Author Topic: Zwifting - I think I need help! (Read 76752 times)

Defblade · « **Reply #475 on:** 20 July, 2021, 08:17:31 pm »

Quote from: Legs on 20 July, 2021, 11:36:02 am

All good, apart from the clothes-not-fitting thing

I'm planning to do the Uber Pretzel early in the morning on 31 July. By then, I'll have got 47,650m of climbing under my belt towards the Tron bike, with the intention that I tick over to 50,000 at the summit of the Alpe. If you happen to be pootling around Watopia that morning, be sure to drop me a Ride On! My longest Zwift ride so far is 50km so it'll be a bit of a journey into the unknown...

If you're not time limited, I'd strongly suggest getting off the bike for 5 or 10 minutes every hour. Keep plenty of hydration to hand and don't neglect eating, either - little and often. Good luck!

(I've got about 7000m to go... if all my real life rides this year counted, I'd have mashed it long ago

)

drossall · « **Reply #476 on:** 20 July, 2021, 09:10:59 pm »

I've got about 20,000ft to go for my Tron bike, because I always cycle in Imperial

Not that I really want it; I probably won't bother riding it, as the Zwift worlds are fantasy enough for me, without adding a fantasy bike as well

I've never been a climber, but I thought I ought to choose an objective. I must have been going at it for nearly a year - riding quite a lot in the winter, but not really doing anything to choose hilly routes or in any other way get there quicker. At first, I assumed that I just had to Everest it; it was a bit of a shock to get there and discover that I had twice more to go.

I have a mad, perverse plan to finish it off by doing the Tempus Fugit route, which must have pretty-much the least climbing of any in the game. That will take a bit of advance planning and route choice for the preceding rides though

Asterix, the former Gaul. · « **Reply #477 on:** 21 July, 2021, 08:13:51 am »

Quote from: Defblade on 20 July, 2021, 08:17:31 pm

Quote from: Legs on 20 July, 2021, 11:36:02 am
All good, apart from the clothes-not-fitting thing

I'm planning to do the Uber Pretzel early in the morning on 31 July. By then, I'll have got 47,650m of climbing under my belt towards the Tron bike, with the intention that I tick over to 50,000 at the summit of the Alpe. If you happen to be pootling around Watopia that morning, be sure to drop me a Ride On! My longest Zwift ride so far is 50km so it'll be a bit of a journey into the unknown...

If you're not time limited, I'd strongly suggest getting off the bike for 5 or 10 minutes every hour. Keep plenty of hydration to hand and don't neglect eating, either - little and often. Good luck!

(I've got about 7000m to go... if all my real life rides this year counted, I'd have mashed it long ago )

Bon courage with the Uber Legs

Re getting off the bike, I had to interrupt an attempt on the Alpe to unexpectedly pick Mrs A up from town early. I was midway up stage 5 but I’d lost my rhythm and even got a bit crampy. I made it but it was no fun. Any breaks I take in future will be where I can warm up again before doing climbs!

Having been using Zwift to train for my twice cancelled Alpine trip* I am now 12km above my Tron bike award. I like the sparkly effect but haven't really noticed any other difference.

*now booked for 2022

Legs · « **Reply #478 on:** 21 July, 2021, 08:44:15 am »

The Epic KOM would be great for a bit of freewheeling recovery (getting off the bike for a stretch), but it comes far too early on. Hopefully we’ll be able to latch onto a little group on Fuego Flats for a bit of speedy active recovery where it matters…

Got up the Alpe yesterday evening in a new PB of 48:05, in the Specialized Roval event. A bit disheartening to read this morning on Zwift Insider just how much of that might have been down to the event-assigned frame and wheels! Still, it was a ‘power best’ over the segment as well (296W at 73kg). I think it’d be nice to try rounding off the UP with a sub-hour ascent (~230W), but that might be quite tricky!

drossall · « **Reply #479 on:** 21 July, 2021, 07:18:19 pm »

Quote from: Legs on 21 July, 2021, 08:44:15 am

Got up the Alpe yesterday evening in a new PB of 48:05...

Depressed

I'm somewhere around 80 minutes. Zwift's feature most faithful to real life is its reproduction of my inability at climbing.

Asterix, the former Gaul. · « **Reply #480 on:** 21 July, 2021, 08:02:55 pm »

Speed isn’t everything.. it’s how you enjoy the experience that counts.

drossall · « **Reply #481 on:** 21 July, 2021, 09:54:47 pm »

I didn't

I don't really know why. I quite like hills; after all, I get enough time to contemplate them. So I've only ever done it twice. Curiously, I did enjoy Ven Top, when I did that not long ago. Maybe I should try the Alpe again; my philosophy has always been that, if you're having trouble with a hill, you should find a bigger one (because that will change your perception that the first is really hard).

Legs · « **Reply #482 on:** 22 July, 2021, 08:04:09 am »

Quote from: asterix on 21 July, 2021, 08:13:51 am

I like the sparkly effect but haven't really noticed any other difference.

The difference between any of the bikes is virtually imperceptible, even if you’re racing. You’ll save a handful of seconds in a TT by choosing slightly better equipment. But I rate my TT performances in terms of power rather than speed. To my mind, there’s no value in being able to complete a leisure ride 30s faster.

What is quite useful is being able to fine-tune the amount of effort you want to put into group rides, e.g. by riding a gravel bike with Coco Cadence or a MTB with Dan Diesel.

L CC · « **Reply #483 on:** 22 July, 2021, 11:00:07 am »

Crazy Talk!

(I wear a TT helmet in our TTT for the extra slippy-ness - which Zwift claim doesn't exist. They lie. If you look faster you go faster, trufax)

drossall · « **Reply #484 on:** 29 July, 2021, 09:13:35 am »

Quote from: drossall on 20 July, 2021, 09:10:59 pm

I've got about 20,000ft to go for my Tron bike, because I always cycle in Imperial

My Android app has just updated itself, so I was watching the version numbers. There is a possibility that the app may reach the target before I do

chrisbainbridge · « **Reply #485 on:** 30 July, 2021, 03:02:26 pm »

I currently use Zwift on a PC and it takes a long time to load even on a 70Mb download. Is it faster on appleTV or other systems?

L CC · « **Reply #486 on:** 30 July, 2021, 04:10:09 pm »

I think so. Mr Smith is on Windows and I'm on Apple TV - mine fires up much faster.

chrisbainbridge · « **Reply #487 on:** 30 July, 2021, 04:23:41 pm »

Thanks fboab.

Legs · « **Reply #488 on:** 31 July, 2021, 10:41:02 am »

My 8yo just did a Ramp Test Lite on Zwift - his FTP is apparently 69W (2.0W/kg). He'll be thrashing me soon!

Asterix, the former Gaul. · « **Reply #489 on:** 31 July, 2021, 11:56:51 am »

IRL, climbing Ventoux, what I believe to have been a 12 year-old sailed past me a little before the tree-line, making it look so easy

. There were very few riders going up from Bedoin and I'm fairly sure he must have stopped at Le Chalet Reynard for a break so I could have reached the top first! Six years ago - perhaps he's a pro by now.

chrisbainbridge · « **Reply #490 on:** 31 July, 2021, 03:18:56 pm »

Quote from: fboab on 30 July, 2021, 04:10:09 pm

I think so. Mr Smith is on Windows and I'm on Apple TV - mine fires up much faster.

Just installed the app on Apple TV and it is incredibly fast to load compared to the PC. And that is on a decent PC (but not an SSD)

Asterix, the former Gaul. · « **Reply #491 on:** 31 July, 2021, 04:39:55 pm »

Quote from: chrisbainbridge on 30 July, 2021, 03:02:26 pm

I currently use Zwift on a PC and it takes a long time to load even on a 70Mb download. Is it faster on appleTV or other systems?

I use a recent iPad hooked to a games monitor. It’s as instant as a very instant thing.

chrisbainbridge · « **Reply #492 on:** 31 July, 2021, 09:04:16 pm »

Why is it so slow on a PC. I presumed it was because it had to download the whole "geography" every time but that is clearly not the case. Strange.

Legs · « **Reply #493 on:** 01 August, 2021, 02:35:37 pm »

Finished my UP with a 72 minute Alpe ascent, having completely blown my tits because of trying to do 100% trainer difficulty!

Asterix, the former Gaul. · « **Reply #494 on:** 01 August, 2021, 02:55:10 pm »

Chapeau!

A couple of days ago I just managed the Alpe on its own in 71'25", my fastest time so far and I was very pleased with it. My trainer is on 100% because I like things to be as close to real as possible. I'm booked to do the Raid Alpine, Nice to Geneva, starting in June 2022 but I don't expect to break any records TBH. Zwifting will help hugely though and one day I will try the Uber..

Legs · « **Reply #495 on:** 15 August, 2021, 07:57:03 pm »

First ride back on Zwift this morning, having momentarily fallen out of love with it after the Uber Pretzel, and a week of bikeless holiday. I did the Eidfjord workout from the Norseman workout series: it looks quite easy on paper but I found it really tough. I’m going to try working my way through the rest of the Norseman workouts to scrape back a bit of top-end fitness.

Racing would not be quite so much fun at the moment because I feel I’d be close to my limit, just trying not to get dropped by the As.

Asterix, the former Gaul. · « **Reply #496 on:** 19 August, 2021, 12:18:17 pm »

Hope your eldest is doing ok with covid recovery Legs.

Managed Ven-top a few days ago. Just under 2 hours which means I am just over 87 thousandth on the leader board which has 118618 on it. Must do better..

Legs · « **Reply #497 on:** 19 August, 2021, 12:45:11 pm »

Thanks asterix. TBH he's been worse with colds and stuff in the past - he used to be very susceptible to pyrexia as a littly - and he's quite happily reading and playing at home.

2 hrs on Ven-top is decent! It's a tough climb to stay mentally focussed on...

Legs · « **Reply #498 on:** 28 August, 2021, 07:54:28 am »

I did a ramp test today for the first time since January. I think that the test suits my physiology and psychology better than either a 20 minute or one hour test, so I think the result is a little inflated: I returned an FTP of 318W, a 6% improvement on my last estimated value… $:-\$

It’s certainly going to make the workouts challenging from here on!

DuncanM · « **Reply #499 on:** 28 August, 2021, 10:26:29 am »

That's very impressive - well done.

Good luck on your next few workouts!