Nath- I only cut and paste it from Michae Ede off of the KISS FB 🙂

I suspect the problem is that the Flow Smart can’t go above 6% I think in real gradient terms. So, if you put the realism up to max & go up a hill (the mountain) that maintains >6% the brake will be constantly at ‘max’ – which I guess is going to make it hot. There’s that little fan on the end of the motor shaft, but it doesn’t look like it shifts a lot of air

That was my thinking, it’s clearly not a particularly robust unit, no wonder it can’t hack the sustained periods at full resistance. I thought about the fan option, but seemed a bit messy, might try and sort a more elegant solution.

Yeah the flow is only made for 6% and I didnt find it particularly robust a unit, I couldnt push as much as I was capable of without feeling like it was about to collapse so I’ve upgraded my turbo option and sold it on to my friend who is really unfit and who will find it good for his level of riding currently.

I’ve got some mutant cold bug atm after a double ride weekend both outdoors and indoors so I’m gonna have to miss out riding tonight which grieves my greatly!

mine starting clicking again last night after a hard race. I think I’ll keep riding it until it falls apart, get a replacement from halfords and then flog it. hopefully it’ll last until spring and I can get something else next winter.

I’ve got a kurt kinetic road machine that I fancy the smart control upgrade for once they iron out some of the teething problems.

@nathb I also plan to do the BRS TT tonight. First TT attempt in a few weeks for me, need to judge the warm up right and not over or under do it. I will be doing it on a TT bike in preparation for 30km of wet hilly roads around the South Downs on Sunday.

@b1gf00t – there is now warm up by the way, just got to go all out as soon as the countdown hits 0.

Say hi!

Apart from a freak 2.7 which was probably down to poor turbo set up most my races give me a w/kg of 2.4-2.5. I did managed to average 3.4 w/kg up Box Hill so I just need to translate that to longer distances…

I’m about 2.6W/kg by the looks of it, which is not going to be particularly competitive in Cat-C if I get booted from Cat-D next time I race. My PB up box hill was only 3.0W/kg though – so I’ve have thought if can do 3.4W/kg you should be able to do a fair bit more than 2.4-2.5.

I’ve also just realised that I’ve been using cranks at 2 different lengths. Didn’t bother to check what was on the bike when I bought the power meter (thinking I knew!) but turns out one side was 172.5 and the other 175. Fixed now – not sure it’ll have any benefits from an FTP point of view though – although I’ve also lost a kilo in weight, which will!

I’m going to do a lap of Watopia flat then a full mountain climb as it will be the first time up the mountain on a smart trainer. I’ve lost some ground on my Strava buddies on some of the mountain climbs as i never do it, so will give it a go and see if i can put the world to rights a bit 🙂

Planning to take part in the KISS race at 8 tonight, (STW) in the name of course

Gonna jump on Zwift tonight, but can’t decide whether to try a workout or just ride….

Internet been a bit intermittent of late, so we’ll see how it goes….once Three sort out the tethering block on my account that shouldn’t be there, I’ll probably use my phone as a hotspot.

I might stick my ‘realism’ up a notch tonight…..
When I fiddled with it the other day, it just seemed to be a slider. Is there anyway to set 50% or 60% exactly….? I’d rather be able to set it to a specific value, rather than just slide it a smidge left or right….

Planning to take part in the KISS race at 8 tonight, (STW) in the name of course

don’t forget to also fill in the “Team” field on your Zwiftpower profile for that pro look on the results table!

When I fiddled with it the other day, it just seemed to be a slider. Is there anyway to set 50% or 60% exactly

Zwift preferences will allow you to type it in a box, as well as other useful things like ride non schedules maps.

Weeksy- how’s the injury? I was having big issues end of last year on my new roadie and when they started resurfacing on turbo I paid for a bikefit at weekend. I’m hoping it’s going to be perfect from now on.

GolfChick – Member

Weeksy- how’s the injury? I was having big issues end of last year on my new roadie and when they started resurfacing on turbo I paid for a bikefit at weekend. I’m hoping it’s going to be perfect from now on

Not bad thanks. I had 5 days off along with then first day back easy, 2nd back a bit harder… Then 1 day off… Today is an On day… But still not going to be going for it. I’ve had the calves on ice most evenings and they’re under compression cycling calf warmers all day… they don’t give me any pain now.. but i can feel they’re still not 100%. So tonight will be long and slowish. I’m thinking a max of about 200w type effort and 125bpm. Somewhere in there for 90 mins, then tomorrow off.

Bike fit… i’m all for it… But at £200 it’s just not happening. Not for a bike i never actually take outside.. It could be argued it’s more important than the ones i do take outside i guess… but i can’t spend £200 on it.

try the bike fast fit app. i used it to get set up and seem pretty comfortable and its only £5

Sorry ? whats that then ?

http://bikefastfit.com/

Ah… i’d have to steal the wifes iphone… i don’t do apple stuff.

But thank you 🙂

I’m about 2.6W/kg by the looks of it, which is not going to be particularly competitive in Cat-C if I get booted from Cat-D next time I race.

Same here. I’ve just done 2.7W/kg and got booted from Cat D, but I’m miles away from the Cat C leaders (10mins+)… wish there was a cat inbetween!

Same here. I’ve just done 2.7W/kg and got booted from Cat D, but I’m miles away from the Cat C leaders (10mins+)… wish there was a cat inbetween!

You’ll be quite shocked… A lot of riders find themselves in the same place, a couple of short races in D, like a 16.2km ITT for example, soon sees you bumped up into C…. Then next thing you’re a C and struggling…. But you’ll find if you can hold 2.5-2.7 for a race distance over say 3 laps of Watoppia Flat, you’ll be in a decent group of riders and hitting top 50% or so of finishers… you certainly won’t be last that’s for sure.

cheers_drive – Member

Zwift preferences will allow you to type it in a box, as well as other useful things like ride non schedules maps.

Cheers….

I’ve been meaning to fiddle with those zwifthacks.

I might try the map overlay too….

I use the map overlay and find it really handy for after I’ve finished a set route. Also like being able to glance and seeing a rough idea of the distance away the segment end is. I get annoyed moving it every time but I run dual acreens so it’s tough luck.

Resisted the map hack so far but I was looking forward to riding box hill again but couldn’t get on over the three days

It could be argued it’s more important than the ones i do take outside i guess

I’d say this is true (and that bike fit is more important on a road bike than an MTB in general) as you’re moving around/changing position less so there’s nowhere to hide from a poor fit.

Having said that, the turbo is also perfect for gradually tweaking bike setup, trying new saddles, stems, etc, which is what I’ve done to get it more comfortable.

All of today’s KISS races are being run on the reverse courses! (Zwift asked them to test the new feature upgrade).

So the EU race at 8pm is 4x up the reverse KOM instead…..

That was fun!

https://www.strava.com/activities/850554073/segments/20731993958

Not sure if that will show the STW group as I’m on my mobile not laptop.

Star wars and an 8 year old babbling doesn’t help!

Edit: grrrr was supposed to show start banner to mast times!

I’m bailing on the ZTR in favour of the BRS TT instead. Do I need BRT and BRS tags in my name or just one or the other? I’ve already linked my zwiftpower account to the BR Team.

Of course the STW tag will be there too.

https://www.strava.com/segments/11596934?filter=club&gender=both&club_id=244094

Have they changed the format or am i doing something wrong here?

No-it’s working.

That’s a BS segment anyway- nobody sensible would ride hard from the line- you’d at least rest until the turn off 😀
And in a Mountain race, you start from the pen not the line….

I didn’t go hard from start line, but the line that starts the climb

I’m not saying you did but because it includes a section most people would never ride hard- it doesn’t really reflect the climb 🙂

I tackled the mountain today, with the Virtual resistance still set onto 50%. It makes the mountain very very interesting, you’re up the cassette, down the cassette, only generally using 2-3 gears but as it flattens out, you lose momentum if you don’t kick and change with the flattening terrain in sections, you’ll drop from 300w down to 140w, then when you hit the hill you get a quick smack of power as you hit the gradient of 400w, then back down to your 300w climbing power. At times it was hitting 12% incline, i was finding it hard, so it was click, click, lighter gear… That’s where the big difference is on the Smart trainer over the dumb. You also have to plan a little more in Smart mode as you’re getting to the top of a section and you know the guys on dumb turbos will crest the hill and still be 300w, so you have to work out how you’re going to do that yourself.

Still finding it plenty of enjoyable fun that’s for sure. No regrets on spending the cash anyway.

It’s possible that some riders on smart turbos are at a disadvantage when it comes to racing for the reasons you note, personally I am OK with that as my goal is improving my RL riding which I think is better accomplished using a realistic resistance on the hills.

You do need to think ahead though… the first time I hit that sudden 15% bit (or is it more?) coming out of the tube on the London map, with the realism at 100%, I wasn’t expecting it & my legs almost fell off 🙂

So who was it I pootled past and gave a ride on and a wave to ‘S.Graham STW’ I think I may add STW after my name so people can spot me!

From Zwift riders on facebook

‘TRAINER DIFFICULTY SLIDER EXPLANATION
I and many others on this group have helped to clarify the misunderstandings of the difficulty slider control in Zwift. It’s been discussed a bit in comments lately, but I thought a dedicated post might be helpful to reach more eyeballs.
It’s true that if you stay in the same gear on your bike, on the same grade, changing the difficulty control WILL make the smart trainer increase or decrease its resistance. BUT, no matter what the difficulty setting is, you will not go any faster or slower. Zwift calculates your speed by your power output. Changing the setting will not affect your power output in any way, so it cannot make you go faster or slower.
If you decrease the setting, the trainer resistance (difficulty) AND your power AND your speed will go down at same grade/cadence. If you increase the setting, the trainer resistance (difficulty) AND your power AND your speed will go up at the same grade/cadence.
So why would you use the setting? Mostly if your bike’s physical gears make it too difficult to spin going up the toughest hills on Zwift. That’s probably why the setting defaults at 50%. Many people don’t have climbing gears (or the fitness) to climb 12% grades at a comfortable 90 RPM cadence. You could also use it if you’re running out of gears on descents (spinning excessively). In that case, you might want to increase the setting.
So, lowering the setting creates the effect of adding more climbing gears on your bike. And increasing the setting has the effect of making the virtual gears on your Zwift bike match the physical gears on your actual bike. At 100% they’re the same.
It’s also important to note that if you have the setting at 100% it does not mean that you have the same gearing as someone else who has the setting at 100%. That will be determined by the actual gears on your bike.
So bragging that you’re at 100% means absolutely nothing. If you want to brag, brag about your power, because that’s the only thing that matters. Having your setting at 100% in no way means you’re stronger than someone accomplishing the same result at 50% or 25%.
People swap gears in real life not to go faster or slower, but to match the gears to the rider’s fitness and type of riding. The better the match, the more efficient your pedaling. The Zwift trainer difficulty setting should be used the same way.’

So who was it I pootled past and gave a ride on and a wave to ‘S.Graham STW’ I think I may add STW after my name so people can spot me!

That’d have been me – I was tootling around doing the Volcano doing week 1, day 4 of the FTP Builder. I saw the ride on and wondered if you might be an STWer!

You can recreate the smart trainer effect by changing up or down through the gears on a dumb trainer.
The difference was, you couldn’t on Weeksy’s borrowed BKool.
The gap between the Snap and what he had before is humongous 😀

Erm so I’m either not as good as my old equipment (Tacx Vortex) led me to believe or something has gone wrong with my stages.

Stages:

Vortex:

Now can I join B’s?! 😆

That BRS TT was tough. I think I’m actually dead?

That’s a shame Nath, a 63w difference?!

63 watts is a big difference, can you try your bike + Stages on another Smart trainer?

BRS TT was tough, set a new max hr for this year, and last year probably