This has probably been asked before, but couldn’t find where it’s been posted. So, I am creating a new topic.
For most of my workouts on my Wahoo KICKR and riding along in Zwift to deal with the monotony, I prefer to simulate the feeling I would get riding on the road in the non-winter months as much as possible mainly because I obviously don’t have the benefit of a trainer that regulates my power for me (I.e. ERG mode) on the road and I have to account to achieving a certain power output partly based on whether the road goes up or the road goes down.
So, lately what I’ve been doing is:
-Pair my Zwift account to my crank based power meter on my bike (4iiii Precision). I run Zwift on my laptop hooked up to my tv.
-Pair my Xert account to my 4iiii power meter to stay consistent
-Run the Wahoo app in Sim mode
-Run the Xert Workout player on my iPad in Slope mode.
Is this the method to get the closest real road feel as possible?
Keep it simple. Pair your kickr to Zwift as trainer. Pair your 4iii to Zwift as power meter. If you also want to monitor MPA and other Xert metrics, pair your 4iii to Xert.
Road Feel:
If you want to feel like you are always riding on flat ground: Set trainer difficulty in Zwift to zero.
If you want to feel the gradient changes in Zwift: Increase trainer difficulty. Start at 50%. If you want more gradient variance and to use your gears more, increase trainer difficulty. If you want less, decrease it.
If you pair to Zwift with an ANT+ dongle, make sure to select the Kickr’s FE-C signal. As in any app, make sure the kickr is not pairied as a controllable trainer anywhere else.
The Kickr is an excellent trainer with a nice big flywheel and a good road feel under steady-state riding. The good feels dissapear when sprinting. For some reason, sprinting on the Kickr feels like suddenly being hit with a massive headwind.
I understand your concern about ERG mode and the mental aspect of maintaining power. That said, my philosophy on indoor training is to focus on power above all else. After months on the trainer, it only takes a few rides outside to get your pedal smoothness back and fix the conditioning ERG mode puts on your brain.