Forum menu
.Now you have the Kickr, I wouldn't worry so much about targeting watts. Use perceived effort and HR too- with variable resistance on- you should find sticking to one number a bit trickier.....
In my 2km test that certainly seemed to be the case yes, it was up down everywhere. I was thinking for tomorrow I may set as dumb so I can regulate effort and power easier
Just wondering....does anyone bother with energy drinks and/or gels during Zwift sessions?
I've used them occasionally (maybe 3 times?) though I just stuck with plain water today and I faded quite badly. Mind you, that's probably because I recently got 'promoted' to Cat B so was riding against much fitter riders..
@mark depends on length and intensity of the session and how long since last meal.
Assuming an intense session (what turbos are best at), if you are only doing an hour and ate in the previous 2-3hrs you should be fine with only water/electrolytes, but if going longer, or starting with partially drained tank then best to fuel up.
I can only cope with a maximum of about an hour on the turbo so no need for energy drinks or gels, however I do drop a Hydro Nectar tablet into my water bottle - although as much because I prefer the taste to plain water as anything else.
Can't have got the tension set right as the steeper bit after Box Hill had the trainer tyre slipping a bit. Coming out of the underground at the end was really slow, as soon as the gradient hit 15% I could barely move without the tyre slipping.
You'll need to go through the whole faff of recalibrating it too, otherwise the power readings will be wonky. Could always run the tyre at 120psi, which is what I do with my Tacx Vortex.
I do the calibration at the end of a session when it's warm - that way it'll under read as it warms up but 10 mins in will give accurate measurements, as opposed to the other way round.
Whooop new PB on box hill this morning.
Well, the Wahoo Kickr Snap is a complete game changer compared to the dumb trainer, it's a whole different world and experience. Now bear in mind, due to the injury i'd set myself a baseline HR of 105bpm tops....
Over the course of the ride i averaged 102, so i'm more than happy with that. I did throw a splurge of power in twice, once on the small climb, Horseguards Hill, once also on the Sprint, i set/equally my PRs on both segments even though i wasn't really pushing it and only hit a max HR on both of 154bpm, considering i average 167 usually it gives an idea of how much i had in the tank.. Of course your HR takes a while to compensate, but i wasn't really trying hard. On the sprint i put our 676w without really pushing the pedal 'that' hard. Which again tells/shows me the difference in output between the Bkool One and the WKSnap.
https://www.strava.com/activities/847052701
It's also a completely different riding sensation, cadence, effort, gears, all totally different, although i was riding a lot in a single gear i admit today, but that was mostly because it was the Classique which is exceptionally flat overall, so just upping or lowering cadence a bit to keep power and HR in the right places.
The power comes in as you'd expect in the real world though, i had the virtual slider at 50% which at this stage i imagine is where i'll keep it set, that's the Zwift default and works fine for me up to now.
Really enjoyed the ride... now it's into the bath and see how the legs feel tomorrow and whether i'm back to 1 on 1 off for a week, or a couple more days off...
I did a ride round London last night - the half loop, can't remember the name.
I then joined a 2w/kg group ride.....Het is Koers social ride arranged by a Dutch guy.
It was a bit weird....hardly anyone stuck to the effort level, there were sprints all over the place....not sure it was worth it.
Then about 2 miles from the end I got a bloody puncture...it's the second time it's happened on the turbo. Last time I found a large bit of grit in the tyre that I thought had caused the puncture, but either that wasn't the cause or there's another bit...
Just bought a new tyre from my local lbs because the rear has seen a lot of abuse....a £50 Michelin Endurance something or another reduced to a tenner!!!
The power comes in as you'd expect in the real world though, i had the virtual slider at 50% which at this stage i imagine is where i'll keep it set, that's the Zwift default and works fine for me up to now.
Ive got a smart trainer (Tacx Vortex) and I found the 50% trainer difficulty setting meant I was just spinning and getting nowhere up steeeper hils. I definitely couldn't punch up short steep climbs. You may want to test again on a course with bigger/steeper hills...
Got a little while yet in the recovery before I go attacking box hill yet. But I'll take that on advisement.
KISS London at 8 is twice up box hill tonight....
On a Wahoo Kickr Snap most people won't be spinning up 10% hills at 50%, unless you are very strong and can put out 500W for a few mins!!! I'd suggest the optimal figure varies trainer to trainer and rider to rider.
meta - surely you can spin up a 10% hill if your bike has gears, even at 100% "real"
Thing that's weird is how hard it is to keep the power up as the gradient lessens - I'm using 100% just now and I always drop 20-25% over the top of a rise, even if I try to anticipae the easing and change up gears
... but then I always end up pushing +20-25% up the hills, so it evens out
You can definitely tell who's on what sort of trainer during a race or hardish ride
Good point, yes you can, I agree, depends on gears. I have a low of 34/25, but never use it in Zwift. If I upped the realism I guess I'd need to use some easier gears. Anyway the Kickr tops out at 10% of course- and you can tell- but to me it feels very realistic at lower gradients. Main thing is its accurate with the power.
Good point, yes you can, I agree, depends on gears. I have a low of 34/25, but never use it in Zwift.
Same here (I run a smaller cassette on the trainer wheel to minimise the jumps between gears), and so far I think I've only used the big ring when on the turbo. Suspect my T2240 can't emulate all that steep a slope.
[quote=jam bo ]KISS London at 8 is twice up box hill tonight....
holy shitballs that was hard...
What, with all that freewheeling down the hill - you lazy shithouse !!holy shitballs that was hard...
err, 😉
(nearly signed up for that. Phew)
Only on the first lap as I was in no mans land with a group 30s ahead and another 30s behind.
Lap 2 I was trying to drop a couple of people I'd passed on box hill so pedalled down fox hill for possibly the first time ever.
54th/160ish I think. Which isn't too bad for an all categories race.
Ah, don't worry, I haven't been stravastalking - just assuming you'd do what I always do
Good result !
To be honest I don't think pedalling down it is much quicker.
yeah that mega-tuck or whatever they call it is pretty fast, esp if you kick off with a "sprint" first
jamo bo, how do you know your 54th?
i entered but couldn't see my name on the leaderboard at the end
scrap that its on zwift power now,but im not on there yet
25th maybe?
Looks like I was 52nd.
That's excellent JAmbo 🙂 Well done fella.
Yeah 25th well pleased with that, I got dropped by the group on the boxhill descent and had 10 seconds to make up I managed to wind them in and overtake them on the next climb
Well the great news is that after yesterdays first test ride of 45 mins on the Snap, i don't have any negative side effects on the legs. I can just about feel they've done some work... but nothing more than that. There's no pain, no aching, no problems.
I'm still taking today as a rest day as i'm going to spend this week going 'easy' and alternate days only... but even an easy ride day is 1000 times better than no ride day at all. Made me feel a lot better about the world yesterday just pootling round and having a bit of fun. It was funny to see the gym mat at the end... it's normally a massive pool of water.. i had about 10 drips yesterday... But i'm not injured, so that can only be a good thing.
I'm a long way from getting back to racing with you guys i think... but i'm back on the course and next weekend will be back out at FoD i hope... just need patience.
Today should have been my first road ride back after coming off 6 weeks ago on slippery roads and fracturing a finger. This morning I promptly slid off again on black ice after 1 mile, I walked home vowing to stay off the roads til spring.
Whilst the adrenaline was still flowing I thought I utilise Zwift preferences to have an attack on box hill, it worked, 9.12 smashing my only other attempt of 10.28. I was hyperventilating at the end, I don't think I can try any harder than that.
Wow, that's good/great.
Cheers, it helped that someone had been up and set the best time of the day of 9.14. I need a defined target to motivate me
that is quite impressive up there - I always fall off from my projected time, dropping seconds all the way up. Couldn't possibly use a target time as I know I'd just fall awayI need a defined target to motivate me
Hope you're still OK after the fall - you'll be aching eventually I guess but it sounds like no major damage
Only a couple of grazes this time, not a bad fall like last months. I also did my back in on Thursday (fine on the bike but cant bend down when standing) so the fall is actually providing some welcome pain relocation.
I guess the projected time works for me as I'm fairly steady on climbs and attack the crest, if you attack at the bottom you're the projected is always going to be slipping away
I was all excited about going for a ride on the CX bike today. Decided to tinker with the brakes as the rotor was rubbing slightly on the pads before setting off.
At that point I decided to stick my finger in the spinning rotor.
Darwins theory springs to mind.
My left index is now a little shorter than it was this morning. Bollocks
You daft s0d! Ouch!
Well I bonked big time this morning on zwift 10 laps of the volcano ...
No, that's stoner's law you're thinking of - looking at spinning metalwork will inevitably result in partial loss of a digit, most particularly when the observer is fully aware of the likelihoodDarwins theory springs to mind.
Had another play so I could then take tomorrow off and ride Tues Thurs and Sat. Mostly due to the earlier post and thought I'd have a pop at sub 10 on box hill. I was most shocked to find out it was Watopia not London when I signed in.
I ended up trying to ride with Nath but I don't think he saw me. We were pootling round the volcano. I then ended up at the bottom of the Hilly loop climb. My PR according to the screen was 3 min 20. Gave it a decent effort up there and rolled over at 2min 40. That's quite a chunk quicker than previously. How much of that improvement is down to the Bkool reading incorrectly or the Smart trainer aspect is hard to say, but its a fair bit faster.
I cruised round s bit more and found myself at the village sprint and thought, why not. So wound up the power and destroyed my best putting myself in 7th on today's leaderboard and 4s quicker than I'd previously done it. I think it was 23.4s or so
Bit more cruising then had to stop, both to keep my legs happy due to getting over excitable and as I had to wander round to the village shop before it closed.
behave yourself weeksy !
Hopefully I'll be able to do a gentle spin on Zwift later. Once my finger stops bleeding :-s
Thinking of doing a (B) race this evening - 7.30 BRS or 8.05 KISS
anyone in already ?
Sorry Weeksy, I was watching the grand tour just doing laps of the volcano for the achievements. It's the only way I could manage a zone 1 spin!
I'm not loving the volcano loop.... don't know why it's just a bit meh!
I think it's a stop-gap crit racing course really - not for interesting ridng
scaredypants - MemberI think it's a stop-gap crit racing course really
What's not to like about that... a full on assault of staying in a group with a flat out sprint at the end.
You've got to remember, their job is to cater for all needs, all wants and all requirements of Zwifters. Some people want short sharp Crit racing, some want epic climbs up the mountains, some want to fly round central London, it's an impossible task to please everyone with the new sections.
Me, i didn't ride that much of the Volcano, but it was a little spooky and therefore interesting. I like it when you have different bits of terrain, different places to hold, to attack, to pin it and of course to hang on as long as you can because you're about to die !
I like it.
I can see it as being a very good crit racing simulator without the shouting and broken carbon/bones.
Been lurking this thread for a while now. Took the plunge and got a tacx smart trainer and cheap road bike. I think I have it all set up properly now and had a couple of rides.
First impressions are good, I love the techy stuff (though I don't pretend to understand a lot of it). I did the ftp test earlier today. Seems I'm starting well on the bottom rung (according to the chart posted early on in the thread anyway) 1.83w/kg.
Hopefully I'll stick with it and be able to at least wave to a few of you as you fly past a fat lad. 😀