Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

resistance stays as per the workout, your virtual guys speed is adjusted accordingly as far as i'm aware

Would be nice to also have the option for the resistance to vary as normal with the terrain and have to change gears and cadence to stay in your zones. I see you can just pick a zone in the workout builder, I wonder if that works like that?

Some more (potentially daft) questions to those who've been one Zwift a bit longer than I have....

If I'm just riding & I hit a keyboard shortcut; E, I think....it goes to the select workout. Fine, that's sorted.

[b]But say I'm riding & fancy changing the course I am on from say 'flat course' to 'mountain' can I do that? Or do I have to end that ride & start a new one?[/b]
I realise I can probably use the Watopia map to work out my turns & get me on the right route, but just wanted if there's a way to do it by 'resetting' the course.

[b]And the next question - do people use the 'ride on' thing? And is there any point to it?[/b]
I was fiddling about with it a couple of rides ago & sent one to a couple of people, I think. I selected their name in the feed on the right & then hit 'ride on'. I guess that's how you're supposed to do it. It was people I'd been riding near or with for a while on screen & I was having a fiddle about. Not sure what the point of it is though, apart from a bit of encouragement I suppose....is it a bit like a Strava kudos but while riding.....?

[b]Oh, and finally - is there somewhere within Zwift I can review stats like my PB's for certain rides/strava segments etc?[/b] Or do I need to trawl Strava to do that? I don't have premium, so there doesn't seem to be as much data output as I was hoping for/expecting. I assumed Zwift did a lot of that, but it just seems to log rides, rather than give you a heap of information about the specific rides....

Ride Ons are part of the social aspect, like Kudos as you suggest. There are a few achievements related to giving out or receiving them which can help you level up a bit faster.

It looks like Zwift have outsourced a lot of the stats work to Strava, which is a great idea IMO and better than them doing a half-arsed job themselves! Wouldn't have thought you need to be Premium to have PBs on segments, etc, just stuff like data analysis/suffer score/etc?

Thought I'd sign up in prep for having a go tonight. Had a play with the workout creator thing and knocked up what I had on the plan. Looks ok so far.

First problem though, I can't see where you set your FTP, I thought it'd be fairly obvious. The only way I can see from the FAQ is to have Zwift set it for you automatically. Surely you must be able to set it manually! Help 😕

@mrblobby - Its in the settings menu, where you enter your name, height, weight etc

It's not immediately obvious but you have to do this from within the game rather than at zwift.com where you intially setup your profile.

zilog6128 - Member

It looks like Zwift have outsourced a lot of the stats work to Strava, which is a great idea IMO and better than them doing a half-arsed job themselves! Wouldn't have thought you need to be Premium to have PBs on segments, etc, just stuff like data analysis/suffer score/etc?

Yea, I did wonder if it was a tie-up with Strava....
You can find times on segments etc. but there are so many that come up - how do I know which ones are the Zwift ones? - for example there are a couple of sprints & a few hill climb segments that come up when you are riding - they don't seem clearly marked within the massive list of Strava segments in my ride. I'd have to remember my segment time for each one & then scroll down the list until I find a segment time that matches the time shown on Zwift during the ride.

I assumed the Zwift ones would be clearly marked as being the 'official' Zwift strava segments....?

nathb - Member

@mrblobby - Its in the settings menu, where you enter your name, height, weight etc

Just to add to this, to edit this is the little icon up by your name in the settings page - not anything to do with the other options buttons on the right hand side.

After my Christmas splurge, I had to ahem, update my weight & spent ages going round in circles until I remembered the little icon by my name.....

I WANT to get zwifting ,
Got the bike
Got the laptop Macbook pro
Whats the best smart trainer to get , price vary considerably
Im looking for something thats fool proof when it comes to compatability
Also something that will give me an authentic ride feel
Do they all have power meters ?

Many thanks

Just to add to this, to edit this is the little icon up by your name in the settings page - not anything to do with the other options buttons on the right hand side.

Super, thanks. I saw this earlier but it didn't look like an editable field so didn't click on it 😐

Whats the best smart trainer to get , price vary considerably

What's your budget?

Also something that will give me an authentic ride feel

Most of the Smart trainers are pretty poor at this as they are magnetic based with a fixed resistance through the pedal stroke. (E.g. Kickr, Flux.)

Do they all have power meters ?

No, most don't. Most Smart Trainers will use a virtual power algorithm to derive power from wheel speed.

If you have the budget, have a look at the Neo. Works differently to all the other Smart trainers out there.

MrBlobby- Yes, you can switch Erg mode off and the resistance will follow the terrain. I believe you can choose to display the building blocks as a percentage of FTP.
There should be a bar through the middle of your workout showing your FTP- moving this up and down will alter it.

@snap - cheapest option for a basic smart meter (i.e. adjusts resistance according to virtual terrain and provides power readings to the game) is the Tacx T2240 @ £189 from Halfords. It's what a lot of people use here and it works fine.

You can spend a lot more for three main things -
1. Higher resistance settings (T2240 will simulate up to 6% gradient; some go to 20% gradient or more); this does NOT affect zwift - it will still slow you down appropriately up virtual hills based on your weight (W/kg), even if the trainer has reached its max resistance as the only thing zwift cares about is your power output, not the trainer resistance).
2. direct drive, instead of wheel-on, with more realistic road feel (higher real/simulated inertia)
3. simulation of road feel and actually driving the wheel downhill (sounds like a gimmick but was fun when I tried it)

I had a demo on a £1000 Tacx Neo and while on paper a LOT better, it was nothing like £800 worth better (IMO of course)!

I assumed the Zwift ones would be clearly marked as being the 'official' Zwift strava segments....?

Super, thanks. I saw this earlier but it didn't look like an editable field so didn't click on it

I had a demo on a £1000 Tacx Neo and while on paper a LOT better, it was nothing like £800 worth better (IMO of course)!

crosshair, splendid, thanks.

The Zwift user interface is absolute toilet!

That's my initial impression. Also seems to chew up huge amounts of CPU even just looking at the config screen.

I had a demo on a £1000 Tacx Neo and while on paper a LOT better, it was nothing like £800 worth better (IMO of course)!

Well, yes, it will depend on the value you place on that difference. The main difference in terms of feel is that the Neo varies the resistance through the pedal stroke, better simulating the feel of riding on the road. If you want to simulate fast flat riding then this is important. Not so much if you want to simulate mtb or climbing where the KE is lower.

@zilog - I went with a separate (dual-sided) power meter plus the T2240 and had change left over compared to the Neo. I'm happy with my choice as I also now get power readings when riding outdoors, but I thought the Neo was good. Ideally I'd have both the Neo and the power meter 😉

Agree that they really should invest in the Zwift UI - you have to start a ride to make any changes, you can't finish a ride without quitting the app etc etc. However given that they seem to be struggling with their success on the main game aspects, with crashes and glitches now there are lots of people on simultaneously, hopefully they'll sort their scalability out first before polishing the interface

I went with a separate (dual-sided) power meter plus the T2240

hopefully they'll sort their scalability out first before polishing the interface

Anyone doing the 18.30 ZTR tonight?

although apparently the Neo is quite accurate

It should be the way it measures it. I'll let you know when I get mine. Be nice to free up the power meter that's currently on the turbo bike.

I have found my Neo to give a very similar power reading to the setup I had before, which was a Powertap rear hub and Cyclops Fluid trainer. All the tests I have seen on the Neo show it to be as accurate as the power meters on the market. The downhill function adds to the realism, easy to spin out on the descents, and if you free wheel the 'rear wheel' still has speed when you start pedalling, on a normal trainer you have to re-accelerate the wheel from a standing start.

So....I think there is conclusive evidence to prove that the rollers and misuro sensor combination is either quite a bit out or needs some tweaking.

I just did the Cat C ZTR Europe race and got disqualified when I put out an average power of 3.86w/kg for 95% of the race. That's 0.44w/kg over my FTP!!

0.44w/kg doesn't sound like much but I hardly feel like I've had a ride at all. My average HR was only 143bpm (max is 171bpm).

Looks like I'll be going back to the Volano turbo instead of the rollers for Zwift

Just completed the 7.10pm WBR 5km time trial to test to see if my race results come up (as they didn't register last time) and now the race has disappered totally from Zwiftpower!
Whats happening?!

At the start Zwift said they weren't publishing how-to guides or spending much time on the UI aspect because they wanted a community to develop even if was just a load of people asking "how do I do this?" on Facebook.

Whether this was actually true or they just had bigger fish to fry I don't know.

@jim25 - the WBR TTs are for fun only, they don't record on Zwiftpower. I made the same mistake, I even won it which was highly annoying.

Nice ride @crosshair I was only supposed to be doing a 5 mile cooldown after the BRS TT race, but chatting away to you I doubled that. I could barely walk when I got off the bike as was REALLY hungry!

Ah right! OK makes sense then, didn't realise that! Annoying as it flashed up at the end i finished 12th.
I'll try another one tomorrow now!

On another note I ordered a Tacx Flux today! onlt to be told that importers don't have any stock until next Tuesday!! 7 day wait....AHHHH!

Also waiting for a Tacx. Big shipment coming in on the 9th apparently though there are also a lot of outstanding orders. I'm setting my expectations low as I've already been waiting 3 weeks.

After 2 weeks of slightly more than 'minor excess' it's back on the 5-2 today and hopefully Friday.. First week is often tough and has been know to have a 1 not a 2.... Especially as i've been out doing Henley hotel stuff this week, so would ordinarily be a Monday for day 1.... so a Weds is a bit weird. However, we'll see how today goes and then whether i can manage Friday too this week.

Weight is still around the 15st 5... Which was arguably my 'adjusted' weight after fasting and dehydration is taken into account, so the Xmas splurge hasn't really taken the hit, helped by not generally being that crazy in excess eating/drinking, but also by a good amount of both indoor and outdoor riding.

Zwift plan/options
18.00 SZR Race, 1 lap of Fig 8 Watopia
20.00 KISS ITT race, 16.1km of Watopia Flat
16.00 Generic pootle..

Undecided on which is the best plan for today.. I think it may be the 20.00 ITT that is the chosen event folowed by a 20-30min cooldown/bimble.

I did an hour on the hilly route last night. Either:
- my December man-flu was worse than I realised
- I am getting used to the effort I can sustain on the turbo, or
- my back tyre needs pumping up

because I was flying last night (ahem, relatively speaking of course!). I got PB's on all of the timed sections & seemed to be able to sustain a much higher power output than normal.
It was great, because the harder I worked, the harder I wanted to work.

Hopefully my Flow Smart will be ready to pick up today, so I will put that together tonight but doubt I'll have time to actually have a go on it. I guess I can update the firmware on it without sticking the bike on, so then all I'll need to do is calibrate it & off I go??

Another quick question for you Zwifters. How do you do a calibration of a PM from within Zwift? Had a search around the menu options but can't find a calibrate button anywhere 🙁

[quote=mrblobby ]Another quick question for you Zwifters. How do you do a calibration of a PM from within Zwift? Had a search around the menu options but can't find a calibrate button anywhere

I think you have to do it outside of Zwift. you certianly do with the flow smart.

I'e only done it once but I leave the bike on there so the tightness of the roller doesn't change and every so often I check the tyre pressure.

@weeksy I'm split between the KISS ITT and the WBR 3.1 mile TT at 7pm followed by a 10 mile pootle.

The flat TT races are brutal, I have no idea how this guy stole 3rd of me last night. But he just overtook me and left me for dead about 3/4 in and I was sprinting for the last minute to catch back up 😥 http://www.zwiftpower.com/race.php?id=2313 His virtual guy was out of the saddle the entire time?

Unlike you, i won't be troubling the pointy end... so it's just me and the 3-4 around me that matter, not the overall finishing position.

I can't even hit your 5w/kg for more than 10s, let alone for a race distance 🙂

Sorry MrBlobby- there's no inbuilt calibration. I use my Garmin for the Stages and the WahooFitness app for the Snap.

Thanks Crosshair. Bit annoying as I usually calibrate via Bluetooth and do it a few times mid ride. Can't do that if it's already linked to Zwift. Pretty poor really. Looks like I'll have to dig out an old garmin 🙁

@weeksy - you will do! You've had a huge increase in w/kg since you started (circa 20%?) Few months and you'll be in Bs!

@weeksy - you will do! You've had a huge increase in w/kg since you started (circa 20%?) Few months and you'll be in Bs!

I seem to have hit a performance wall in that context, all the 'low hanging fruit' has now gone and i'm actually struggling to hit the same figures of either HR or power overall as previously. When i ride now in a race i'm still picking up PR's, but not as many/often and they're usually by much smaller margins. Of course, some of the PRs set previously have been in shortened races/training so are somewhat spurious i guess... but the trend is, that i'm struggling to beat myself a lot of the times now. Tonight if i do the TT i should get a decent set of figures to work from

what you need is a training plan...

jam bo - Member
what you need is a training plan...

Hell no... i'm not turning into a sad nerd doing tempo rides....

I ride for fun and pleasure... if that's detrimental to my overal results, so be it... but my training methods are not changing.

@weeksy - I've just been going from your Zwiftpower: http://www.zwiftpower.com/profile.php?id=2631412

Seems to be an upward trend.

Racing has it's difficulties in that respect, as I've set some ridiculous PR's (one saw me in Group 6 of that KISS chase race) BUT they're while hanging onto someone else's wheel/in a group. There almost needs to be 2x PR categories, one personal one group. This is why I like doing the TT races, it's all down to you, no drafting no tactics just all out. Kind of like an FTP but more interesting as you've got people to catch/stay ahead of.

Guy who won last nights race just told me he gained 40W in a season with microintervals? Certainly an interesting concept.

Personally I've got a semi structured plan (in my racing thread) and a few bags of whey protein lol.

I seem to have hit a performance wall in that context

from your posts it sounds like you are going hard on Zwift most days, as well as real riding, so not giving any time to recover (which is where the fitness gains will come from)

I struggle with rest days... So yeah it's possibly a consequence. I have though taken a few, including yesterday... but that actually seems to have made my legs feel more stiff and tired today than they were yesterday lol. Recovery rides bore me stupid and sitting at 1.6w/kg just makes me die inside.... So i struggle to get my head around them too.

Looking at my strava calendar there does seem to be a decent chunk of riding, more than i used to do... So i should try to recover better.. but ... i dunno... it's tough.

I too hate cycling at a slow pace.

But I treat recovery rides as a necessary evil (along with foam rolling), better than not doing anything imo. Decent TV program or joining someone else doing a recovery ride speeds up the time.

Foam rollering is OK... but i struggle with more than 5 minutes 🙂

recovery doesn't have to mean rest (unless very fatigued)... active recovery is better (as you note), sometimes I just go for a walk or slow ride with the mrs or something, or a bit of yoga, etc. Have to be very disciplined if I'm on my own on the bike (or on Zwift, i'd imagine) not to race off if you see someone in front of you!! Definitely worth forcing yourself to slow down for the fitness gains though IMO (the whole reason I'm Zwifting personally!)

(the whole reason I'm Zwifting personally!)

Fitness is a secondary byproduct for me. Sure it's nice, it's great and i appreciate it... But if i were told today my fitness won't change but my weight will drop, then i'm ok with that 🙂

Please save your breath folks 😀

Weeksy is a lost cause when it comes to training- it's a full on personal assault on the bike or nothing unfortunately 😀

I've been trying since 2012 to get him to maximise his returns on his training hours but to no avail.

SouthernXC may sharpen his focus 😉 (Or more likely, he'll bail out and buy another motorbike!!)

😉 😀