Watching TV in Erg mode

I’m just about to order a smart trainer. Is it really possible to just put your brain in neutral and watch TV on long Endurance/Low Sweetspot intervals? At the moment as soon as I start watching the TV the power starts to drop as I’m not concentrating on the cycling.

Yup.

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Yup.

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Yup.

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Erg mode forces the issue :slight_smile: At 88% sweet spot I’m still ok, but when it rises to 94% I find it hard to pay attention.

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Yup

I’ve never managed it.

For me, absolutely yes. Nate talked about this also on the latest podcast. Have a listen from 1:35:40

My experience is similar, I can watch things that I need to have brain function to follow (movies/tv shows) up to about 60-70%. After that, I switch to watching pro cycling (NBC Gold subscription is great for this) since not that much happens quickly. So even with a 3 min VO2Max interval, I can just focus on that and figure out in the recovery valley if anything important happened.

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I watch Netflix during all my workouts. How much I retain depends on what type of intervals I’m doing

Sweet spot and below - close to 100% retention - I watch things I enjoy and care about here since the intervals tend to be longer and I need something I am looking forward to
Threshold - 60-70% retention - watch formulaic TV shows (Law and Order, etc) where I don’t really give a damn about the show and can tune out for periods of true suffering and still not really miss anything
VO2 - 20-30% retention - basically just something to stare at while my eyes go hazy - I’ll watch sports or rewatch something I’ve already seen

I managed to watch almost the entire Nebraska/Illinois football game this weekend during my 2.75 hour endurance ride.

I use TV/youtube/netflix for every ride. I’ve even played Xbox (GTAV) while on a long 3hr session @.60 IF but that was a little much and without aero bars was hard to get comfortable.

I’ll usually have something on to watch.

I binged on the the youtube vlogs of Ross Edgely doing the Great British Swim during Springer Mountain today 0.72 IF and would usually watch the TV on that or anything easier.

Sweet spot stuff I sometimes start watching the TV or listening to a Podcast but tend to graduate to music towards the end of those, especially if they are longer rides. Sometime it’s just music depending on how much I’m looking forward to the session.

Threshold or VO2 Max stuff for me it’ll be loud music all the way but often with a youtube bike race or triathlon coverage on silent in the background so when I glance upwards I’ve still got AH.FM in my ears and somebody else suffering in the background :grinning:

Interestingly ERG will highlight your natural cadences at aerobic, tempo, sweetspot, threshold efforts.

As you’re not focused on hitting the target power you can just spin to what feels comfortable, managable or survivable.

Many thanks for all your replies. I’ve just ordered a Stackzero Halcyon Smart Trainer. Next job- make some type of rocker plate for it. (Its replacing a KK Rock & Roll)

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