Talk to me about Zwift.....

[gl20]

Usget said:

The time I find this really annoying is during workouts where you have short intervals at high power - I can almost never get "Perfect" because my trainer will take 4-5 seconds to work its way up to the correct resistance.

I have the inverse of this I think. Meaning I miss ‘perfect’ when transitioning from high power back to easy power. It’s like there’s too much momentum in the flywheel. What seems to work is to train in a lower gear. I know that shouldn’t make a difference given ERG etc but it seems to. If you have the reverse problem, would a higher gear work?

I hate it when I have a half star amongst an otherwise perfect workout..

[gl20]

Not sure if it’s been like this a while but just noticed today that I had a choice of worlds - London or Watopia. Chose Watopia..

[Jasper3.0]

World options arrived earlier this week.

[CampoTheMexicana]

gl20 said:

Not sure if it’s been like this a while but just noticed today that I had a choice of worlds - London or Watopia. Chose Watopia..

A new convert to Zwift and definitely like the option to choose worlds - and only just discovered I could select the route as well

[Mr Ted]

I did a run today, 6km around London using a very minimalist system compared to my cycling setup; used the Zwift app on my old iPhone 5S, a Polar stride sensor on my right trainer and our home treadmill, the screen was a bit small but still engaging enough to keep me going!

[Mr Ted]

gl20 said:

Not sure if it’s been like this a while but just noticed today that I had a choice of worlds - London or Watopia. Chose Watopia..

I think there are now so many Zwifters using the system they may end up running all the worlds concurrently, there were 12,000 on it at one point yesterday and there were a lot more runners out today as well, one of the worlds has a dedicated runners only route I understand.

[dogbucket]

Use Zwift Preferences and you can ride any world you want anytime. Sometimes there are so few people away from the default that I can actually pickup a jersey even with my very average talents.

[ian in lancs]

Treated myself to an Elite Direto OTS 2 Percent Turbo Trainer for my Birthday/Retirement. I spent some time setting it up and my new Garmin 530 pressie for my road and mountain bikes. At least now I can do my 10-15k run as my 'allowed outside for exercise' and follow up with the trainer in the garden! Swoppping to real 50k or so road rides as and when so I can keep my running and riding fitness through the lockdown

Any tips? Anything I should do/know?

I've been looking at Zwift - it it any good? Worth £13pm?

Edited by ian in lancs on Tuesday 14th April 09:21

[Scabutz]

ian in lancs said:

Treated myself to an Elite Direto OTS 2 Percent Turbo Trainer for my Birthday/Retirement. I spent some time setting it up and my new Garmin 530 pressie for my road and mountain bikes. At least now I can do my 10-15k run as my 'allowed outside for exercise' and follow up with the trainer in the garden! Swoppping to real 50k or so road rides as and when so I can keep my running and riding fitness through the lockdown

Any tips? Anything I should do/know?

I've been looking at Zwift - it it any good? Worth £13pm?

Edited by ian in lancs on Tuesday 14th April 09:21

I have just started on Zwift. Still on a dumb trainer though for now. There is a free 7 day trial so give it ago. I really like it. Was never much of a fan of the turbo but this makes it interesting. You can just ride around, or there are races, there are training plans / workouts in there too. My tri club are also organising team rides.

I quite like the gaming element of it also. More you ride the higher level you get which unlocks other bits (different styles and also courses, think you get he Alpe du Zwift course at level 12 for example).

[Usget]

Lots of newbies since we've all been stuck indoors. I think it's great to see new people getting into it.

Back in the olden days, logging in and seeing 1000 people riding concurrently was a big deal - now it's well over 20k and climbing every day!

[dogbucket]

Scabutz said:

think you get he Alpe du Zwift course at level 12 for example).

currently they have reduced that to Level 6, or you can join a group ride at anytime. Lookout for the PACK ones as they do a steady pace and stop to regroup a few times.

[CooperS]

I've been riding zwift for a while now.

Should I change my real world difficulty setting to 100%.

Never realised it wasn't untill a GCN video said gradients are halved so those on basic trainers don't need to worry about 15+ gradients as its halved.

I don't do Zwift racing but would it turn Zwift into a grind would this make the riding feel slow?

[smn159]

CooperS said:

I've been riding zwift for a while now.

Should I change my real world difficulty setting to 100%.

Never realised it wasn't untill a GCN video said gradients are halved so those on basic trainers don't need to worry about 15+ gradients as its halved.

I don't do Zwift racing but would it turn Zwift into a grind would this make the riding feel slow?

Absolutely you should - as long as your trainer will support the gradients it should feel much more realistic

[CooperS]

smn159 said:

CooperS said:

I've been riding zwift for a while now.

Should I change my real world difficulty setting to 100%.

Never realised it wasn't untill a GCN video said gradients are halved so those on basic trainers don't need to worry about 15+ gradients as its halved.

I don't do Zwift racing but would it turn Zwift into a grind would this make the riding feel slow?

Absolutely you should - as long as your trainer will support the gradients it should feel much more realistic

I have a kickr18 so should be ok for most. Guess I won't get the full App de Zwift experience but that won't worry me.

Btw does this mean all my times this far on courses are about to get 100% worse..... Haha

[nammynake]

Trainer difficulty has no impact on your speed unless you’re running out gears and unable to put out power due to low cadence. It only affect the ‘feel’ and effectively just changes your gearing range. I typically use 50% to get some real life feel but not having to change gear as often for every slight change in gradient. Have a play and set wherever feels right.

[smn159]

I've got a Tacx Neo set on 100% and can confirm that the Alpe is just as horrible on Zwift as it is in reality

[keith2.2]

I ticked over the 200hr mark last night. I've bene 'Zwifting' for 15 months.

Finally in the last 7 days I've unlocked the 'Tron' bike, and reached level 28, which meant I could buy the in-game version of my TT bike (a Cube Aerium).

I've done very little racing - mosly training sessions. In the last few weeks, my sister and a couple of my friends have joined so we've been having group rides (the 'keep together' function is great!) and chatting away on Video calls.

Given some of the experiences I've had out on the roads in the last couple of months, I almost prefer it to riding outside...

[lauda]

nammynake said:

Trainer difficulty has no impact on your speed unless you’re running out gears and unable to put out power due to low cadence. It only affect the ‘feel’ and effectively just changes your gearing range. I typically use 50% to get some real life feel but not having to change gear as often for every slight change in gradient. Have a play and set wherever feels right.

Also, doesn’t the trainer difficulty setting help to stop you spinning out on the descents? The resistance is lower on the climbs, but higher on the descents to ‘smooth’ the overall experience.

It’s not cheating to have it set at less than 100%, it’s just like having a far wider range of gear ratios than your bike actually has.

[jesusbuiltmycar]

Gp Lama has made a couple of great videos on trainer difficulty:

Climbing:

Descending

He also has a video showing that the MTB is quicker than the Tron bike round the jungle loop!

[CooperS]

Thanks for the responses I'll be on tonight so will crank it up and see what I make of it