The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

BennyC said:
I'd disagree with this to some extent but by how much is largely impacted by just how often/many miles you're riding it.
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May depend on the user, I previously had a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine which arguably is one of the best 'road' feel fluid/dumb trainers. Admittedly I didn't have the additional large 'pro' flywheel which largely contributes to the additional feel that loads of people rave about in reviews.

My experience of it on Zwift was quite limited as the same time I was fighting with the InRide pod to try and get that working. It was painfully bad, but ignoring that the fairly progressive and known power curve of the RM did make it feel very 'solid' and reliable.

Changing to a Tacx Vortex Smart, which is one of the most basic FE-C 'smart' trainers, I enjoy it far more on Zwift and working with power for training. There's far less faffing around with it and the data is far more reliable than the KK InRide pod ever was. The Vortex noise is far more annoying and my unit makes far more 'other' noises which can be quite worrying. It doesn't feel as solid or firm a ride as the Road Machine, but personally and retrospectively I'm happily to sacrifice that for FE-C and power. I get far more out of Zwift and training with power than the 'road feel'. Other riders may not. Equally I happily ride/commute on the road in terrible conditions so I don't ever get 'road withdrawal' symptoms lol ;)

Did a WBR 3 lap Hilly last night and came in 20th or so, good strong group of 6-8 of us with 4-5 working well. Picked up a few riders along the way, me and another guy putting in some good combo efforts to catch them. Final smashed to bits and lost a few wheels before the sprint but finished strongly considering the earlier efforts. Happy with that one, the hilly ones are suiting me more and more! :o

22nd overall, 9th in B! :D
 
BennyC said:
Tron bike +100w amirite? :cool:
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Obviously. Another +50W with strong sock game. Mid-calf high only of course.

I've been running PINK socks for months but saw someone with some amazing stripy ones last race but didn't see them available when I looked... Don't tell me you have to unlock socks?! :o

platypus said:
So 4 minutes on trainer road and I'm wiped out. Great to be back on though :cool:.
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Good work! Steady does it :D
 
Come on Wattbike, this is precisely where I could be using it!!

I only ordered at the end of September lol! Should be here before Christmas I have been assured.
 
Doesnt help loads of reviews have recently been done too. Seems to get very rave reviews, some slight issues that have been sorted with latest firmware.
Can't wait to get my err....feet on it! Loads of riding planned this Christmas as I'll be on my own :(
 
Short but tough race last night:

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=31659

I was in all sorts of trouble as a) I don't think I warmed up fully and b) I'd eaten 40 mins before which was a completely stupid idea.

Not easy warming up in -1c to 0c garage, you're sweating but you don't dare put the fan on because you'll instantly freeze.

Still managed to hang in there and avoided getting eaten by the faster C riders. :o
 
Base layer, thermal arm warmers, thick AF gloves, UV knee sleeves, thick socks & overshoes + jersey and neck buff on my head to start is the happy medium for me :p

Tend to progressively nudge my fan towards me with a long spirit level as I heat up and get going :D
 
Haha similar here! Last nights session was summer shorts & jersey with mesh base, thermal leg & arm warmers, thermal tights & thermal jersey over the top, toe covers & overshoes, fingerless & long fingered gloves, neck/face buff, headband & woolly hat. Toasty & glad nobody could see me! :o

Stripped off overshoes, thermal jersey, tights, buff, long fingered & wooly hat as I rode. Then as soon as cooling down whip the damp jersey off and put the dry thermal one on. Once complete put the thermal tights & hat back on for the bambi (in cleats) on ice race back to the house & warmth!
 
It's a fine art finding the right balance, harder than out on the road! Especially when you feel conflicted over how much you're sweating as except for the hottest summer days it's not something you really notice outside, nor do you have the time to pay much attention to the floor directly below you....
 
I sweat like a mofo indoors but my hands and feet still often feel a bit chilly. Indoor garage training really is completely weird.

Music is key for me - i have to have some tunes on, I tend to mute Zwift and put on some Faithless/Daft Punk :)
 
Yeah I have Zwift sounds mostly off and listen to tunes on my mobile, fast paced hard trance/uk hardcore for easy/training sessions progressing into hardstyle, freeform and gabber-techno for racing. 180+bpm hard as nails gabber is great for extending my efforts and increasing sprint efforts! :cool:

'Officially' joined RaceWBR last night (they're taking 'no new applications', but a couple of guys pushed my application through). I've found the last few months when looking at rides I've favoured the WBR flat/hilly routes and the training rides have always my favourite to join/keep/sweep. Always lots of good banter, good riders and good teamwork! Hopefully I can continue to contribute, will probably get involved with their fundraising rides and sessions too so watch this space! :cool:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1312892957

Although I jumped on last night with limited time and the only race I could make was SZR. It was brutal! B cat yet a huge group and 3.5-4w/kg just to stick in the group. Any time I rested/got distracted and dropped to <3.5 I had to chase hard to get back on. As well as the efforts on the climb to split things/keep towards front I did a few digs myself. Nothing seemed to split the group of ~20 riders so I sat in the until the finish. Final lap things ramped up and I made 2 big efforts to get away 2-3 miles from the end but got closed down. Had no option then but to sit in, really wasn't recovered enough for the sprint and the group split hugely over a good ~20 seconds, I was towards the rear and only made up 2 places quite early sprinting but didn't lose any. Finished in 43rd. More rested I could've maybe had 2 more or hopefully wouldn't have missed the big final split/string out. Juanjo I was riding and chatting with finished in 15th, should really have finished with him rather than trying to escape in the final few miles! :)

28mph avg, 173bpm HR avg & 262W avg power for 50 minutes.
 
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merlin said:
I never seem to get much luck with the drafting - I often find myself stuck in no mans land, in-between the pack I want to latch onto and the pack I've just dropped, with no-one to keep me company/take turns etc. It's under-appreciated just how much effort it takes to get from one pack to another, even with another wheel to help out.
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That's totally it, early parts of a race is the only real opportunity to bridge between groups. Once you're nearing your FTP and groups are 30s+ apart then it's an impossible task unless you're great at recovering at tempo. I'll occasionally do it, but I've learnt to put my effort in the first 5 minutes to save myself 10+ minutes of pain and fatigue later. I used to chase loads, actually got some good results doing it, but equally I was a strong CAT B then and found if I sat in rather than chasing I'd always get a good result. Burning myself out before the finish never really paid off (and didn't last night either), but it's something I quite enjoy doing (when feeling strong) as much of the time I'm racing for training, not racing for results! ;)

merlin said:
If ever I do make an attempt to break I generally wait for a hill - my low body weight means it's a bit less hurty :p Can't do that on these flat races though!
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Even the flat courses have small hills/ramps and you'll find people launching off them and groups hitting them hard. Out on the road I've always been quite good at holding my speed and carrying it (lots of rolling terrain around here) and with my Vortex's low power curve/delay it's magnified on Zwift. I can hit these little slopes hard and break away/punish others and rolling parts (like 'The Esses' on Watopia) I can use to close down other riders/groups/catch breakaways etc with a long 5-6w/kg rated effort without fatiguing loads.

I'm not that heavy in reality (~75kg) but find myself higher than many I race against on Zwift. In hilly races I have to get a jump on the longer climbs to stick with the real climbers and find myself dropped regularly on the real mountains - I can't sustain the 4.5-5w/kg+ required to stick with guys holding 3.5-4w/kg for the whole pretzel/radio tower/box hill etc. :o

merlin said:
I do sense the drafting effect is perhaps a fraction too beneficial, not massively but maybe just a tad over the top. I don't know what % Zwift gives you in a pack.
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It's huge, hugely more than in reality when riding with a group. Although to be fair the number of times I've ridden outside in a huge 20+ peloton is nil so can't directly compare, but the benefit you get from 5-10 others is certainly much higher.
 
I struggle to follow a 'plan', my riding is far too ad-hoc and I tend to do whatever I enjoy as cycling (outside of commuting) is a hobby and distraction for me. Interval sessions are ok but any frequency of them really bores me and puts me off riding altogether, meaning I avoid riding! I struggle enough to get the miles in outside of commuting (to really see progress/maintain fitness) so anything that puts me off or I don't 'enjoy' I'll avoid. Racing keeps me far more engaged and is intensive enough that I've seen real progress with my other riding from it.

I've been trying for the last few months to get into a Zwift routine, originally that was racing two weeknights leaving my weekends free for outside club rides. Just now with baby & weather I've really struggled with both playing much of the week by ear (only getting 1 race in) to be flexible with baby duties. Weather has meant the last couple of weekends I've tried to use Zwift to make miles up then, doing 40+ miles.
 
Do Zwift/smart trainer miles feel like 'proper' miles? so to speak

If I Wattbike actually gets delivered (starting to get annoyed now as it's been 3 months!!), I'm planning on A LOT of riding over the xmas break, with many 100+ mile rides etc, hopefully on consecutive days. (Misses has gone on holiday for 3 weeks, leaving me with not much to do!)
 
How do you determine 'feel'?! I think I know what you're getting at (as half knowing your type of riding) and I think you'll find the miles much easier on Zwift than outside. I think you'll do well racing if you try it as you're strong and powerful! Easily on Zwift strong CAT B, probably A.

'Just riding' can be a test of willpower rather than the legs themselves as sitting indoors there is much less to concentrate on and far less distractions. So following plans, doing events/races etc are the ideal distractions (which are less 'immersive' outdoors as you need to concentrate on other things). When inside you can really utterly empty the tank as you don't need to particularly balance to keep upright, or see where you're going. Remember Kwaitkowski utterly emptying himself for Froome in the Tour, so much so he'd be wobbling all over the road and have to stop unable to turn the pedals? It's quite 'easy' to get to that stage on Zwift! There's a large number of times I've sprinted for the line unable to really see or comprehend afterwards. I've never really done that on the road more than a couple of times (TT efforts).

What you may 'struggle' initially with is riding easy enough. Certainly with Zwift you think 'I'll just jump on and ride easy for an hour', once the initial excitement of the interface and landscape passes you'll put a few efforts in and realise how easy/fun it is to smash other people out riding as there's so many of them on there far less powerful than you. Cue smash fest for your hour and all you've done is an 'ad hoc interval session' and not really achieved anything! It's hard to ride conservatively if you're even remotely competitive on the platform! ;)
 
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