Elite evo trainer (Decathlon special) and changing gears

bill.robotham

I've got an Elite Evo smart trainer and I've used it for several years and I'm actually wondering if I'm using it right....

By the way, I don't use Zwift or anything like that, just the Elite app on my phone. I tend to watch stuff on my tablet whilst training.

So, using the Elite app I have various training sessions, power vs time, that I run. Most of the time I don't change gears, just keep in the same gear and push harder. I think that I'm correct in saying that the trainer I have doesn't have ERG mode so I should or can change gears if want/need to?

The reason I ask is that the maximum power (watts) I can push seems fairly low and I'm wondering whether by not changing gears I'm restricting myself artificially?

singleton

I'm not familiar with the details of the Elite Evo, but I've used a couple of different types of non-erg smart trainers in the past and in order to do a range of workouts on them, I've needed to change the bike's gears on them all.
If the resistance doesn't change on the turbo itself, then you use the gears to do that.

dannbodge

The gearing won't be restricing the power output, it will be the wattage ceiling of the trainer.

If it doesn't have ERG then you might want to shift gears to keep your cadence the same/similar.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

If it has ERG power-matching compatibility, for most sessions on a road bike, you should be in the chainring closest to 34T and using a sprocket on the cassette near the middle.

bill.robotham

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

If it has ERG power-matching compatibility, for most sessions on a road bike, you should be in the chainring closest to 34T and using a sprocket on the cassette near the middle.

I don't think it has ERG mode, hence the question on changing gears.....

bill.robotham

dannbodge said:

The gearing won't be restricing the power output, it will be the wattage ceiling of the trainer.

If it doesn't have ERG then you might want to shift gears to keep your cadence the same/similar.

Ok, thanks. The Power is set via the app and goes up and down depending on the program I use....

kingstongraham

bill.robotham said:

dannbodge said:

The gearing won't be restricing the power output, it will be the wattage ceiling of the trainer.

If it doesn't have ERG then you might want to shift gears to keep your cadence the same/similar.

Ok, thanks. The Power is set via the app and goes up and down depending on the program I use....

Does the power go up and down or the resistance?

If it keeps you to a certain power according to the session on the app... that sounds like erg mode.

bill.robotham

kingstongraham said:

bill.robotham said:

dannbodge said:

The gearing won't be restricing the power output, it will be the wattage ceiling of the trainer.

If it doesn't have ERG then you might want to shift gears to keep your cadence the same/similar.

Ok, thanks. The Power is set via the app and goes up and down depending on the program I use....

Does the power go up and down or the resistance?

If it keeps you to a certain power according to the session on the app... that sounds like erg mode.

Sorry, I meant that the preprogrammed sessions have varying power levels set, like 5 minutes at 150w and 5 minutes at 209w, etc.

Say I'm at 200w and my cadence slows down then it gets really hard to pedal and conversely at a lower power I can really up my cadence.

It does sound like it is ERG (???), I'm just surprised as it was a cheap (ish) trainer from Decathlon.....

singleton

When it goes from a 150w interval to a 200w interval, does it get harder to pedal even if you stay in the same gear with the same cadence? If so - that's ERG mode.

navrig2

Is it this one?



That looks like the resistance can b changed via that cable which, presumably,has a bar mounted control.