Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

Noticed that a few of you have STW as your team. Is this an all inclusive team or do you have to be drafted onto the team after a series of Vo2 max tests?

On your Zwiftpower profile, there's a 'team' box.... Just type in there. Most of us add STW to their names too.

Hi thread lurker here.

Just thought I'd say thanks as this thread encouraged me to have a go at a race for the first time (despite the fact you all make it sound bloody painful) :-).

I did the SZR Autumn Race, C category. Luckily I managed to get into a group and spent most of the race trying to stay in it. I seemed to vary from hanging on at the back to being at the front. The hills were fun as it looks like I am better on them than on the flat!

The legs were a bit rubbery at the end and I didn't have time for a warm down as I had to get ready for work. Best of all I wasn't last!

Far better than riding on your own and sure made the time go quickly.

Cheers

Welcome to the thread JK 🙂

I’d say that the races have been a real plus for me.
I was at a point where I didn’t fancy the workouts as there was too much time spent gradually warming up and down and I just didn’t have the time. Just riding had become boring and I would just try and hit a round number and that’d do. There was no real effort involved and the number kept decreasing the more I did it.
The races mean I am getting a really good workout in a reasonable amount of time and the kms absolutely fly by.

Good work jk, by the time you finish your next race you will be an addict and addicted to being a sweaty mess with rubbery legs.

Its strange reading all your accounts of the race as its hard to imagine you were all in the same race. All had varying races with the only common denominator being pain. Good work chaps and great write ups from the new starters.

Quick numpty question, if I use a Tacx turbo for £120 from Halfords is the resistance adjusted automatically or does Zwift adjust my results accordingly?

Zwift speeds you up and slows you down, your pedalling/resistance etc will not change, your little man will just go faster/slower using Zwifts calcs.

Jimster, as weeksy says, zwift can use any power figure ("ideally" from a power meter of some sort but, assuming your trainer is on their list, they can use wheel speed to estimate power)

Smart trainers have resitance that zwift can cotrol (for realistic hills etc) but you don't have to have that to use it (and you can always change up a few gears to make it feel similar, or some trainers have a resistance dial, I think)). Riding with people who do vs don't have smart trainers is weird though, as the "smart" people tend to increase power up hills while the non-smart ones keep a more staedy output (and often faster down hills)

oh and

The hills were fun as it looks like I am better on them than on the flat!

delete your account

😉

So I did my first sprints session last night, since I've been back on Zwift, and although I was breathing out my arse and just about hanging on, my HR seemed to stay low. In fact, according to Strava, it didn't make it much above Zone 3.....is this usual? Seems like a weird result to me.

OK, I'm looking at getting one of these -

[url= http://www.halfords.com/cycling/turbo-trainers/trainers/tacx-blue-matic-t2650-smart-turbo-trainer ]http://www.halfords.com/cycling/turbo-trainers/trainers/tacx-blue-matic-t2650-smart-turbo-trainer[/url]

Do i need a heart rate monitor too?

That's the turbo I have and use with Zwift, it's okay.

HRM is useful but not totally needed

You'll need wheel and cadence sensor and and ANT+ dongle if using Garmin et al stuff

I also have a 2m USB extension lead as I find the dongle is better nearer the bike

I'll take a photo

Do i need a heart rate monitor too?

I'd say yes. A lot of the races seem to have in the terms that racers without HRM can be DQ'd. I got a bluetooth one from Amazon for about £20.

Muggomagic - can you send a link for the hrm you bought from amazon?

Just done the WBR flat 41km race and that was quite brutal. The start was probably the fastest i have been in, i couldnt keep up with the lead group and it took nearly 2 mins for me to catch them using quite a lot of power. This meant the first lap was savage and i used most of it to recover from the start. I was now in a group of about 10 riders but only about 5 riders were showing on my list, it wasnt until the 3rd lap that i realised i was in the lead group of mainly cat A riders. By the end of the 3rd lap it was just me and one other cat B rider in amongst the A’s so it was a last lap tussle for the gold trophy. I decided that i was going to go early again and the last climb up to the rollers was my best chance of dropping him. We went over bridge after the sprint section and as the hill started i hit the lightweight power up and put bike in top gear and sprinted, hitting 8w/kg up the hill i passed everyone and used the downhill to recover i had a 10sec lead over B rider. Cat A riders caught me on the rollers so we all went in a bunch to the line but i had no sprint. Won GOLD by 22 secs and beat third by nearly 6 minutes, i knew it was fast. Overall winner was only 35 secs ahead of me and i was in the bunch finish with the guy who came third overall.

Great result.

Not the exact one I've got but it looks similar.

[url= https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MAVPV7L/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_SKoZzbMTGYPZH ]HRM[/url]

By 'eck Blader, impressive again mate ! Nice work.

well done blader - great result

(not sure Monsieur Tabaric is going to be at the top of that list for long 😀 )

Some interesting posts guys and thanks for the reassurance on drafting. Do you know your drafting when your rider lowers down to the bar? I'm not always sure when I am actually drafting.lol

Legs feel no where near as bad as I thought they would, including my dodgy knee.

Still feel a bit sick though.

[b]Weeksy[/b] interesting what you said about race performance vs losing weight. In doing a low carb diet, around 10g carbs a day in fact! Weight drops off fast but I think it might take my body a while to get used to burning fat quick enough to fuel the old legs. Body burns fat slower than carbs inherently I think? And im very unfit. At the moment... 😉

Like you though, I'm more concerned about losing weight than results at the moment.

Which is just as well after finishing last! 😀

Also looking to change the bar height on the Arkose. Feels very heavy on my arms and wrists. First drop bar bike since I was a kid. Going to flip the stem tonight to raise it a little. Wearing a padded liner from now on too, managed to find it late last night.

I'm going to give the mountain ride a go in a few days, up to the masts. It's going to really hurt but figuring I can just drop to granny and spin... That's what I do in real life biking anyway,always been a spinner.

Oh weeksy, want to say a personal thanks for starting this thread. It is what gave me the impetuous to get off my butt and actually do something about my fitness. 48 now and my dad has his first heart attack by my age. Sobering!

Anyway, thanks mate and to all the other helpful people in this thread.

Oh, added STW to my zwift name. Hope that's ok guys? Just easier to spot "us lot" in zwift then.

Just off to show my bum some more tlc with some more sudacream!

I never even saw Tabaric in the race but the guy in second was with us for the first couple of laps and i think he went ahead on lap 3 and nobody even chased him.

Muggomagic - cheers for that, do you have to connect it to a specific app or does zwift pick it up?

I use an ipad. I had to tap to pair at first in the zwift app but now it just connects automatically when I'm wearing it.

Once you plug in the ant + dongle (unless on iOS as I think it's built in on some apple products? )and set up zwift there is a pairing screen to link HR sensor, cadence sensor, smart trainer etc.

I find on Windows Zwift that it pairs automatically now a long as I put the HR monitor on before launching zwift. If not it's only 2 mouse presses anyway.

I bought a second Garmin HR monitor and it works great.

Waiting on a cadence sensor from China at the moment, cost about £10 Inc delivery. Not necessary but at that price, handy to have.

Well done Blader! Epic ride. That is a classic Zwift tactic to launch on that hill. Sadly it's often resulted in me dying a death half way through the Esses 😆
Great move to make it stick. It's similar to launching up the escalator on London- you know that the pain up the hill is just the start 😀

Scoop,

When you're drafting, your rider sits up, when you go into the wind, he ducks into a semi-aero position. This changes slightly on fastish slight downhills as you'll still sit in the semi-aero position not in the upright.

Poopscoop - Member
Some interesting posts guys and thanks for the reassurance on drafting. Do you know your drafting when your rider lowers down to the bar? I'm not always sure when I am actually drafting

Muggomagic - thats just what i wanted to hear, going to order one asap. I was always worried there would be compatibility issues or the fact that some only connect with certain apps.

Crosshair - cheers. This going early or on a hill is the only tactic i have as my sprint is not particularly sprinty. I wish i could have held the A’s off but they were working as a bunch. The escalator is brutal as even at full tilt you can see yourself slowing down.

Poopscoop - no problem adding STW to your name, like you said its just easier to spot people on the race. The mountain is quite a nice course visually,much more appealing than the others but as its name suggests its very hilly. Just spin up it and enjoy the view and remember what goes up must come down, very fast descent so freewheel and catch your breath.

I think I am now Zwift ready, all the gear and no idea. Will be setting up this weekend. How relatable are FTP tests achieved on wattbikes and stages spin bikes (that use a stages power meter) to the Zwift FTP, they should be fairly even right?

Depending on your trainer, zwift displayed power could be very close to what you get from a wattbike

blader1611 - Member

Only just read your race write up.
Sounds dumb but from how you described it, it actually made my heart pound a little, like I was in the race! Except I wouldnt have got Gold! 😀 Lol

weeksy - Member
Scoop,
When you're drafting, your rider sits up, when you go into the wind, he ducks into a semi-aero position. This changes slightly on fastish slight downhills as you'll still sit in the semi-aero position not in the upright.

Doh! I thought when I was sitting up I *wasn't* drafting, thanks Weeksy and scaredypants for clearing that up. 🙂

blader1611 - Member
Poopscoop - no problem adding STW to your name, like you said its just easier to spot people on the race. The mountain is quite a nice course visually,much more appealing than the others but as its name suggests its very hilly. Just spin up it and enjoy the view and remember what goes up must come down, very fast descent so freewheel and catch your breath.

Cheers buddy, will keep it on there then. Guessing it doesn't interfere with races where you have to put "kiss" or whatever in your name for zpower results?

Yep, it will be a challenge for sure, the mountain! Will wait for a particularly energetic day.

Poopscoop - you should read Crosshairs write ups on the racing thread, they are fantastic and occassionally you will find yourself “pedalling” whilst reading.
No problems adding stw to name, shouldn’t affect results in any way.

I don't bother putting KISS or whatever in my name any more - seems to work fine without (I do keep a "(B)" though)

Thanks for the info guys!

Will read crosshairs posts too, cheers. Didn't even know about them. 🙂

Nice one blader.

So when are you moving up the A’s? 😆

CH’s write ups on real racing are more exciting than the actual races for me (and for some of them I’m in them!)...

Thanks! It's nice to have somewhere to post them as I'd probably write them anyway.

I've never noticed what my Avatar does in the draft as I find the first person view (number 3 on the keyboard) to be the most realistic and the best to know how close you are to other riders.

I needed a bloody telescope last night to know where they were

I don't suppose anybody knows a way of increasing the size of the on-screen text? I can never read any of the comments, or who gives me a thumbs-up

Install a TV 😆

I used the 'free' one I got with Sky.

scaredypants - Member
I don't suppose anybody knows a way of increasing the size of the on-screen text? I can never read any of the comments, or who gives me a thumbs-up

On Windows mate?

Dark Zwifting is best. Daytime races are never the same.

[img] [/img]

Kickr Climb and sweat proof VR goggles would make it perfect!

When I set my man cave up I'm fixing a 21" PC monitor to the wall with this in a hdmi port: https://www.gearbest.com/digital-antenna/pp_452937.html

I'll then just stream Zwift from my ipad, no more squinting 🙂

On Windows mate?

Going for a shorter race tomorrow and see if it suits my current fitness at the moment.

19:05 Friday night criterion Spring D race series

Cat D only though... Guess it's ok to start riding part way through a series. 🙂

When I set my man cave up I'm fixing a 21" PC monitor ... no more squinting

Scaredy, is the tv full HD?

Actually far more to the point is the pc's tv output at the native resolution of the tv. If it's scaling the picture at the tv end it will effect the picture quality.

If it's not a scaling problem you might be able to increase Windows font size. Not 100% it will make the text in zwift bigger though...