MTB v gravel bike on turbo

Training With Power
1

Hi
Firstly , sorry for the long post but trying to explain training situation.

Late last year I sold my long travel mtb and my gravel bike and purchased what I thought would be a goldilocks solution, a short travel mtb with a second set of wheels with relatively narrow xc tyres (29x2.0). I chose this because I have a 200km (120mile) gravel ride in April and a couple of mtb events June and Sept. Both the gravel ride and the enduro in Sept have big elevations.

Bike is great outside don’t feel disadvantaged with shorter travel during full on mtb rides and on gravel rides almost a quick but more comfortable than gravel bike.

Using it on turbo however is another matter. While I don’t make big wattage compared to some of the numbers posted on the forum, I find that with the MTB gearing of 30t chainring and 10-50 cassette I am running out of gears compaerd to 42t chainring and 11-46 of gravel bike. Also FTP is harder to maintain without cadence in 100rpm range which I don’t feel is sustainable for me. Maybe I should practice cadence drills?
I expected some difference but it is more than I expected. I don’t really want to adjust ftp down to accomodate bike and changing chainring twice a week is not an option I want to consider, neither is getting another bike.

Currently following Polarized plan and reverse tabatas today had me up at 120-130 rpm during some of the 20 s intervals. I am due to start Gravel Grinder Intermediate in 2 weeks which will lead me up to the gravel event.

Any advise from any of the coaches on best way forward would be appreciated or if any other members have had similar experience what did you do.

2

What kind of trainer are you on? For Wahoo stuff you can increase the level of resistance in the app.

3

I think @Doc is on the right track. Sounds like an issue that can be solved either with trainer adjustments or through buying another trainer (which ain’t cheap, but it’s cheaper than a new bike). If you’re running out of gears and can’t push yourself properly, it’s going to make it much harder to progress.

1 Like
4

Hi, it is an Elite Suito. There is an app but did not think of checking on any way to change resistance.
Had thought maybe about changing bodyweight setting in the sim. I realise this will have an effect on how sim reports w/kg but not sure if it will affect resistance.

5

Probably your best bet is to contact Elite customer support, but the Suito should have no problem providing enough resistance. You can try Erg mode until you find another solution.