Mods – I know there’s another thread, but it’s 32 pages long and it’s pretty tricky to dig out what I’m asking.

I’m possibly being a bit thick, but I can’t work out what else, if anything, I need to get Zwifting.

I have some bog basic rollers, a Garmin speed/cadence sensor and a laptop. Do I need anything else? All the talk of virtual power curves etc on the Zwift site is confusing me 😳

you need a way of measuring power. either via a known trainer so they can equate speed to power or a power meter or a trainer with a power meter built in.

All zwift really cares about is your power output. That, plus the weight and height you enter (don’t cheat), are all the game uses to calculate your speed.

Unless you have a power meter or smart trainer that measures power for you, Zwift needs a way to “estimate” the power you’re putting out.

One way to do that is use your wheel speed PLUS an estimate of how much power is required to drive your turbo/rollers at that speed.

So.. now we cut to the chase – unless your rollers are in the list of supported devices that Zwift “knows” you’ll need a power meter as well. Alternatively, a smart trainer (the Tacx Flow at £190 from halfords is currently the cheapest).

Here’s the list https://support.zwift.com/hc/en-us/articles/203152565-Which-trainers-does-Zwift-support-

Also, with your current set-up you’d need an ANT+ USB stick to talk to the Garmin Cadence/Speed sensors. However, if you go with the Tacx Flow smart trainer you’d be able to use Bluetooth.

Right, great, thank you 🙂

You’ll need a turbo – either smart or a normal one.
You have the speed/cadence sensor so that’s ticked off. Heart Rate monitor not essential but I find it useful…

You’ll need a ant+ dongle for the laptop to speak with the cadence/speed sensor, smart turbo if you choose one and HRM.

And check your laptop is up to the specs. Mine is supposedly just below the min spec but runs fine…

Oh, and if you don’t have one….get a pedestal fan….

Low cost PC option
Supported classic trainer (this is where virtual power comes in)
PC with half decent graphics
Ant+ dongle for PC
Ant+ speed /cadence sensor
Zwift software
Internet connection

High End PC option
ant+ smart trainer or Ant+ Power meter
PC with high end gaming graphics
Ant+ dongle
Ant+ cadence sensor
Ant+ HR strap
Zwift software
Internet connection

Low cost iOS option (if anything Apple can be though of as low cost)
Supported classic trainer (this is where virtual power comes in)
Recent iOS device iPhone or iPad
Bluetooth speed /cadence sensor
Zwift software
Internet connection

High End iOS option
BT smart trainer or BT power meter
Recent iOS device iPhone or iPad
Bluetooth cadence sensor if not part of trainer or power meter
Zwift software
Internet connection

Recommended extras
Fan
Towels
Mat
Zwift mobile link

If you have the budget go for a smart trainer as you will most likely end up getting one eventually.Prices are coming down all the time.

If power numbers are everything to you use Zwift with the same power meter you use on your bike to keep things consistent.

Rollers are not a good option in terms of virtual power accuracy or feel due to lack of resistance and no real power curve like a classic trainer. But you can use rollers to try it and see if you like it before investing further.

Rollers on Zwift

Your speed through the Zwift worlds is based on the power you generate.

Power meter: Most accurate
Smart trainer: Potentially slightly less accurate but good enough for most, with the advantage of resistance control.
Classic Trainer (Virtual Power): Zwift have measured the power to turn the trainer at any given speed to create a power curve. Power is then estimated from the power curve for each model of trainer based on how fast your rear wheel is turning. Less accurate than power meters or smart trainers and resistance is controlled by you changing gears and not by the trainer itself.
Rollers: Least accurate as no resistance to create a power curve from.

Sorry, me again.

Gently approached the possibility of buying a smart trainer this morning with MrsIHN, and, somewhat to my surprise, she said it sounds good and fancied it herself.

So, if we had two(!) smart trainers, could we race each other? Would that need two PC’s?

And, is there any kind of handicap function, cos if not I’ll be winning all the time and she’ll be sulking…

Apologies for all the questions, but the Zwift site is blocked as a gaming site from work, grr.

Yes you could race each other.

You would need

2 x trainer
2 x PC + TV/monitors ( or ipads/iphones but big TV is best)
2 x zwift accounts (£8 each monthly subscription)
2 x bikes
1 x like minded wife

Although you get a 7 day free unlimited trial with Zwift and 25km a month free I think these days.

You can run two (or more) zwift accounts on the same PC but only one person can zwift at a time. My Mrs and me share one PC with separate accounts but cant ride together. Come to think of it I have never tried multiple instances of Zwift running on a single PC but I would be surprised if it worked well or at all. I’ll try later.

You should probably check out the LLama’s video on Zwift setups

https://www.youtube.com/user/gplama

best not do it from work though!

Hmm, that all starts to get expensive, dunnit?