The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

Soldato
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i have a pretty good laptop available to use (well choice of 2 really, or my PC: laptops are: Asus Ga502 or an Asus Scar II)

What kind budget HR monitor would fit the bill then?

then i can start doing some reading tonight.
 
Soldato
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You don't need a HR monitor for Zwift but I believe if you race you may get called out for cheating if you don't have HR data too. (correct me if I'm wrong guys, barely used Zwift myself)

Also a bunch of the other Zwift competitors are doing free trials at the moment due to lockdowns. RGT Cycling, Rouvy, Sufferfest. Worth exploring those options as well as Zwift.

Wahoo Tickr often seen for about £30 or so. Has bluetooth and ant+ so I'd try pick one of those up. Below that won't much good.
 
Soldato
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You don't need a HR monitor for Zwift but I believe if you race you may get called out for cheating if you don't have HR data too. (correct me if I'm wrong guys, barely used Zwift myself)

Also a bunch of the other Zwift competitors are doing free trials at the moment due to lockdowns. RGT Cycling, Rouvy, Sufferfest. Worth exploring those options as well as Zwift.

In addition to above, a lot of Zwift races will exclude "zpower" riders from official results on www.zwiftpower.com , as in riders not using a smart turbo that has a true power reading source or a separate power meter source that could be used outdoors too (such as the 4iiii Precision crank power meters).
 
Soldato
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Yeah for that you're not really going to need HR. I don't know if it plays into workout calculations but even then power is the main number. You certainly wouldn't need HR to start off. Maybe just get it in future if you feel the need.
 
Soldato
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Cheapest route?

2nd hand trainer
Android / iPhone Zwift app
Bike you own
multiple email addresses and just sign up each time you do it and you get a free 25km ride (if you ride past 25km on your trial ride it lets you carry on for that session)

If you don't care about the points, levels and all that crap that comes with it the above is the cheapest route to do for sure.
 
Associate
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(if you ride past 25km on your trial ride it lets you carry on for that session)

Did not know that! For reference - if you are a lapsed subscriber - not sure if its the same for trial members - you get 25km free per month which is enough for 2 decent rainy day workouts if you ride "Road to sky" on Watopia.
 
Soldato
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Wigan
Had my trainer connection drop once each ride the past two days. Only for 1-2 seconds, but very annoying.

Not sure if it’s combined with a big Zwift event starting or due to a Zwift update. I’m using the same trainer, ant stick, computer etc I have used for the past 4 years with no issues. I do have a usb extension I can try but it’s just awkward setting that up every time, it’s a desktop pc with the stick plugged in the front currently.
 

SPG

SPG

Soldato
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Personally i have moved over to RGT now, for a start its free and personally i find it better than zwift a much cleaner UI and none of the gimmicky mario kart power ups zwift has :)
 
Soldato
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Had my trainer connection drop once each ride the past two days. Only for 1-2 seconds, but very annoying.

Not sure if it’s combined with a big Zwift event starting or due to a Zwift update. I’m using the same trainer, ant stick, computer etc I have used for the past 4 years with no issues. I do have a usb extension I can try but it’s just awkward setting that up every time, it’s a desktop pc with the stick plugged in the front currently.

I had used the same laptop/ANT stick for 4 years with absolutely minimum issues. A dropout here and there but could count one hand how many in those 4 years so was not a problem.

Recently was getting a dropouts that would disconnect everything completely and not re-connect. Only thing I could do was re-launch the game and get them back.... it happened during 2 big broadcast races so I got very annoyed and ordered a new ANT stick.
That made a difference in that the full on loses stopped but I would get at least one dropout of 3-6 seconds every ride. So I was just hoping it would happen at a bit in races where I could recover it. 5 seconds drop on a A+ race is 99% getting spat and not getting back regardless how strong you are so it was very very annoying.

Moved my Kickr to bluetooth now. Cadence and HR still on ANT.... been this way since February now and not experienced one single dropout at all on either ANT or BT.

so if you can. Keep everything ANT and move trainer to BT.... my friend on the team has done this also and his story is literally a copy/paste of mine and now he has no issues ever with dropouts either.
 
Soldato
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Will having ERG mode let me just pick a cadence and pedal?
That's exactly what ERG is!

Whatever gearing and cadence you're using it'll calculate what resistance it needs to apply for you to produce the power required... Within reason. By that I mean you can assist it with big power changes between intervals with a gear change or two (or 3). It can sometimes take too long to 'change' resistance otherwise on short intervals (changes so much per second so it doesn't feel like hitting a wall). The more expensive a trainer you get they are generally better at this, but if big interval changes and accuracy due to training sessions are your primary concern then there's 'better' trainers at is than some others (which are generally better overall trainers).

With all the pro racing going on Zwift currently, I would hope to see improved drafting physics etc and improvements in the racing dynamics to make it more reflective of the real world, be interesting to see the Zwift roadmap for improvements over the next 6 months.
You're talking about the company who can't fix bugs that have been in there for years... Or things like the fence they added, worked well for months and then they broke it with something else then 3 bug fixes later they gave up and pulled it....? ;)

Zwift is like any other game platform that lends itself to eSports. People playing competitively constantly get frustrated at the broken game model/physics but they make up such a tiny percentage of the user base that the devs just ignore it until those players quit and get replaced.
This.

Ne need. Can you imagine if they added steering support (I think they're already working on that?) and collision detection to Zwift? It'd be utter carnage.
Zwift had steering in at the start but it was pulled. Any of the other platforms with it seem to have problems.

As the above was a proper mess I'd been meaning to sort for ages, such as:
44kD9pw.jpg
If that counts as a mess you should see mine! ;)

Really amazing setup you have there buddy, have always been jealous, even more so now!

Keep pedaling on people!!
You too buddy, some big numbers in there of the wrong kind, but some amazing progress too! I'm still floating around just below my winter weight and just can't seem to trim it, but I think it's the lack of consistency with types of riding. Also our junk bathroom scales. One side of the room I weigh at 79kg, the other side 72kg. I generally try to weigh myself in the same bit of floor and several times to get an average/consistent number. Sometimes that can be 5-6 times! :rolleyes:

How they are where they are is baffling because they are one of the most incompetent groups of people I have ever come across in terms of service/product offering.
Because the competition is even worse, or have much smaller setups with much smaller engines and smaller 'load' of riders all demanding so much.

Personally i have moved over to RGT now, for a start its free and personally i find it better than zwift a much cleaner UI and none of the gimmicky mario kart power ups zwift has :)
PU's have never really bugged me that much, they can give a good edge at the highest levels of racing right at the finish, but for the majority of us they really shouldn't be a reason for dropping off the platform. But they are one of the things easily removed/dropped by ride and race organisers, who seldom do...

so if you can. Keep everything ANT and move trainer to BT.... my friend on the team has done this also and his story is literally a copy/paste of mine and now he has no issues ever with dropouts either.
Really good info and findings. When mine bugs me next time I'll give that a go. I think most of the times I've had problems the last ~8 months on there they've always been in some big rides and usually other people complaining too, so I'd say 50-75% of the dropouts I have are server side/engine problems... :rolleyes:
 
Soldato
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You too buddy, some big numbers in there of the wrong kind, but some amazing progress too! I'm still floating around just below my winter weight and just can't seem to trim it, but I think it's the lack of consistency with types of riding. Also our junk bathroom scales. One side of the room I weigh at 79kg, the other side 72kg. I generally try to weigh myself in the same bit of floor and several times to get an average/consistent number. Sometimes that can be 5-6 times! :rolleyes:

Haha I just really like food... I fell out the habit of riding, or general exercise and as such it's not hard for the numbers to grow and grow! Shocking really though when you realise. I'm really liking lockdown though as I put the time there to workout and I'm just enjoying riding. Still trying to enjoy life while at the same time eating better, not constant boozing and riding / HIIT seems to be helping the numbers come down gradually. I'd rather do it more gradually than cut it all out and be miserable.

Anyway, had a day off yesterday so had a nice 60min flat blast today between meetings. Felt like I had good energy and put out some nice power. Upped my FTP to 247w. Not great for the size of me, but hopefully that'll come down and the watts get back to where I was before 270+ ftp!

Progress is progress.
 
Soldato
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Anyway, had a day off yesterday so had a nice 60min flat blast today between meetings. Felt like I had good energy and put out some nice power. Upped my FTP to 247w. Not great for the size of me, but hopefully that'll come down and the watts get back to where I was before 270+ ftp!

Progress is progress.
Enjoying it is key, as that can be all the motivation you need to continue regular riding. When the enjoyment drops and you're only riding because you 'feel you have to' then it's really hard and you soon slip. So keep things varied, keep things interesting and keep it as fun/light-hearted as you can! Riding 3 times easy/fun/social rides a week is better than 3 hard sessions you don't enjoy as you end up rewarding yourself with extra treats/beers for doing them, are back to square 1 and have less motivation the next week...! :D

I'm enjoying lockdown too, have got so much time with my boy and also got loads of overdue house stuff done... All while being paid 80%... For 3 months! :cool: But totally agree on the whole snacks/treats/beers thing. Just so tempting! :o

My FTP is currently around the same as yours, I'm so out of practice of hard interval type riding as I've been riding outside and loving it. So when it's come to the intervals for a test I keep blowing up. So although I'm feeling fast outside and smashing loads of stuff, I'm actually less conditioned to those long hard intervals/efforts. Some change in the weather this week I'm going to do several Zwift races as they're an 'easy' way back into that kind of threshold/Z4 riding which will help with those long intervals... Just without the boredom of doing over/unders or such.

I've failed 4 tests in the last couple of months so stuck my FTP at 231W (Zwift calculated from a fail) and left it there. A couple of increases from the small number of races and I think it's back up to 249W now, but I'm just going to let it do it's thing... Think the only 'test' I may try is a ramp test after a few races this week. It'll suit what I'm doing - efforts until I blow up! ;)
 
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Associate
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With regards to the dropouts - I used to use a low-profile Suunto branded ANT usb stick. When I had dropout problems I eventually replaced it with a larger no-brand cheap stick which turned out much better.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the trainers have no way to know which wireless system they are supposed to be using at any time so you may get connection problems caused by other bluetooth devices. This may explain why running it on BT instead of ANT causes fewer issues.
 
Soldato
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I've failed 4 tests in the last couple of months so stuck my FTP at 231W (Zwift calculated from a fail) and left it there. A couple of increases from the small number of races and I think it's back up to 249W now, but I'm just going to let it do it's thing... Think the only 'test' I may try is a ramp test after a few races this week. It'll suit what I'm doing - efforts until I blow up! ;)

Haha I've been tempted by the ramp... I think I'll give it a shot after a rested well fed weekend and see how I fair!
 
Associate
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Would buying a Wahoo Kickr be considered silly if I'm upgrading from a Tac-X Blue Matic, and to start Zwift for the first time? Eager to go with Wahoo to keep within their product line as I've got the computer etc... but the Core is not available anywhere and eager to get started.
 
Soldato
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Would buying a Wahoo Kickr be considered silly if I'm upgrading from a Tac-X Blue Matic, and to start Zwift for the first time? Eager to go with Wahoo to keep within their product line as I've got the computer etc... but the Core is not available anywhere and eager to get started.

Nope. Good move.
I went from a bottom end basic Elite wheel on trainer to a Kickr back in 2016 and it remains a great piece of kit to this day.
 
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