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I got around the computer issue with an old Apple iPhone Se, plugged into a TV with a £15 adapter. Works a treat.
ooh, interesting...so you use bluetooth to connect to the trainer? Which trainer, if you dont mind me asking?
Yes Bluetooth to the Tacx flow trainer.
Thanks. 🙂
No problem, also works on my Motorola but I don't have a way to connect it to the TV, so I use that to run Zwift companion, so I can pause a workout, send message etc without getting off the bike.
Did my first Zwift race in ages last night. I made use of the free 25km to do one of the new crit layouts. It was 8 laps of the Downtown Dolphin course. That is quite a sharp kick up on the cobbled section.
I kept up with the fastest group for the first lap even occasionally leading the group before I started dropping back. Did about 3-4 laps in between two groups before I dropped back into the group behind me. I think there was about 8 riders in it. We stayed together until the last lap when 2 riders got away on the cobbled section. I managed to stay with the others but was at the back of the group. Coming out of the last hairpin I put the power down and sprinted and managed to jump them all by the line. I think I came in 18th out of 50 (ZP has me as 6th out of the registered riders).
I haven't been zwifting for a while instead doing about 3 months on TR and I have seen some big gains. Compared to all of 2019 my 10 to 25 minute power was up by approximately 20-25W which equates to about a 10% increase. My sprint has increased but only because I have a new turbo (direct drive rather than wheel on) which doesn't max out at 800W so I am now able to exceed 1000W (although I only made it to 970 last night).
on Zwiftpower this was by far my strongest race setting best w/kg for 20m, 5m, 1m and 15s power to weight ratio. I also average 2.5 w/kg for the whole race. I was also able to sit above threshold for 50% of the time - my previous best was 30% so a big gain there as well.
It shows me that my time on TrainerRoad is working so going to continue down that route with the occasional ride on Zwift to compliment it. My old turbo seemed to over read my power as well so the directly comparable gains are probably even better than the numbers posted above.
Edit: Forgot to mention the new turbo (Elite Direto) is much better for Zwift as well. Previously I couldn't feel the gradient changes a whole lot on the wheel on trainer and it was necessary to change gears but this was a lot better and therefore more challenging because of it.
Hmmm, put on approx 3kg since starting, belly is (slightly) smaller though. Still working my way through the FTP booster, middle of week 7 now.
First ride of new decade. Second Zwift race on the new Crit circuit. Entered 15 km B race. Sat in, felt comfortable, gave it a go at the end. 12th and top 25%. Averaged 4.0 W/kg which I’d like back as my FTP from 2018!
Race was full of ringers 😉
Rather enjoyed it. But got the same as I do week in, week out at Hillingdon. Need some hour races.
Did a quick Crit race today. Either my legs were cooked, the man lurgy hasn't fully gone yet, or I'm missing the 42t ring as I thought.
Performance was decent enough but lost it in the last 1.5km where I'm normally quite strong on this layout. Just didn't have anything when the pace picked up.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=292731
Much bigger field than this actually seems
So the turbo hasn’t got any funner...
so, ran it last night on my phone on 4G mounted on the bars. worked suprisingly well and only used ~40Mb of data for 30mins online.
apple watch fed HR straight in, and my kurt kinetic inride connected once i'd found a battery with some charge in...
anyone seen any free month codes around? I'm only planning on using it until my ankle gets better and I can run again.
Ouch! I'd probably die. Flat out for me is something like 165bpm.
I set a PB for an 8 lap race, lol. In a 16 lap race!!!! Quicker than any of my previous 5 sprint races!!!!!
Did the first round of the 3R Ultimate Racing league this evening at Cat B, spent 45 mins at threshold (166 to 184) with an average of 173, maxing at 185. 3.5w/kg / 264w average for the whole thing, maxed at 671w in my lame ass sprint for 73rd. I think I'm dead 🤣🤣🤣
Interested about your heart rates mate.
Could you maintain such high average rates as that when you started on Zwift?
Much length of time over 175ish and I start to feel pretty unwell.lol
Just wondering if that might improve over time!
Cheers for feedback.
It's pretty normal for me, my traces from racing CX and XC for the last 3 or 4 years are pretty much the same.
I didn't think if you asked me before that race i could maintain such a rate.. maybe 3-4 beats lower i'd have said yes. What was exceptional last night was the time above 175... .Which seemed almost every second of it.... seeing 180 is usually my death sprint, but i was seeing that 8 laps in.... It was tough.
Regarding your actual question, i'd expect it to improve for people over time yes...
Tried to join a short crit race tonight but despite selecting D group, it put me in the A group. The pack dissapeared within about 50yds so I bailed out and decided to try alpe du Zwift instead.
That goes on a bit...
Cheers weeksy/ steve.👍
It goes off your Zwift Power profile, presuming you have one?
It goes off your Zwift Power profile, presuming you have one?
i do but its been dormant for a while. i was a strong C at best back then. by no means an A.
Started the "TT Tune-up" plan on Zwift on Monday, as a first attempt at structured training, that will hopefully make me less carp at my supposed strength according to my https://power-meter.cc/home power profile.
Three ERG sessions in and the blandness of the sessions so far are already starting to test my resolve a tad, really hoping they mix up the power requirements and durations a bit ASAP, it would also be nice to have an average heart rate higher than 127bpm and more than a few seconds in z4!
The Direto's power meter is under-reading by ~25W even at sub 150W compared to my 4iiii, something I've suspected for a while, must do a "calibration" (offset, it does no calibration as such) test and confirm the number is way below the factory figure and contact Elite for a proper video of how to adjust belt tension to get those offset figures matching again. In April 2018, just after buying the 4iiii, the power figures very closely matched.
My Direto really does not do short (~10sec) power intervals very well at all. Might be belt tension, might be because I'm using the 4iiii, might be because I haven't reordered the cassette sprockets on the Direto's cassette so I'm using 34/16 for ERG mode instead of the normal 34/18 (due to snapped cable and adjusting rear mech screw limits).
Might have to throw a small race or TT soon, maybe even a radical hill interval ride outdoors, just to keep me interested and also burn a few more Calories... Threatening to head back above 80Kg after the two week gluttony!
Well I was very happy to get an upgrade to my FTP tonight. 250W on Zwift, 240 from Garmin (off the same sensors.. it's all so hooky). I like the group rides that go up a big blooming hill (reverse KOM to Radio Tower tonight) as that suits what I'm okay at. Flat rides I can just hang on. Hilly up and down get dropped line a stone!
Less happy I think I've broken my third Flux. Making a noise like a bearing has expired. This one has only done 500k! Going to drop it back and ask for something else of a similar price. If they'll go for that (Cycle Republic) - any recommendations?
Maybe the Elite Drivo? It should give you a much more accurate power meter and a better max slope emulation than a Direto.
Is anyone doing 'Dirt Destroyer' ? It seems to be turning me into some sort of leg-pressing beast?
The Direto’s power meter is under-reading by ~25W
😆
id bet £100 that the 4iiii over reads
The Direto’s power meter is under-reading by ~25W
😆
id bet £100 that the 4iiii over reads
Well I did an offset test yesterday after using the Elite app for ~11mins, 6330 vs 6336 on the sticker from the factory setup. That's enough difference to warrant a belt re-tension to get accurate readings. 😉
The 4iiii has been great for ~20 months, the only time it gave really wacky readings was when it was running on cr2032 fumes on Nov 1st, when suddenly I appeared to be a world class cyclist for an afternoon doing a hard solo training ride. 😆
Started the “TT Tune-up” plan on Zwift on Monday, as a first attempt at structured training, that will hopefully make me less carp at my supposed strength according to my https://power-meter.cc/home power profile.
Where'd you get the "tt is your strength" bit from that site?
Started the “TT Tune-up” plan on Zwift on Monday, as a first attempt at structured training, that will hopefully make me less carp at my supposed strength according to my https://power-meter.cc/home power profile.
Where’d you get the “tt is your strength” bit from that site?
On the "power profile" page, up the top it shows your CP5; CP60; CP300; FTP on a basic graph, with flat/up-sloping/down-sloping/inverted v clickable links. Up-sloping is TTer.
Reluctantly entered the 1630 Flying Cheetah's Race Of Truth TT, just over 49Km at Volcano Flat. I've not done any 20min power efforts for over three weeks until today.
It's blatantly a 60min+ race. My best 60mins in 2019 was 255W in Feb, in summer 2018 was 253W. I did 254W in the 29th Nov 2019 Flying Cheetah's TT event.
I put on a bit over Xmas, but got things under control this last week, so I weighed myself today and adjusted my Zwift weight to 79.5Kg.
95% of my recent best 20mins is 273W. It's always been way higher than my 60min efforts.
This means I was just under 3.2W/Kg for a 60min effort, so I enter as C.
I then surprisingly proceed to set new power bests for everything I did in today's TT above 40mins, 273W for 60mins and 272W for the complete ~76min event...
UPG disqualified! 😆
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=296311
One thing the direto is not good at is short intervals. Think the issue is it can't adjust quick enough. I just avoid workouts with tiny spikes now.
I'll see what Cycle Republic will offer - assuming Zyro Fisher (the importer) will approve a swap. They seem to have quite a few different smart trainers in there. They had a Elite set up (not sure which one) so that's certainly an option.
Cycle Republic in Southampton has a direto on demo.
One thing the direto is not good at is short intervals. Think the issue is it can’t adjust quick enough. I just avoid workouts with tiny spikes now.
To be fair, that's something of an issue with most smart trainers, even the top-end ones, though they tend to be a little better. The Sufferfest suggests that some of their more jagged, sprint-orientated sessions are ridden in level mode because of this. It's a fine line between adjusting power targets responsively and upping the target so quickly that you basically hit a wall and can't turn the pedals.
It’s not an “issue” at all, it’s by design. If a smart trainer spiked to power instantly your legs - depending on the power of the interval - would likely hit a wall which you couldn’t overcome and of which sudden force could even create an injury.
if you’re concerned just start you interval a few seconds earlier in anticipation.
#n0b0dy0ftheg0at well done nice to beat records. Well rested? Looking at your profile you were a B anyway so would have been disqualifeid anyway.
It's been a light week until yesterday, the TT Tune-up plan week 1 seemed very easy/dull, ~50 TSS per session and very little z3+.
Seems silly for me to have entered B yesterday when I have a history of never exceeding 3.2W/Kg over an hour until yesterday's even, indoors or out, over the past ~13 months with power meters.
I just find it odd this happened after the definite power variance between the Direto and 4iiii this week, but the Direto offset is lower than factory and so is reading low... Maybe the 4iiii is reading high! 😆
It’s not an “issue” at all, it’s by design. If a smart trainer spiked to power instantly your legs – depending on the power of the interval – would likely hit a wall which you couldn’t overcome and of which sudden force could even create an injury.
I get that. I meant that it's an 'issue' in the sense that if you're executing a particularly spiky workout with lots of short duration, high power efforts with short rests then trying to use ERG mode is often problematic.
So it is an issue in that sense. If you have, say, a ten-second 500-watt effort with ten-second rest, by the time your trainer has actually ramped up to the required level for the effort, you've actually spent three seconds or so not at that level, so you're only doing six seconds, say, at 500 watts. You can't dodge that by starting earlier in ERG mode, you can by using level mode and building power before the actual effort starts so you're spending a full ten seconds at 500 watts.
So what I'm saying is yes, this is how smart trainers work by design and necessity, but the issue I'm talking about, isn't that and anticipating the start of the interval doesn't actually help. I guess a trainer-specific workout could theoretically anticipate that by starting to build earlier, but different smart trainers have different levels of response. It's easier to simply use level mode in that case, which is what the SF guys recommend for some of their workouts.
I guess a trainer-specific workout could theoretically anticipate that by starting to build earlier, but different smart trainers have different levels of response. It’s easier to simply use level mode in that case
Much easier IMO - I'm a user of an Elite trainer too and the ramp-up is quite gradual on it; might be different on a "stricter" machine, I guess. Standard mode suits me better
Seems silly for me to have entered B yesterday when I have a history of never exceeding 3.2W/Kg over an hour until yesterday’s even, indoors or out, over the past ~13 months with power meters.
It's not about the hour though. The categories are based on your FTP which is based on 95% of your best 20 minutes. In theory that number should be sustainable for an hour but everyone is different and the range is suggested from 40 minutes to over an hour that this could be sustained.
Racing out of category in a TT isn't really an issue for the other riders. In bunch racing it is. I'd have ignored you if we were both in C as live data would tell me your a B racing out of category but others wouldn't and will end up influencing what thry do during the race as they think you're a C.
Sure BWG. A Scardypants says short spiky intervals are far better on level mode. My 10s sprints are targetted at 1450w god knows how that'd feel in ERG mode!
My 10s sprints are targetted at 1450w god knows how that’d feel in ERG mode!
I think you should give it a go 🙂
Tour de Zwift starts today, not sure if I've done a single ride/race in tdz events of 2018/19.
Shame on the group rides it seems you cannot combine doing an erg training session.
All a bit confusing how there are three different group ride routes for at least today's stage in London, which are different to the short ~10 mile race on Classique route.
There's some sort of points competition on Zwiftpower for the races, not sure if points are just for finishing in top 100 in the race you entered, or for just the top 100 times per category per stage from all race meets of each stage.
Did I read somewhere that the Tron bike is banned for this year's tdz races, but ok for group rides?
Finished my first race today (TdZ)....f@&k me, that was hard.
73/93 - Cat D
P.s. I saw a Tron bike
I think you should give it a go
I like my kneecaps right where they are...