Zwifting - I think I need help!

[drossall]

Hm, I'm on 80 minutes for my only attempt. Some work to do there then

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Done it 3.5 times, in May, October, December, January.  May and December it was just under 80 at 78 and 79 but something happened in October and I made it in 68 minutes. 

In January, one Sunday afternoon I was doing nicely at 418m when the link started crashing.  I got back in twice but the third time I found myself cycling across the grass at the bottom en route to the Islands.  Then it crashed again and I packed it in.   It's probably the fault of my local line speed rather than Zwift.

I've no reason to think I'll do it under an hour!

[PaulF]

Just set a PR up Ven Top of 2h 7m just need to knock about 90 minutes off that to get into KOM territory.

[drossall]

I've been doing the Tour de Zwift. I did the short (tower) route yesterday. Last week I did all three options on different days. I've done the Alpe once as above, but I don't really fancy a group ride that turns into a solo uphill grind, so I think I'll leave it at one route this time and do something else instead.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Just set a PR up Ven Top of 2h 7m just need to knock about 90 minutes off that to get into KOM territory.

I was KOM in Harrogate t'other day

It was tough enough with only 18 riders to beat..

[chrisbainbridge]

My first attempt at TdZ on the group B up Alpe de Zwift.  79 minutes.  I really enjoyed it. 

I have been a keen advocate of trainerroad and certainly for doing HIIT type work I think it is excellent.  However as all my aims for the year include a lot of climbing Zwift makes a lot of sense.  Even though I did not know anybody else the urge to catch people was very real.  I may have to do another one later in the week.

[L CC]

Doing 3w/kg down 8% to stay in the slipstream of a guy doing 0w/kg.  On the flat, eat my dust, punk.  Happened twice now, both yanks.

When riders work that hard to hold me on a descent I just laugh at the n00b. Supertuck. Nothing to do with nationality, it's just using the game mechanics.

https://zwiftinsider.com/supertuck

[L CC]

I know that it is 'only a game' but I found it really off-putting that one of the avatars that I was riding with for some time on yesterday evening's TdZ ride up Ven-Top wasn't pedalling while I was slogging my guts out!

Cadence connection failure. Really embarrassing when you realise 5 minutes into a ride.

Hm, I'm on 80 minutes for my only attempt. Some work to do there then

My best was in a group workout, banded. I can't imagine improving it without some serious weightless <60 minutes is 3.2 W/kg.

[PaulF]

Doing 3w/kg down 8% to stay in the slipstream of a guy doing 0w/kg.  On the flat, eat my dust, punk.  Happened twice now, both yanks.

When riders work that hard to hold me on a descent I just laugh at the n00b. Supertuck. Nothing to do with nationality, it's just using the game mechanics.

https://zwiftinsider.com/supertuck

Not always because they're a noob - OK I am a noob but, for example, I was on a workout plan yesterday that meant I was having to ride flat out down Ventoux to stick with the plan.

[citoyen]

My wife wanted to have a go on Zwift so I set up her hybrid on the turbo and logged her in with my account and now she’s hooked. She’ll have to get her own account now.

Not only that, all her friends in her running group have seen her activity on Strava and they want to play too, so they’re all pelting me with questions about what turbo to buy... yeah, good luck finding any available.

[L CC]

Doing 3w/kg down 8% to stay in the slipstream of a guy doing 0w/kg.  On the flat, eat my dust, punk.  Happened twice now, both yanks.

When riders work that hard to hold me on a descent I just laugh at the n00b. Supertuck. Nothing to do with nationality, it's just using the game mechanics.

https://zwiftinsider.com/supertuck

Not always because they're a noob - OK I am a noob but, for example, I was on a workout plan yesterday that meant I was having to ride flat out down Ventoux to stick with the plan.

O for sure, but you can see when someone's doing a workout and where they're fighting to hold your wheel.

[TimC]

I know that it is 'only a game' but I found it really off-putting that one of the avatars that I was riding with for some time on yesterday evening's TdZ ride up Ven-Top wasn't pedalling while I was slogging my guts out!

Cadence connection failure. Really embarrassing when you realise 5 minutes into a ride.

Hm, I'm on 80 minutes for my only attempt. Some work to do there then

My best was in a group workout, banded. I can't imagine improving it without some serious weightless <60 minutes is 3.2 W/kg.

3.2w/kg for a 60 minute climb is for Alpe de Zwift (Huez) not Ven Top (Ventoux). A 3.2w/kg average up that would come out around 90-100 minutes, I think. The Tour de Zwift climb, however (the Reine) is only to Cafe Reynard, about 10km short of the top.

Doing 3w/kg down 8% to stay in the slipstream of a guy doing 0w/kg.  On the flat, eat my dust, punk.  Happened twice now, both yanks.

As fboab implies, if you stop pedalling once you get over 58kph on a slope of 6%+, your avatar will adopt the 'supertuck' and will more than likely accelerate. If you have a misguided soul who's pedalling like crazy ahead of you to go downhill, you may well get a bit of extra speed for free. I've managed over 100kph without pedalling down the Radio Tower road. If you're lucky enough to have a Tacx Neo, the trainer will motor to simulate freewheeling, which will give you extra speed over a non-motorised trainer, so you can effectively e-dope!

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

It's good to hear the explanation.  I am happy to keep pedalling down descents as I would in reality (usually) until I spin out but I will give the supertuck a go out of curiosity. 

[drossall]

It's a new one on me (on Zwift - obviously I've seen it in the Tour, and never felt the slightest inclination to try it IRL). My trainer bike is a single speed - when I first started, it was on fixed - so I've tended to keep pedalling at the same rate, uphill or down. And I read somewhere that you don't get XPs (or was it drops?) when you're not pedalling. I'll give it a try.

[Notsototalnewbie]

I found out about the supertuck by mistake, as the group leader asked us to slow down to bring the group back together and I stopped pedalling. I found it most amusing given it's a position I'm highly unlikely to attempt in real life.

My favourite part of Zwift is the social side. When you get a good group on Discord it's great.  A bit like a good YACF ride in ye olden days.

[L CC]

It's a new one on me (on Zwift - obviously I've seen it in the Tour, and never felt the slightest inclination to try it IRL). My trainer bike is a single speed - when I first started, it was on fixed - so I've tended to keep pedalling at the same rate, uphill or down. And I read somewhere that you don't get XPs (or was it drops?) when you're not pedalling. I'll give it a try.

It's drops you don't get when not pedalling. I can live with that - there's nothing to spend my 6 million on, till Level 45 & new disc wheels. I view it as practise for tandem descents. Close your eyes and trust the captain on those hairpins.

[rafletcher]

My wife wanted to have a go on Zwift so I set up her hybrid on the turbo and logged her in with my account and now she’s hooked. She’ll have to get her own account now.

Not only that, all her friends in her running group have seen her activity on Strava and they want to play too, so they’re all pelting me with questions about what turbo to buy... yeah, good luck finding any available.

There's 1 Elite Direto showing @ Sigmasport.... 

[drossall]

It's drops you don't get when not pedalling. I can live with that - there's nothing to spend my 6 million on, till Level 45 & new disc wheels. I view it as practise for tandem descents. Close your eyes and trust the captain on those hairpins.

Yes, I think you're right. I've nearly got more Zwift bikes than real ones now. There's something hazy coming back to me from my physics degree about using Greek symbols for representing imaginary numbers or something, so I guess we should be talking about nu+1?

re tandems, if Zwift did cameras then you could practice with those. I remember a story about a pair of whom the stoker would take photos hands off at 40mph down Alpine descents, while her husband steered.

[Chris S]

re tandems, if Zwift did cameras then you could practice with those. I remember a story about a pair of whom the stoker would take photos hands off at 40mph down Alpine descents, while her husband steered.

Can't quite run to Alpine descents - how about the A68 descending from Kiln Pit Hill toward Hexham? According to RWGPS, we were doing about 70kph. I can't say whether fboab had both hands off though.



(I believe the gradient sign coming up says 14%).

(The shadow in front of us is flatearthbob's)

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Tried the super tuck this afternoon and it worked a treat. I got my avatar started then got off, and left it to it while I had a shower.

[drossall]

I'm getting a weird idea for a downhill racing event for riderless turbo trainers

[PaulF]

I'm getting a weird idea for a downhill racing event for riderless turbo trainers

Count me in!

[chrisbainbridge]

I'm getting a weird idea for a downhill racing event for riderless turbo trainers

Count me in!

But presumably we would have to ride up first?  Would you be able to e-dope by getting heavier flywheels or bigger motors?

[gibbo]

My Zwift addiction, as reported back in July '20, has resulted in me doing more virtual km than real life. I managed a year's total (my highest ever) of 9850km of which Zwift accounted for 5869km. So far this year I've done ~750km Zwift and zero real life...

I did a few Audaxes and got a mixed bag of comments from fellow members on here but if I hadn't have done the virtual rides I wouldn't have ridden at all so, for me, that's still better than nothing even if it's not real.

I've also pretty much stopped doing Winter MTB and have gone totally soft. The thought of getting crapped up (me, the bike and the washing machine) by riding through floods and mud then having to spend an hour or so cleaning said bike means the incentive to ride is diminishing, sadly.

That said, I am looking forward to doing group rides with real people again, one day...

[Legs]

As fboab implies, if you stop pedalling once you get over 58kph on a slope of 6%+, your avatar will adopt the 'supertuck' and will more than likely accelerate. If you have a misguided soul who's pedalling like crazy ahead of you to go downhill, you may well get a bit of extra speed for free. I've managed over 100kph without pedalling down the Radio Tower road. If you're lucky enough to have a Tacx Neo, the trainer will motor to simulate freewheeling, which will give you extra speed over a non-motorised trainer, so you can effectively e-dope!

I'm not convinced that the physics of descending are quite right in Zwift.  I struggle to get much past 50mph, even on the protracted 10-12% descent off Mont Ven-top.  Supertucking down AdZ I top out at only about 45mph...  I'm 6'3" and 74kg so probably not optimally sized.

I'm using a Tacx Neo 2T and have the "trainer difficulty" set to 50% - does that mean that it's treating the descent as if it's only half as steep as those who have it set to 100%?