I’m not looking to get on Zwift, but I am needing something to stave off the boredom of turbo sessions – I’m only meant to be doing 1 hour at a time, but I’m struggling with just a half hour.

Headphones, good tubes, a good workout to follow and something like a GCN video on your laptop.

I’ve downloaded the videos from YouTube using 4k video downloader so no streaming or buffering issues.

I warm up with the video playing in the background but following the British Cycling warm up plan (20 minutes of increasing cadence with 3 sprints at the end) then either do the 40 minute GCN Sweetspot workout, or leave it playing in the background whilst doing my own workout (at the moment I’m doing 4×8 @ 105% FTP, which has been sort of proven to be the best balance of interval duration and intensity vs. concentration span for most people!).

I never get bored although will definitely be counting seconds come the end of the last interval. It would never even occur to me to use Zwift unless I really really really needed to do 3hr endurance rides indoor.

No laptop and I also don’t have a massive phone screen…however, I’ve a varied test on Wednesday so hopefully that’ll keep me more engaged.

Well definitely pick an ‘engaging’ workout then!

The British Cycling warm up is available as a PDF you can print out and tape to the wall.

All the other ‘usual suspects’ like Sweetspot, over-unders etc. require you to concentrate on power/speed and where you are in the interval, so they tend to be ‘wish it would end’ intense rather than ‘wish it would end’ boring.

An hour on a turbo is quite a boring thing tbh. I use trainer road but if you’re easily bored it wouldn’t be a good solution. It works well just on an iPhone and with a smart trainer – although I started using it on a dumb trainer just with the app on the iphone, a garmin speed sensor and a HR strap.

On tablets – if you just want to stream something a cheap Amazon one will probably do the job. I’ve got the cheapest of cheap ones (maybe a 7) and it’s fine for Amazon prime. It struggles a bit more with stuff like red bull tv for live coverage of stuff like the hardline. An iPad is much quicker in terms of processor.

You can get a 30 day extended free trial of Rouvy via https://www.strava.com/challenges/rouvy-virtual-kom-qom-hunter-challenge.

If you have a Zwift account and you didn’t do much/any in early October, look for an email offering 14 days or even 60 days free trial.

Hoping to take a peek at Mywhoosh soon.

oh wow, that sucked,

now i expected a fall from grace, i’m about 50% down on my average mileage from the last few years, life, uni as a parent is difficult, and theres been a lot of plodding this year, last considerable effort i did was a local strava “TT” segment in July 😕, and i did 259w for 30 minutes, off the back of not a lot, (no hr data, power from a Quarq)

i always used to think i sat around 230w off the couch, no matter how long of a break i had, jumped on today, did half hour spinning round, sat at 175w av, then did Makuri Islands Stage 1, weirdly only 7 of us in “E” however, drum roll

197w average (Tacx Neo) at an average hr of 180bpm, my lowest average watts in over 100 zwift races, and i’ve done races as long as 97km 😩

life, uni, kids, seperation, covid, aging, depression, it’s all had a toll i guess, sobering

Zwift isn’t outside though. You may go better outdoors. Zwift is a special suffering that takes practice

i’ve done 100+ races 😂

I think you lose a bit of the ability to go that hard if you don’t ride zwift or other indoor training regularly – as above it’s so much more intensive than outdoor riding.

I had a ramp test at the start of last week – I got Covid for just over a week at the end of September, then did a few days easy rides, then a weekend away with 3 day long big rides, then 2 weeks consisting of a few easy rides. On my ramp test I failed miserably hitting 260w from my current 279w! However, I know most of that was just because I haven’t done any proper indoor structured workouts for 5 weeks. Kept my FTP at the same and I’ll see how I go – I honestly don’t think I’ve dropped that much though, it’s just not being used to that sort of riding.

I’m back on it now, and last night’s hard VO2 max session was strangely enjoyable 🤣

@dirtyrider yes, but a while ago… it takes time to re-acclimatise..

I think you lose a bit of the ability to go that hard if you don’t ride zwift or other indoor training regularly – as above it’s so much more intensive than outdoor riding.

I dunno, I think it’s pretty comparative to ‘cross racing IRL. I suppose it depends how hard you go outside as well.

On my ramp test I failed miserably hitting 260w from my current 279w!

Ug, this doesn’t make good reading. I nailed (as in, ‘completed’) a 20 minute FTP test a few weeks ago and started some new workouts off the back of the new number. They were tough but achievable, ideal. Would be the perfect accompaniment to my approximate schedule of a CX race every 3 weeks or so. I might not actually improve on the course but at least it would compliment the training nicely.

Then three weeks of Bronchitis 😭😭

I think at my stage of life (peak career stress, limited time, 5 year old germ factory running about) I need to abandon any sort of structure or intensity over winter and just focus on base, every winter follows the same pattern of injuries or sickness and my training ambitions typically just fall apart. Probably skipping next weekend’s CX race and hopefully back into some sort of routine for the next one on the 11th December 🙄

I dunno, I think it’s pretty comparative to ‘cross racing IRL. I suppose it depends how hard you go outside as well.

Yeah I definitely don’t do anything like that on outside rides. Decently big rides (1000+m climbing) but not that short intense stuff like CX or the like.

I’m hitting the 12.00 Rhino race on Crit City Bell lap today in C.

It’s a course i enjoy but looks a proper strong if small field. Lots of fast guys out in it.

Well at least we had a bit of fun….

2.5 laps from the end the bloke who ended up winning, along with myself kicked on at the rollers. 3s, 4s, 5s, then 6s…. but with the line coming up with just 1 lap to go, they’d pulled us back to 4s and my legs, lungs and heart called it a day and i died…

He hung on to the line and claimed the win… i cruised and died…

https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=3208266

But it was more interesting that waiting for the final sprint as blokey had tried it twice before, one of them i tried to go with him but failed.. the other i just laughed as it was way early.

Strewth! This thread was a long way down. Has everyone given up? 🤣

I must say, credit where it’s due- I really like the new Makuri roads.

Also, with the pace partners and the personalised pace partner of your old KOM times- there’s loads more fun ways to use it for training now.

With the huge number of routes- even just pootling around collecting route badges is good fun!

I just raced ‘Fine and Sandy’ and actually got away for a bit. Couldn’t hold it though so got dropped in the finale. That’s a really dynamic course- you climb the same loop 2x a lap 😮‍💨

I did the Makuri race on “fine and sandy” on Tuesday just gone.
I enjoyed it and the spurt up that spiral climb was a nice addition.

I was annoyed that I missed the 3rd race of the series last week due to a Zwift crash.

Last week the front mech cable snapped just after a workout – severe lack of maintenance so I fixed that and also stuck new bar tape on.

Workout tomorrow morning and hoping to get some Z2 stuff.in at the weekend although if the weather is nice will do that outside.

Bleurgh. I did the Pro Series Pidcock workout this morning with Robbo, slowpuncheur & oopnorth…

I really struggled with it – the legs didn’t want to wake up!
I managed the main set, but the wheels fell off (not literally) during the sprints at the end & I gave up.
Was a toughie.

How’s everyone getting on?

I’m waiting to start a new training block after Xmas so jumped into back to back races tonight.
First was 18laps of Crit city and then 3 laps of Greater London flat, both in B.

I’ve never raced anti-clockwise Crit city before and it was much nicer. I wanted to push watts so I kept trying to get away and finally managed a whole lap off the front 😎
Which meant I got 20th in the sprint 🤣

Then the 3r race was a mass start and there was some cool banter with a Z power flier and general B on A smack talk 🤣
I held the lead A’s until the finale but only managed 4th B.

It ended up as 1h40 racing at around 280w average. The Z2 has paid off massively- I felt super fresh at the end.

I may work up to trying three races on the trot to get closer to the 2h20 or so that our pacy 50 mile outdoor Sunday ride takes in the summer. If I could average 280w for 2h20 by the end of Base- I’ll be a happy camper that’s for sure 😀
(Or burnt out by March 🤣)

Whilst cycling along the power started to jump around by ~70w and I could smell burning.

Then I could hear a scraping noise before the trainer completely seized.

It’s only 2 years old too, bearings are dead. Bought a 4iiii crank power meter to replace it and discovered that as a big lad I can hit a lot more power than the previous meter was rated to.

So I’m deadly on the flats and less shocking on the hills (but still shit).

Nice 👌🏻 Always good to get a helping hand from the technology 😀

I was thinking about that today- forcing live zwift race competitors to race the same turbo is like getting pros to all ride the same bike 🤔
People should be allowed to tune them up 🤣 (provided it passes a calibration test).

Random question: is anyone using aero/TT bars on their Zwift setup? I have a set of Profiles in the garage and was wondering if they’d give an alternative hand/riding position for longer indoor rides.

^^^^ I have them on the Wattbike and yes, I find that going onto them every 20 mins or so for 5 mins allows a bit of a stretch and eases things a bit

Yeah but you’re old

I’ve just taken mine off but yes, love them for Z2 turbo time.

I’ve never raced anti-clockwise Crit city before and it was much nicer.

As a skinny lad I’m conflicted about this. On one hand, definitely less painful, on the other at least I can have a pop up the kick when going clockwise. Obvs usually I just put people to the sword with my monster 900W sprint though

I prefer down the hill. The rollers you can power/ease and stay in the group… then once heading down the cobbles you just need to find the 400w continuous power for a minute or so and hang on a wheel or 3…. before massively disappointing in the sprint finish and trying to hang on as you’ve only got a 600w sprint.

I was trying to get a gap by attacking on the last straight before the start/finish and then holding it all the way to the rollers and across the top to the cobbles.
But that didn’t work.
When I finally got a solo lap in, I had to attack across the top and into the cobbles. Then hold it all the way round.

It’s bloody hard but so is getting away from a 27mph bunch in real life so I need to keep practicing 😀

I tried a couple of attacks in todays race, but nothing stuck.

https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=3256679

Mostly because both ended up being me and 1 bloke… I was impressed in the last 2km which is partly uphill i managed to hold the group, but by the time we hit 500m to go i got some nice drafting to see me in the mix, but the sprint just wasn’t there as usual. All in all though, hit a max of 184bpm over the aquaduct and impressed myself by managing to hang on after maxing it out. I don’t usually get to max and recover.

I’ve not raced or trained on Zwift properly for ages now!
Tried ‘Emily’s short mix’ this am, and it was too much too quick so dropped the setting to 85%!

Keen to try ‘build me up’ but over like 18 weeks….

DrP

Hopped on this evening for a Z1 easy aerobic spin. Ticked off another route, Eastern 8 in Watopia, as it was just long enough to get me over my annual mileage target of 7300 miles 🎉

Keen to try ‘build me up’ but over like 18 weeks….

I think I’ll try something like that, it’s the only way I’m likely to get any fitness back but can’t commit to the full program in the 12 weeks or whatever it’s meant to be.

I fell off the wagon a bit on training – had got to 246w ftp and was feeling nice and fit on the bike at about 75kgs. Then I had a works Xmas do, got battered and then got run down and developed a chest infection 🤯

Bumped up to 77kgs in a few weeks and done absolutely no cardio or weight training. Got a gentle mtb in on the weekend and just doing a weights session before work today. Got a trainer road program scheduled to start first week of January and will get back on it properly then. Just going to do a few random activities this side of new years to keep things moving but keep it chilled.

RGT told me my FTP was now 279w….quite pleased with that, might do a proper test at some point to see if I can crack 280…..averaged 4.0w/kg over a 25min race…..only another 3w/kg to go before I can make my Sa Colobra KOM challenge at Easter!!!!!

I did a ride on Monday after being laid up with flu for 2 weeks. Not been that ill for a decade or so. Legs and lungs weren’t great but it was just an easy spin.

I got to try out my new 32″ monitor which I bought just before I was ill. It’s a big improvement over the 22″ I was using before but now I have no space for my FaceFan®️ so need to sort that out.

@weeksy – just looked at your race stats for that race via your ZP link. 85kg? 😂 I seem to remember in one of your suspension set-up threads (the Slayer one maybe?) you were swapping to a 95kg spring?! Been on a diet? 😉😃

Ooooh, that reminds me – need to update Zwift. The flu knocked me down from 74kg to 71.5kg although I expect I’ll put that all back on in Christmas pudding in the next week 👍

85 is optimistic yes… but i’m not racing UCI rules and care very little 🙂

Zwifting is about entertainment for me… If it’s not about that, i’m not riding.

Zwifting is about entertainment for me…

What about others

you’ve lost me… but i doubt i care anyway so no biggy 🙂

you’ve lost me

Really, a drunk five year old could work it out, I wonder why you can’t?

but i doubt i care anyway so no biggy 🙂

I’ve quite enjoyed your race write ups over the years @weeksy. I didn’t realise you weren’t really that bothered. Anyhoo, take from it what you will.

I’m currently on the Gran Fondo plan and quite enjoy it but the longer weekend Zone 2 stuff is a challenge – particlarly as late nights and bad diet = lack of motivation. So I think it’s just a case of ticking over til New Year. Might try and tick off a few of the longer routes again.