The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

Ummm, you can ride RGT for free, but I've never used the Workout functions in it to know if they're free - guessing you've seen not. I do know to ride from your own .GPX file (made from something or recorded from another ride), you have to import it into a 'Magic Road' and you can only create those with a paid membership. But with a free account you can ride others Magic Roads, so if you can find someone online who's created a bunch (as workouts?) and shared the codes, you should just be able to ride them.

Zwift used to do a free account for a low amount of riding, then one which was distance limited at 100km. Not even sure they do those anymore?!

Other options, Rouvy and Fullgaz. Never used them but they're still going AFAIK.

Most/All of the trainer manufacturors have always had their own 'platforms'. Not sure which ones are free, or if locked down to their own range of trainers. Don't think they're anything more than like TrainerRoad where you don't have a landscape to ride though, just workouts, but that's what you're after anyway. I know Tacx had one with even classic climbs recorded you could ride along to, but think that was paid and then died a death a few years back.

DCR has a list/guide/review bit but it's a couple of years out of date. Although you'd likely find current users in the comments sections. https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/03/cycling-indoor-trainer-app-guide.html/
 
Cheers, a low mileage Zwift one would've been ace, but it seems it's only a free trial for 25 km and then chargeable straight after that at full price.

I'm not too bothered about workouts specifically, just thought that was the easiest way to get some variety into a 30 minute ride without manually adjusting. If there's a way to use RGT for free for limited routes that's even better.

Will check out the DCR guide.
 
Martynt74 said:
Cheers, a low mileage Zwift one would've been ace, but it seems it's only a free trial for 25 km and then chargeable straight after that at full price.

I'm not too bothered about workouts specifically, just thought that was the easiest way to get some variety into a 30 minute ride without manually adjusting. If there's a way to use RGT for free for limited routes that's even better.

Will check out the DCR guide.
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I might still have the Zwift free trial card that came with my Flux, I'm sure it was a free month?
I didn't use it, didn't even know it was there until after I already purchased a subscription.
If I still have it, would it be any use to you?
I'll have a look when I get home.
 
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Thanks, but that still just puts me in the same position in a month. I hadn't realised there were free options on Wahoo RGT, i tried Wahoo Systm and most stuff there was chargeable so assumed the same with RGT.
 
Martynt74 said:
If there's a way to use RGT for free for limited routes that's even better.
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I only ride RGT free, I do TTT's on it, various courses but all Magic Roads, I think when teams are registered the organisers provide the codes and then we just ride them, maybe 1 per team? There are free courses to ride solo, or like a 'free ride', there's Bolegro Springs - some boring rectangle but enough variation, bots and other riders to be interesting for a while. I think I've ridden some other stuff on there for free, part of me thinks Formentor lighthouse or something like that? Might be different free things to ride at different times. Think organised/scheduled races and group rides you can just join and ride through the UI so don't need a paid account for them. I've done group rides (only twice) and they where courses I didn't know and hadn't seen otherwise.

Follow Haydn 'Roady' on Strava to see this activity. Join for free.

Join Haydn 'Roady' and get inspired for your next workout
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Hurt myself in WTRL last night. Brutal course, standing up lap 2 turning on a fan twinged my back/hip. Didn't really notice at the time, but next time I stood up to power up a ramp nearly had to get off the bike, absolute piercing pain all down one side! Sat down and after fighting back on a couple of times nearly gave in. Called to skip turns then to the finish, but had mostly recovered by the end so did some finishing pulls. Still all sat down. But it felt fine sleeping and ok again today, so just pulled/cramped a muscle I think!? Weird. Just getting older lol.
 
3 weeks, 1 grazed elbow (that I didn't want to get sweaty), 1 cold that I mostly worked through but took 1KG off my weight, 13 workouts (others were Wahoo SYSTM).


Before:
BASELINE RIDE

9.5 w/kg
SHORT SEGMENT
86th Percentile


4.7 w/kg
MEDIUM SEGMENT
65th Percentile


3.5 w/kg
LONG SEGMENT
66th Percentile




After:
FINISH LINE RIDE


8.4 w/kg
SHORT SEGMENT
77th Percentile


4.9 w/kg
MEDIUM SEGMENT
70th Percentile


3.9 w/kg
LONG SEGMENT
81st Percentile


I knocked 47 seconds off the Volcano KOM.
 
Trifid said:
3 weeks, 1 grazed elbow (that I didn't want to get sweaty), 1 cold that I mostly worked through but took 1KG off my weight, 13 workouts (others were Wahoo SYSTM).


Before:
BASELINE RIDE

9.5 w/kg
SHORT SEGMENT
86th Percentile


4.7 w/kg
MEDIUM SEGMENT
65th Percentile


3.5 w/kg
LONG SEGMENT
66th Percentile




After:
FINISH LINE RIDE


8.4 w/kg
SHORT SEGMENT
77th Percentile


4.9 w/kg
MEDIUM SEGMENT
70th Percentile


3.9 w/kg
LONG SEGMENT
81st Percentile


I knocked 47 seconds off the Volcano KOM.
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Really good improvements! I missed the final ride and didn’t do most of the workouts as I tended to do races or the Race like a champ series.

I am still a Cat C on Zwift power, but I have now been blocked from Cat C entry for zwift events. I can now enjoy swapping finishing in the front group to getting spat out 5km in.
 
PikeyPriest said:
Really good improvements! I missed the final ride and didn’t do most of the workouts as I tended to do races or the Race like a champ series.
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I think a lot of it had to do with lower room temperatures and increased confidence to work in the anaerobic zones for extended period of times. It was certainly no aerobic effort up there as my thighs were on fire for most of it. I did a FTP test last week and the results were disappointing, I knew I should have pushed on but had no kick left in me to do the next step despite being a little short on my max heart rate and it said I lost a few watts from what I should have had. Maybe fuelling was the problem.
 
My first Cat B event wasn’t that bad actually. I did race like a champ stage 3 and had a good jump in 20minute power. It probably shows that the drops in pace in the middle of the C races were making the races have a lower average than I was capable of. So now jumped from 3.3 w/kg to 3.6 w/kg average (only a 30 minute race vs 37 before though). The pace is much harder but I found that it was really motivating to not get dropped from my group. I managed to stay until the last hill climb when I blew up and just aimed to finish when they were pushing 5-6w/kg. I would definitely recommend that people switch to B when they are getting regularly in the front group on C.

Looking down the results it is apparent that I am definitely towards the heavier end of riders and my watts would have put me in the top 10, which I wasn’t expecting at 79kg (1.89cm so not much to lose really). Seems crazy that I would need to be ~320W plus to even keep with the front group.
 
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PikeyPriest said:
My first Cat B event wasn’t that bad actually. I did race like a champ stage 3 and had a good jump in 20minute power. It probably shows that the drops in pace in the middle of the C races were making the races have a lower average than I was capable of. So now jumped from 3.3 w/kg to 3.6 w/kg average (only a 30 minute race vs 37 before though). The pace is much harder but I found that it was really motivating to not get dropped from my group. I managed to stay until the last hill climb when I blew up and just aimed to finish when they were pushing 5-6w/kg. I would definitely recommend that people switch to B when they are getting regularly in the front group on C.
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This is what I was saying earlier in the thread, but most didn't agree. A lot of people hang on to the safety of the easier group and not apply themselves as much as they could. They don't get exposed by anti-sandbagging as they aren't pushing the pace forward but their heart rate spread exposes them. People moving up earlier will ultimately improve the xperience of both the lower and higher categories.

I see that RGT is starting to get a few popular races and it doesn't look like the game uses categories so might have improved race groupings.
 
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Trifid said:
This is what I was saying earlier in the thread, but most didn't agree. A lot of people hang on to the safety of the easier group and not apply themselves as much as they could. They don't get exposed by anti-sandbagging as they aren't pushing the pace forward but their heart rate spread exposes them. People moving up earlier will ultimately improve the xperience of both the lower and higher categories.

I see that RGT is starting to get a few popular races and it doesn't look like the game uses categories so might have improved race groupings.
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I wonder whether zwift should add another category. Maybe having:
A -unchanged
B- unchanged
C- 2.8-3.2
D- 2.2-2.8
E- below 2.2

There is a huge gulf in ability for category D at the moment and I found the jump to C harder than B.
 
Started using the turbo a bit more this week as have a foot issue stopping me running.

What has become apparent is how weak my legs are. My HR rarely is getting over 155 yet my legs are often dying even early on without the perception of having done too much.

Think tomorrow I might aim for an FTP test to try and really benchmark the improvements I can hopefully make quite quickly.
 
What are people using as a HR monitor? Ideally looking for a cheap plug and play. I placed well in a C race this morning but looking at Zwiftpower I feel like I cheated, I promise I didn't though!

I used to use a whoop but my sub has run out and I'm not renewing. I love the data it gave me but frankly I drink too much and it screws up my data for the whole week and I have decided that's not about to change anytime soon.
I have a Garmin Descent watch (basically a Fenix with scuba capabilities) but I don't charge it often enough and its too chunky on a bike, I did have a Garmin HR chest strap I got with my Edge bike computer but I bundled it with my old Fenix when I sold it to fund the Descent :rolleyes:

Do the fitbits work? Although they aren't particularly cheap. Anything stand alone I can get that connects straight to Zwift? Would the Garmin chest strap work if I bought another?
 
Vandle said:
I love the data it gave me but frankly I drink too much and it screws up my data for the whole week and I have decided that's not about to change anytime soon.
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Ha ha, this made me laugh out loud. 'Whoop showed me that drinking was really bad for me... so the whoop had to go' :cry:

I think you can get a chest strap for about £40. That's the best option...
 
Vandle said:
What are people using as a HR monitor? Ideally looking for a cheap plug and play. I placed well in a C race this morning but looking at Zwiftpower I feel like I cheated, I promise I didn't though!

I used to use a whoop but my sub has run out and I'm not renewing. I love the data it gave me but frankly I drink too much and it screws up my data for the whole week and I have decided that's not about to change anytime soon.
I have a Garmin Descent watch (basically a Fenix with scuba capabilities) but I don't charge it often enough and its too chunky on a bike, I did have a Garmin HR chest strap I got with my Edge bike computer but I bundled it with my old Fenix when I sold it to fund the Descent :rolleyes:

Do the fitbits work? Although they aren't particularly cheap. Anything stand alone I can get that connects straight to Zwift? Would the Garmin chest strap work if I bought another?
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Used one of these for years now.


Direct connection to Zwift.
 
I would definitely look for a HR strap rather than a fitbit, that way it all integrates into Zwift. I use the Garmin HRM Pro but Pretty much any bluetooth HR strap should connect
 
AndyCr15 said:
Ha ha, this made me laugh out loud. 'Whoop showed me that drinking was really bad for me... so the whoop had to go' :cry:

I think you can get a chest strap for about £40. That's the best option...
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:D well not quite! Weren't you looking at getting one too? Did you get it?
I think they are great but the behaviours it highlights I don't really intend to change. I felt that how I was feeling often didn't correlate to how the whoop told me I should be feeling. The idea of it is you go hard on good days and take it easy on bad ones but unless you are looking for absolute peak performance then it doesn't really matter. Was good to help me point out how bad alcohol effects your body's response and now even after 1 glass of wine I can actually feel my HR rising. It's interesting and a good learning experience and would be great if you took it more seriously. It also started giving me false readings - it was detecting me at or above 150bpm when I was washing pans or cooking dinner pretty much once per week. Tech support weren't much help.
 
Yeah, I have one and it is surprising how big even one or two alcoholic drinks affect you. I don't drink a lot, so it's not a big factor for me. As you say, it was just kinda funny as you have no intention of drinking less, so you'd rather it wasn't there telling you how bad it was for you :p (as you say though, the link between your recovery rate and what you actually feel wasn't always noticeable). I'm not sure I'll keep mine after the first year. I like it because I can wear and track 24/7. I have the new Pixel Watch, which tracks very accurately, but I don't really like wearing a watch 24/7, so the whoop armband works well for me.
 
I like the idea of the whoop/oura ring, but their subscription costs just seem crazy to me. However just re-reading both websites and they're not actually as bad as i had thought. In my head it was an upfront cost and then ~£30 a month subscription, but looking it seems you can get it to £18/mth if buying up front.

What i don't understand is why there isn't a reduced monthly fee once that term ends. Given that £432 upfront cost covers the whoop strap and 24 months membership, i'd be expecting ~£6/mth from month 25 onwards but that doesn't seem to be the case. Unless you just assume you end up getting a new Whoop strap after 2 years in the same way as people do phone contracts?
 
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