Sounds like a Full Frontal is definitely on your horizon! I presume you’re on the post tour plan? I’m already getting nervous sweats with a week to go 
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This is the first winter I have exclusively skipped erg mode. I feel more “one with my bike” in level …how little changes in cadence, body position, pedal smoothness make a difference in power output. Hoping it translates better to outside riding and stops me from turning into the grinder i morph into every summer …lol.
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I’m in for this, at least on some workouts. I don’t think I’d like to do Norway in Level mode. Good suggestion @Pierre .
I still need to pick a post-TOS training plan… 
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I just rode “Open60” in level mode. I played around with gearing and cadence to see what worked to hit my MAP and FTP power. The power seemed to fluctuate up to 20W for a small change in cadence when in the big ring. It did make for a different ride, felt more in tune with the bike and ride, and less opportunity to tune out. I realized I know very little about level mode in terms of gearing and cadence, and this is probably affecting my 4DP which is the only time I really ride in level mode otherwise. Wonder if the power instability instability I saw would be irksome if I was trying to hold a target…one way to find out!
I will use level mode for more rides in March. Good suggestion @Pierre !
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The power instability is irksome when you’re trying to hold a target depending on your power meter. I bought a power2max this year and ditched my left only Stages just because there was so much swing with the one side and double reading. It’s better with the P2M, but still bounces a little bit.
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I did a level mode ride on Wed, then forgot and did an unscheduled Open 30 on erg mode. Then I remembered on Friday and did Open 60 on level mode and played around and put on “that other app” in the background and used it to help me practice my gearing even tho SUF was still the control app. Sometimes it helps to have fake hills to make you stick to harder gearing.
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I though I would post about the dangers of level mode. I have a dumb trainer so I’m always in level mode. I rode Nine Hammers yesterday and it felt really hard, even the warm up, by the end of the second 
my legs were like jelly. It wasn’t until I had recovered enough to focus on my bars that I saw that I had knocked the resistance lever and was riding a level harder than normal. I moved it back to the correct position and only just made it through hammers 3 and 4, by number 5 I had to drop the MAP targets by 5% to make it through and even then my HR was in Z5 almost the whole time.
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I’m also not going to attempt to do 100% level mode throughout - but onboard with the concept, so will try most sessions on level for next few weeks…but sometimes erg mode is amazing and shouldn’t be taken for granted!
Going to do the 4 week MAP focus block in March since that was a weakness at last FTP and maybe doing some of those sessions on level mode will help get a better feel for what is possible in the 5min best effort in 4DP.
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Day 1/31: After taking yesterday off instead of today, I felt sluggish and in need of a shot of big energy, so I choose “Do As You’re Told”, only remembering this challenge a minute into the warmup. I pushed the targets closer to what I think I can hit on 4DP this Friday and managed to hold or exceed the targets, albeit with more variation than ERG would have allowed. Free from its constraints, I hit a few of the efforts particularly hard – following body feel and the textual instructions and ignoring the targets altogether.
It’s definitely harder to cleanly hit cadence targets this way especially with a 1x drivetrain, so I’ll probably stick with ERG for any cadence drills that come up.
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This is a great idea and a good practice to get into. I think that doing a couple workouts a week in level mode is ideal considering that we test in level mode. I find it difficult to transition to level mode for a single test after using erg exclusively so I practice using level mode so I am comfortable finding the right gear and cadence for a given effort.
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Day 2/31: Elements of Style – I decided this was mostly a drill so I should give it the drill-exception and run it in ERG. I think was a good choice, there’s enough going on mentally that I wouldn’t want to also have to worry about shifting.
Day 3/31: Taper Efforts – pushed power targets up to the same level as in “Do As You’re Told” and was able to nail the efforts in level mode. One thing I’ve noticed is setting the level with my Bolt headunit is much easier than doing so via SUF directly. So for level-mode efforts I’m going to turn off trainer control in SUF altogether and let the Bolt be the controller.
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Great job, @frenata. Interesting to hear you prefer to control everything through your bolt.
3/31 (Igniter + Micro Intervals)
Loved it in lvl-mode! Note to myself, though: It‘s called Igniter (Warm-up) and not record breaker. I need to keep my ego more in check during these sessions.
Had a lot of fun but I am absolutely destroyed.
Possibly more than during ToS.
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I said I was in so for my first post-ToS ride on the trainer I went with level mode. I mean, I always go with “level” mode, no erg in my play cave, but I can still take part in spirit, right? 
Oh and yes it was The Omnium. Of course.
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I knew this workout was going to kill me just 3 days before FF, especially the day after doing Cadence Builds. So I skipped it and did Cobbler at 80%, instead. I’ll recover easier from a long Z2 workout than from those nasty micro intervals. Tho, holding high Z2 power at low cadence in level mode is a definite exercise in self-control.
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@emacdoug:
It‘s very possible you are wiser than me. 
I skipped cadence builds in favor of a small run yesterday. Looking at the calendar, I will take tomorrow’s rest serious - heading into FF preparations.
Of course. Omni…what? 
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Well OK then, that one is going on “the list”…
You have heard that the mods are building your “list”, right?
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Now that’s what it’s all about … watt bombs … 
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There is already so much on my list. I know so little. 
Getting very off-topic, but I would be up for it…
You know, there are three pretty long workouts that I am considering - all together. Overly confident and crazy? Yes and yes.
Indeed. We should probably make a new topic for your DO…
OK, OK, no pressure. But we’re ready and waiting to help you out when the time comes… 
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That’ll be fun. Better make that next FF a really really good one. Full prep week, and set yourself up well for kitchen sink as an opener.
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