost thing), what options are there for running a workout from my Garmin Edge?

From a quick look online, it seems to be possible. I’ve not tried it though.

Garmin Support

mashr

I do a Xert – Zwift combo most of the time. Works well too for that extra little bit of engagement

@mashr – how do you find Xert? I have been doing workouts regularly with robbo1234biking providing some great workouts to follow for a while now.
But, I quite fancy trying something like Trainerroad or Xert (or have just seen AI Endurance too) over the winter & see if I get stronger gains than I have been getting. The idea of adaptive training seems like a good one & robbo has been getting great results.

But, honestly – I don’t really want to pay a great deal for it given that I already pay for a Zwift subscription, so am wondering whether Xert is any good. It’s quite a bit cheaper than trainerroad.
I struggled to find much info on it yesterday when looking & it looked quite ‘complicated’ compared to Trainerroad with lots of metrics & displays on the screen.

I gather that you can run it at the same time as Zwift, so you can do the workout in a Zwift environment & let Xert control the trainer, while Zwift just reads off the power data coming from the trainer, rather than controlling it.

In some ways I like how they make power, it does in some ways seem easier than the hybrid to increase power and in some ways to cruise too.
But they’re really not nice on hands/arms for me, even trying various positions didn’t help much.

Isn’t that just a case of swapping the chainset and/or cassette out?

Isn’t that just a case of swapping the chainset and/or cassette out?

Nah not really. I’ve had a road biased chainset on the hybrid before, was running a 2x with a 50 as the biggest on the front, but i think it’s to do with the actual riding position, or maybe even rotational weight of the road wheel/tyre being lighter than the hybrid… but i think on the roadie you’re getting more into the weight towards the front and i think it’s not just for aero that roadies are in a forward position.

In the same way an XC race bike is longer and lower at the front, which i’m guessing helps putting the power down.

@stumpy01 will give you a proper response later on, my work is making me work and its getting right in the way of faffing!

For now though – it’s only complex as you want it to be. I just login on the iOS app, see what its suggesting (either based on continuous improvement or having an event date sent), filter to suit based on time available and crack on. It adjusts me FTP accordingly, it looks after how fresh I am (can be tweaked if you’re feeling rough/great).

The maximum power available (MPA) is quite interesting. Some folk use it whilst racing but I’m not a fan. However it is interesting to see if confirm just how ****ed you felt when you have a look afterwards

I think it must be a position thing ref the different bikes.

I sometimes put my race bike on the trainer and it does feel ‘nicer’ than the Triban that lives on there I guess but as for gearing- I don’t even think about it or notice a difference. Just ride in the one that gives you the right amount of watts at the right cadence 🤔🤣 Anything else, you should be able to smooth out with trainer ‘difficulty’.

It’s only in ERG mode where I notice a difference between gearing and on the Kickr SNAP and I like lots of inertia in the big chainring. For many direct drive turbo’s, the advice is little ring but as a simulation for flat real-road riding, I not only like a wheel on trainer but as I say, like the high inertia, short power stroke of the big chainring.

Cheers mashr. It sounds like it might be worth a go.

I’ve tried 2 workouts since i completed my last ramp test and i just can’t stick them at all….

I think my FTP went from 255 to 288 and the workouts just seem incredibly hard now.

I’m going to try another tonight to see how i get on.

AS i understand, the ramp test can over-estimate the FTP… hence why you may be struggling?
Try something like 270 watts to see how you feel?

DrP