ERG mode in the big ring

[dragan]

I’m rather new to smart trainers, but I’ve owned a Kickr for about six months now and while I never thought I’d get used to ERG, I love it.

Anyway, I’ve always used it on the small ring with a straight chain line and never thought that the gear could make any difference up until today when I decided to do some VO2Max work (Kaiser +2) in the big ring for some reason. Also, putting it in the big ring makes my trainer make a weird noise and I don’t know what’s that about, maybe it’s the flywheel spinning so much.

Is it just me, or does it make the workout ever so slightly easier?

I have noticed that ERG can’t smooth out my power so much, so the power graph ends up looking much more like when I was on a dumb trainer, so I do get a bit more natural feeling.

[onemanpeloton]

You might find some useful information in this topic

Big vs Small Chainring - Same Power (ERG Mode Gearing)

I recently did the Antelope workout which has 10-min intervals at around 90% FTP. Since I use a smart trainer in ERG mode, I normally do not shift gears and just leave it in my small chainring and a cog that makes the chain straight. Five minutes into the first interval, and holding a cadence of 85-95 (Antelope recommendation), I found myself really struggling. I shifted to the big chainring and one cog easier (one cog easier just to offset the big chainring a bit), and finished the second and …

[dragan]

Thanks for the link, very educational stuff!