Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

Watched that Simon Russell KISS race. He complained that it's not possible to make a break and shortly after some legend from TFC did just that!

TFC are all legends 😆

I spied a bronze trophy in cat B for EEMY this afternoon in what looked like a fast race, great result fella.

I just picked up a Tacx Flow 2240 from decathlon today for £189 while on a visit to the UK to see my folks. This will be a handy tool for me now living in Estonia where the winters do get quite cold. Any pointers for a beginner on zwift? i will be using the Ipad version.

Hi Eugeo

Welcome to zwift!

The first thing I learnt was you need a fan as no matter how cold it is you sweat buckets. Likewise make sure you have a towel over your bike handlebars to use during a ride. It also keeps the sweat off your bike.

You should also put a mat of some sort under the bike and trainer as well unless you don't care about the floor.

Good luck and have fun!

blader1611 - I spied a bronze trophy in cat B for EEMY this afternoon in what looked like a fast race, great result fella.

Thanks jk501! Tips are much appreciated. I will get a fan and mat ordered.

The mat can be anything. I use an old yoga mat my wife had. You could look at a rubber mat that goes under workstations. Anything will do.

My fan has a remote control so you can start it once you get warm without getting off the bike. I'd recommend it, if you have that option.

My fan has a remote control so you can start it once you get warm without getting off the bike. I'd recommend it, if you have that option.

Mine too, I’ve got a long stick...

No need for a remote here as my fan is always about 6 inches from my face as its too small to be of any use further away. It still doesnt stop me glowing like the readybrek kid from the advert though.

I put my fans on flat out but wear an old long sleeved jersey to warm up, then just ditch it as I get warm.

Hi Guys, i broke my wrist/arm riding 8 weeks ago and done naff all since. Now i'm getting some strength and motivation back, thought i'd break out the turbo and have a go on zwift. I did a london loop for 45minutes this morning. I'm using an unsupported old model tacx that i replaced the resistance adjuster on with garmin cadence/speed sensor, just used the setting for a bluematic. No idea how accurate the power stuff is, but just cracked on this time did 45 minutes in zone 3/4 on the hrm which seemed to keep me in the pack. Seemed to be overtaking and much as i was being overtaken.

Anyway anytips for me to build my fitness using zwift, should i do sommething to calibrate better etc or just go ride. I can't go flat out with one hand on the bars but should be able to do more general aerobic stuff to build base fitness back. Any thoughts as to good routes/workouts etc and is it worth me buying a supported trainer for more accurate calibration. Sorry i havent read all 176 pages, mainly the first few and the last couple, i know there's been some debate about the halfords special smart trainer. Which still looks like a good option to me, is the variable resistance thing worth an extra 100 quid over the dumb version.

is the variable resistance thing worth an extra 100 quid over the dumb version.

Personally, yes. Halfords have it for £220 just now. If you sign up to TopCashBack you get 3.15% back and add on a British Cycling 10% and it's not so eye wateringly expensive.

I did a WBR 1 lap sprint earlier today. I went out pretty hard at the start and got into a reasonable group. The pace was on the whole way around. With a k to go I hit an aero power up and tried to get away only to be run down in the last hundred metres by 2 or 3 other guys.

My goal was to average over 210w for the race and managed 229w which I am stoked with. I also got upgraded to B grade for averaging 3.21w/kg which put me 13th out of 16. Seems a bit tough to me as apart from one other guy everyone else around me was averaging over 260w.

Eat more pies!

Ha ha I eat plenty now!

Just got a smart trainer, Bkool Go, done an FTP test and now starting to do a little playing around with Zwift more specifically looking at the workouts side of things, can anyone suggest something for XC Marathon training???

mrmo - I am also training for XC marathon and have no idea of what I am doing! Marathon is hugely popular here in my new home of Estonia. I did my first last month and now I am hooked. I just need to lose 15-20kg and work on stamina 😆 Hoping zwift and the turbo help over the winter.

After my enforced week off of zwift I'll be back this evening most likely in the WBR 4 lap flat at 6:05pm. Not expecting much after not doing hardly any exercise last week, but looking forward to getting back on the turbo (a phrase I never would've used pre-zwift).

Couple of days off here for me. My knees are bollxd after 5-a-side with my 10 year old and his footie team yesterday, along with a stiff back i've been trying to train through. I've put in 783km this month which is a decent figure, so a couple/3-4 days rest is on the cards, and then onto a final push for 2017 figures.

May have a crack at the 6:05 also!

Well i have had just 1 ride in the last 9 days due to half term so i was itching for a ride this morning. It was good weather this morning but it was only 4c and i still have this annoying virus so thought i would zwift. Oh boy that was a bad idea, i even had a nice 15 min warm up so i was ready for the race. The usual start which required quite a long sustained 450w which was largely unpleasant but it kept me in the front group but after that i was just hanging on. My HR was over 170 and i just could not get that down and i was feeling dead already and i had only done 4 miles, i realised that this niggly virus was still affecting me even though i feel relatively ok. By 7 miles in i just spat out of the back and just waited for the next group who were 20 secs behind and even then i was barely hanging on to them. I kept up with them till 1.3 miles to go and i just gave up and pootled to the line in 22nd. I averaged just 242w and that felt incredibly hard and thats about 50w less than normal. Not sure what version of cat aids i have but its messing with my abilities.

Regretting this already

LOL get on with it 🙂

Well, that resulted in an average 26 more watts than the FTP test. (Average weighted) and 19 Watts by whatever the other average means.

Started by not paying any attention to who was in my group then realised I was the token fat bloke. So okay, Cat C group when I was Cat D. So just decided to hang on as long as possible. Which initially was 10k, then 15 and so on. Managed to stay with them to the line.

Felt a bit rude as I basically drafted the entire race.

I don’t think I’m registered for ZP as I’ve no idea what my Zwift ID is on IOS. I did at least remember to calibrate the trainer before the race.

Either way, great fun and I didn’t puke 🙂

It's a tough one with the hiding in the group. At the end of the day though, my thoughts are that i don't know any of these people in the real world, so don't mind if i offend them slightly by not doing a turn on the front 🙂
Usually i'm in a chase/bunch with a couple of B's so generally they're stronger than me anyway, or the DQ bunch who are all just statistics waiting to happen. So it's quite rare i can actually work on the front even if i wanted to, that's often 3.5w/kg+ up there and that's VERY short efforts for me and chasing speed.

Glad you had fun though.

I'm struggling to continue resting. Techincally i've only had 1 day off... but struggling today to make it 2 days ! But thre's only the KISS 8pm race that holds any interest at all i can see, group sizes a bit low. But then again, the KISS is 6 laps of the classique which i think i'd struggle with.

Zwift looking very different this morning 😀

Bit like riding through 28 days later

It's a tough one with the hiding in the group.

I didn’t really intend to stay with them tbh, let alone contend the group C sprint. Just draft them until I’d built a big gap between me and the next Cat D rider.

ZP has me at 2.75w p/kg which if correct means I was in the right group but the wrong Cat.

Edit, just realised I won the Cat C sprint, if that stands maybe I should of done some work on the front. 🙂

I don't think anyone does any work on the front- that's half the problem with the pack dynamics.
At 26/27mph, for us bigger boned fellows, a pull on the front would be 400w+ and that's not the case.

I'd imagine if somebody scrolled through the riders once the bunch is up to speed, it would be impossible to find anyone actually doing enough watts to constitute a realistic turn.

So don't worry! Chill, get that hr down and get ready for the next 'selection' 🙂

Some technical questions if i may;

A) my cadence seems to be driven from my on screen persona which can be quite different from reality - despite me being connected to my Garmin cadence sensor. Any ideas how to xhange that?

B) despite starting with hundreds of riders around me, i end up alone after 5 mins or so. Is this due to my i ternet connection?

Thanks

A) my cadence seems to be driven from my on screen persona which can be quite different from reality - despite me being connected to my Garmin cadence sensor. Any ideas how to xhange that?

I've read this three or four times now and I still can't work out what you're actually asking. Are you saying that you're being inversely controlled by your avatar and it's forcing you to cycle at a particular cadence? 🙂

Kryton,

A. in your setup screen does it display an accurate cadence in the pairing ? e.g If you slow does it drop ?

B. Yes, sounds likely. Either that or possibly the ANT+ not being close enough, a few of us use an extension cable from Amazon for £5.99

Right ya buggers. I bought a smart trainer (kickr) & joined Zwift about 4 weeks ago. Got it running on a windows tablet & cheapo telly in the garage with a fan.
Raced against Weeksy about 3 weeks ago on a monday night (marcus sutcliffe). In the meantime i've now managed to read this thread from start to finish to get my head round it all.
I must say it really is quite fun compared to normal training.

Does anyone have any experience with setting up an Elite Roteo/Volano? My dad has one & it seems to be backwards. 200kph when not pedalling & as soon as you set off the rider stops moving.

Raced against Weeksy about 3 weeks ago on a monday night (marcus sutcliffe)

Yes Weeksy, although i think we both had the same time!

My smart trainer is about the only trainer that doesn't actually work with Zwift

So which is a decent budget one

Anybody want a Tacx Vortex paperweight??

My smart trainer is about the only trainer that doesn't actually work with Zwift

So which is a decent budget one

This is the one i got, i have only done two hours, and i have no idea how it compares to others, i have no idea about accuracy, but it seems to be ok, and as long as it is consistent to itself does it really it matter. But it works, it comes with the ANT stick, works with bluetooh on my mac and is controllable.

https://www.sigmasport.co.uk/search?query=bkool+go

BWD - no. My actual cadence will be about 90rpm, but my Avatar looks as though its doing 60rpm up a hill. On screen cadence is displayed at 60rpm.

Is it paired ? Does it go up/down when paired ?

If i un-pair my cadence sensor or use another bike, it still 'pedals' at a default speed.

Kryton, what's your setup? What do you actually have paired to Zwift for cadence?

Getting back to normal now hopefully, it seems the cat aids is on it way out of my chest. I did the MGCC race this morning as my internet buddy is the race leader so went round with him, i finished 6th but i wasnt really going for the result, just fast pacing with the race leader. I felt so much better than i did yesterday and my stats are heading up towards normal again so a couple of days and i shall hopefully contest a podium again.

Excellent news Blader 🙂 Keep it up !

3:05pm for me for London Classique 4 lapper. Only 24 at the moment overall, but i'm hoping to get 10-15 in C by the time it's off.

Kryton, what's your setup? What do you actually have paired to Zwift for cadence?

Ah, you may have struck gold here. I have my HR strap, 4iiii PM, and the older magnet Garmin Speed/Cadence sensor.

Of course now i realise my 4iiii will also be transmitting cadence so i wonder if Zwift is confused.

Am i on ignore then ? 🙂