Discussion
I started on Zwift two weeks ago, and went straight into the 6 week trainer plan. The riding is pretty good, in the sense it feels good to get into my man/pain cave and sweat it out for an hour.
The 6 week FTP program does seem to be too easy a lot of the time, I did my first test and it was 185watts as part of the hour test. I reckon it's a bit low but thought I'd go with what it offered. Some of the sessions so far have just been dull, but being able to check power, virtual scenery and music means that it's not too bad.
The main thing is I wish I'd spent a bit of cash on the trainer, as I went cheap (TacX blue motion) which for some of the higher intervals require some pretty high RPM on the smallest ring. All because zwift virtual curve is based on the resistance set at 3/10.Would have been nice for that to be higher or at least adjustable to get comfortable.
If I put the miles in over winter, I might be able to see about a direct drive smart turbo for next year (added bonus is my wife can use it with her bike then too as she's had a go with my bike but even with the saddle right down she can't properly peddle and then I've got to find my saddle height again)
The 6 week FTP program does seem to be too easy a lot of the time, I did my first test and it was 185watts as part of the hour test. I reckon it's a bit low but thought I'd go with what it offered. Some of the sessions so far have just been dull, but being able to check power, virtual scenery and music means that it's not too bad.
The main thing is I wish I'd spent a bit of cash on the trainer, as I went cheap (TacX blue motion) which for some of the higher intervals require some pretty high RPM on the smallest ring. All because zwift virtual curve is based on the resistance set at 3/10.Would have been nice for that to be higher or at least adjustable to get comfortable.
If I put the miles in over winter, I might be able to see about a direct drive smart turbo for next year (added bonus is my wife can use it with her bike then too as she's had a go with my bike but even with the saddle right down she can't properly peddle and then I've got to find my saddle height again)
smn159 said:
If the FTP booster feels easy then your FTP is set too low. Should feel challenging but achievable.
185 does sound a bit low - plus my old Tacx flow used to over-read by about 10%!
Yeah that's what I thought. It's the interval rests that seem too low. The strength one with 15 sets of 195watt over under. Which works out at 10s at 295watts then 1min 50s at 95watts which just seems ridiculous. Then it throws a ten minute recovery between each 5 sets. At 95watts.185 does sound a bit low - plus my old Tacx flow used to over-read by about 10%!
Might try upping it up 200 and see. I do like to hurt!
Hoping you guys can help with this, i've just joined Zwift and am a cyclist coming back into the hobby as well as general fitness.
Anyway 3 sessions in so far and really enjoying but last night after completing the Innsbruck short UCI course (the one with the hill) Zwift said my FTP had gone from 165 to 174... over the hour i averaged 1.9 kwph... does that sound about right?
Forums read as though no one is capable of outputting less than 2.5 or is some right fatty if they do and not a cyclist.... now i d can accept that i'm not a club rider but i'd still would class myself as a non cyclist.
I guess the i shouldnt be overally concerned. for me i'm turning my legs and getting my heart rate up.
Anyway 3 sessions in so far and really enjoying but last night after completing the Innsbruck short UCI course (the one with the hill) Zwift said my FTP had gone from 165 to 174... over the hour i averaged 1.9 kwph... does that sound about right?
Forums read as though no one is capable of outputting less than 2.5 or is some right fatty if they do and not a cyclist.... now i d can accept that i'm not a club rider but i'd still would class myself as a non cyclist.
I guess the i shouldnt be overally concerned. for me i'm turning my legs and getting my heart rate up.
If zwift says your FTP has gone up then it's gone up.
I wouldn't get too hung up in the numbers. They are personal to you and as long as they keep increasing then that's what you want.
Ignore the forums, far too many people on them think they know best on what people should be and shouldn't.
the only thing I would say is do either a ramp test or a FTP test and get a "proper" FTP figure to work with.
I wouldn't get too hung up in the numbers. They are personal to you and as long as they keep increasing then that's what you want.
Ignore the forums, far too many people on them think they know best on what people should be and shouldn't.
the only thing I would say is do either a ramp test or a FTP test and get a "proper" FTP figure to work with.
CooperS said:
Hoping you guys can help with this, i've just joined Zwift and am a cyclist coming back into the hobby as well as general fitness.
Anyway 3 sessions in so far and really enjoying but last night after completing the Innsbruck short UCI course (the one with the hill) Zwift said my FTP had gone from 165 to 174... over the hour i averaged 1.9 kwph... does that sound about right?
Forums read as though no one is capable of outputting less than 2.5 or is some right fatty if they do and not a cyclist.... now i d can accept that i'm not a club rider but i'd still would class myself as a non cyclist.
I guess the i shouldnt be overally concerned. for me i'm turning my legs and getting my heart rate up.
Main thing is to enjoy what you do and try different courses, you will soon find out what works best for you, until you have a reasonable level of fitness I wouldn't bother with training plans just clock up some miles with some climbing and go by how your body feels, listen to your body and don't worry about the figures, especially the forum willy waving Anyway 3 sessions in so far and really enjoying but last night after completing the Innsbruck short UCI course (the one with the hill) Zwift said my FTP had gone from 165 to 174... over the hour i averaged 1.9 kwph... does that sound about right?
Forums read as though no one is capable of outputting less than 2.5 or is some right fatty if they do and not a cyclist.... now i d can accept that i'm not a club rider but i'd still would class myself as a non cyclist.
I guess the i shouldnt be overally concerned. for me i'm turning my legs and getting my heart rate up.
Ride regularly and your FTP will naturally increase - probably quite rapidly in the early stages before it plateaus. You may then find that you want to do some training plans to increase it a bit more, but the main thing is to enjoy it. It you start chasing numbers and it becomes a chore then you're likely to ride less
Just ridden the Giro Prologue TT on Zwift - the climb at the end took almost as long as the rest of route! There could be some big gaps later on today!
After riding it I watched the GCN preview and the guys at Zwift have done a fantastic job of recreating the route!
After riding it I watched the GCN preview and the guys at Zwift have done a fantastic job of recreating the route!
CooperS said:
I watched the stage live and those last 2k looked HARD!
I can confirm that!!! I did it yesterday and the last 2km averages 10% with quite long sections at 16%, I keep my trainer difficulty on 100% so I feel the full gradient, great fun! Took me 30 minutes for the stage, not bad for an old fart lolGassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff