Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

Ahhhh go faster colour tyre!

Just dont the mountain route on TdZ event. Chased some riders up it and got a 26:54 which I think may be my best or pretty close. The radio tower was a slow affair which seemed never ending. Tried a sprint off the top to try for the 100kph badge but the legs were toast at that point and I managed 96kph only.
Picked up a small group and we all shared the effort back taking some places on the way.
Just over the hour and I took the final sprint over the other 5 riders, so not a bad start to the day.

Well that’s a result, did TDZ Stage 3 and decided to do Road to Sky, beat my previous best time of 66:49 by almost ten minutes to get my first sub-hour ride up the Alpe (57:09), got the badge for that, got the badge for my 5th ride up the bastard, and got the lightweight wheels!

According to the stats 273w averaged for 57 minutes which against my FTP of 269w tells me a paced it pretty well, no FTP increase – I think I could have probably gone a little bit faster if my life had depended on it, but also psychologically I think knowing I really do have an FTP of at least 269 is good – until today I doubted I could keep up that sort of power for an hour.

Massive result @Nick and the wheels too!

I really need to work out how to get under the hour, it will probably mean going at least 300w all the way up…gulp!

Sounds like good results all round. Well done folks.

@oopnorth a good way to get that 100kph badge is the bologna TT. A proper TT bike and Aero wheels will usually see you pick it up on the way down if you keep pedaling for a minute or so past the end and just coast back down the hill.

Snap @Nick, good effort. Did the same aiming for under an hour, Strava says 57:06 for the Alpe. Well pleased!

Couldn’t decide if the group draft was helping or the sticky draft was hurting. Took the lead in pretty relaxed so overtook over 300 people on the way up the hill (most by the first corner). Both motivating and annoying when you stick to them

I’ve has 98kph on the way down from Ventoux as well….must try harder 🤣

stop, and change to the steel Zwift bike with the most aero wheels you have

Great going Nick and Janboss !
Did my first virtual Ton today. Signed up for the ZSUN Base builder, two laps of Tire-Bouchon this morning. Finished the event (79miles) and thought I might as well carry on. Didn’t find it to bad actually, the four and a half hours went by pretty quickly.

@yanboss, you beat me by 3 seconds! well done 🙂

I’m going to have to do a metric ton soon, 96 miles on the Wild Wales Challenge a few years ago is my longest ride, not sure I fancy doing it on Zwift or not, might show the so far Zwift only Boardman the light of day on a nice dry spring morning.

*sigh* Ex-communicated from B again in the first event after a year off racing, which is why I stopped in the first place. Either disqualified from B races or last in A races.

Zwift desperately needs a B+ category.

@flaperon the category system is far from perfect but come on. If you are who I think (apologies if not!) you have masses of 20 minutes power, plenty for A. You just need to figure out how best to use it.

Join the Tues evenings STW series and I think you’d be at the very front of the race, with people like @nixie, @seabass and @benman – obvious A’s who let’s say don’t attract much sympathy on here for lacking power!

This is probably one of those highly repeated questions.

But…

Running Zwift on an IPad and Trainerroad on an Android phone. Do I just connect one by BT and the other by Ant+ somehow?

Some trainers have dual Bluetooth. You have to make sure that Zwift isn’t controlling your trainer and just taking outputs from the power meter, HRM and cadence sensor.

I don’t think you will get Ant+ on an ipad – not sure if you can on a android device or not?

I had suspended my Zwift sub as I wasn’t using it. Lost all motivation due to a real trough in my depression but am getting my mojo back and sticking to the 90 days of exercise challenge thing.

My big problem is I push too hard too soon and really should build it up way slower. Can anyone recommend some good training plans that go right back to beginner levels of fitness and I will give it another go.

Want to get back out on the bike proper soon but just need a bit more strength…

Some trainers have dual Bluetooth. You have to make sure that Zwift isn’t controlling your trainer and just taking outputs from the power meter, HRM and cadence sensor.

I don’t think you will get Ant+ on an ipad – not sure if you can on a android device or not?

Hmm, don’t think dual bluetooth is a thing on my turbo (1st gen Direto) but my phone is listed on the thisisant directory.

Should I be able to connect as is or do I need an app?

@piemonster don’t think in terms of what protocol to use where. Think in terms of what needs connecting to what. You need to connect:
– controllable to trainerroad (so it manages your resistance/watts for the workout)
– power to zwift (so you move on screen)
– HR wherever you want it (both/one/neither)
– cadence wherever you want it (both/one/neither)

You can connect ANT+ as many times as you want (controllable excepted, but you only ever want 1 connection to controllable so that’s fine…). Or mix and match ANT+ and bluetooth if your devices allow or require that.

Ah ok. Cheers Savoyad

No bike tomorrow and off work (long run day) so that should give some faffing space to set it up.

Tried Zwift for the first time on Sunday, lack of motivation to train means I’ve not been making the most use of trainerroad. I’d always assumed it was a gimic but I really enjoyed it so think I’ll get a subscription when the 7 day trial goes. Going to try the BC race this evening, kind of excited. I reckon a couple of races a week for a month and I might be motivated enoguh to think about training again. fingers crossed anyway

@ferrals Do you know the starting drill? ie be up to 300ish watts depending on your category BEFORE the start.
Also get registered on ZP as it makes so much more sense of results than the daft ones they give you at the end.
https://www.zwiftpower.com

Ms Makrie Jr and I have just started zwifting. She is doing the Pebble Pounder training while I began with the FTP Builder. Ace!

She is determined to get a Tron bike, to which end she did Alpe de Zwift last night. 94 minutes of grinding :/

I am determined to not be absolutely humiliated by Jr and Mrs Makrie when we next head out touring. The standard amount of humiliation, fine. Total, no.

Are there ever any Singletrackworld 1.5 to 2 wpk rides? Or junior rides in the same range?

Tron requires lots of effort and the purists don’t like it but Radio mast repeats whilst doing a user defined workout is one way of making things a bit easier.
I’ve heard stories of people nearly completing it and then realizing that they had to sign up for the Everest challenge for it to count and so all that vert done in vain.

ZZRC are a very friendly group that do sub 1.5 and sub 2.0 rides and include juniors, Andi the yellow beacon is an awesome pace setter and she has a brilliant sweep team working for her should you get dropped and need their help and if I remember correctly SAS have junior specific 30 min rides.

We could always set up some of the sprint lap sessions on either a Monday or Wednesday evening maybe. They work quite well for lower power riders as they can roll with the group constantly but the stronger riders can do the sprints for building strength.

@tomlevell – thanks, I can only hold 300w for about 30s 😂 so basically just start pedalling 10s before the official start? I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it eventually

We could always set up some of the sprint lap sessions on either a Monday or Wednesday evening maybe.

I enjoyed the sprint lap meetups so would be up for that!

Don’t worry @ferrals, @tomlevell didn’t mean you to start at a wattage you can actually sustain. He was just warning you that everyone blasts out of the pen at full speed, which requires really winding it up (to a wattage you can’t possibly sustain!) before the end of the countdown. It just often catches first time racers by surprise. It’ll settle fast but if you do that sprint at the start you at least give yourself a chance of settling into a group when that happens.

I’ve heard stories of people nearly completing it and then realizing that they had to sign up for the Everest challenge for it to count and so all that vert done in vain

Welcome to my world. I’ve completed it about 5X over… but don’t have the Tron bike.

Ah sweet thanks @savoyad – makes sense, especially the time
It takes for me to get going 😂

Thank you Muke. She’s most pleased that she did the research and signed herself up for the Everest – I’ll be sure to credit you for the Radio Mast tactic!

I will look out for ZZRC and SAS rides that don’t conflict with school for her, and for me sprint lap sessions sound fun – though low power doesn’t even begin to cover it I imagine!

Well I overdid the advice yesterday, went for a cx style full sprint at the start and think was right at the lead for a second before going into oxygen debt and holding on for the next 20 minutes, ended up just above mid-pack. Great fun though, I hadn’t worked that hard in ages.
Annoyingly, I guess because of internet issues, all the writing the laptop was coming out weird and blocky, and the companion app kept dropping out so I didn’t really look at it. I did notice it said ineligible for draft though?

Just did the Stage 4 ride of the TdZ. I say I did it but I didn’t as Zwift crashed with 1k left on the route to go which means I need to do the whole thing again!

On the plus side I did get a PB up the petit KOM. I have been trying to crack 7 minutes with my best being 7 mins and 7 seconds.

Managed it in 6min37seconds today which having raced last night I am pretty pleased with.

How do Apple TV users find the Zwift experience? I currently plug my laptop in to a 27″ Dell monitor which I assume I will be fine to still use. I am getting so frustrated with the crashes. My laptop is only about 6 months old but I must have had 3/4 crashes over the past month. It seems pot luck as to whether your hardware will be stable or not.

I know their are some limitations on it. 2 Bluetooth connections which I can get around and trying to do stuff with the remote can be awkward but I can also use the app from what I understand. I just want something that is stable!

It’s Apple TVs too.
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2021/01/5-random-things-i-did-this-weekend-110.html

@ferrals did you sign up to zpower so we can critique? :0)

@piemonster I am doing the TR on zwift thing atm and it’s easy to set up, although I am on a laptop (ant) and phone (BT). One initial teething issue with zwift re-finding my turbo after telling it not to, but that’s sorted itself out.

It’s great for lower intensity stuff but not sure on harder intervals. Was doing one the other day, watching zwift, and listening to quite a literary podcast – felt a bit over-stimulated tbh, might just go back to the graph.

@tomlevell, no I haven’t yet. I’ll get to grips a bit with things before signing up for add-ons. Zwift gave me a w/kg estimation of 3.7, which would have put me out of the category, but I’m sure they have that wrong (I’ve not done an FTP test in zwift yet). I have no real desire to go up either as it was hard enough in C!

set up all ready to pratcie the crit race today with a 12.30 event. 15 minutes warm up to shake off last nights wooden legs.

clock ticking down in the pen as it got down under a minute the Mrs wandered in to my cave disconnected the lap top and started to wander off with it. Much shouting ensued and by the time I retrieved the laptop plugged back in got the picture back up on the TV I was alone in the pen. no point in trying to chase down 20 B cat riders on this course so had to drop out.

the next events were some time off and being already warmed up and sweaty I opted for a round of the TDZ sand and sequitios two laps. might have been a better option if I had used it as a recovery ride but as I always do I ended up racing most of it after a steady start. 1.10 at 265watts again and PBs on most hills, took a pb up titans kom a d then reduced it to 4.32 on the second lap. I always think the climb starts much earlier than it does and set off racing upnit over a mile before so I did flag before the summit even though it was a PB so 4.10 is future target if I get the start point right.

undercarriage is now looking like road kill so need to leave the saddle for at least a day.

That final sentence is a bit too descriptive 🤢

@kirky72. Good job I ate my tea before reading that. It’s a bit Martin Scorsese. Tense drama, bit long and occasionally gruesome. Heal well.

@tomlevell, no I haven’t yet. I’ll get to grips a bit with things before signing up for add-ons. Zwift gave me a w/kg estimation of 3.7, which would have put me out of the category, but I’m sure they have that wrong (I’ve not done an FTP test in zwift yet). I have no real desire to go up either as it was hard enough in C!

Generally the Zwift estimate is generally right enough especially if it’s landing you mid a field. B it is.

I’d sign up to ZP before you do anymore races as it won’t retrospectively get the data for past events.

Forecast looked iffy this morning (frost and chance of snow) so jumped on the SZR endurance ride this morning, taking in the PRL London course. Managed to tick it off in 5.5hrs, riding it fasted. Only got the Über Pretzel to do and that’s all the courses done for me.

this morning

/checks time/

That wasn’t morning that was midddle of the night!