The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

kaptainmarc · 21 Jan 2020 at 12:09

SPG said:
Personally i would save your money until you can afford a direct drive style trainer, It makes it much more fun and the more fun it is the more you will use it.

The cost of those isn't justifiable to me, This is more a quick solution to incorporate some Cardio into my strength training.

it will be used for warming up before a weight session and then a 10-15 minute HIT session.

Roady · 21 Jan 2020 at 12:23

Anyone do Stage 3 yet? Did it last night and rode it HARD!

https://www.strava.com/activities/3028862415

I hadn't ridden all weekend and was planning to ride the 7.30pm but actually jumped in/late joined the 7pm as I was much earlier than planned. Missed the first few minutes and 0.4 miles from the start but it threw me in at around 90th place (of 600). Interesting as that would be around where I'd expect to be as I do start very strongly (then fade!). Tail end of a massive strung out group so put some strong efforts in as my warm up (was running really late so joined totally cold, was still putting my shoes on when appeared in the pen!) and things where so cold in my garage (around zero) I just kept the effort up, deciding to go hard and hang on the group until the climb. I had good legs (possibly from not riding all weekend?) and felt fantastic all the way through even riding 35 minutes after a big meal. Could taste pie & gravy at the end as sprint was brutal! A teammate was closing up from behind the whole race as I was gradually dropping back. Had some good fun and worked together in our little group. We split things massively twice towards the finish and I won the sprint from the remaining group.

Full race report on activity. Really strong ride from me, quite a surprise. Strongest power numbers over 2 min - 1hr 30min across the board in 2020 so was really good to have fun doing so! :cool:

dodg3rman said:
had to check mine out after seeing this

Is there an easy way to check? Like something on the Zwift website or such?

kaptainmarc said:
seems well priced, any other suggestions?

No point buying a non-smart turbo these days, if you're even possibly looking at Zwifting. You just 'lose' out on so much of the experience and waste your money, if you get hooked on Zwift you'll want to change it within months (the bluematic is old tech. If budget is your main oncern then go second hand). Look for a Tacx Flow Smart (if you can find one from Decathlon/Halfords/Evans, they're a retail store only unit) or a Vortex Smart. Both should come in under/around your budget.

https://thehomegym.co.uk/turbo-trainers/tacx-flow-smart/

There's a few more smart (interactive/ERG) in the lower range now aswell, including the Novo which seems a very good setup and interesting for the money... But not heard of anyone with one yet.

For reviews and a buying guide then DCR is your oracle (and my go-to).

EDIT: But he's not reviewed a Novo, only mentioned it.

Robzere31 · 21 Jan 2020 at 14:33

Roady said:
Anyone do Stage 3 yet? Did it last night and rode it HARD!

https://www.strava.com/activities/3028862415

Yeah, just about made the 5.30pm start, climb on the bike at 5.27pm so no warm up.
As usual straight from the start the front pack are doing 5w/kg+
I settled in around 200/600 riders, until the kom climb where I felt good & took around 40 places.
After that it was an uneventful ride through the jungle then the last few miles I was riding with a guy who had about the same power as me so we rode together until the last 200m where I went for it & held around 7w/kg to the finish.

https://strava.app.link/OrGvDy3Nq3

Finished 124/561 so not too bad for an old fart!

dodg3rman · 21 Jan 2020 at 22:24

Roady said:
Anyone do Stage 3 yet? Did it last night and rode it HARD!

Is there an easy way to check? Like something on the Zwift website or such?

Thats a good hard ride wd from cold

Got Stage 3 done this morning as well , 1hr 25 mins ave 2.7wkg

Lost a lot of places just after the start as had to climb off to get to the keyboard for something. Went into the climb in 460th place and by the time we hit the jungle Id moved up to 360th , then a gradual reeling in of people until the end saw me into 277th to finish. A really good steady ride for me and the HR was 141 average so nicely under control with no spikes. Felt comfortable all the way through with no big pushes apart from a little dig at the end. Will see if I feel up to the race on Thursday now

I think you have to go into zwift game to see your badges btw

GSVBagpuss · 22 Jan 2020 at 09:54

I did it on Monday - I did it cold too as I though the climb would warm me up. I took it easy but enjoyed using my MTB to catch people on the jungle section. It made me 30 places for no extra effort. Would have been interesting to try a gravel bike all the way

I’m looking forward to smashing Bologna next up for some 2020 PBs

Roady · 23 Jan 2020 at 16:29

Robzere31 said:
Finished 124/561 so not too bad for an old fart!

Brilliant result and ride buddy! Very similar power & times climbing to me

dodg3rman said:
A really good steady ride for me and the HR was 141 average so nicely under control with no spikes. Felt comfortable all the way through with no big pushes apart from a little dig at the end. Will see if I feel up to the race on Thursday now

I think you have to go into zwift game to see your badges btw

Not sure how you can ride the EPIC KOM and have 'nice comfortable' ride with a low average HR as it's a big climb on a 'short' course like that! I always melt up the KOM. Actually enjoyed riding it on Monday so really should ride it more - just tend to ride the other climbs as parts of races/series rather than just riding around. Not many races/courses have it in...

GSVBagpuss said:
I did it on Monday - I did it cold too as I though the climb would warm me up. I took it easy but enjoyed using my MTB to catch people on the jungle section. It made me 30 places for no extra effort. Would have been interesting to try a gravel bike all the way

Good stuff. I heard people talking about this in the pen, most saying it wasn't worth it. Some discussion on the club pages I read after, a teammate has done it and said you 'lose' 30-60s doing the switch (depending how quick your fingers are!), so have to be sure you'll make that time back, along with any time lost descending (less aero) and the rest of the ride (non-dirt) if you don't switch back.

Robzere31 · 23 Jan 2020 at 19:02

Did the short stage 3 ride tonight

As usual a fast starting pace so decided to tag along, kept in the top 10-15 places until mid way through Titans Grove where the younger/fitter guys pulled away.

Finished with a sprint on the Fuego flats to grab 23rd place out of 234 starters.
Pleased with that, & ready for stage 4 tomorrow.

https://strava.app.link/oDsQgPBru3

Berger · 23 Jan 2020 at 21:34

Missed the ride I wanted to do so did a short crit instead. In the B grade, only 18 started.

8 laps and I know the course from the other week. Hung in and came 5th or 6th. The finish didn’t quite work out how I wanted on the last lap and it ended in a sprint, got beaten by all but one I think.

Still hung in with the leaders each time up the punchy climb and did consistent solid 2:40 laps.

So much better when I haven’t hammered myself at work all day!

dodg3rman · 23 Jan 2020 at 21:40

Took on the stage 3 race this morning (C) and boy that was a fearsome pace for cat C , held the lead group until we hit the climb and then it kicked off something mental. They were flying up at 5-7wkg until they got out of sight. Anyway 18/93 and 5th on ZP , there are some way to high numbers for cat C in there. One guy did 4.74wkg but most of the top 10 were very high 3's , not sure why this should be so and they arent DQ'd for being in the wrong Cat but i'm new to the races so maybe its just allowed

It was a tough course and I felt like I was always going uphill at a rate of knots , 27.50 mins and 3.2 wkg so bang on I reckon

GSVBagpuss · 24 Jan 2020 at 09:25

Single lap Bologna for me this morning. I was feeling pretty good despite a bad nights sleep, able to draft well on the flat section and jumped from 60th to 30th as soon as we rounded the hairpin and started climbing. Then my chain dropped on the very steepest bit which three the erg off and meant I was grinding at 45rpm for about a minute. Still knocked 3 minutes off my last time up it back in last April.

UTmaniac · 24 Jan 2020 at 11:00

GSVBagpuss said:
Single lap Bologna for me this morning. I was feeling pretty good despite a bad nights sleep, able to draft well on the flat section and jumped from 60th to 30th as soon as we rounded the hairpin and started climbing. Then my chain dropped on the very steepest bit which three the erg off and meant I was grinding at 45rpm for about a minute. Still knocked 3 minutes off my last time up it back in last April.

Just the one climb? You slacker, I "raced" (read "kept to my plan of sticking under my recent 60min power figure improvement") it twice.

Alarm bells started ringing that my strategy was wrong when I briefly took the lead of the B lead group several times on the way to the first ascent. :eek:

... I was then left for dead up the hill!

GSVBagpuss · 24 Jan 2020 at 12:27

Unlike the bloke who “won” my B race doing 5.5w/kg :eyeroll:

dodg3rman · 25 Jan 2020 at 13:27

Bologna short stage 4 this morning and another tiny FTP increase , did the ride in exactly 20 mins so not hard to work it out. Never done that route before so didnt realise just how hard that climb was , fliippin 'eck that hurt and it was like time stood still waiting for the distance to roll over every 100m , 6.1........................6.2 arghhh

I'm glad I didnt sign up for the longer one in complete innocence as I doubt i would have got up it 2nd time

platypus · 25 Jan 2020 at 16:08

#Chri5# said:
Tour of Sufferlandria starts February 15

https://thesufferfest.com/blogs/the...-of-sufferlandria-is-happening-15-23-february

Ah if you're going to sub for it, sub for a month before Feb 1st as prices go up.

AndyCr15 · 25 Jan 2020 at 21:30

dodg3rman said:
Bologna short stage 4 this morning and another tiny FTP increase , did the ride in exactly 20 mins so not hard to work it out. Never done that route before so didnt realise just how hard that climb was , fliippin 'eck that hurt and it was like time stood still waiting for the distance to roll over every 100m , 6.1........................6.2 arghhh

I'm glad I didnt sign up for the longer one in complete innocence as I doubt i would have got up it 2nd time

Ha ha, good to know. I was deciding between short and long as short seemed.... very short. Think that's what I'll go with though! Thanks

SoliD · 25 Jan 2020 at 22:06

Bologna stage 4 done this morning, I've not ridden this before but lol at going round the tight downhills on the tt course at 80 kph...

GSVBagpuss · 26 Jan 2020 at 22:30

Hmmm, I’ve always ridden on 100% trainer difficulty for the leg gains (only cheating yourself) but the Bologna climb is stupid steep so second time up I dropped to 75% and it’s so much easier! I’m guessing most people race on less than 100%. I’ve read all the articles about it’s the same virtual speed for the same power and the trainer difficulty is more like changing your cassette which I found - I went from churning at 60rpm to “spinning” at 80rpm on the same section which is far easier.

UTmaniac · 27 Jan 2020 at 09:38

A lot of racers use 25-40% slope feel. I used 33% for Bologna, but then I only have use of 16T sprocket with 34/50 rings.

Roady · 27 Jan 2020 at 12:28

dodg3rman said:
Anyway 18/93 and 5th on ZP , there are some way to high numbers for cat C in there. One guy did 4.74wkg but most of the top 10 were very high 3's , not sure why this should be so and they arent DQ'd for being in the wrong Cat but i'm new to the races so maybe its just allowed

Zwift organised events are generally not Adminned so riders won't get booted for riding over CAT limits. Unless there's some auto ZP filtering on their results there...

GSVBagpuss said:
Single lap Bologna for me this morning. I was feeling pretty good despite a bad nights sleep, able to draft well on the flat section and jumped from 60th to 30th as soon as we rounded the hairpin and started climbing. Then my chain dropped on the very steepest bit which three the erg off and meant I was grinding at 45rpm for about a minute. Still knocked 3 minutes off my last time up it back in last April.

I was just thinking I didn't know the course and hadn't ridden it, but if it's been there that long I must have, just don't recall it?!

AndyCr15 said:
Ha ha, good to know. I was deciding between short and long as short seemed.... very short. Think that's what I'll go with though! Thanks

Pffft! Go Full or go home!

GSVBagpuss said:
Hmmm, I’ve always ridden on 100% trainer difficulty for the leg gains (only cheating yourself) but the Bologna climb is stupid steep so second time up I dropped to 75% and it’s so much easier! I’m guessing most people race on less than 100%. I’ve read all the articles about it’s the same virtual speed for the same power and the trainer difficulty is more like changing your cassette which I found - I went from churning at 60rpm to “spinning” at 80rpm on the same section which is far easier.

Most 'racers' tend to be flat course riders with small 'race' cassettes so they'll usually be riding with it set less than 30% difficulty.

I ride at 75% and find it perfect for my 52/36 & 11-28 cassette. I'm (currently) riding with 50/34 & 11-32 outside and can just about spin it out, I don't tend to quite spin the 52 out on Zwift. They feel generally closer like this.

I do like to spin on Zwift more when climbing, outside I'll stand more, but then my outside riding is generally steeper & shorter stuff... The longer shallower I will generally sit, but there's not too much of it I regularly ride. I used to ride at 85/90% but found myself dropped more needing to drop what felt like too many gears on the usual kickers. With it at 75% it's only 1 or 2 drops maximum and feels more like it 'should'.

Did ride AdZ at something like 30/40% and it made it 'too easy'. Maybe if I was Everesting...

Robzere31 · 27 Jan 2020 at 19:41

I've always left the trainer on 100%, yes its hard but never seen the point of reducing it. its not as though you can do that out on real roads.

In other news, did stage 4 of Tour de Zwift.
Planned on just taking it easy, 2 miles in that all went out the window!
Managed to finish 107/398 riders, ok considering I was 290th after 2 miles.