I am going to more than likely call things by the wrong name, which can make eyelids twitchy, so apologies up front. I have a Tacx Neo 2T, a Zwift Ride, and I use an HRM200 when riding. I chose Tacx because I am into the Garmin ecosystem with my mountain biking. I got this set up to help me focus on training, plus, the roads near me in Florida are horrible for riding. Originally, I got the Ride with the intention of using it for the 2T, but as it turns out, I am pretty happy with Zwift.
I typically do my workouts from my coach in normal, non ERG mode so I can have the shifting. I’ve done multiple FTP ramp tests and set my FTP based on that. I’ve also used my Garmin based FTP, which is 25 points or so higher. This seems to work ok, but I have some concerns. First off, I remember watching a gpllama video a while back where Zwift introduced shifting. He was playing around in the flats rolling through the gears and when he got to 2-12 or 24 (or however it’s called), it was pretty much such a strong resistance, he couldn’t pedal. I thought that was odd, because when I did 24 on those same flats, it didn’t present a lot of challenges. I am in shape, sure, I feel he’s a more powerful rider than me. As well, I typically pick something as a route for my work out that has climbs. Granted, when those hit 7-10%, it gets harder, but not as tough as it seems it should be.
Today I was doing a 30 minute zone 1 easy spin. I picked a course that had multiple climbs. These peaked around 10-12%. They were no harder than usual. After 30 minutes, I was only 2 miles from finishing the course, so I kept riding. My 30 minute structured ride ended and it went into free ride and the last climb, which hit and sustained 12% for a bit, and it was extremely tough- exactly what I would expect a 12% climb to be.
So, there’s something wrong here. When I am in my structured workouts, I am not getting the resistance I would expect. When the structured workout ended today, I actually got what I was expecting. What am I missing, what can I reset, what should I do to make it do what I expect out of a workout?