BigPoser

Hi All,

So I am having an issue with the wattage being consistently low on my workout.

I recently got a Kickr for Christmas, and today was my first ride on Trainerroad with it. Today’s workout was Ansel Adams +4 and the target wattage was 292 for each interval. When riding, on-screen was showing 292, however at the end of each interval, when the interval summary would pop up, it was always 8-9 watts lower than target. I was in ERG mode.

I dropped the intensity a bit to see if that would change anything. Nope. Same spread after each interval even though everything on-screen was on target. I performed a spin down calibration as well and that didn’t fix the issue which leads me to believe it could be a setting issue.

With a Kickr in ERG mode, what settings need to be “ticked” in order for everything to work as it should? Or is there something else going on?

Thank you in advance.

Brandon

hubcyclist

I think that's just a function of doing those shorter intervals of < 1min, I think it takes time for the trainer to adjust to the target, so it's going to skew the average down a bit for the interval. Longer intervals tend to be spot on, in my experience (although I use the hammer and not the kickr)

Pug

Do you connect with the Kickr through Bluetooth or Ant+? I've found Bluetooth connections "snappier" than Ant+ in case that has something to do with it.

Do you have a power meter (separate from the Kickr?). If so, Trainer Road could be sending 292w erg instructions to the Kickr, but the power meter is transmitting back to a lower power reading to TR.

If the problem isn't being caused by a PM or Ant+, then take a look at support.trainerroad.com to see if others have the same issue. If not, you can also email TR and they're pretty responsive.

Pug

As an experiment you could download the TCX file from TR and then load it to Golden Cheetah to see which value was actually recorded - 292 or the lower number.

PaddleFoot

Hello,

You didn't say if you did a spin-down, so try that if you haven't. I wouldn't worry much about it. What are a few watts?

BigPoser

I have it set up through Ant+ since it's on my PC and that what is recommended from TR. That and my cadence sensor is Ant+ as well.

BigPoser

Yes sorry, I did a spin down through Wahoo as well as through TR.

BigPoser

Never thought of that. Maybe I'll see how it looks. Thanks.

Grasschopper

Skip the spindown in Trainerroad...only do it through the Wahoo app. Also someone else asked...do you have (and are you using) a seperate power meter? If so that could totally account for the difference. And last but not least...do you have ERG mode power smoothing turned on?

BigPoser

I do not have a PM on the bike being used with the Kickr. And it is in ERG mode.

Grasschopper

So when you connect to the KICKR (this is a KICKR and not a KICKR Snap right?) via the Wahoo app you have an option to do power smoothing in ERG mode. I don't use trainer road so I'm not sure if they do as well (I know Zwift does). It could be that this power smoothing is giving you a lower recorded power when you are actually hitting the power number at times in TR.

Really the key and focus should be consistency. If you know it's always 8-10 watts low of the target then really that's fine. You can turn your intensity up for the workout (I believe TR has this option from what I've read) to match that offset. Otherwise I'd suggest contacting TR and see if they have any comment on it.