Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

crosshair - Member

Weeksy- didn't Joe say the power figures weren't accurate when set as a controllable trainer??

Spoke to him via PM, he never actually tried with a high level of variable. He used to run as controllable, but with the slider set down the far left at 0. So doesn't actually have any data/knowledge as to whther it's correct or not on them settings.

You can certainly feel the resistance kick in with it set to the default level at about 50% that's for sure... But any more than that... i can't really say.

Could be a good chance to settle some of the banter from the STW massive tonight with an individual TT race at 8.05pm.... only (he says ONLY) a 10 miler, 16.2km... but on TT bikes so no drafting at all. Watopia Hilly route....so should suit some of you whippets instead of us heavyweights

Who's got what it takes... Who can be the STW king.... Time may tell.

8.05pm works well for me as i'll be watching the Liverpool Plymouth game so will be nice to have a few miles to knock out at the time, i was planning on being on anyway, so can do some gentle riding from 7.45 till 8, then race at 8.05 and cruise around after the race until the end of the game 🙂

Sounds like a good idea but I think the majority of us are in pieces after last nights ZTR and KISS races. Unless I'm speaking for myself!

Suits me fine 🙂 The more rubbish you lot are the more chance i have of not bein last.

I didn't get a race or workout last night, so I'm up for it 🙂

https://www.strava.com/segments/12381109

Mine's on a TT bike 😆

8.05 is 4 laps race on the hilly route (36km)
8.00 is 16k TT on flat route (16k)
I assume you mean the 8.00 weeksy ?
Might show up if I get finished in time; I've never actually ridden that circuit

oops, sorry.

Yeah, the 16km TT mate..

Even better news for me now as it's Watopia flat.

I rekon i can get about 3.0w/kg for the race distance.

I didn't get a race or workout last night, so I'm up for it

https://www.strava.com/segments/12381109

Mine's on a TT bike

14 mins 55 on that segment for me as my PR.
Non TT bike as it was a KISS C race.

TT bike best was a 16.03.... Just shows the difference a draft or 3 can make

Bit late for me, i'll do the SZR at 6pm tonight 🙂

https://www.strava.com/segments/12381109

Hmm - I'm the slowest of the STWers on that segment - looks like I've only ridden it as part of a Sub-2 ride so far.

not for me tonight. legs were a little stiff this morning. definitely makes a massive difference getting a good start out of the gate and hanging on rather than chasing from the start. I think I would have been on for a good finish if zwift hadn't fallen over.

I will miss the TT this week as I need a rest day after a few heavy sessions. From next week or the week after I will switch from doing KISS/ZTR road races to doing just TT events on Zwift as my TT season starts in early February.

But the TT bike now has a replacement Stages crank on it and does need to be tried out...

Weeksy, I'd be tempted if I wasn't riding lunchtime.

Btw, Zwift on Strava, what's the consensus on this? Now I can see why people do it for stuff like zwiftpower, and if you're using Strava Premium for planning, but who really want to see a bunch of other people's Zwift rides in their Strava feed?

my TT season starts in early February.

Early start there b1gf00t. Mine doesn't really start till late March and then it's still not quite skinsuit weather 😉

Btw, Zwift on Strava, what's the consensus on this? Now I can see why people do it for stuff like zwiftpower, and if you're using Strava Premium for planning, but who really want to see a bunch of other people's Zwift rides in their Strava feed?

no worse than seeing a bunch of commutes.

edit: maybe strava need to offer the option to filter commutes and virtual rides out of feeds.

Exactly, plus they'll be riding the same segments as you so it's interesting to see what times other people are getting (that's the whole point of Strava anyway IMO!)

no worse than seeing a bunch of commutes.

That it true. A quick scan down mine currently mostly shows commutes and virtual rides. I guess that's just winter for you. Takes away from the social aspect of Strava a bit IMO as I'm less likely to have a look at the feed and comment on rides friends have done.

Exactly, plus they'll be riding the same segments as you so it's interesting to see what times other people are getting (that's the whole point of Strava anyway IMO!)

I suppose people get different things out of strava. I always liked the social commenting on rides aspect. Segment times aren't really a big thing for me.

No issues with Zwift on strava feed - it's a valid workout we of all people should know that!

I've recently increased the amount of people I'm following from around 20 to 60 odd - this shows up an issue with strava. It's hard to see them all properly!

since riding on zwift I'm getting loads more follow requests from randoms that I've never heard of. anyone else?

No issues with Zwift on strava feed - it's a valid workout we of all people should know that!

I guess it's a bit like facebook. Just because you've had a thought it doesn't necessarily warrant publishing 😉

I've recently increased the amount of people I'm following from around 20 to 60 odd - this shows up an issue with strava. It's hard to see them all properly!

Again a bit like facebook in that the more people you follow the more chaff you get in your feed 😕

I usually keep my zwift rides private for a couple of days then make them public to avoid cluttering up peoples feed, mostly because seeing multiple zwift rides used to annoy me before i was on zwift myself!

Segment times aren't really a big thing for me.

The Strava UI is well due an overhaul now though. Needs options to block commutes (been promised for years now!) or virtual rides, as well as specific friends (whilst retaining them) and DEFINITELY needs improved search.

since riding on zwift I'm getting loads more follow requests from randoms that I've never heard of. anyone else?

Omar Little, pretty good idea that. Can you get them to upload automatically as private? Does that break some of the analysis tools that use Zwift and Strava?

Edit... ah looks like you can make stuff private by default. Might give that a go and just un-private the proper rides.

I have a few fellow Zwifters on my Strava feed, but very few... only 2... The rest i have are all Zwift contacts only from here... As much as i like seeing peoples rides, i don't want them cluttering up my Strava so none of them go into my feed.
I can still see results of people i need who i'm following..

Bizarrely I hide my commutes and Zwift warmups, yet leave my Zwift races and events. Making things private stops them adding towards the leaderboards in groups 🙁

I don't mind seeing all the Zwift updates, I can see it being a pain for non-Zwifters. Given they're flagged as "Virtual Rides", is there no way people can filter those out of their feeds?

Just unfollow them if you don't want to see their rides???
I limit my follows to about 20 and generally just use the filter at the top to see my own rides only.

I'm not fannying about with settings to please my followers- I ride on Zwift a lot. Don't like it, there's the door 😀

crosshair - Member

Just unfollow them if you don't want to see their rides???
I limit my follows to about 20 and generally just use the filter at the top to see my own rides only.

I'm not fannying about with settings to please my followers- I ride on Zwift a lot. Don't like it, there's the door

I always check your rides.. i always compare your segement times, not that i'm obsessed, but you are my goal/target 😉

Just unfollow them if you don't want to see their rides???

Doesn't really work though if you want to see maybe their racing and big rides, but aren't so bothered about their 1 mile daily commute or their turbo session.

I ride on Zwift a lot.

So I see 😉

Btw, anyone on here ever organised a group ride? Much faff? How did it go?

MrBlobby- then you have to take the rough with the smooth like all relationships 😀

I used to run some back in the early days. ACF (At Current Fatness 😉 ) they were called. We used to organise through FB, rendezvous at the Start/finish line, wear the GCN kit, give the late comers a few minutes then see how long we could stick together.
We used Teamspeak to communicate and I had a few good laughs with randoms from across the world.
It eventually amalgamated with ZZRC.

Weeksy- Flattered and creeped out in equal measure 😀 You don't need to look at my rides though, just choose the segment in your own ride and filter 'I'm following'.

You don't need to look at my rides though, just choose the segment in your own ride and filter 'I'm following'.

LOL that's pretty much it yes... think yourself lucky i'm not sitting on your drive making up food parcels 😉

I'm fairly new to Zwift so find it useful seeing what other folks are up including what sort of times they're setting and what events they're doing. There are 2 or 3 STW Zwifters that seem to be around the same level of (un)fitness as me so it's interesting seeing how their times compare to mine, so I follow those. One of them lives very close to me so rides and runs a lot of the same real-world Strava segments as well, so it's also interesting being able compare virtual and real-world times.

There are 2 or 3 STW Zwifters that seem to be around the same level of (un)fitness as me so it's interesting seeing how their times compare to mine, so I follow those.

8)

Loving seeing the gradual improvement at the moment, I pretty much had last year off cycling entirely, so it's starting from scratch almost. My first race a month back was 1.95w/kg, last nights was 2.43w/kg, there's a fairly linear leap between the 6 or so I've done. Hoping to upgrade in a week or two.

I might do the WBR Sub 2.0 tonight at 20:15, losing some of my 100kg would probably be the easiest boost right now!

that's a chunk of improvement there Toasty !

I've extrapolated my data to conclude that I'll be world champion by next November! Exciting times.

Early start there b1gf00t. Mine doesn't really start till late March and then it's still not quite skinsuit weather

Has to be, only 65kg so I have more luck with the lumpier sporting courses. Not really an early start just a continuation from last year, did a short 22 less than a month ago.

I joined in with the OCZ Decaf Coffee ride this morning. Was very enjoyable. Big group, made me work harder than I would have done normally. In general terms, my fitness is improving, but the weight isn't really dropping much.

Toasty
I've extrapolated my data to conclude that I'll be world champion by next November! Exciting times.

and I've just had team sky on the phone... 😆

and I've just had team sky on the phone...

weeksy
buying some of your spares you've got up for sale ?

No.. offering me broadband 😆

The spares are just the tip of the iceberg haha.

Good to see normal Zwift service resumed this morning. A zone 2 Pretzel done. I'd even printed out the map so I didn't get lost 🙂 I was kind of hoping there'd be a leaderboard for the Pretzel but I didn't see it coming under the banner at the end.

I'd even printed out the map so I didn't get lost

hopefully they can sort their server issues, etc, I think a really big ride/race would be a lot of fun!

Dunno if that's tongue-in-cheek

A little 🙂 I did select the route but most of the time I've no idea where I am so this time I followed the route on the map to get to know it a bit better.

Yeah it's good to learn the courses, a GTA-style overhead mini-map would be a cool feature I think, although WAY down the list of priorities!

@zilog6128 - if you're using a pc there's a hack for that.

I can't understand why it doesn't have a smalll map on.

Here:

http://zwifthacks.com/zwiftmap/

I haven't tried it myself yet. My laptop graphics specs are below the min recommended (although it works fine) so I don't want to give it any more work to do...!

We've got an A0 plotter at work. I keep meaning to get in early one morning & print out some large versions of the map to stick on the garage wall...

@zilog6128 - if you're using a pc there's a hack for that.

We've got an A0 plotter at work. I keep meaning to get in early one morning & print out some large versions of the map to stick on the garage wall...

this is what I've done! The zwiftblog version actually looks quite good!

It's pretty good. Could figure out where i was from the landmarks on their maps.

Had a little lol today at the guy who came past me going up the second big climb of the Pretzel. He was doing just over 9 w/kg and maintained it for the few minutes he was in my view then took the KOM by a good 5 minute margin 😆

Had a little lol today at the guy who came past me going up the second big climb of the Pretzel. He was doing over 9 w/kg and maintained it for the few minutes he was in my view then took the KOM by a good 5 minute margin

Had similar on box hill last week or so.... guy was knocking out 11.2w/kg and 4mins dead for box hill.... next guy was on 6 mins

There should probably be some bullsh*t threshold for w/kg on the KOMs. Or maybe instead of the spotty jersey you get to ride around in a jesters suit 🙂

Edit... Maybe like this guy...

[img] [/img]

ha!
last time I was on there was a group "chatting" about somebody who'd pulled 14 w/kg up some hill or other. I think they christened "him" superdwarf or something IIRR

I see them as the chewkw and jambalaya of the zwift world.

http://www.titaniumgeek.com/cycling/zwiftpower-the-coding-behind-zwift-community-racing/

interesting read that jam bo - I think they (ZP and zwift) need to find an investor/buyer. It sounds like they're small enough to become "victims of their own success" quite easily

I tried the TT bike for the first time - did one lap of the flat course at 200W and a 2nd at 230W. Lots and lots slower than on the normal bike (due to drafting I suppose) - my fastest lap so far on the road bike was done at 200W and was nearly 1.5 minutes faster than the 200W lap on the TT bike. It was even 5 seconds quicker than the 230W lap on the TT bike. Can't see me using the TT bike again for a while!

Bonkers implementation of Zwiftpower! I'd have assumed they had some special API into Zwift.

Be interesting to see if and by whom they get brought out. Lots of pretty polished competitors out there now but none have the user base and community. I'd worry if someone with a competing product and other products to sell (e.g. Tacx) were to buy them. Doesn't often work out well for the users.

I can't believe Zwift themselves aren't involved though?

Seems like a lot of user base would disappear without Zwiftpower??

According to some data Crosshair had once, it was only about 10% of users who used the racing formats. I suspect that's gone up now as its growing in seriousness, but me personally I could live without it. Clearly I enjoy the racing as I'm doing one in 45 min, but its not all encompassing.

Zwift have recently had $25 million of investment, hopefully some of that money is going towards better infrastructure. By the looks of it zwiftpower would benefit from some of that money too.

In the past the team at Zwift have tried to stay away from the racing side of things. I think they feel that it could potentially cause conflict between them and and their user base. For example I could imagine people asking for a refund of their subscription as they were beaten in a race by some one with a dodgy power reading. I would say that the group rides are still more popular than the races.

I don't think the seriousness has changed since the Jarvis Island Beta phase lol.

If you listen to all the Zwiftcasts, you'll hear Zwift say that racing was not a focus for them. They only launched the race module by calling it an Event module- it was done to satisfy racers demands though.

It feels to me like a higher and higher proportion of people have some kind of race/event tag in their name now.

By seriousness I meant that as its getting more and more mainstream, a lot of them riders coming in are strava fiends and coming in for the racing aspect

lot of them riders coming in are strava fiends and coming in for the racing aspect

KISS TT was painful - got an epic stitch 10 mins into it. 🙁

Funny you say that, me too !

Frist 4km i had an STW right in front of me.... We were holding station about 1-3m apart and another STWer about 40m ahead of him.
About 8km in i hit a stitch and no matter what i did i couldn't hold Copping at all and he pulled away, not by much, but as time went on he was sticking in 3.0 and i couldn't put in more than 2.7 or so... He then put a move on the other STWer and took him... i dropped 1 more place back of him and then sort of held on as i could to the end.

Bit of a poor performance that from me... Not impressed. Nothing else in the tank though.

Knackered myself trying to stay on scaredy's tail... couldn't quite keep up but zwift awarded me 3 points on my FTP! Definitely prefer regular racing with drafting... there's just no letup on the TT bike!

Saw a few other STWers which was cool.

not up for racing yet but did a sub 2.0 ZZRC group ride to get the hang of virtual group riding.

Was trying to stay as close to the group leader as possible but was like a horizontal yoyo, for 40m in front to 40m behind at times. Assuming he was pretty constant in his speed / output, I need some more practise, particularly at coming up behind someone to draft. I start to soft pedal as I get closer, to the countdown, 4,3,2,1..... and then I'm out in front!!

What's the technique when you don't have the chance to sit up and use my chest as an airbrake or a tiny feather of the brakes like I'd do in a real group ride? In a virtual race situation I'd either be gasping off the back (likely) or sat in the wind while everyone else sits behind me!!

Hi Weeksy

That was me you were following, think we had matching tops too. Enjoyed that put in an extra effort at the end and reeled in D Chester. Wonder if my ride will make it to ZP will be first time this year if it does.

I think I've confused Zpower...

After I finished I quit Zwift and rejoined behind Weeksy. On the leaderboard I'm now 104th haha.

Hopefully that'll correct itself 😆

Knackered myself trying to stay on scaredy's tail

oh, and thanks for the thumbs-up from somebody (how do you tell who it was?)

mossimus - Member

Hi Weeksy

That was me you were following, think we had matching tops too. Enjoyed that put in an extra effort at the end and reeled in D Chester. Wonder if my ride will make it to ZP will be first time this year if it does.

We did indeed mate yes... was funny seeing that actually.... I tried and tried to stay with you, but my HR went out and my output went down, i was sitting at 175bpm which is only 5bpm from my outright max, i can't maintain that... Usually in races i am sitting about 168-169 and i can maintain that... You pulled d.chester in brilliantly... i was sort of watching it unfold as i was watching the gap to you going up... Well done fella... great effort.

Hey zilog (JC ?) - I thought you had me there, didn't you ?
(I put a massive 2w on my FTP too)

oh, and thanks for the thumbs-up from somebody (how do you tell who it was?)

Weeksy- that's exactly the crowd that pioneered the Zwift Beta when there was only 40 riders on course and still they held races!!

The Event module and start-pens were the biggest game changers and of course the rules have sharpened up a bit but those hardcore enthusiasts haven't really changed much in terms of ethos I don't think- roadies gonna race 😉

Where it has changed is the other end, the casual interest racer now seems more and more likely to have a pop- which is great for the racing community.

I'd like to see longer races, 100 miles or thereabouts. At the minute it's pretty much a max effort TT whereas a longer race would become more tactical and realistic.

Ivan, you can race 98km

...6am Sunday 😆
(assuming you're in UK)

Congrats on the PB's guys: https://www.strava.com/segments/13739283?filter=overall

@ mossimus - that was me. Saw you gaining but had a few challenges tonight with the resistance of the turbo lagging a long way behind the gradient of the course. Made it hard to put power down on the flat. I look forward to the rematch 😉

(BTW for those of us with semi-anonymous STW logins, can we keep IRL names off the public forum please 🙂 )

100mi turbo trainer race? What sort of sicko are you?!

12 STW'ers took part this evening:

[img] [/img]

Good times!

(If anyone has an issue with me posting the above I'll delete.)

Zwift have recently had $25 million of investment, hopefully some of that money is going towards better infrastructure. By the looks of it zwiftpower would benefit from some of that money too.

What did I take part in? I was doing the ZZRC sub 2.0 ride, 3 laps of Watopia flat, how have I managed to get a TT time?

Also shows the benefit of drafting i think, that I got comparable sorts of times for 100 watts and 30bpm less!