Monday and yesterday I did a workout in Systm, Recovery Spin and Cadence Builds, where when I started the workout and began pedalling the resistance was so high I could not pedal at al. After a few seconds in, the resistance was okay again.
What could be the issue? I usually start pedalling very smoothly, and immediately it became too hard too pedal.
Is it because my Kickr Core is adjusting to the workout? Because I can pedal just fine before I start the workout on my screen. The workouts I mention are in ERG mode by the way.
I regulary perform a spindown with Wahoo Utility.
Yes, I think that is normal with some trainers and it does it with my Elite Direto but I can pretty easily spin it out within 10 seconds or so. I think the new Kickr model just released has solved that problem.
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Yeah, it is actually quite normal if you have the ERG on and a workout ready. You have to fight the power from 0rpms and as you start spinning, it gets easier.
What is strange is that you could barely pedal. Did the workout start with a high power?
@BarryZut Yes - as ERG engages you have to push harder briefly. Overall the Kickr Core does a good job in ERG mode but you may experience a death spiral at times where the power is too overwhelming during certain workouts and need to stop. As @ozmadman mentioned, the newest model trainer has the ERG Easy Ramp, which automatically transitions back into ERG mode over 10 seconds if you stop pedaling. I believe I read that software updates will eventually push this feature to older models.
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I have a Kickr Bike and experience the same thing. I think @Ricardo_G has it right. Starting from 0 rpm requires a lot of push just to get started. From my experience at least, very normal.
Yep. ERG mode automatically adjusts resistance to hit the commanded power. Since power is torque times RPM, if RPM is low, the resistance will be high. I usually start spinning on the bike before I start a workout so I’m not starting from zero RPM. If I do have to start from zero rpm during ERG mode, I stand and after a few very hard strokes the resistance decreases and gets more reasonable as my rpm gets more reasonable.
Some trainers are programmed to recognize this situation and will greatly decrease resistance until rpm becomes reasonable and then increase resistance to hit the commanded power.
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That is the thing. Most workouts start with a warmup wattage. Easy startup so to speak. So it is normal to feel some resistance if you start from scratch. But it feels like you are at the point where the Angliru is at its steapest and you have to begin 
. Yesterday I did not have an issue strangely enough, because I started pedalling before the workout started.
I will have to test some more to check what and why.
Thanks for answering everyone. I think pedalling before the workout is starting will help, I will test this some more.
You can enable auto pause in workout settings so you just start pedaling (low resistance as no workout yet) and the workout starts after a sec or two automatically.
That setting is preserved between workouts.
For workouts that recommend / require auto pause being disabled, just start pedalling before starting it, just like @Saddlesaur mentioned it.
I am on a kickr bike and I had the same problem last night. I had it on both SYSTM and RGT. Group ride and magic road on RGT and inspiration ride on SYSTM. I will open a ticket on support have not had this problem in the past. Used Apple TV for RGT and iPad for SYSTM.
@Mike2 I also ride a Kickr bike. Never had the issue on RGT. Common on Systm which I just attributed to a start from zero. For me it’s generally just a few seconds. Never looked at it as a problem.
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Rode today RGT Dunoon Apple TV no problems. Did notice last night that my time zone had switched from EDT to PDT. Thinking that Apple TV updated during ride causing problems. All seems to be okay now.
I think it’s fixed. What I do is just start pedalling when I select the workout. When my trainer is found, the workout immediately starts and the resistance has a much smoother transition than before in ERG.
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I have had a similar issue for the past 8 weeks or so however in my case the resistance starts at the correct level then suddenly increases.
If I soft pedal the resistance backs off eventually but it can be as much as 5 minutes.
Obviously this has a big impact on the warm up ramp at the beginning of a workout.
Has anyone seen this behaviour?
- I start the workouts with the pedals spinning.
- Trainer is a Direto.
- Device is iPhone XR
- iOS version is 16.5.1
- App version is 7.64