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ErgVideo: riding tips for your smart cycling trainer

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power-based training is where it's at

ErgVideoTM operates your smart trainer in ergometer mode. This means you must output the power level it dictates. It's very different from course mode. Read about it in our FAQ here.

You can, of course, completely control the intensity of your ride. Professionals and beginners can ride together, and have exactly the same training experience! 

ErgVideoTM is the ONLY virtual reality system that simulates the true demands of cycle racing. Your efforts are dictated by the rider's behavior, not only the course profile. In a racing ErgVideoTM, you will change speed and intensity often. Training sessions are less variable.

The smart trainer forces you to maintain the power level prescribed by the session's power profile. 

  • Warm-up well. The surges and attacks are very realistic. 
  • Rest whenever you can. If the trainer is easy to pedal, then pedal easily. You need to be ready for the next effort.
  • A hi-power interval is not necessarily a hill climb, so don't react by lowering your gear. It is a required increase in power, not an increase in grade. Changing gear has no effect, the required power is the same.
  • Spin faster just before a power surge is required, and push harder to maintain the effort until the load diminshes again.
  • If you can't keep pedaling, you've set the intensity too high. Avoid grinding below 60rpm. You're getting dropped!
  • To get the sensation of high torque climbing, try lowering your cadence, and then stand up! Be careful: the trainer will stop you if you can't smoothly output the power this way!
  • For more tips, follow our Newsletters. This one is packed with detailed information on riding ErgVideo.

Special Announcement

On Feb 13, 2025, our streaming service partner made a change that breaks ErgVideo streaming playback in the desktop application. It came as an unannounced surprise.

The ErgVideo application has been out of development for several years and supported only for current subscribers. Costs to update and further maintain the application and web services infrastructure now exceed revenues.

As such, we have:

  • Refunded any subscription that was affected by an outage Feb 13. That is, any subscription that renewed after Jan 13, 2025.

  • Terminated all recurring monthly subscriptions as of today, Feb 17, 2025. You will see no new charges.

Further, on May 31, 2025, we will:

  • Remove all web services and the website. This means that the free ErgVideo desktop software will stop working on that date.

Be assured that these are not temporary measures while the outage exists. We are no longer investigating a fix. It is truly the end of the ErgVideo application, web services, and support.

If you purchased a legacy video license (DVD or one-time download), you will still be able to playback videos in any desktop player like Windows "Films and TV" app, or "Windows Media Player"**. What won't work (after May 31) is the desktop software ("ErgVideo 6.009") that controlled your trainer with its own synchronized video player. Since our first release in 2007, we've always provided, maintained, and supported the desktop software for free.

Thank you for your business and understanding,

Paul Smeulders

ErgVideo Inc.

** If you did a standard install, the video files are in .wmv format and located in subfolders of C:\Users\Public\Videos\ErgVideo. Each subfolder is named by the title of the video.