When pushing workout to Wahoo Bolt, recovery interval power is almost zero?

TrainerRoad Software
1

Hi,

I am experimenting what setup will work best for me with TrainerRoad, and yesterday I tried out pushing the workout to my Wahoo Elemnt Bolt v2 via the export for outdoor in TrainerRoad and then loading it on my Bolt via the Wahoo Elemnt app. I then used the Bolt to run the workout and control the turbo trainer, taking power readings from my power meter pedals.

The power demand during the workout intervals appeared correct for the efforts (in this case sweet spot), but the recovery / rest intervals dropped the wattage down to a mere 75w when the workout on TrainerRoad displays it as much much higher. The Wahoo display showed the range as from 0 to the actual TrainerRoad’s workout rest interval power.

As the workout intervals gave a range of a (I think it was) 10-20w below and above the target of what the interval required, which the Bolt then targetted the middle of (which put it bang on what the workout interval required), it appears the Bolt was being told that the rest interval had a huge range when it shouldn’t have been.

Is this an issue with how the data was exported to the Bolt? How do I correct this?

Thanks,

2

I beleive it sets a range from 1 to your top of zone 1. So basically ride anywhere in zone 1.

But if you use ERG mode on the bolt obviously this is not ideal, you have to switch to slope mode for the rest intervals.

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3

Thanks. Understood then that it’s a limitation of the Bolt driving it from an outdoor programme/plan. I assume if I were to run the workout direct from the laptop with TrainerRoad this wouldn’t happen and it would actually place it at the top of the zone 1 vs halfway down it?

4

I am not sure if it is to do with the Bolt or just the way trainerroad have programmed it but yes it is intended as an outdoor workout so there is a bit more leway in the power target. “Just ride in Z1” is potentially eaier to follow than ride between 100-120watts.

In the trainerroad app they would just set a specific watt target at maybe 45% of FTP.

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5

Hey there,

This sounds like expected behavior when running TR as an Outside Workout while actually using your trainer.

Our Outside Workouts are programmed to give athletes power ranges to shoot for due to the more variable nature of riding outdoors.

On the trainer, when using ERG mode, you’ll be “stuck” into the middle of that range. For your recovery intervals, it’s typically 0-50% of your FTP, which means you’d be stuck into a pretty low wattage as you seem to have experienced here.

We’d recommend using the TR app for your indoor sessions if that’s possible. As @MrEkul mentioned, on the app, ERG mode gets set to a specific wattage target rather than the middle of a range.