Center Gears for Virtual Gearing
In virual gearing, I can only go down to -6 but I can go up to 19. This doesn’t seem correct. Gear 0 should be a midrange setting and should be able to be dropped to -12 on the default setting. This might allow for easier pedaling as I can do this on other platforms and get down to about 50W on level ground and allow me to climb up 10-12% grades.
James McKenzie
shared this idea
Many thanks for your feedback and support for TrainingPeaks Virtual.
Unfortunately the asymmetry is a result of hardware limitations, and not anything to do with TrainingPeaks Virtual. In general trainers are designed to make the resistance harder, not easier, and so lowering the gearing too far is just not supported by trainer manufacturers.
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ColinJTod
commented
Hi George. I have read your explanation and it would make sense to me, except for my experience with using cruise control...
I very quickly discovered the lack of low virtual gears when I failed to get up my first significant climb on TPV.
I gave up on the gears and now use cruise control but that completely destroys the feel of climbs. I just see my avatar slowing down or speeding up to fit in with the gradient and the power that I select.
In cruise control mode TPV effectively calculates a virtual gear to let me spin up a climb at the cadence of my choice for a selected power, and that works really well.
I have sometimes done steep climbs at only 100 watts. No problem.
So... If cruise control can select a low enough virtual gear to enable me to ride up steep hills at low power, why can't I be allowed to do it manually?
Your explanation above seems to suggest that the trainer would struggle to apply such low resistance, but cruise control has been fine down to 90 watts for me on my JetBlack Victory trainer.