Not kindergarten yet, but preschool (pretty much the same though with a smaller class-size compared to kindergarten). I assume this is just the beginning 
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I’m 77 going on 78 and I find that wh en I did the FTP I started out on 80% and by the end I was way down at 45 % So fo me it means that I have to start out at about 50% and see what happens. Will do that soon.
Hi there, I don’t understand what you mean at all are you saying you created a slope workout and tried slope mode? If so you are in full control of power just by changing gears and changing cadence.
Hey Alex. It is raining in Ottawa Canada this week so I got around to testing the slope mode on my Stages SB20 bike.
I suspect I am not creating my workouts properly. Here is a summary of the results:
1 want to create in this simple test works :
Work intervals of around 500 watts @ 80 rpm for 30 seconds with rest intervals of 100 watts @ 80 rpm for 30 seconds. On my first try, I just added slope intervals of 10% to my existing test workout (it is actually a target of 520 watts for 8 seconds and then 500 watts for 22 seconds).
The first test ride was pretty good. The work intervals were terrific. 500+ watts @ 80 rpm, with more watts when I pedalled harder and fewer watts when I lightened up. I know it doesn’t sound like much but with every training app doing erg intervals these days, it was great to feel what my Stages bike could do when asked to produce a proper 500 watt effort.
I tried using erg mode for the rest intervals. When you look at the graphs, clearly this didn’t work. The bike provided 0 watts during the rest intervals.
Any idea how I should be code the workout to get my 100w - 500w - 100w - 500w - 100w test?
Thanks! Craig.
Hi Craig, thanks for trying this. No it looks like you did it right, it appears that for some reason your SB20 does not shift to ERG mode the same as our bikes. Can you send me the link to this workout so I can verify on my Neo?
If I am correct and it is an issue directly affecting SB20 and you have any time available to test with my developer he could fix this but first let us try your workout.
Hey Alex. Here is the link to my short testing workout Trainer Day - Workout: Slope Test.
I edited the test since running it last night to have only simple 30 second slope intervals surrounded by 30 second erg recovery intervals.
I am happy to test new updates. I appreciate how hard it is for you to test on different hardware.
For iOS testing, I assume you will send an iOS TestFlight email. Send to statchuk@me.com and I can test with my Stages SB20 bike anytime you need it 
.
Hey Craig, yes I can send you invite to test flight. You don’t happen to have any android devices floating around do you? It would be much easier for my developer to work with you that way but if not we can do test flight.
Hey Alex. I really don’t have an easy way to test Android. Sorry.
I got the TestFlight app running no problem. Thanks.
I run the Android app on an SB-20 if you still need someone to test.
Hi everyone,
I am finally coming back to this feature that I really did like to see coming…
But it seems I don’t understand it’s implementation.
Here is what I want to do (simple example).
5min@150W ERG
5min @SLOPE of 10%
In the workout editor I cannot set a SLOPE value without setting a Wattage value.
I don’t understand that logic. I would expect the trainer to switch from ERG to a 10% SLOPE and the resulting Wattage would be based on whatever RPMs I put through the pedals.
What am I missing?
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Slope Mode is confusing.
Here is the TL;DR reason - skip this section if you wish
Any app controlling an exercise bike, including TrainerDay controlling my Stages SB20 bike, has limited options for getting the bike to respond with resistance that increases and decreases proportionally with pedaling speed. Erg mode doesn’t work. It sets resistance to a desired number of watts regardless of cadence. If you pedal faster, the resistance decreases. Pedal slower and resistance increases.
What I want for most workouts - especially Sprint Intervals - is: Give me something like 500 watts @ 80 rpm. If I pedal faster, resistance is higher. If I pedal slower, resistance is lower. Just like a real road bike.
It may sound unbelievable but not all smart bikes support such a resistance mode. So-called dumb trainers usually do. For various reasons, smart bikes often lack this basic feature.
It is my understanding that rather than have different control methods for each smart bike, TrainerDay chose the feature that all smart bikes do support, namely Slope Mode: "Set rider weight and ask for a simulation of a given incline (or slope). The bike then internally calculates the resistance for the requested slope, with resistance increasing and decreasing proportionally with pedaling speed.
To answer your question
TrainerDay can’t show the exact resistance for a slope segment when editing a workout definition. That’s because TrainerDay doesn’t know:
- How your smart bike/trainer will use your weight and other simulation parameters to internally determine resistance.
- The speed you will actually be pedaling when doing the workout.
I wish TrainerDay would make the workout editor smarter and at least estimate resistance based on your weight, requested Slope and cadence of 80 rpm. Since it doesn’t, you must add watts yourself if you want the graph displayed during the workout to reflect the effort needed.
Slope Mode Workouts
Every one of my workouts has a mixture of Slope Mode for the hard stuff, and Erg Mode for the recovery portions.
For Erg mode recovery Intervals, I specify watts as usual. For Slope mode intervals , I specify a desired incline from 1 to 20%. and then manually add an estimated watts value based on this table:
The watts formula for me is:
Watts = 35 * Slope + 130
I built this table by observing watts for different slope values @ 80 RPM. I added a calculator that uses my formula to my spreadsheet so I can estimate any slope value. Your formula will be different based on your weight and trainer/bike.
Adding Watts in the Workout Editor
When editing workouts, I switch to Watts, Cadence, Slope
For each Slope interval I add the Watts estimate from the table above on the same row as each Slope % value:
The power estimates are now shown as:
If I ride at 80 RPM, TrainerDay tracks to estimates very well. Of course, my goal for a slope workout is to exceed the estimate by pedaling faster than 80 RPM!!
I appreciate the time you took to answer this- thank you!
But one thing is still fuzzy for me:
What is the effect of Wattage AND SLOPE?
i.E.
SLOPE mode 10% with 1000W
SLOPE mode 10% with 50W
How will the trainer react? Will the interval feel different?
EDIT: I remember Alex saying that some trainer protocols support sending SLOPE/WEIGHT while others don’t. It must be possible, otherwise riding a GPS track with i.e. a GARMIN headunit would not be possible. Not saying that I would expect it to feel great 
When defining a Slope workout segment, the Watts value:
- Is ignored by the bike/trainer. The Slope value is sent to the bike that internally sets resistance regardless of the Watts value you have in the workout plan.
- is used by TrainerDay to set the height of bar graph displayed when riding the workout. It is just an estimate but it prevents TrainerDay from showing a flat workout graph with no changes in bar height.
When I look at the public Slope workouts published on TrainerDay site, I usually see only flat graphs. Makes for a very confusing and uninspiring ride if you ask me.
That’s good news!
I’ll cook something up and will try now that I know that Wattage is really just for cosmetics.
TBH I dont really care how the graph looks
THANKS!!
EDIT: Should a SLOPE of X% feel exactly the same on trainerday vs say the wahoo app? Or in other words: Does the app just pass along the slope value to the trainer, or is there some math going on inside the app that bakes in rider weight? Do you happen to know? I was looking here for more documentation, so sorry for all the questions.
That’s a good question. I only know the answer for smart bikes and smart trainers. They all implement the Ant+ FE-C or Bluetooth FTMS bike control interfaces (a.k.a., profiles). They offer a slope control command that requires rider weight and slope specified as n.n%. The bike is then responsible for calculating the resistance needed to simulate the requested slope %.
Apps must do more calculations when supporting “dumb” trainers. Not sure what TrainerDay does for these devices.
We send slope to the trainer, we don’t do anything special so it should be exactly the same as any other slope mode app. Great questions.
Great answers Craig.
Thanks Alex.
For those who care…
I also vary cadence in many workouts. 80 RPM for recovery intervals to carry off the lactic acid and hard intervals at 70 RPM. Unlike some lighter riders, I get better power numbers at lower cadence 
.
Here’s a more complete version of my spreadsheet for calculating resistance estimates:
Using these values, I can create a slope workout at different cadences:
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If someone was going to do something similar to this they would have to identify a specific front/rear gear they need to be in, or add gear calculations into this. I really wish I had more time to spend on testing this slope mode like you do. This is really cool.
As a smart bike owner, I always forget to think about trainers. I guess that’s why I bought one.
With a smart bike there is no need to change gears. The default gear can be used for the entire workout. The workout app simply changes slope (and therefore resistance). If I don’t like the resistance level in a structured workout, I change the workout for next time and never the gears.
The Stages SB20 bike lets you ignore chain rings and cogs altogether. I can set up the bike to have 25 virtual gears that cover the bike’s Ant+FE-C / BT FTMS Resistance Levels from 1-100. Virtual Gear 1 is Level 1, Virtual Gear 25 is Level 100. Virtual Gears 2-24 are evenly spaced in between.
For me, gear shifting is used only with simulations like Zwift. I never change gears in a structured workout. I let TrainerDay control the everything. I just get ready to pedal hard when I see the 600w+ slope intervals coming.
Here’s what gears look like graphically on the Stages Link app that I run at the same time as TrainerDay:
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