Zwift online cycling

[Penguin_Racecar]

Originally posted by lilmira
Good for you. I'm getting a bit tired of Zwift. Looking back at last year, my first ride out was on Feb 15 and I started riding regularly the last week of March. Just checked the long range forecast, I don't think that's happening this year. Now that the new bike is at home. I'm staring at it everyday and it's driving me crazy.

This saturday looks good? I think my team is doing a group ride at lazy pace to bragg creek and back.

[lilmira]

Yeah if the roads get dried off by then I may sneak out and do an easy loop in my area.

[kJUMP]

Anyone checking out the Calgary Bike Show this weekend? Hadn't even heard of it but saw an ad on FB. Might head there for a bit on Sunday.

http://www.calgarybikeshow.com/

[Penguin_Racecar]

I might go check it out on Sunday. I went last year but from the sounds of it should be bigger this year.

[ZeroGravity]

What's your opinion / experience with carbon bikes on trainers? Some say it's ok, some say it's not.

I've been on zwift for a while now with my lower end carbon bike (2015 defy advanced 2). It's not that expensive, but I doubt I will get a nicer bike in the near future. I have been toying with idea of picking up a cheaper alloy road / adventure type bike for use on the trainer. Maybe this is just my N +1 bike syndrome kicking in.

[lilmira]

No one really knows. You can definitely put some different stress on the frame especially when sprinting or doing hard out of saddle effort with the bike fixed to a trainer. I have over 13k km zwift mileage on my carbon frame and it hasn't exploded yet. Unless you have explosive legs of olympians I don't think it will do much harm to the frame. That being said, my two other nicer bikes spend little time on the trainer.

[ZeroGravity]

Originally posted by lilmira
No one really knows. You can definitely put some different stress on the frame especially when sprinting or doing hard out of saddle effort with the bike fixed to a trainer. I have over 13k km zwift mileage on my carbon frame and it hasn't exploded yet. Unless you have explosive legs of olympians I don't think it will do much harm to the frame. That being said, my two other nicer bikes spend little time on the trainer.

I'm only at 7.6k km. I spend more time on zwift than actually riding outside I definitely don't have explosive legs, but I just worried of my fat butt putting the wrong stress on those tiny seat stays.

I guess I do have the option to swap my hybrid bike onto the trainer before picking up an alloy gravel / adventure bike.

[kJUMP]

I haven't seen any runners on Zwift lately. Is that still a thing?

[lilmira]

i saw runners when I was on zwift yesterday. I don’t know if it’s still in beta. I stopped running in August because of knee pain but I’d like to start again.

[Penguin_Racecar]

Running on Zwift is still a thing. Seems to be less common than when they released it though.

[Brent.ff]

You guys using the training sessions or just riding? I’d like to get on this in the new year

[Penguin_Racecar]

Both - for recovery rides i just ride around at an easy pace. On "training" days I'll do Zwift workouts. Usually FTP builder stuff and some of the GCN ones throughout winter.

[kJUMP]

PR - you're doing the EVR A Races now? How are those?

[Penguin_Racecar]

Yeah, did my first one on Monday. Went off like a gun at the start (400-500w for first 30 seconds) then dropped to a more reasonable 300w. It was pretty good riding in a group - the person at the front would end up doing ~4.5w/kg which would allow others to hold back a bit. I spend a lot of time at around 3.8w/kg (with A-races being 4w/kg and above) sitting in the slip stream. Covered a few attacks up the one hill in London having to do 500w or higher again - got a little tiring after 5 laps. Went for an attack at the hairpin of the last turn (with 1.5k to go) and got completely crushed
All in all - pretty fun. I think with a smart trainer it'll be more obvious when you're climbing hills and drafting - I really had to pay attention to where I was in the group or what the gradient was to make sure I wasn't putting in way too much or too little power. Got caught out a bit on the first climb as the rider at the front was putting out 7.5w/kg for a while.
I might do another one tonight seeing as yesterday was a day off the bike.

[Penguin_Racecar]

Did another race yesterday - riding in a pack and reacting to people's attacks and finishing with a sprint is kind of fun. Definitely have to pay a lot of attention vs when I'm just "out for a ride". Had a big group at first with myself and another A-rider and a ton of Bs. It was kinda fun watching a bunch of B-riders blow up trying to hold 5+ w/kg on the first serious climb. Rode in the lead group, then finished with a super poorly timed sprint. I don't think these are the fast A-groups yet, as i averaged 3.92w/kg for ~45 minutes.

Results: https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=31123

[kJUMP]

Nice work. Think I'll try a B race in the new year, just for kicks. Still need to figure out my FTP lol

[Penguin_Racecar]

Chances are you'll find out what your FTP is in the first 20 minutes of the race

[Penguin_Racecar]

So close. Had the jump on him in the sprint but he used a drafting powerup to just make it past on the finish line. Jerk!

[lilmira]

I thought you are not supposed to use any power up near the end of the race. That's a short race. Full gas from start to finish?

[Penguin_Racecar]

Not sure - I didn't use any power ups as it wasn't needed to stick with the A-group. Using a power up during the sprint is sneaky I suppose, but if they weren't allowed during races they should just disable them.