Coach's Corner
While ErgVideo is now used as a serious training tool by many cyclists and tri-athletes, we believe that ErgVideo is also about a unique experience, suitable for all cycling enthusiasts. Don't be put-off by the mathematics and technical details on this page. Because ErgVideo can be adjusted for any fitness level, it's about a more motivating and exciting stationary cycling and training experience. It's also a great way to get racing-quality training even if you are not willing or able to participate in live races. It's about enjoying your CompuTrainer and your fitness development. It's about being able to enjoy cycling with others who are at completely different levels. You can ride and get your workout without worrying about who is keeping up. You ALWAYS keep up with ErgVideo.
Early customer feedback
Early feedback contains requests for more technical details of the rides. On this page we stress that just about ANY ErgVideo can be adjusted to achieve ANY target average power, time in zones, and even "Training Stress Score" or "Intensity Factor" as defined by the people at CyclingPeaks Software. Here, we'll show you how. Please refer to the CyclingPeaks pages for definitions of all these terms. It's very well explained there.
You can control the duration of your ride, the point in the ErgVideo you'll start, where you'll stop, and even how many times you'll repeat your favorite section. You also control the overall intensity by scaling the power profile before and even during the ride (MultiRider software). So providing statistics on the rides themselves is imprecise, since there is so much flexibility. We have to start with some assumptions.
Assumptions:
We shall discuss the simplest case where you ride the ENTIRE ride from the default start to default finish, and you ride it at your actual Anaerobic Threshold or Functional Threshold setting. ALL of the ErgVideo Race videos have been scaled to give a RACE-INTENSITY workout when you ride at your actual AT setting. This is indeed very intense. That is to say: if you set your true AT as the "basis power" of your ride, you need to be well prepared, warmed-up, and even psyched-up, just as for a real race. Training sessions are a little more civilized.
CyclingPeaksTM Statistics:
When you ride as described, your performance file will yield the following statistics when passed into analysis software like CyclingPeaks WKO+. All Power levels are actually as % of threshold, so for Average Power and NP, multiply by your threshold power/100. The following table is generated using our interactive tool, with AT Setting=Actual threshold setting, and each ride from start to finish, with no reps.
| Race Name | Duration | Ave Power | NP | VI | Tss | IF |
| Crit A1 | 01:10:20 | 89.3 | 103.8 | 1.162 | 126 | 1.038 |
| Crit A2 | 01:07:18 | 87.9 | 103.5 | 1.177 | 120 | 1.035 |
| Crit B1 | 00:47:45 | 91 | 117 | 1.286 | 109 | 1.17 |
| Crit B2 | 0:55:24 | 90.6 | 103.5 | 1.142 | 99 | 1.035 |
| Osmond's Odyssey | 02:18:33 | 84.4 | 103.9 | 1.231 | 249 | 1.039 |
| Mac's Attacks | 02:20:34 | 85.6 | 100.2 | 1.171 | 235 | 1.002 |
| Lake Placid with a Champ | 02:30:33 | 84.7 | 89.8 | 1.06 | 202 | 0.898 |
| Triathlete Hilly Hammerfest | 01:19:00 | 75.6 | 92.1 | 1.218 | 112 | 0.921 |
| Fortress of Solitude | 02:12:13 | 68 | 81 | 1.191 | 144 | 0.81 |
| Girls Wet n Wild | 01:15:00 | 84.4 | 105.2 | 1.246 | 138 | 1.052 |
| Boys wet n wild | 02:24:20 | 79.7 | 102.6 | 1.287 | 253 | 1.026 |
| Short Intervals #1 | 01:06:10 | 45.3 | 74.7 | 1.649 | 62 | 0.747 |
| TTT with TrixieK | 00:23:07 | 96.3 | 103.3 | 1.073 | 41 | 1.033 |
| Riding with your SO | 01:46:52 | 74.7 | 93.3 | 1.249 | 155 | 0.933 |
Most new riders will score slightly higher, find it slightly HARDER, and often cannot finish a ride because they tend to "over-drive" the CompuTrainer when the power is low. For example, if the CT is trying to regulate them to 80 Watts, and the press-on is 2.5lbs, even rolling at 15mph means the rider is exceeding 100W. The CompuTrainer magnetic resistance is "off", and the rider COULD be resting more, by easing up. We recommend that, just as in a race, you REST whenever you get a chance...and save the energy for the upcoming very difficult efforts. The other common error leading to an incomplete ride is lack of a proper warm-up. Despite what we say, few people expect to be pushed by the trainer to do a true race effort. They expect to ride like they always ride a trainer...in control and poorly motivated. That's two mistakes!
Scaling the Statistics:
If you set your AT/FT level for your ride to some fraction of your true AT/FT, it will affect the TSS and IF scores. The TSS scales as the SQUARE of the fraction of true AT/FT you use, and the IF scales linearly.
For example, suppose your AT=300W. If you ride Crit A1 with a threshold setting of 300W, you will score a TSS of 126 and IF of 1.038. Suppose you scale down your setting to 85% of your true AT/FT, or 255W. You will then score IF=1.038*0.85=0.8823 and TSS = 126*(.85*.85) = 91.
So you can, through manipulating your actual threshold setting, as well as the number of reps of a selected frame, achieve any TSS score you want, with just about any ErgVideo. Since the IF to TSS relationship is tied to the actual profile, you will not independently adjust IF and TSS, but you CAN raise IF by selecting a rep-frame that spans very high power surges, and then repeating that frame many times. Likewise you can lower IF by framing low intensity phases.
This gets pretty complicated and a general solution is not possible, due to profile dependence. That's why we've developed our online ErgVideo Profile Tool.
Time-in-zones:
The chart below shows time in zones, using the CyclingPeaks Zones for the analysis. Again the assumption of no Reps and riding start to finish at AT=Actual LT is used. Scaling your power setting down essentially increases time in lower zones, decreasing time in upper zones, and likewise the opposite when scaling up your power setting. The results, however, are not as easily computed as for TSS/IF. The ride designer indicates the average power of your designed ride, so you'll know roughly what you are in for, before you begin. Again, our new tool will compute all possibilities for you, this table is for a very narrow case.
| Race Name | Recovery | Endurance | Temp | Threshold | VO2max | Ana. Capacity |
| Crit A1 | 00:24:02 | 00:08:05 | 00:06:42 | 00:06:56 | 00:07:56 | 00:16:40 |
| Crit A2 | 00:16:14 | 00:09:59 | 00:10:11 | 00:08:06 | 00:04:05 | 00:18:45 |
| Crit B1 | 00:17:23 | 00:05:25 | 00:04:25 | 00:02:31 | 00:03:17 | 00:14:24 |
| Crit B2 | 00:19:46 | 00:08:05 | 00:06:12 | 00:02:43 | 00:03:42 | 00:14:56 |
| Osmond's Odyssey | 00:49:41 | 00:21:45 | 00:13:17 | 00:08:57 | 00:09:53 | 00:35:00 |
| Mac's Attacks | 00:38:51 | 00:28:34 | 00:21:27 | 00:10:02 | 00:13:50 | 00:27:51 |
| Lake Placid with a Champ | 00:09:58 | 00:25:32 | 00:59:21 | 00:34:44 | 00:12:37 | 00:08:21 |
| Triathlete Hilly Hammerfest | 00:20:48 | 00:14:29 | 00:14:17 | 00:14:54 | 00:06:17 | 00:08:15 |
| Fortress of Solitude | 00:39:06 | 00:34:10 | 00:21:40 | 00:25:07 | 00:12:10 | 00:00:00 |
| Girls Wet n Wild | 00:19:59 | 00:05:19 | 00:06:56 | 00:11:36 | 00:13:32 | 00:17:38 |
| Boys wet n wild | 00:51:44 | 00:07:35 | 00:09:43 | 00:15:47 | 00:26:08 | 00:33:23 |
| Short Intervals #1 | 00:46:40 | 00:03:36 | 00:01:53 | 00:00:27 | 00:00:29 | 00:13:05 |
| TTT with TrixieK | 00:01:53 | 00:00:55 | 00:06:34 | 00:02:36 | 00:08:09 | 00:03:00 |
| Riding with your SO | 00:28:22 | 00:11:36 | 0:11:28 | 00:26:19 | 00:13:10 | 00:15:57 |
In our opinion, the chart above shows the TRUE PRACTICAL issue at hand, and experienced coaches know it well. It is as simple as this: Different races have different characteristics and place different demands on the athlete. Considering Criteriums, we see a lot of recovery time, and a lot of anaerobic time. The rider goes from resting to full-out, often. Road races tend to have more time spent in the mid-range Tempo-to-VO2max range, with much less recovery time. Long rides and TT-like efforts likewise skew toward the threshold ranges.
The fixed-intervals training rides cannot be generalized, since these are specifically designed to stress a target zone. They will, by design, have high time scores in the zone that is intended to be trained. Considering Short Intervals #1, the whole point of the ride is to stress one zone and rest otherwise. Similarly, Fortress of Solitude specifically stays below the Anaerobic zone as a training goal.
CyclingPeaks, TSS and IF are trademarks of Peaksware, LLC.
