The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

booooo

Anyone got or playing around with a Zwift Ride (and Kickr Core)?

Getting twitchy, and thinking about upgrading my old Atom first gen. Can still get decent money for them (if serviced well), so playing with options. The reviews all seem super positive.
I’ve said it on here before but I rode one in the Rapha store in Melbourne. Thoiught it was great. I’ve got a tacx neo witch has already been replaced under warranty but when and if it finally dies I’d have no hesitation in getting the zwift ride and coupling it with a cheap second hand trainer off marketplace.
 
It’s in the flywheel, it’s lighter and smaller meaning capable of lesser power outputs and gradient simulation. At least that’s what I gather from online literature. How much of this actually has a meaningful difference to non pros is probably debatable.

One advantage of the zwift bike I feel is that fact it only has the crank and chain as moving parts in comparison to the other static bikes meaning less stuff to go wrong leaving you able to pick up whichever trainer you like to pair as here for me at least there are dozens on marketplace. You could upgrade to full kickr later down the line if budget was a concern short time.
 
Anyone got or playing around with a Zwift Ride (and Kickr Core)?

Getting twitchy, and thinking about upgrading my old Atom first gen. Can still get decent money for them (if serviced well), so playing with options. The reviews all seem super positive.
The riders I know who've got the Ride seem to love it - plenty of them coming from - or even having alongside Smartbikes/Wattbikes. Especially if you have an old Atom and feel you can get money for it, hard to say not to...

Really if my Kickr v5 was compatible with the Cog I'd probably go the Ride route, but as it's not, I'll be staying on my alloy frame with Di2 and shifting (then have to deal with the 'pain' of BT on AppleTV to keep steering - which I'm mostly working around these days anyway without too much issue). I think I'm pretty much locked in until my KICKRv5 dies, got it start of 2022 and it's had zero issues. Probably needs a bit of a clean & service (as does my bike & likely needs a BB & chain), but at £699 I got a mega deal I'm at the point I've had my moneys worth out of it - while it also not enough value selling it to upgrade. It always irked me they made the older Core's 'better' as they're Cog compatible, then the Premium KICKR misses the physical hardware so no firmware update can help it... But it did come out at a time when Wahoo where at odds with Zwift and bought in with RGT to directly compete. Meh.

@Vandle that's good to hear. They certainly seem to get rave reviews. The only thing I'm trying to figure out is what you don't get by having the Kickr Core (and not the 'full spec' Kickr).
Lighter flywheel 5.4kg vs 7.2kg (only marginal when considering the Ride+Hub for gearing)
KICKR more stable - the legs spread wider and it's heavier (likely no impact for you as not a massive heavy sprinter)
Core has less gradient simulation - 16% vs 20% (really no difference)
Core is Wireless only, no DirectConnect adaptor so you can't use 'Race Mode' (no real difference to most riders - I've not even bothered to use it)
Core has less maximum wattage - no difference for you (1800W vs 2000W lol)

Really the amount the Core gives you there's no comparison, especially when bought together as the Zwift Ride+Cog bundle, along with the massive price reduction Wahoo did on them... I wouldn't advise anyone to buy a full Kickr these days (probably why they made it the ' KICKR MOVE' and not just a Kickr v7).
 
@Roady haha so basically if I'm a world tour sprinter, then I'll notice a difference!

My Atom needs a service ideally, mainly for peace of mind if I chose to sell it. It's done 18k miles and still going strong, but they are built like a tank, so I'd expect so! Didn't realise the new ones are over £2k too!

hmmm.....need to run it past the misses too ;)
 
Wonder if any of you guys know, I'm on the keto diet and so far haven't done any longer than 2h rides, I have no idea how fueling is going to work, any of you any knowledge of it?
 
Wow thats going to be a tricky one! What's the basis for a keto diet? Seems odd to cut out the one macro that provides the best energy (for exercise at least)
 
Wow thats going to be a tricky one! What's the basis for a keto diet? Seems odd to cut out the one macro that provides the best energy (for exercise at least)
My son (7) has just gone on it for medical reasons, (it can help with his type of seizures).
The dietician encouraged one or both parents to do it for a while as well to make his transition easier and to figure out the foods. I'm planning on doing it for a couple of months.

So far I know that MCT oil specifically C8 is the fastest absorbed oil bit your limited to how much of that you can have so can't just consume 100s of calories of it.

Might just try it without because so far my rides up to 2 hours i feel full of energy throughout, setting PBs still.
 
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@Roady haha so basically if I'm a world tour sprinter, then I'll notice a difference!

Yeah hardware wise I do think Wahoo shot themselves in the foot a little - they made the Core so darn good for mid-high market it was aimed at... Then dropped the price to kill off competition - so it became mid/low, while it also created an even bigger gap between the Core and 'full' KICKR price wise when there is very little or minor hardware/functionality and features.

The disagreements with Zwift that lead to the demise of RGT and them becoming closer than ever to Zwift afterwards did this - they used the Core as that 'mainstream' trainer to keep costs low in that partnership with Zwift. Probably to make sure Zwifts trainer hardware stayed dead/down - while also again killing competition from others to do the same partnership. The Core is the standard these days. It's turned into the trainer to have low/mid and even towards high-end due to that Zwift integration with the Hub/Cog and Ride (not to mention the 'free 12 months' sub they where doing with it). You don't gain enough with the MOVE - except the movement. I still don't understand that trainer not being bundled with the CLIMB to make it a complete setup - really an alternate to a Smart Bike rather than a 'Premium' trainer to the Basic Core (with it only really offering movement).

Still got a good racing teammate who went from Tacx bike, to Atom, to Zwift Ride (on a Core I think) and 'upgraded' to the JetBlack Victory as there's things there which are better than the Core (data channels bridge, race mode, Direct connect wifi). That actually could be the best 'budget' option if you can get a deal on it with a Ride+Cog+Zwift sub. Really if you can factor a 12 month Zwift sub into it too as a 'selling' point (as really not cheap these days)!
 
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It does sound appealing, and I guess I also have a trainer that I can out another bike (TT) on if I want to (albeit after buying a cassette too).
You can tell I'm trying to find negatives for this lol! Only one I've found is the footprint is slightly longer, so might need to rejig the spare room around a bit.
 
Wonder if any of you guys know, I'm on the keto diet and so far haven't done any longer than 2h rides, I have no idea how fueling is going to work, any of you any knowledge of it?
from what I know keto is perfect for endurance
once fat adapted, basically 1-2 weeks on keto, you should be able to fuel a moderate exercise of indefinite length simply from your fat stores
hydration/electrolytes remain important
I think I saw somewhere respiratory rate will be relatively higher, you need slightly more oxygen to burn fat compared to carbs for same amount of energy
 
Yeah hardware wise I do think Wahoo shot themselves in the foot a little - they made the Core so darn good for mid-high market it was aimed at... Then dropped the price to kill off competition - so it became mid/low, while it also created an even bigger gap between the Core and 'full' KICKR price wise when there is very little or minor hardware/functionality and features.

The real "kicker" if you will pardon the pun is that I bought a V5 which was far more expensive than the older core and when the cog came out I couldn't use that on the V5 but you could on the core. Absolute joke. Lost a fair amount of trust in Wahoo over that one.
 
from what I know keto is perfect for endurance
once fat adapted, basically 1-2 weeks on keto, you should be able to fuel a moderate exercise of indefinite length simply from your fat stores
hydration/electrolytes remain important
I think I saw somewhere respiratory rate will be relatively higher, you need slightly more oxygen to burn fat compared to carbs for same amount of energy
Explains why my local rides feel like I don't need to fuel throughout.
Some reading suggest if I don't overdo the carbs during intense exercise you completely burn them off but you have to be careful to only take just enough.
 
Some reading suggest if I don't overdo the carbs during intense exercise you completely burn them off but you have to be careful to only take just enough.
yeah, during workout muscles soak up extra blood glucose before insulin spikes
exact carb amount and timing so that you stay in ketosis comes with experience, but the point is, carbs are not necessary

there are some handwavy claims that carbs after workout maybe help restore glycogen in muscles faster, nothing conclusive
 
Crazy ride this morning, I went all out on a fair few sections for 2 hours. Well into what Garmin calls Tempo high aerobic, no breakfast and no fueling throughout just an electrolyte tablet and plenty of water. Set PBs everywhere, finished the ride feeling like I could go again.

Going to recover and try a ramp test on Sunday see how that goes.
 
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The real "kicker" if you will pardon the pun is that I bought a V5 which was far more expensive than the older core and when the cog came out I couldn't use that on the V5 but you could on the core. Absolute joke. Lost a fair amount of trust in Wahoo over that one.
I'm in exactly the same boat mate...! Was very annoyed at the time - especially as they seemed to hint it was coming, like it could just have been a firmware update. Then when the partnership with Zwift was all directed at the Core it wasn't even a 'maybe'. The hardware couldn't do it all along.
 
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I thought Zwift had forgotten about us and we were to escape the price rise. Nope. Up 50% from 9th September. Up to $29.99 from $19.99. I've been a subscriber for about 5 years. How can they justify such a big jump? Not that they have to I suppose.
 
I thought Zwift had forgotten about us and we were to escape the price rise. Nope. Up 50% from 9th September. Up to $29.99 from $19.99. I've been a subscriber for about 5 years. How can they justify such a big jump? Not that they have to I suppose.

Because they hadn't put the price up for something like 7 years. It was a stupid thing to do because people would likely have been fine with a small increase every year or two but I think it was 40% when they finally did it.
 
cancelled my zwift renewal, I don't use it enough to pay yearly, I'll do a monthly once winter hits and I get back on indoor more.
 
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