Half Monty Cadence

SYSTM Software
22

First time doing the test. I have the same problem as @MikeTB. What is the solution here?

23

What gear was your bike in for the ERG part of the test?

And were you dual-recording on another device?

24

Read through all of the responses. Lots of good info. My issue was that I needed to use my small ring and a middle cog. That solved the problem for me.

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25

@emacdoug I was not dual recording on my setup. At the ramp part, I was on 50 front. I shift a couple times in the rear as I don’t feel like I’m getting much resistance from the trainer. I was at the smallest gear quickly after just a few step. After that the only way to increase power is up my cadence.

26

@MikeTB If you’re curious, the reason small ring/middle cog works better is that the flywheel in your trainer goes slower. So while the trainer in ERG mode will try to keep you at the same power as you move cadence around (that’s the point of ERG mode), it has a much easier time doing that when the flywheel has less momentum. This is the same reason that a bike stops more quickly when its going slowly than when its going quickly–less momentum to slow down.

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27

Thanks for that. I had to end a ramp test today as I was totally spun out (140 cadence) in my big ring with what felt like very little resistance. Will try the Half Monty again tomorrow.

28

Coincidentally, I just completed a HM today on a Saris Hammer. I’ve done HMs many times before.

In ERG mode, you can only control cadence. Power is controlled by the trainer. If you try to chase power, you won’t be successful and cadence will go all over the place. Trainers take a few seconds to respond to commanded power changes. Don’t chase it. Allow the trainer time to respond. I found that with Saris trainer with SYSTM, a blue tooth connections responds a bit quicker than using ANT+, so I use BT for the trainer. It still takes several seconds to respond. In the HM ramp, simply maintain your best cadence until you have to quit. SYSTM alerts you to upcoming changes starting 10 seconds before the change occurs.

Also, in ERG mode, trainers will take a few seconds to respond and adjust resistance if you make a signicant change in cadence. If your cadence is too high and resistance is low, slow your cadence and the trainer will take a few seconds to increase resistance to compensate and bring power back in line.

Even though the constrained heart rate effort is done in level mode, the best thing is to select a gear and Level that gets you close to your target heart rate at your preferred cadence, then maintain that cadence. If you heart rates starts to drift toward the upper limit, decrease cadence a few rpm and hold that. If your heart rated is drifting lower, increase cadence few rpm and maintain that.

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