Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

would be a brave man who buys an ex-demo Neo!!

My initial thought too! Happy to pay a few quid more and have a new (hopefully 2017) one.

Don't get me wrong, I can see the attraction, but its still a lot of money for an indoor trainer.

It is quite a lot of cash.... but when you have a look out there for something that does the job as well as the Neo you're looking at a lot more cash (as in at least 3 or 4 times as much.) Other turbos in the same price bracket (Kickr, Hammer, the Elite thing) are not comparable offerings. If that's something you care about then the Neo is actually quite the bargain. Assuming you get one that works 🙂

Don't get me wrong, I can see the attraction, but its still a lot of money for an indoor trainer. Could buy left side PM for 2 bikes with change left over for that much.

I already have 4 dual sided and one single sided PM, I don't actually need any more 😉

When is zwift rolling out to ios? Been waiting for so long now with very few updates as to when.

I'm confused by it though, the map is on London today but the route for that ride says "Watopia Flat Route"??

Errrrrr I have no idea....

Will be on the PAC Social ride hopefully - done the ZZRC Sub2 rider twice this week - it's been a good intro to Zwift - love the use of team speak

Why can't I see the PAC Social ride on the Events page?

Can see it on the mobile app...

Nath, the course schedule changes every month so it often takes the event organisers a while to respond to the changes as Zwift don't release the monthly schedule until a couple of days before the end of the month for some unknown reason.

Thanks @crosshair - was just checking I didn't need to edit the settings file 🙂

Aiming for the PAC still I think, I want/need a light session.

Missed both by minutes 😆

I'm on their at the moment doing a lazy cycle if anyone wants to join.

Just finished 90mins Z1. I was pretty disciplined until the last minute when I had a friendly sprint 😉

Did the PAC social ride but I got a bit carried away. I sat within 35m of the leader until bottom of Box Hill when I thought I'd go for it and 'wait' at the top. I soft pedaled for a while but got a bit bored waiting for the leader and the group to catch back up so I just decided to ride to the end...

Did my first 1 hr+ race - I'm definitely Cat D!! Averaged 2.3 w/kg. Could have gone slightly harder, but not much. Pleased with myself though - managed to race tactically and draft almost the whole way round. Had a good fight with 2 guys the whole race who I noticed weren't drafting as well & beat them in the sprint finish despite them both averaging more than me for the race!

Great live streaming of KISS races by Vision Cycling. The 'Zwift Onboard' feature is very cool 🙂

crosshair -
Great live streaming of KISS races by Vision Cycling. The 'Zwift Onboard' feature is very cool

Interesting, gutted he didn't do it last night. 😈

The onboard feature, is that for iOS users?

 

Nope, I don't know how they do it. When Jesper Anker from Cyclinghub on YouTube does it, he does it via Skype for the same effect.
Vision and KISS are looking for more regularl-racing volunteers I think.

2.3 is a solid D Zilog, good work mate. Give it a few weeks and you'll be beating me in C.

Thanks, definitely addicted now! So much more engaging than a normal turbo session, the time just flies by!

My first race tonight as well - KISS. Another Cat D here, but with >125 miles on Zwift this week I'm hoping I'll come out of this winter fitter than I have been for years!

As an, ahem, heavier bloke I find drafting quite hard to finesse. When crossing a gap I'm finding it hard to judge power to catch but then fall in behind the rider in front, rather than carry on past them. Also, when we go downhill I seem to carry a lot more momentum than some of the other riders so again need to rein it in a bit.

More practice required

No, but Amazon are still out of stock so I'm not expecting it yet!

The amazon random price generator has put it back up to 1057.90 today. I'm getting increasingly impatient! 🙂

mrblobby
No, but Amazon are still out of stock so I'm not expecting it yet!
The amazon random price generator has put it back up to 1057.90 today. I'm getting increasingly impatient!

The more folk that click into it, the higher the price goes along with scanning the market place. If it goes out of stock they drop the price to get interest/preorders = minimal warehouse time. The amazon model is incredible, they win if you purchase from them and they win if you don't. There's also flubit which can give you up to 15% discount on items from amazon.

No Zwifting this weekend, but planning on doing a Zwift race at some point next week. What are folk thinking of entering?

just when all gears/gadget and new shiny road bike has arrived for zwift world, I caught a nasty virus manflu 😡 😡 😡

No Zwifting this weekend, but planning on doing a Zwift race at some point next week. What are folk thinking of entering?

I'll try another KISS 8pm weekday race next week. First one was yesterday and I went for CAT B which was a huge mistake! Second from last!

I am another recent convert 90% thanks to this thread.

Guys, if you have any spare time today, jump on Zwift, join ANY event, ride to the end of the pier, log out, log in again and go ride for as many miles as you can (or stay in the event if it's just starting).

Trek have challenged Zwifters to ride 250,000 miles today for World Bike Relief in which case they will stump up £40,000 of donation.

Last year, the community did the same with a 125,000 mile challenge so Trek have raised the stakes!

Lots of folks doing crazy stuff for it, Jesper Anker from Cyclinghub is doing a 12hour session streamed live. Drop into YouTube chat to give him some banter.

Crosshair, thanks, might give that a go as my first Zwift session if I don't get to ride outside. Best of luck if racing Hillingdon today, get stuck in and enjoy 🙂

I"'m going to upgrade my Zwift station this morning with a remote variable switch for the fan I mounted on the ceiling last week. Presently it's too cold to start with it on but when Inge get going I have to text someone in the house to come and turn it on for me!
Anyone getting set up should not under estimate the value of a fan even in the cold weather and especially if your e sort that runs a bit hot (like me).

Then one of he WBR rides and some nice music feels like a nice way to amble through the afternoon.

I dread to think how fast you'll be on Zwift Mrblobby 😀 Although your aeroness will no doubt get underestimated so perhaps other folk will get a chance 😉

Thanks! I can't wait to get out there- it's all the other stuff I'm nervous about.

Crosshair, it's been lots of slow and steady here so far this winter but a bit of a leg tester last night was most encouraging. Will be stepping it up a bit over the next couple of months so a Zwift race or two would fit in nicely.

Nice to see Tim, a rider from my local club, bossing the KISS time trial league 🙂 I race against him a fair bit and he's rather rapid in real life too!

Oh and another local club rider, Rachael, is one of the final few in line for a spot on a pro team via the Zwift Academy and one of the top testers in the UK. She's a big Zwifter now and bloody quick in real life also.

I'm on the PAC social for WBR, then I think I'll try one of the other rides later too. I've been off riding for a few months since we had mini 10, and zwift is helping to get me riding without upsetting Mrs 10 too much!

This thread has inspired me to lash out on some kit and I will be Zwift if soon. Small kids means time is limited but this will help

Right thanks entirely to this thread and frustrations with the route to work being a slippery dark mess at this time of year I'm all setup.

Finished the pahoehoe conversion to 700c, unboxed the tacx 2240, mounted up, powered up, calibrated, connected via zwift iOS app to MacBook 2013 - seamless. No ant dongles needed. No dramas, no dropouts so far.

Mrs pahoehoe is doing a workout first (burning baby weight) then I'm up for a little leg stretch.

First impression - bloody brilliant. total cost £200 trainer. £50 "new" 700c wheels. £10 trainer tyre. Zwift sub.

Sorry if this is late, but if you sign up to trial of Strava premium you get until the end of year free on Zwift.

pahoehoe, I've just bought the Tacx 2240 and have a similar setup (6 month old Macbook Air and Zwift App on iPhone) and it's not picking up as a controllable trainer. It does pickup the trainer as a "Speed Sensor & Classic Trainer" and "Cadence sensor". I was assuming I would need to get an ANT+ Dongle to control the Tacx but it sounds like that's not the case going by your set up.

Were you using Zwift previously with a "dumb" trainer and 3rd party sensors? I'm wondering if it's due to it still picking up my Speed & Cadence sensor.

I have the 2240 and it's brilliant. However for it to work with zwift I had to run an update on the turbo first through the tacx phone of tablet app. Probably fix your problem as I read about it before I purchased it so was the first thing I did

As above - I ran the update via tacx app first.
iPhone 5se 2013 Mbp on same wifi network which I think is important. I think it's a bt connection from trainer to zwift app then wifi from phone to mbp.

Yep, run the firmware update on the trainer from the app and it's all Bluetooth enabled. I've removed my ant dongle to double check

Had another crack this morning and all working fine now - I had to unpair my Panobike Speed & Cadence sensor (which was showing as a classic trainer + speed sensor) first, then when I searched for a controllable trainer the Tacx showed up, then repaired my Panobike as just a cadence sensor.

Glad u sorted it - I'm struggling to get a look in - mrs p is loving it.

This weeks schedule:

Mon - WBR 5km Race at 7:05 pm all cats followed by 12? miles of chilled cycling.
Tues - BRS Time trial 7:05pm x2 watopia flat route.
Wed/Thurs/Fri - pootling in Zone 1 only.

Anyone else up for those 2 events & folk are welcome to join on my pootles. 🙂

If you dont use Ant+ what sort of sensors do you have for cadence and HR or dont you bother?

I bought some cheap Chinese Bluetooth sensors, which are zip tied (reusable) and sit next to my mio ant+ for when the bike is taken off the tacx. Work fine.

Wilburt. The Wahoo range are pretty good.

I'm up for trying that BRS time trial on Tuesday, should be fun 🙂

Tonight's WBR 5km TT is going to be interesting - it's what 6-10 minutes of all out power. I should imagine a lot of folk pumping out 5+w/kg.

I'll get my playlist ready - 2x heavy metal tracks or something (I hate heavy metal so it will encourage me to cycle faster to end my ears suffering haha).

I'm potentially going to have to go with the EVR Europe later on. Even though it really doesn't suit as it's quite climby. But i need a bit of a 'push' again as i've been a little weak on effort levels over the weekend, so need a little incentive to get back out trying hard again.

I've done a couple of those EVR races recently and really liked them, much like KISS rides but a little earlier. Last time out got into a tussle with some German riders very good racing.

Stupid question, but I'm not finding the Zwift interface that straight forward, so am probably missing something very simple.

When you finish a ride, you get a page up that gives you some stats on that ride; a power graph, with your average power line & same for HR etc.

Anyway I can look at that info after saving. Looking on the Zwift site itself, just shows you the activity, but no more than the basics in terms of information & although they upload to Strava it still doesn't show the info that gets shown at the end of the ride.

No big deal, but it would be nice to look back at it.

Also - I haven't done an FTP test yet - gonna wait until I buy a smart trainer - hopefully after Christmas -
Do I have to have done an FTP test (or a race) for Zwift to give me a w/kg number?
While riding, I hover around 2.2w/kg but does this get saved anywhere; I know I can work it out from avg watts in the ride summary.....but still.....??

Tonight's WBR 5km TT is going to be interesting - it's what 6-10 minutes of all out power. I should imagine a lot of folk pumping out 5+w/kg.

See lots of mention of w/kg on this thread when TT's in real life are more about outright watts (well actually W/CdA.) Is there more of a levelling out by weight in Zwift algorithms or are all the simulated courses sufficiently lumpy to even things out a bit? (Edit... or it's conceivable that they derive a virtual CdA from kg as there is typically some correlation?)

FWIW, I have a similar w/kg to someone I often time trail (in real life) against. He weighs about 10kg more than me and has proportionally more power (I possibly have a slightly better CdA.) He always beats me 🙁 😉

The interface is pretty poor, so much so that even after 18 months of use I still dont really use it.
After a ride I look at zwiftpower (which gives you w/kg) if it was a race or strava which does give you all that was on the ride end screen (possibly premium only?)

Not sure about the ftp question as I've done several tests so its always been there for me.
I wouldn't worry about doing a test on dumb trainer btw its the same calculation whatever the trainer type. Smart trainers just mean you get resistance but they still calculate your power from how fast your spinning the wheel given the known resistance for that trainer. The only alternative is a strain gauge power meter which very few trainers have.

I would do a ftp test and do a few races or sub events.

dit... or it's conceivable that they derive a virtual CdA from kg as there is typically some correlation?)

Yes I think so.

FWIW I find it quite realistic to riding IRL in that I'm a chunky chap and not bad at sitting TT'ing along but chuck a hill of any length into the mix and back I go.

mrblobby

See lots of mention of w/kg on this thread when TT's in real life are more about outright watts (well actually W/CdA.) Is there more of a levelling out by weight in Zwift algorithms or are all the simulated courses sufficiently lumpy to even things out a bit? (Edit... or it's conceivable that they derive a virtual CdA from kg as there is typically some correlation?)

FWIW, I have a similar w/kg to someone I often time trail (in real life) against. He weighs about 10kg more than me and has proportionally more power (I possibly have a slightly better CdA.) He always beats me

Just using the standard W/KG as that's how the categories are done. I think it does calculate all the Cda data in the background using your height/weight etc. But I'm not sure it ever gives you that figure?

I was reading up on how W/KG works, if both riders are 6ft for instance and one rider is 80kg with 2.5W/KG they will always be faster than a 70kg rider with 2.5W/KG. This is because aerodynamically they require almost the same Watts to keep them moving against the air. Which then leaves a lot of spare Watts for the bigger rider. (Apologies if that is nothing new, but it interested me).

Anyway I can look at that info after saving. Looking on the Zwift site itself, just shows you the activity, but no more than the basics in terms of information & although they upload to Strava it still doesn't show the info that gets shown at the end of the ride.

(Edit... or it's conceivable that they derive a virtual CdA from kg as there is typically some correlation?)

Yep, in my experience as a lightweight, I'm often putting out more w/kg to sit in bunches on the flat than others in the bunch, and that's with a decent virtual bike + zipps. I can be doing 3.2 w/kg in a bunch with most others around 2.7 w/kg. My actual watts will be 215-220 (at 67kg), so those around me will be about the 80kg mark.

It's slightly annoying but does make real life sense. I'm much better on the hilly stuff, or even the little kickers that last 10-30 seconds.

wilburt - Member

The interface is pretty poor, so much so that even after 18 months of use I still dont really use it.
After a ride I look at zwiftpower (which gives you w/kg) if it was a race or strava which does give you all that was on the ride end screen (possibly premium only?)

Not sure about the ftp question as I've done several tests so its always been there for me.
I wouldn't worry about doing a test on dumb trainer btw its the same calculation whatever the trainer type. Smart trainers just mean you get resistance but they still calculate your power from how fast your spinning the wheel given the known resistance for that trainer. The only alternative is a strain gauge power meter which very few trainers have.

I would do a ftp test and do a few races or sub events.

Cheers. Yeah, I was waiting until I get a new 'smart' trainer, purely because I am using an unlisted trainer at the moment (and old Tacx) and just chose the nearest one in the list of Tacx trainers & set the resistance accordingly.

If I wait until I get a new trainer (gonna go for the Tacx Flow Smart) then at least I will know that the numbers should be closer to what they should be.
Annoyingly, I was supposed to get a small bonus at the end of November in my pay packet that was going to pay for the smart trainer....but I've had to delay it a month, as it was processed too late to make it into my Nov pay....!

zilog6128 - Member

Analysis (power curve/distribution) is available as a Strava Premium member (possibly also Training Peaks, etc)

Ah. I did wonder if it was a Strava premium thing. Oh well. Not gonna bother with that, as I can't really justify another monthly outlay....

I've read some empirical evidence that height has a measurable impact on speed over a course (everything else being constant) which implies that's how they derive CdA (not sure if weight is also a factor)

Height doping an issue? I wonder how many dwarfs there are on zwift? 🙂

I was reading up on how W/KG works, if both riders are 6ft for instance and one rider is 80kg with 2.5W/KG they will always be faster than a 70kg rider with 2.5W/KG. This is because aerodynamically they require almost the same Watts to keep them moving against the air. Which then leaves a lot of spare Watts for the bigger rider. (Apologies if that is nothing new, but it interested me).

Kind of. It really does depend on how quickly you're going as the power needed to overcome drag increases sharply as your speed rises. The faster you can go the more it's about CdA (drag). See [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics) ]here[/url]....

[i]Note that the power needed to push an object through a fluid increases as the cube of the velocity. A car cruising on a highway at 50 mph (80 km/h) may require only 10 horsepower (7.5 kW) to overcome air drag, but that same car at 100 mph (160 km/h) requires 80 hp (60 kW).[16] With a doubling of speed the drag (force) quadruples per the formula. Exerting four times the force over a fixed distance produces four times as much work. At twice the speed the work (resulting in displacement over a fixed distance) is done twice as fast. Since power is the rate of doing work, four times the work done in half the time requires eight times the power.[/i]

You can do the maths to work out how much lower your CdA would need to be to compensate for the fewer watts, and at higher speeds a small change in drag is equivalent to a much larger change in power.

So to smash your PB's in a time trail, it's either a long hard winter of training to find a few extra watts, or a grand for some wind tunnel time for someone to tweak you into a slightly different position 😡

(at 67kg)

Hi Beej. You should come do the Walbury Hill climb 🙂

Ah. I did wonder if it was a Strava premium thing. Oh well. Not gonna bother with that, as I can't really justify another monthly outlay....

I have no idea @mrblobby I thought the resistance was almost identical for the 70kg and 80kg rider. I'll not be doing any TT's anytime soon other than Zwift 🙂

Walbury Hill climb sounds fun, I'm going to add that to the list of potentials for next year. Need to get my weight down by a few kg first.

[b]Also 60 days of strava premium, found via google: [/b] http://promo.strava.com/britishcycling/

Yep, in my experience as a lightweight......(at 67kg).

Sorry, at 67kg, admission to the lightweight club is denied - you're far too heavy to properly appreciate the suffering the big lads dish out on the flat 😀

I'm now looking to get a training schedule worked out on Zwift. I've been looking at the 6 week FTP builder but reviews have said it was not up to much (way too easy for building).

Possibly Mon - Fri Hard/recovery and a longer ride on Sunday, Saturday being a rest day.

You can get other workouts (including a load of sufferfest ones) online at [url= http://www.zwiftworkouts.com/ ]http://www.zwiftworkouts.com/[/url]

nathb, it really does depend on the individual and how hard they work on their aero. Aerocoach published this chart a while back showing a correlation between mass and drag... as you can see, a heavy bloke with "good" aero commonly has about the same drag than a 10kg lighter bloke with "poor" aero...

[img] [/img]

Walbury Hill climb sounds fun, I'm going to add that to the list of potentials for next year. Need to get my weight down by a few kg first.

It's a great event. Large field. Reasonably big prizes. Closed roads. Attracts some of the country's top hill climbers. And is run by my local club 🙂

Sorry, at 67kg, admission to the lightweight club is denied - you're far too heavy to properly appreciate the suffering the big lads dish out on the flat

That's my winter weight!

@MrBlobby - I've been on holiday for the past 3 years when it's on, otherwise I'd have done it already - though hill climbs are horribly hurty.

I calibrated my new Tacx 2240 last night. The roller is very, very tight pressured against (actually into) the tyre. Is that right? Pushing the lever to get the roller onto the tyre is almost too difficult

mrblobby -
It's a great event. Large field. Reasonably big prizes. Closed roads. Attracts some of the country's top hill climbers. And is run by my local club

If my racing career is still err happening I'm game for that. Is it on the BC website?

(last non zwift post)

How have you calibrated it Jamie?

Also you can adjust the tension of the wheel against the roller - make sure you built up the turbo with the bolt in the right position. But yes mine distorts the tyre for a snug fit. I'd say its tight not very very tight

CRC currently running a live competition to win a tacx Neo

and yes. 2240 roller seems very tight. mine is within the OK band but towards the lower end. I did tighten it up further but then it wouldnt calibrate.

Jamiep- calibrated using the tacx app? Mine is similarly tight - despite this had some slippage yesterday so wound it on some more. Still within the lines on the tacx calibration app though.

Edit - yeah what they^^ said.

nathb, not sure if it's on BC, it'll most likely on the [url= https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk ]CTT website[/url].

Re Zwift, I signed up for the trial to see if the mirroring on the iPad would work assuming my new clever turbo would be here soon. Unfortunately I think my trial will expire before it arrives 🙁

In other Zwift news, I hear my club mate Rachael made it to the [url= https://academy.zwift.com/news/682-announcing-our-zwift-academy-finalists ]Zwift Academy[/url] final three. She's not taken the place though due to the next step being a two week training camp and not being able to get the time off! Having recently started a job she loves she'd likely have to give it up on a one in three chance of a pro contract. What a choice to have to make!

calibrated with the tacx app. Bolt is correct (upper hole, for 700c). The resistance is much higher than I was expecting, and I smash my knuckles when shoving the blue lever into place

Thanks @mrblobby

Are you using trainer tyres, or regular road tyres?
I'm pretty sure that on my Tacx Vortex the middle of 3 bolts was used during assembly 27/28/29 wheels accommodated on it.

Hmm not sure as I didn't even know you were meant to use the app to calibrate I just do it by feel and obviously if the tyre slips it needs to go a bit tighter.

What PSI are you running?

it shouldn't be so tight you have to struggle to close the lever, slacken it off a little. It has to be pretty slack to get any slippage and you can easily tell (usually on the final sprint hills on watopia flat).

I have a new trainer tyre at 110psi. It is calibrated right in the middle of the spirit level-type markings. I guess I'll loosen the dial so it is still calibrated within the markings but towards the left

Sounds sensible as even how tight I have mine feels a little too tight for the strength of the clip, however I never go over 300 watts and mainly stay under 200 watts so it's ok for me, I guess the main thing is to make sure you're always using the same tyre and psi and resistance and if it's not slipping it's probably ok?

Signed on for EVR tonight 7.30pm.

Not fancy the 3 mile TT at 7:05 Weeksy?

I'm tempted by both, even if I do come last in my category (my legs are knackered).

Bit too short and likely to cook me. If I ride that I won't make 7.30 too.

7pm may be cutting it too fine for me to get home in time and get setup.

Not sure I can cope with 6-7 mins of pure pain then a 45? min race after.. although I'm tempted to sit on someones wheel for it 😆

I'm enjoying the zwift setup so far. My only issue seems to be numb nuts ! ... I think I have changed ( not ridden the bike I'm using in quite a while), or the turbo setup is changing my weight bearing/balance on the bike. Having to fiddle with the saddle at the moment.

Loss of all sensation down there is worrying!!
I have some bars on the roof/ceiling which are useful to take the weight for a while.

Who's on a Team then? I'm a member of team TFC based around the Friday Criterium race series. One of our members even affiliated us with BC so we're legit 🙂 We've used the CCRCA yellow kit as our team kit but now have a real life version so hopefully Zwift will add it to the game for us soon.

What's the benefits of the team stuff?