The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

Entered Tour De Zwift for the first time and have every intention of completing it! Going for A category. Stage one tomorrow at 6am.
 
Vandle said:
Entered Tour De Zwift for the first time and have every intention of completing it! Going for A category. Stage one tomorrow at 6am.
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I did stage 1 - cat A on Monday. Nice and steady ride without anything too difficult other than distances for me as I get used to cycling again.

Stage 2 - cat A on Friday is going to be brutal! Alpe du Zwift.

Also I swear last year the pro team events rode the same courses but they seem to be different this year. Shame as that made it more engaging.
 
Joined TdZ stage 1 last night... well I didn't realise I had to register TdZ as well as join the event so was 3 mins late or so after figuring out how to join. Pretty rough re-intro to Zwift racing group riding. Only had time for the short stage so I smashed up to the front 10 riders from ~85th or so and just kept along there until the end. Even managed to break 800w in the "sprint" :D
 
Did stage one long route today but was suffering most of the way round the first lap in the front group. Not so much on the flat, or even the climb to be honest it was that twisty section. It's either slightly up, slightly down, flat or whatever it wants but it ****** my legs up. Guys drive it through there to split it as far as I can tell.

Sat up and waiting on the 45+ bunch and that was more like it on tired legs.

Everyone feels like a pro on Zwift. I can't help but feel it's a much easier ride as a lighter rider in the virtual world as on the road I've managed to sit on guys at 60ish KG and bury myself for the type of climbs locally. https://www.strava.com/activities/3665359102/segments/2710939574820479731 That is one example as he sits about 15kg or so lighter than I do but I can suffer like a dog to stay there.
 
Jonny ///M said:
Did stage one long route today but was suffering most of the way round the first lap in the front group. Not so much on the flat, or even the climb to be honest it was that twisty section. It's either slightly up, slightly down, flat or whatever it wants but it ****** my legs up. Guys drive it through there to split it as far as I can tell.

Sat up and waiting on the 45+ bunch and that was more like it on tired legs.

Everyone feels like a pro on Zwift. I can't help but feel it's a much easier ride as a lighter rider in the virtual world as on the road I've managed to sit on guys at 60ish KG and bury myself for the type of climbs locally. https://www.strava.com/activities/3665359102/segments/2710939574820479731 That is one example as he sits about 15kg or so lighter than I do but I can suffer like a dog to stay there.
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I've always found it tough to stick with groups where I'm having to smash the watts whilst they seemingly have a leasurely ride... I realise this is likely due to my poor understanding of watts per kg and lack of fitness.

Oddly, even though I'm 85kg (fighting weight is more like 80) I tend to catch up on hills as I like grinding it out.
 
So where's a good place to start as a noob to Zwift racing? I've been enjoying the change from Sufferfest/Systm since getting my H3 and using the 30 day free trial (on top of the Zwift 7 day trail).

Is it just pick a race and get your legs ripped off?
 
Pretty much but maybe tour de zwift is worth a go. There's multiple flavours of each stage each week. Long, medium, short. Choose one and you'll find the front are pretty much racing it but plenty of others just there for the ride. Oh and be warmed up if you plan to try stick with the front. It will go like lightning out the gates.
 
Jonny ///M said:
Did stage one long route today but was suffering most of the way round the first lap in the front group. Not so much on the flat, or even the climb to be honest it was that twisty section. It's either slightly up, slightly down, flat or whatever it wants but it ****** my legs up. Guys drive it through there to split it as far as I can tell.

Sat up and waiting on the 45+ bunch and that was more like it on tired legs.

Everyone feels like a pro on Zwift. I can't help but feel it's a much easier ride as a lighter rider in the virtual world as on the road I've managed to sit on guys at 60ish KG and bury myself for the type of climbs locally. https://www.strava.com/activities/3665359102/segments/2710939574820479731 That is one example as he sits about 15kg or so lighter than I do but I can suffer like a dog to stay there.
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Wouldn't take it remotely seriously given you can weight dope at the click of a button. Then there's the people with electric assist churning out top cat 1 numbers despite barely riding. Outside of racing, I see them constantly, yet never see the same kind of people doing an erg workout.

The other thing to bear in mind is that you don't know how fresh people are racing. Some are prepared to blitz themselves to the point of impacting training for following days whilst others will save some in the tank. Some raced the day previously, some z1/z2 with some pulls, some rested, some long hours.

You have to remember zwift is a world stage and there's people spending large amounts of time riding, more than you can sustain long term in full time work.
 
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Did stage 1 long this morning after a few beers and some wine last night. Average speed of 41.1km which is good for me. Didn't bother chasing the main pack out of the gate, infact didn't even see them. Not done a group ride that big - 1148 riders. Started near the front and was 600ish after first few metres. Maybe the rest weren't showing up due to software or hardware limitations??
Anyway, stayed on or around the front of a decent group that was steadily catching others and was in 400th place with 3km to go when the front 20 or so split off, presumably chasing a spot in top 399 :D. Struggled badly through those last twists and turns, ended up 416th.
Really enjoyed it tbh, looking forward to stage 2 and hoping to break 70 minutes for the Alpe with group assistance. 93kg and 45 yo :)

Edit - FTP went up to 240w also :cool:
 
Jonny ///M said:
I can't help but feel it's a much easier ride as a lighter rider in the virtual world
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I feel your pain! I did the standard distance stage 1 TdZ ride earlier and after the usual manic start it settled down to a speed on the flat slower than I wanted to go at, but the drafting meant there was no real chance of breaking away. So it negated any power advantage I might have had over the lighter guys, and on the inclines I'm then busting a gut to avoid being dropped from the lead group. Happy with the result though :).

The next AdZ stage might be a bit humbling :eek: so the target will be to try to beat my PB as there's no way I'll be anywhere near the front.
 
Drollic said:
Wouldn't take it remotely seriously given you can weight dope at the click of a button. Then there's the people with electric assist churning out top cat 1 numbers despite barely riding. Outside of racing, I see them constantly, yet never see the same kind of people doing an erg workout.

The other thing to bear in mind is that you don't know how fresh people are racing. Some are prepared to blitz themselves to the point of impacting training for following days whilst others will save some in the tank. Some raced the day previously, some z1/z2 with some pulls, some rested, some long hours.

You have to remember zwift is a world stage and there's people spending large amounts of time riding, more than you can sustain long term in full time work.
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What's this electric assist? I get that the pool is bigger worldwide and also I'd you're on zwift you're going to be into fitness and competitive. I know plenty of folks on zwift that look like machines online but can't handle the heat when it gets properly spicy or they have to use their brain to work out where the wind is coming from or they just don't have the confidence to sit inches from a wheel in the gutter.

I also get that there actual pros on Zwift. One of the guys I got off the front with Inna crit recently for a bit was some sort of stage race winner in Ireland. Think I saw the Welsh crit champ in a crit with national champs jersey too.

john_smith said:
There's some serious suspect W numbers on the cheaper turbo trainers too. Combined with some weight doping and you're going to be in trouble trying to keep up.
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Yeah I've had it with my old tacx vortex making me look better than I am. I read a thing on Reddit about a guy using a bike that was basically double what his assioma pedals showed and his FTP was actually 200w.

Vandle said:
Did stage 1 long this morning after a few beers and some wine last night. Average speed of 41.1km which is good for me. Didn't bother chasing the main pack out of the gate, infact didn't even see them. Not done a group ride that big - 1148 riders. Started near the front and was 600ish after first few metres. Maybe the rest weren't showing up due to software or hardware limitations??
Anyway, stayed on or around the front of a decent group that was steadily catching others and was in 400th place with 3km to go when the front 20 or so split off, presumably chasing a spot in top 399 :D. Struggled badly through those last twists and turns, ended up 416th.
Really enjoyed it tbh, looking forward to stage 2 and hoping to break 70 minutes for the Alpe with group assistance. 93kg and 45 yo :)

Edit - FTP went up to 240w also :cool:
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Well done on the ride after some drinking. I was up to 3am watching the departed with and a bottle of vodka too.

wonko said:
I feel your pain! I did the standard distance stage 1 TdZ ride earlier and after the usual manic start it settled down to a speed on the flat slower than I wanted to go at, but the drafting meant there was no real chance of breaking away. So it negated any power advantage I might have had over the lighter guys, and on the inclines I'm then busting a gut to avoid being dropped from the lead group. Happy with the result though :).

The next AdZ stage might be a bit humbling :eek: so the target will be to try to beat my PB as there's no way I'll be anywhere near the front.
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I'll do the stage 2 I think since I've started but am not looking forward to AdZ. I've done around 50ish minutes before but may raise my game for it. I'm 4kg higher than last time on a more realistic trainer too :(
 
@Jonny ///M

Ebikes - I normally see one or more on every ride I do on zwift. Static w/kg and being locked into a high number despite elevation changes is a sign. Likely rare in racing compared to weight doping as the numbers can be linear if reviewed, but I'm sure there's clever ways to mask that unlike people freeriding that make it obvious.
 
Jonny ///M said:
What's this electric assist?
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If I still had my TacX Vortex then I could put my 1000W electric motor wheel on my grave bike which is swapable and look like a god up any of the climbs. When I went from the roller trainer to a NEO with electromagnetic resistance my overall FTP dropped 10% which I felt was more realistic given my age and fitness.

My basic tactic for doing the Tour Du Zwift and a lot of the semi-competitive group rides is to set off at a quick pace and then spot a group forming approximately around the pace I think I can sustain.

This usually means I end up pushing myself a lot more then if I was just tootling around at my own pace.
 
Stage 2 group A broke me today... Really not at the modist fitness level I was last year + I've had a 2 weeks of cycle every day to get the stupid achievement. Hated every single corner up adz.
 
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