If I ride for an hour in Zwift at approximately Z2, about the most calories burned I'll ever get is close to 600.
An hour in the real world on my road bike on flat rail trails, I'm easily clocking 900-950 calories.
Why so different? If anything, I'm probably riding more easily outside than on Zwift.
Is there a solution to being able to hit high watts for 15 seconds and recover for 45 seconds repeatedly without getting just a half star on the workout programs?
I give ‘er and ever use gears in ERG to rapidly go up and I still can’t hit the watts in time as the trainer keeps trying to gradually increase. By the time I get there the 15 second interval is over.
Brand new bike, can anyone explain why my bike chain always spins but isnt always pulling on the zwift mechanism making resistance. This is the zwift hub one. Video below, i think the derailer is straight in line with the chain from what i can see
Appreciate the help!
Hello everybody!
I recieved my Zwift Ride yesterday and both my wife and I have noticed when pedalling the crank arm is making a banging noise when pedalling. Please see video.
I can almost eliminate the noise if I concentrate very hard on my pedalling or pedal in a very very controlled way. It seems what happens is the pedal almost goes to fast and then when the force on my foot catches up it makes the bang.
Am I being an idiot? I am a complete noob but really hoping someone can help me?
Many thanks!
Update: Got a replacement today and things are much better straight out the box. Also played a bit with the cog setting and that made things quieter and smoother. Thanks everyone.
The past couple rides haven’t been uploaded to the group I’m in when it says it is when I finish my ride. Does anyone know how to fix this?
Hey there Zwifters. I have another race review for you from the DIRT Racing Series S12. Were onto stage 3 this week, a stage earmarked by the sprinters.
Before we delve into this watt-fest here are my stats so we can all see what we’re dealing with:
Stage 3, like Stage 2, sees another custom finish. A flat route of 29.6km. The first sprint point (Acropolis Rev.) is FAL. The next two sprint points (Sasquatch Rev. and Forest Rev.) are FTS. And the finish line comes about 50m before the Forest sprint. Loads of points available, lets see how we get on.
The discussion between the team before the race was to attack each sprint point as best we could. As it’s a points race there isn’t much too it tactically, score as best you can. I had already resigned myself to not attempting any intermediate sprints through fear of cooking myself too early and getting dropped before the finish line. My logic being I can gain more points by simply holding on over others who get dropped. Teammate Martyn offered the advice to attack each sprint point to not be caught in any splits, a lesson that didn’t set in until halfway through – more on that later [foreshadowing?].
We fire out of the start pens in typical Zwift fashion and the pace is already blistering. I decided to sit myself towards the front of the group as the gravel downhill start meant if you fall off the back, even for a second, your race is done. The surging start was brutal and I was already blowing hard, this was probably self-inflicted as I was very twitchy to stay near the front. Not having the strength to chase back onto the group made positioning crucial for me.
We hit the top of the bridge and I had slipped slightly but used the draft to power down one side of the bridge. I made sure to get on the power earlier than I typically would, trying to build as much speed as possible. My momentum managed to carry me up the other side of the bridge and through the pack.
The pack raced down the hill as the pace levelled off. The bridge section saw me average 370W for 60s that really got the legs burning before the race had even gotten going. The first 10-min had me averaging 240W which wasn’t too bad but the fact I still had 30-min of racing left was worrying to say the least.
I got myself towards the front of the bunch looking to sag a kicker. I kinda identified this kicker to be a flash point for the race. As the first sprint points were first across the line, I knew the pace would be high and if attacks went on this kicker the whole pack would surge.
Luckily the pack didn’t go crazy, and I managed to fall back into the middle of the peloton. A pair of riders went off the front going long for the points. I would have loved to have been able to chase, trying to reel them back in for the team but I was nowhere near strong enough for that, not even close, I was just happy to be in the pack still.
The pace ramped up and this was a tough 4-mins for me at 300W. As we got closer and closer to the sprint point the steady upping in speed was so draining.
I hit the sprint point in the middle of the pack and kept my watts high to follow but didn’t attack the segment. This is where I should’ve remembered the advice to attack the segment to avoid splits. As I didn’t commit to a sprint I got passed by the whole field in a surge and was soon at the back of peloton’s tail.
I ramped up hard to push myself back into the pack and luckily the pace dropped off quickly after the sprint point. My legs were dying already, and this wasn’t going to be getting any easier. It looked like the two riders who jumped managed to hold onto the first and second points, but it was hard to tell from the rear.
The pace levelled off and I actually managed to gain a bit of recovery.
The next sprint point was a fastest through segment which leads to a slightly different dynamic where the sprinters tend to line up at the rear of the pack, to then sprint through the group with draft.
I was positioned in the middle of the pack and again, I didn’t commit to a proper sprint. This time it was more due to the fact that this section is net downhill, and I was hoping the draft would be strong enough to pull me along… it wasn’t. The sprinters came flying past pulling crazy numbers and I found myself dangling precariously at the back. At least this time I got on the power earlier to get into the pack.
Teammate Oscar managed to pip the FTS points by 0.1s!!
The race was now one long line and I made sure to keep on the power until I was back towards the front. This could’ve been costly as had the bad snapped I would’ve been on the wrong end of it.
Once again, the pace levelled off across the flat section but, just like my desire to do HIIT, it didn’t last long before we were back prepping for the next sprint segment.
This time I wasn’t taking any chances, lesson finally learned. I positioned myself right at the front and I was fully prepared to go hard here. When I saw this route, I knew this section would be crucial with the sprint point being at the bottom of the valley followed by some rollers, not a section I want to be chasing back on.
I kept my watts up this time. But, yet again I was still going backwards! I really am outmatched here. I made sure not to ease up through the banner and fortunately the pace dropped on the roller out of the valley and we were soon back together.
We hit the turnaround in the desert and then headed back the way we came. The drag into and out of that turnaround was a zapper for my legs and I was dying a slow and painful death on the bike.
At this point I just try to position myself in the front third of the pack hoping I can pull something out of my arse to get across the line in a decent position.
I, somewhat surprisingly (okay, okay, very surprisingly), find myself in an excellent spot for the sprint. But what this picture doesn’t show is the fact that I am, once again, moving backwards.
I get out the saddle to sprint and managed 2 and a half pedal rotations before my legs go to jelly. I would’ve guessed I was averaging >300W but watching it back it was closer to 200W.
I watch whole pack, except 3, pass me in a rapid downhill sprint. I just didn’t have anything to give. I typically pride myself on my sprint and punchy style by my god this was a humbling race! Theres no point having a sprint if you can’t use it in the final 300m.
Here are my final stats for this stage:
I was really hoping to do a bit better in this stage, but I just didn’t have anything to compete with. I am kinda gutted I didn’t have a go at one of the FTS, but the points-vs-effort ratio just wasn’t worth it for me. I still can’t comprehend the strength of these other riders, smashing out >10 w/kg after punching through this stage.
TLDR
I no longer identify as a sprinter.
After getting rid of my trainer table the only thing that was a pain in the arse was using a mouse or trackball, found this remote on Amazon that acts as a mouse with tilt sensors and works over Bluetooth. Works a treat and very inexpensive.
Hello guys i just received my adidas c1 sprint bike. I want to use it on my zwift app but cant. It says it compatible with zwift.
More curiousity than anything. I am looking to cycle 50kms a day every day.
Goal is for 2 outcomes. I have a fondo in September and want to build a strong base.
Is this enough.
2nd outcome just general health benefits.
I am sure I am not the first to set a goal like this and was curious to hear if someone had embarked on a similar journey and what were the outcomes
Years ago, I used to have my road bike connected to my wahoo kickr snap.
I had that set up in our previous home, but it wasn’t that practical for me to maintain after we had kids and I wanted something that could be adjustable for our whole family.
Over the pandemic, we got a Peloton like everyone else. I remember the subscription price at the time being reasonable, but they ended up rug pulling their pricing over time probably because many pandemic spinners left the platform. So I didn’t want to pay those subscription prices anymore, and I ended up modding my Peloton bike with a SmartSpin2K.
I effectively used the SmartSpin2K to act as the cadence and power meter and control the resistance knob on the bike. So it behaves much like my wahoo kickr snap used to.
I also added a VESA bracket to the bike since the original Peloton Bike just uses a 100mm VESA mount, and made it so that I can keep the original tablet installed but swivel to a 21” computer monitor with an Apple TV hooked up.
Its been nice because I don’t have to maintain the bike for this setup, and the bike is adjustable for everyone in the household without needing to have multiple bike configs, and with the monitor installed onto the bike itself its nice to not have to deal with a separate tv/laptop/tablet/phone/etc.
I know its not necessarily in the spirit of indoor conditioning on real outdoor bike simulation setup, but it helped me get back into cycling again which was nice, and it gave me a way to repurpose the Peloton bike.
I can also continue to use the Peloton service if we end up wanting it again at a much reduced rate since it’s available on Apple TV as well.
...and therefore I created this free iOS app BETTER.FTP.
This app is built for cyclist that use indoor trainers for training. One very important fitness metric in cycling is the FTP. That is the power the body can under best effort maintain for 1 hour. In cycling training most trainings are based on this FTP and therefore it makes sense to reevaluate the FTP regularly. But to actually test your FTP today you basically have to pay a subscription. Zwift, TrainerRoad, MyWhoosh all hide their tests behind a 15-25$ monthly paywall.
When you are only interested on testing your FTP on regular intervals, this app might be for you and you could help me with some feedback:
- if you own a smart trainer, try it and tell me whether pairing worked
- any visual bugs on your phone?
App Store link in the first comment. Site: https://betterftp.cc
I went through the junction to the south this morning and saw the road but I didn’t have an option to turn onto it. I don’t remember seeing any connections from the KOM road either.
Edit: if unclear, this is in Watopia, next to the bit with the dinosaurs.
I can’t search for an event. I can’t select a time range for events, I can’t select a date. I can go by type but I still have to scroll a ton to get to the thing I want to do after work or tomorrow morning. This seems like very low hanging fruit and yet zero improvements. 👎
Today I rode Four by Four Stage 1 and once again Zwift completely messed up my results.
I finished the race. Got the congratulations screen. Then got the "we are measuring photo finishes" message. Fine. But afterwards? DNF. No race credit. No ZwiftPower entry. No score. Nothing.
And this is not a one-time thing. This happens to me every month or so. Every few weeks I end up having to email support with screenshots asking them to manually give me event credit and fix missing results. It's become a routine at this point.
And before people ask: no, I’m not disconnecting. I have top-tier hardware and a solid setup. I have no issues with dropouts or connection stability anywhere else. This keeps happening specifically with race result processing.
What frustrates me most: this isn't some brand-new edge-case bug. I keep finding forum posts and people reporting similar issues going back YEARS. Five years or more.
I'm a software developer myself. I understand software has bugs. Every system does. Some bugs are low priority, some are high priority. But this? This is high priority.
When your platform is built around events, progression, scores, events and competition... race results randomly disappearing is not a cosmetic issue. This directly breaks the core experience.
I rode my heart out today and was actually looking forward to seeing my score and result. Instead I get another support ticket.
I pay 20 dollars a month ffs. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the basics to work:
That shouldn't be a luxury feature.
Am I cursed or are other people still running into this?
Hi, I just ordered a van ryzel D500 from decathlon and I have some remorse wondering if I would have been better to spend 200$ more for the kickr core 2. It would be my first indoor trainer and I'm wondering if the wifi connection and the race mode is a big thing. I'm not a good cyclist yet so I probably don't need a race mode, but will I regret it in a couple years if I improve?
Level 36. 276 of 440km done towards final upgrade of Aeroad 24 frame. Using zipp 353NSW rims and have 784k drops. No idea of the drop requirement for the final upgrade. What frame or rims should I be looking at next?
’ve seen zwift online and it looks fun and challenging. I ride mountain bikes and run but when the weather is crap, I don’t have a lot to do. I’ve never been into road cycling as the area I live in is very heavily populated and not a lot of areas to ride unless I drive, which I feel like defeats the purpose so with that being said, I’ve been looking into getting into indoor cycling. I’m wondering if it’s better to get a stationary bike like a bow flex C7 or any other type of indoor bike that connects to Bluetooth or if it would be more beneficial to get a cheap road bike and a wahoo kickr. I’m not looking to break the bank as it probably won’t get used very often but I’ve heard good reviews out of the Bowflex C7 from people just writing it as a normal stationary bike, but I was wondering how it would hold up trying to play zwift. I know road bikes can get expensive also but I have seen good reviews out of the Ozark Trail new road bike/gravel bike. I didn’t know if that plus.the wahoo kickr would be worth spending a little extra money on. Thank you.
