Stupid Zwift questions thread

Not enjoying the new zwift update. Does anyone else Apple TV? I used to connect the trainer and cadence to Apple TV. Then connect the HR through companion app. Has worked great once I found this routine.

Looks like with the update you can’t connect to Apple TV and through companion app. So if have 3 connections all must be through companion. Did this but kept losing erg mode.

Any insight appreciated.

@munkeymadness Funnily enough I updated today too. I’ll have a try using the companion app but given the flaky WiFi in the garage I’d been trying to minimise the number of devices out there…

There seems to be a bit of discussion about this on the Zwift forums. All related to updating to the latest versions of the app.

The G key will toggle the in ride graph on or off.

It's also been recently added as one of the buttons on the bottom in the companion app.

Oh on the companion app. Don't bother if your WiFi is flakey. The app will keep loosing it's connection. Had loads of issues till we installed a mesh network. After that it worked great.

Update on the No Signal error from the Zwift forum:

“Best resolution I found was to launch Zwift ‘Just watching’ with ‘no signal’ messages present, then immediately end ride and delete. Go back to the pairing screen and all 3 devices will magically connect fine”.

Will need a try once I've slept off last night's shift a bit.

Didn't work. Bah.

Couple more questions:
Is there any way of enlarging the profile that’s in the mini map?
Also, how do you see your garage,badges etc when not on a ride? The only way I can see it is if I actually start a ride, albeit not connected.

I would like to know how you change your route. I'm trying to tick them all off & it seems to me that you can only start a ride, go into the menu & check which you haven't done, then exit the app & start it all again & then select the route you want.

That's pretty much it Mos if you want the auto routing. If you happen to know where the route turns you can make those turns manually. I think zwift insider lists the turns format least some routes.

@eat_more_cheese. You may be able to see badges if you log onto zwift.com, can't remember for sure though. Could also be some third party sites that will show it. Garage is in game only I think.

Does anyone know how to follow a Group? I randomly found a group ride yesterday while flicking through events, Ascenders Team Midweek Ride, joined and really enjoyed the ride - how do I search to find out when they are next riding? thanks

No idea how you join an organised ride once it's started but would be interested to know how it you did - I don't think you can and it's one of my biggest bugbears with zwift.
Of it's a group ride they're by invite, you'll see the invite in the notifications on the companion app.
Of its an event you'll see it listed under events on the companion app though its not (best I can tell) searchable which is crap. I assume there is a better interface.

jaminb
Subscriber
Does anyone know how to follow a Group? I randomly found a group ride yesterday while flicking through events, Ascenders Team Midweek Ride, joined and really enjoyed the ride – how do I search to find out when they are next riding? thanks

If you go to 'events' in the companion app, you can scroll through all the upcoming events.
Today at 1405 there's a Ascenders Team social ride. Not sure if that's the same group.

I am not sure how to follow a group, but that might help you get started...

Group rides can be setup to allow late joining. I think that means you can join up to 20 or 30 minutes after the start time. It's normally indicated against the event.

thanks Stumpy that sounds like the same group maybe they always ride around 14.00. I was hoping I didnt have to scroll through the calendar to find their rides but if they are the a similar time everyday not to time consuming.

Dangerbrain - i didnt join after the start it was a couple of hours before when I added myself to their event

Yes, you have to have joined their event before start time in companion app/whatever first... you can't usually join after it's started..

but...

When you sign into Zwift and get the pairing.... then go to the world select screen, some events listed in the top right, do actually allow joinging even if they've started, but may be only for a minute or two after event start.

jaminb
Subscriber
thanks Stumpy that sounds like the same group maybe they always ride around 14.00. I was hoping I didnt have to scroll through the calendar to find their rides but if they are the a similar time everyday not to time consuming.

I did a bit more digging as it seems crazy that you can't search a bit more extensively. Zwiftpower seems to have some better functionality.

https://zwiftpower.com/events.php

If you use the search box on the right and put in "ascenders" it shows 5 events going up to the 14th June.

You can't join events directly from there, but it gives you a bit more of a heads-up of what's coming.

@stumpy01 has it - you have to use third party sites to search the listings properly. zwift has some pretty weird functionality gaps.

As well as zwiftpower there's another good search interface at https://zwifthacks.com/app/events/

thanks Stumpy - so much to learn!

And another one:

I've swapped from a borrowed dumb trainer with speed sensor to a new and shiny Kickr Snap.

However, average power has dropped from 190W on my last ride on the dumb turbo to 134W on the new one.

I assume the difference is because the old one was heavily estimated and the new one is measured? Is there anything I'm doing wrong?

The accuracy of power data between different power meter equipped turbos varies to some degree while "Zpower" (estimates from non-equipped turbos) are often miles out and hence they are often excluded from Zwiftpower ranking results these days.

Since replacing the belt on my Direto ~2 months ago, it seems to read ~6% higher than my 4iiii crank power meter I ride with outside. Given drivetrain losses, it would be reasonable to expect power measured from the cassette to be ~3%+ lower than power measured at the crank.

Power data is a minefield when comparing different sources on the same bike and then comparing them to other riders, there are no proper standards, at best it's ballpark comparisons. But for one individual on one bike with one power source, as long as the source is consistant, you get to see meaningful trends.

You can do a spin down calibration of your trainer - either in the wahoo app separately or also via zwift on the pairing screen I believe (wrench symbol by power pairing).

It's prob right - I mean if you were racing and it was showing 134 avg that doesn't sound right but just riding around it could easily be that sort of value for a lighter person.

ratherbeintobago

And another one:
However, average power has dropped from 190W on my last ride on the dumb turbo to 134W on the new one.

Not really related to your original question, but if you now find that all your 'stats' in the app are way below what you were achieving before and you want to 'reset' them, you can do.

There's a vid here that explains it:

Thanks all!

Next one - if I do an FTP test will it reset my FTP or will it remain where it is if the test result is lower?

I just got this 20" fan for Zwifting, did I do good or should've I asked the STWverse before I made the purchase?

Looks alright! I have 2x 18" fans plus a normal desk fan, still way too hot in the pain cave last night!! 🥵🥵🚴‍♂️

https://www.cleva-uk.com/collections/vacmaster-air-movers/products/vacmaster-air-mover

I have one of these - produces a lot of air!

Cool, that Sealey fan I've got claims to shift 110m^3/min which if true would be an airspeed of about 30km/h. That centrifugal air blower claims to shift a much smaller volume of air, however I guess the air flow is faster which would improve the cooling effect

Anything is going to be better than the 10" fan I was using before though 🤣

I remember hearing about somebody getting their Zwift tournament win nullified because they used a bot to log Zwift miles so they could access better equipment, which was considered cheating.
Is it also considered cheating to run Zwift while riding on the road/trail, or is that OK?

Hi all. Got a question about the trainer difficulty. Hope it makes sense.

I normally keep the difficulty at 100% because, well, why not. Gives a bit of variety. When I have the difficulty lowered to 20% it's a nice, steady output, but it's also much lower power than I can maintain at the higher difficulty with the associated higher resistance in the trainer. Not usually a problem as I don't do races. But now that I've put my name down for the STW Autumn race series I'd like to make a proper go of it.

So my question to you is this, what do you set the difficulty at for events/races? And do you have it low because you can put good power out on the flats (and the low difficulty flattens the whole route) or high because you're better on uphills?

50% for a nice balance. Downhill is a pain on higher settings. And lower is pointless.

I used to have it at 50%, but now run it at somewhere nearer 75%. Not sure what I prefer to be honest.

If my not-really-cyclist wife uses my Zwift account, is it going to screw up some of my stats if I then want to do a race or two?

Shouldn't if she is only doing a bit of freeride around. it would only matter if she tried to do a race as would mess up your categories.

Tried that with my other half and she ended up getting her own account. Power to weight ratio with her on my account was so far off she could barely get anywhere.

Rouvy has a 'realism' setting that you can adjust to simply make yourself faster. Does Zwift have this in open riding or do you have to just mess about with the weight?

Trainer difficulty - All I have are rollers with resistance setting of 0,1, or 2, and I usually race on the highest resistance, otherwise I spin out before doing anything resembling sprinting but also anecdotally I believe the higher resistance helps to get higher FTP type effort because like climbing a hill in real life there being more resistance to push against helps to get smooth power output from the pedal stroke rather than it being an acceleration in the middle of each stroke like when going downhill.

Realism setting - I don't think Zwift has one, but it has a 'sticky' double draft setting which can be turned on for casual rides I think.

The boss complaining that the garage smelt a bit sweaty after I’d been on the turbo in there. Any suggestions for maintaining man cave freshness?

Got a fan?
I tend to leave the fan on for 30 mins or so after a session. Gets rid of the stink pretty well.

No fan. I might have to pick up a cheap one from somewhere.

Smell turned out to kids’ crabbing bait which they’d slung in the shed and forgotten about. Whoops.

^^ Lol 😂

Anyone else get caught out with the change from BST to GMT ? I assume I did as I signed up for a SZR ride that started at 17.03 in my calendar entry all sorted. 16.50 start warming up but no join event, check the diary all good, switch off and back on - still no joint event. Then disappears from the calendar so I go back into events on companion to see what else to join - there is the SZR ride at 18.03 - I had a nice ride but had to finish early as I was now late.

Any idea how you join another event once you come out of one ride - do you always have to log out and log back in?

Have another stupid question. This time about my FTP.

I did a ramp test back at the start of the Winter race series and it came out at 212 watts. Since then three trips up big Zwift hills have bumped that up to 242w, 266w and now 286w. So I am obviously able to put out a significantly more wattage out the saddle and stomping on the pedals with uphill resistance than I can while staying sat down on the flat.

I don't do races because there's no way I am actually a mid-to-high B cat (75kg puts me at 3.8 w/kg). Putting a lower FTP on Zwift feels like I'd be cheating, and I have no idea what to actually lower it to anyway.

Do you know of any way to balance this gap between flat v uphill FTP levels? Or any specific training I should be trying to do to focus on increasing my performance on the flat, if this is even possible?

Many thanks in advance.

Are you sure it's not just a case of your perceived effort during the ramp test? I.e. you thought you couldn't go harder, when actually you had a lot more in you?

I did a ramp test before the current series and during the TT managed to up it by 3w.
There is no way I could manage a 70w+ increase just on the basis of a hilly route.

At the end of the day, the ramp test is like going up a progressively steepening hill, so if you think it is a case of putting the power down better on a hill, it should be representative. I think it would be worth re-doing the test & seeing where you end up.
I suspect it will be nearer your current values, than the 212w you managed at the start.

I have another stupid question. If you are a big lump do you go faster downhill than a normal weight rider?

I am really fast downhill (without even pedaling) and much more understandably very slow uphill. I am convinced my avatar is larger and has more drag than the whippets around me or am I suffering from racer paranoia?

@svladcjelli putting a lower FTP in your zwift profile isn't cheating...because it doesn't make any difference to your performance in races. It's just a number in a database.[*] For the Tuesday series, @robbo1234biking uses your FTP to calculate your handicap, which informs one strand of the many ways he slices and dices the results after the event. So don't worry about it there either.

Neither does it make any difference on zwiftpower, where category enforcement (again, after the event) is based on your actual performance in recent races. If you are right that your performance will not live up to zwift's overestimate, you'll be fine to enter races and get full results where you feel you fit better.

[*] Its only role is to set the power required in workouts (do you do structured workouts?) so if they are too hard with that 286 you might want to lower it. But I'm guessing that doesn't affect you either?

FTP tests should be taken sitting down, sounds like you need to redo

I'd second that you bailed out too early on your ramp test. I had a similar issue when I first joined Zwift back in the first lockdown with my ramp test giving me 200w but the first race I did bumped me up to 220w. This winter I had to do a second ramp test as I knew I had more to give, first was 220w with the second moving up to 230w. The race series has pushed me gradually up to 257w as I've realised just how much harder I can push before collapsing in a heap!

The basic FTP tests on Zwift work well for most people but they're no comparison to a proper, lab-based full FTP test that measures loads of other parameters at the same time. Add in that you will naturally push harder in a race situation compared to a test scenario and you can see how the results can vary.

So I am obviously able to put out a significantly more wattage out the saddle and stomping on the pedals with uphill resistance than I can while staying sat down on the flat.

A) what's your cadence like on the flat?
B) what's your gearing like?

The hills are nothing more than additional resistance which is to say higher gearing. If you're topping out on the flat you need to either pedal faster or increase your chain ring size.

I'm a masher so find "high" (read sensible roadie) cadence hard to sustain. I'm happy mashing along at 75rpm in my highest gear for yonks though and winching up hills at 60.

Not being able to produce the same power on "the flat" vs "hills" is just your pedaling style not being suited to spinning along.

(further to the above, if you're a masher like me the zwift ramp test isn't great. It needs you to hold a steady 85-95rpm to be really effective, at low cadence you may find it difficult to produce enough power to keep the test happy before you simply spin out. The ramp test I invariably come out at about 20-25% down as I simply can't hold the requisite spinning. The mini ftp test gives me a much more believable result.)

@jaminb Yes: https://zwiftinsider.com/rider-weight-speed/

I use my laptop for Zwift, so how do you navigate back to the main ride menu once you have finished or stopped a race or ride without having to restart Zwift . Every time I save the ride and the app closes down.