Hey,
Just did a recovery ride using ERG and I was thinking perhaps ERG rides should be flagged on the ride tables? What do you think?
Good discussion point there Dave. Assuming you mean the tables on the website and App not the Cyclechat league spreadsheet, we'll have to ask the likes of
@ibooij if it's possible to discriminate between ERG and "normal" mode.
Thing is ERG would be good on the flat where it forces you to maintain a certain power level but would be no good on climbs where you'd more than likely exceed ERG power anyway. So you'd be constantly switching ERG on and off depending on the terrain. Which begs the question how much ERG mode (as a percentage of overall ride say) would trigger the flag? You might only use it for a few seconds so would this be flagged as well? (Of course when I say you I don't mean you personally more the royal "You"
)
Perhaps it could be seen as a tool in a similar way that riders ride to a power level as shown on their power meter, after all you've still got to put the effort in on the ride with ERG mode so is it really "cheating". Also consider downhill sections, ERG mode will give a gain but by experimenting with pacer power a difference of setting 300w compared to 200w would only give an advantage of seconds rather than minutes. I know Grand tours have been won or lost by similar margins (but we're not really competing at those levels, or are we? Strokes beard!) Besides on downhills ERG mode means having to use more effort which will need to be paid for later in the ride. So perhaps a case of swings and roundabouts.
Well Dave my fingers are sore from all that typing and I haven't really answered your original point, so for my 2 pence worth I'd say that ERG mode may give an advantage for certain terrain but would be at a disadvantage on others therefore no better or worse than normal mode.
One final thought on your flag idea, I know the website shows a lightning flash symbol to show how power was derived so perhaps another symbol to show that ERG mode was used, which comes back to the earlier question how much ERG effort before flagging up?
Hope you've not opened up a can of worms there Dave.
. Particularly the ones equiped with this https://www.ebikemotion.com/web/ . It is more of an assist to your efforts not a motor to power you along when you don't fancy pedalling. Also, although slightly heavier, they are not much more in weight compared to a road/mountain bike of 15 years ago, so you are not too penalised when the battery dies.
Clean lines on the bike but poor finish on the one that I saw. The power button looked like it had been pressed very hard into the frame and dislodged 
. Not good on a £4.5k bike. 
