The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

My ZADA thing is still not approved. No idea if I am just to continue waiting or if I have done something wrong as there is no info on the process/procedure.
I think it's pretty stupid that they are auto marking people as "suspect" or "fishy" in results or even DQ'ing people yet when you try to do as they say to stop that happening and prove yourself, you just get left in the dark for weeks on end. Very contradictory I think.

I done another race last night and came 2nd as the Danish lad absolutely melted me with an attack 2.5km to go. On the zwiftpower results though I am 1st as he has been DQ for being over 5w/kg whilst I am flagged with red on mine as I was 4.9w/kg for 20mins - https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=98471
I see my weight is also marked suspicious as well. FFS.
 
I'm sure the Zada thing will come through - they probably have a lot of requests for verification this time of year, with likely a fair few requests from nut cases trying to dupe them.
 
Griffyn said:
<snip>I have started the challenge as I want that Tron bike but seems a long way off!
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Weight obviously has very little bearing on things on Zwift (how it's ridden), but does have a bearing on the results (higher w/kg!). By all means try lowering your weight to get a comparison! Obviously that's 'weight doping' so wouldn't advise it when racing (Zwiftpower tracks inputted weight of riders for this reason)!

Tron bike is a big investment. I'm level 24 now (I think) and still quite a way from it. Admittedly I was riding Tour of California for probably 2 years when I should've been riding the Everest challenge... Whoops! Have never consistently ridden elevation as 2016 & 2017 I used distance as my goal so usually favoured flatter rides... :o

Shadowness said:
I'm still eyeing up a vEverest challenge on Zwift. I failed last time, having made it to just over half way (up).

Alpe du Zwift didn't exist then too, so I may try it on that. That means climbing it 9 times!
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I remember that. Madman! Once or twice I've meant to ride it a couple of times in a row. Have never done more than 1.5 reps haha! ;)

UTmaniac said:
Unless I missed the memo on a serious issue, https://www.halfords.com/cycling/tu.../elite-drivo-direct-drive-smart-turbo-trainer for £600 before BC discount looks amazing value, cheaper than what I paid for my Direto last Xmas! :eek:
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That is a mega deal. Admittedly the Direto is arguably a comparative buy rather than a 'lower' due to it being newer and featuring actual strain gauges...

xdcx said:
My ZADA thing is still not approved. No idea if I am just to continue waiting or if I have done something wrong as there is no info on the process/procedure.
I think it's pretty stupid that they are auto marking people as "suspect" or "fishy" in results or even DQ'ing people yet when you try to do as they say to stop that happening and prove yourself, you just get left in the dark for weeks on end. Very contradictory I think.

I done another race last night and came 2nd as the Danish lad absolutely melted me with an attack 2.5km to go. On the zwiftpower results though I am 1st as he has been DQ for being over 5w/kg whilst I am flagged with red on mine as I was 4.9w/kg for 20mins - https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=98471
I see my weight is also marked suspicious as well. FFS.
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Mega ride & race, kudos on the win! ;)

Fingers crossed we have your ZADA thing being prompted along, apologies I'd wrongly assumed the main WBR race admin I know was part of it, when we actually have a ZADA rep who handles it!

Think I voiced my opinions over the whole thing with our vents on facebook, totally agree where you're coming from and totally agree that Zwift should do more. But much of it is understanding how little the race admins have to work with - until recently zwiftpower wasn't recognised or even affliated with Zwift. It just took advantage of their API and was a group of volenteers collecting race data to fill in a riding schedule. There wasn't a Zwift schedule or anything like we have now when they started out. Hell when ZP started we didn't even have race 'start pens'! The whole admin side is totally missing from Zwift - if you want to get a 'group ride or race added you have to email Zwift themselves to add it to the schedule and configuration. There's no way for admins to admin their rides! So Zwift got quite reserved about adding new when a bunch of rides on the schedule had no nominated 'ride leader' turn up. :rolleyes:
 
https://www.strava.com/activities/1938437126

I jumped on last night into a '3 lap flat reverse' on Watopia. Was good to see the place again and for a flat route I'd forgotten how rolling some of that course is. Entered C as 3.2 w/kg avg seems about my top end for an hour at the moment. Good strong chase out the gate but got gradually shelled out the front group. Did a 2up with some japanese B for a while but he put some wattbombs down to drop me for some reason, we where doing well until then! The chase group of 7/8 where reeling me in so I eased up to ride with them. A group of mostly C's a couple of B's and one A (who didn't ride, just sat in!). Not many of them riding together so it became quite a battle of gap closing on the course and we really didn't drop many, as well as picking up 1 or 2 along the way. I resolved to sit in for the finale. Coming into the last 4-5 miles things really ramped up - I was soon at threshold covering splits while realising I wasn't going to have much of a sprint left at that rate! Then it happened. At just under 2 miles to go I got caught near the back of the group easing and a split 2 riders infront opened up. Tried my hardest to close and had got back to the tails of the group by 0.8 to go, utterly blown but may have had some sprint left... But the remaining riders all went long just as I gained the group, had no way to follow without recovery so held the gap to the guy behind to roll through the finish. Brutal race but shows my fitness at the current time - busting a gut to sit in a main C chase group, then luck and other riders deciding if I'm there for the end sprint or not! I'm too much of a domestique - try to chase and close every gap, even when riding solo! :o

Came 8th on screen, but 4th C on ZP. I'll take that! :)
 
Roady said:
Weight obviously has very little bearing on things on Zwift (how it's ridden), but does have a bearing on the results (higher w/kg!). By all means try lowering your weight to get a comparison! Obviously that's 'weight doping' so wouldn't advise it when racing (Zwiftpower tracks inputted weight of riders for this reason)!
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Definitely not going to weight dope as don't see the point as only cheating yourself, I meant my goals are to lower my actual weight in real life and increase my power.

Did Tour of New York Stage 5 tonight and was going well until my pedal fell off! My own fault as only tightened it by hand as a quick job until my new clipless pedals arrived, oops!
 
I got the replacement Kickr Core under warranty and had my first ride yesterday.

It’s like night and day compared to the first unit. There was clearly something wrong with it from day one.

When I said in my earlier post that it was ‘quiet but not silent’, I was comparing it to my old wheel-on dumb trainer which was loud. It was an improvement, but I felt that the reviews had over-stated how quiet it was.

This new one is another step up. You really can’t hear it over the drivetrain. My DT isn’t the smoothest in all honesty, but even so, the Core is whisper-quiet.

Fingers crossed it stays this way. I’ve heard of some people online who are now on their third Core, which doesn’t bode well…
 
Hi all,

I've been tempted to get into riding for a while and after hearing about this from a friend at work I'm thinking of trying this.

Can someone summarize what I need to get going or point me to a guide on what I would need to buy (literally from the ground up, everything) and how I get it all set up?

Thanks in advance.
 
merlin said:
Flux bought, Flux set up.

Flux is great - I'm happy. £460 for a direct drive 2 year warranty trainer - most importantly of all it's a very recent serial number so hopefully it'll be completely gremlin free.
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Kiss of death.

It just died.
 
Did a ZZRC endurance ride on sunday morning. Was quite tempted by the WBR 3.0 100km but would've been a huge rush to make the 8am start, not to mention knowing the 3.0w/kg average would be pretty brutal for me... Although I do need brutal at the moment lol ;)

https://www.strava.com/activities/1945071063

Good fun ride, quite a good group with lots of banter as time went on and my annoying chatting warmed them up. With most of the ride at 2.5w/kg and climbs of the pretzel and reverse mountain at 2.7w/kg it was quality training. Did a bunch of sweeping and towing on the flats so maybe the WBR 3.0 100km might be within my reach. Good stuff!

Interesting tidbit - was doing much of my keeping with a guy from Bridgnorth. Only 40 miles away from me! Then the leader of the ride was from Cheltenham. 40 miles another direction away! Who knew Zwift could be so 'local'! :D

Griffyn said:
Did Tour of New York Stage 5 tonight and was going well until my pedal fell off! My own fault as only tightened it by hand as a quick job until my new clipless pedals arrived, oops!
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Doh! Didn't think that could happen (pedal threads should tighten with normal pedal action, not loosen) unless it wasn't threaded correctly. Be careful you've not cross threaded the crank as you may make things worse trying to fit a new pedal in there. Careful you don't strip it! :)

Irish_Tom said:
<snip>
Fingers crossed it stays this way. I’ve heard of some people online who are now on their third Core, which doesn’t bode well…
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Glad to hear all sorted, hope the replacement process was good/fast/painless.

I know someone who has rubbish luck, broke multiple Flux's, had DOA units, gave up, upgraded by Tacx to a Neo and is even now on his 3rd one of those! He does huge amounts of Zwift mileage (300-400 miles per week).

No1newts said:
Can someone summarize what I need to get going or point me to a guide on what I would need to buy (literally from the ground up, everything) and how I get it all set up?
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  • Device of some kind - Laptop, iPad, Apple TV
  • Trainer of some kind - on-wheel, direct drive, rollers (not recommended)
  • Bike to mount on trainer
  • Communication between them (usb dongle for laptop to give it ANT+, BT compatible trainer for iPad/ATV), speed & cadence sensor for non-smart (dumb) trainer
  • Zwift subscription or other (get first 30 days free & other offers/vouchers around). Free alternative platform options available
  • Internet connection to laptop (Wifi preferable, but Zwift can be run over 3G)
That's the basic minimum. Majority of us here would recommend a smart trainer (avoids much bad measurement from using speed & cadence sensors on a dumb trainer), most of us would also probably recommend a direct drive (more immersive, powerful and accurate. But expensive).

There are other really 'budget' ways (Zwift can run on iphone/beta on android). The more budget you go the less performance and more fiddling you get. So much of your setup and initial difficulty can be overcome by getting the 'right' unit for your price point, rather than the cheapest.

Obviously various 'recommended' extras to also consider - a trainer mat, a towel, a mobile, TV plugged into device for bigger screen, a fan/multiple fans. Trainer tyre for on wheel. HRM for racing/pacing/training. Cycling kit/shoes/clipless pedals for efficiency and performance. Willpower and determination highly recommended extras! :cool:

merlin said:
Kiss of death.

It just died.
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Argh, symptoms?

Hit mine fairly hard with a toolcase falling on it on the weekend and although I've ridden on it since I swear it's making more noise... So very tempted to take a look inside to confirm belt etc is all ok but don't want to wreck warranty (12 months is up in Feb, but equally want any problems resolved before then!).
 
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Roady said:
Argh, symptoms?

Hit mine fairly hard with a toolcase falling on it on the weekend and although I've ridden on it since I swear it's making more noise... So very tempted to take a look inside to confirm belt etc is all ok but don't want to wreck warranty (12 months is up in Feb, but equally want any problems resolved before then!).
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Unpleasant grind noise when pedalling, then a very clear "click" sound every rotation, then belt slipping when putting power through the pedals.

Boxed it up Sunday morning, walked into Halfords with receipt, walked out with a brand new one 5 mins later. They didn't even open the box, they just accepted it was dead no questions asked, no "have you tried X or Y or Z" nonsense you get from the likes of CRC/Tacx themselves. Awesome service. :)
 
Been using the Direto for the first time since April during the last week, mainly trying Road Grand Tours' different routes for the first time. Seems pretty decent for solo riding, some brutal climb sections on Stelvio Pass and a short but steep climb on Paterburg. The latter is still only open for events as early in development, four of us "raced" yesterday afternoon, three of us finished.

I'd certainly forgotten just how hot the kitchen gets when using the turbo , especially as it's warmer now than when I was in there during Beast Of The East, going through ~1.5l of water within an hour quite easily! :eek:
 
merlin said:
<snip>
Boxed it up Sunday morning, walked into Halfords with receipt, walked out with a brand new one 5 mins later. They didn't even open the box, they just accepted it was dead no questions asked, no "have you tried X or Y or Z" nonsense you get from the likes of CRC/Tacx themselves. Awesome service. :)
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Great result, then again that's the real benefit from buying from a retail outlet! :D

Does sound very much like the usual tensioner/belt issue they seem prone to! :(

UTmaniac said:
I'd certainly forgotten just how hot the kitchen gets when using the turbo , especially as it's warmer now than when I was in there during Beast Of The East, going through ~1.5l of water within an hour quite easily! :eek:
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Haha toasty! Have to say my garage is about perfect the past couple of weekends 5-6 degrees in the morning, 7-8 in the afternoon! That'll soon change, I've worn toe covers in there once already this autumn lol :o

CAT2 outdoor racer FTP test anyone. Probably very similar to @Shadowness ! Jealous! :o

EDIT: Neo 2 listed on Rosebikes NOW HAS PICTURES! :D
 
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Around these parts yeah, quite active race club so they'll race most weekends in the west-midlands/south Wales leagues. He's mostly a crit/circuit racer so getting points would be easy, he doesn't tend to podium like some of them, just very regular. Also a dab hand at longer road races and punchy climbs.
 
Shadowness said:
I know I know ;)

Still.....they are a good measurement of progress. I managed 360ish W for 20 mins back in Feb, so I'm still on the way up.
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No, No. I did not mean that in a negative slight against FTP testing over 20mins or something.
Genuine challenge to a powerful fella to stretch out his power curve and reap the benefits it brings ;) The challenge is because I see the progress you have made, you're doing something right!!
 
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