Road Cycling

Jon33 said:
Sounds like fun, I'll have a crack tomorrow!
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Goodluck! As I mentioned, Zwift can be used as 'just a tool' to accomplish things like intervals (like TR) and other guided training, but it can also be used as a distraction - when you need something to 'just spin' along to.
merlin said:
All signed up to my first Sportive - MadMarchHare in March 17 so got some time to just..... be faster.
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Awesome, very tempted myself... Anyone else doing it? A couple from here rode it last year but I can't for the life of me remember who?!
touch said:
Dont attack the hills, ride the whole segment at a consistent effort.
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Or only attack the hill if you can maintain the power (& have the gears!) to continue it down the hill to obliterate the little rise (before putting the anchor on for the roundabout! And be damn careful!) :D
 
Anyone with a vortex and zwift... I haven't used zwift for about a year :/

Anyway, what's the max incline it goes up to? I know the vortex will go up to 7% but I thought the zwift maps were steeper? How's that work?
 
Jono said:
Anyone with a vortex and zwift... I haven't used zwift for about a year :/

Anyway, what's the max incline it goes up to? I know the vortex will go up to 7% but I thought the zwift maps were steeper? How's that work?
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In very basic terminology (it's far too complex for me to fully understand or easily explain):

The Trainer will introduce resistance to simulate the power required to maintain your current speed up to 7%. As the trainer is calculating a power level from you then it passes the power output to Zwift for their software to calculate your 'speed' on screen.

The Zwift software using your power output (calculated against your set rider weight in your profile) plots on screen how 'fast' your avatar moves up the slope. As power levels increase (your weight is constant) it recalculates, passing data back to your SMART trainer to increase/decrease resistance. Once the trainer 'maxes out' at 7% any increases in gradient won't make pedalling harder, just your avatar on screen will 'slow down' in relation to your power output.

It's a hard one to write/figure out but this does well explaining it from the 'real world': http://theclimbingcyclist.com/gradients-and-cycling-how-much-harder-are-steeper-climbs/

And then this site has a form you can use to figure things out for you: https://www.gribble.org/cycling/power_v_speed.html

Out on the road I always tell myself anything over 5% to maintain 10mph+ is 220W (around my threshold). I'm talking long climbs which are going to be over 5 mins+ (for my 'proper' climbing pacing, basically telling myself to ease off to 10mph!).

As there's no wind resistance (over whatever Zwift take into account as an overhead? Winds don't blow on Wattopia...), there are tons of other calculations Zwift use to judge your power level against your onscreen avatar, it's more than power:weight judged against % slope. There's things like rolling resistance, drivetrain losses, wind/drag resistance in there too to make it as accurate as possible to 'real' conditions.
 
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I am now back into the warm and welcome embrace of Scotland.
My venture to that England was fine and well. Thank **** I didn't take a bike because cycling in that Burnley/Rawtenstall area would have been my death. If I lived in this area I would not ride a bike, not a chance in hell. The steep little hills are amazing, but the amount of cars/people is just ridiculous and everyone is on a complete mission at all times.

Some bakery refused to take a Scottish £10 note. Said it was company policy. Everyone should feel lucky WW3 did not begin and I remained calm (kinda).
I have to come back to England for a wedding in January unfortunately, but after that, I shall vow never to return and leave you all to it :) My appreciation for where I am lucky enough to live could not have grown greater.
 
Roady said:
In very basic terminology (insert loads of words)
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In a more simple explanation. You'll only feel 7%. Your on screen dude will travel at the speed of the 15% you see on screen, but you'll physically max your resistance of the trainer at 7, so you can only ever feel you're climbing a 7% hill on the Vortex.
 
xdcx said:
I am now back into the warm and welcome embrace of Scotland.
My venture to that England was fine and well. Thank **** I didn't take a bike because cycling in that Burnley/Rawtenstall area would have been my death. If I lived in this area I would not ride a bike, not a chance in hell. The steep little hills are amazing, but the amount of cars/people is just ridiculous and everyone is on a complete mission at all times.

Some bakery refused to take a Scottish £10 note. Said it was company policy. Everyone should feel lucky WW3 did not begin and I remained calm (kinda).
I have to come back to England for a wedding in January unfortunately, but after that, I shall vow never to return and leave you all to it :) My appreciation for where I am lucky enough to live could not have grown greater.
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Some places also don't take monopoly money down here :p
 
I currently have no headset on my Aeroad, and no top cap on my ultimate. Which is nice. Hopefully the aerocockpit is on tight enough not to come off mid ride.
I never got a head cap with my ultimate, so just kept swapping them between bikes, but must have overdone the tightening on it once and so it got stuck in the inner threaded section of the heatset in the forks, and it all came out with it. Doh.

Contacted Canyon though and they've got the parts on order and will be on the way to me, so hope that isn't too much of a ballache. They've been really good so far.
 
xdcx said:
Some bakery refused to take a Scottish £10 note. Said it was company policy. Everyone should feel lucky WW3 did not begin and I remained calm (kinda).
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I suffer this a lot because I work in Edinburgh so end up having Scottish notes more often than not. The whole thing could be helped if the Scottish treasury weren't such morons and just stuck with one issuing bank instead of 3. If you want 3 issuing banks then make the notes look the ******* same instead of all completely different. Some people may have seen 1 type of Scottish note but not 3 unless in Scotland, so how the hell are they expected to accept something they haven't ever seen before.
 
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Bear said:
I suffer this a lot because I work in Edinburgh so end up having Scottish notes more often than not. The whole thing could be helped if the Scottish treasury weren't such morons and just stuck with one issuing bank instead of 3. If you want 3 issuing banks then make the notes look the ******* same instead of all completely different. Some people may have seen 1 type of Scottish note but not 3 unless in Scotland, so how the hell are they expected to accept something they haven't ever seen before.
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THAT'S LEGAL TENDER!

After we bought the pies and cakes (with scabby English money featuring some arse called Elizabeth all over them) the lady tried to have a nice conversation. Word for word:
"oh, my son is going to university next year and I bet he will always come back home with that Scottish money which will be a pain.... it's in Edinburgh, is it nice there?"

My girlfriend just looked at me anticipating meltdown :p
 
FrenchTart said:
I actually didn't even know that. How ridiculous.
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The worst thing is that each issuing bank prints notes which are different from the others (although they are the same colour luckily), so you have £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes with each having three different designs, so you have 12 different looking notes to our four. Scotland also has a £1 note in circulation although its rare to get one, they are about. Imagine someone trying to pass a £1 note to some shop in England and they would think you are having a laugh.
 
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