Jesus i am not at that level yet, just done 2.5hrs and easy 10k for an hour, My legs are already saying "you know tomorrow, your going down the stairs sideways
"The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread
- Thread starter randomshenans
- Start date
Jesus i am not at that level yet, just done 2.5hrs and easy 10k for an hour, My legs are already saying "you know tomorrow, your going down the stairs sideways
"
Soldato
I use TrainerRoad and quite like it, if you want to try it out give me a shout and I'll pass on a referral link for a free month...
I will say that the training plans in Zwift aren't... brilliant. Don't get me wrong they're decent but once you've done one or two thats it. There isn't much variety. The reason for me to stay on Zwift for the large part is the races/events. I do a few endurance rides, and the odd race, a week on Zwift which is admittedly easier in the company of a large pack.
I often go back for boughts of Sufferfest because the training is so much better. I wonder what RGTs training plans are like, I tried RGT but didn't like it for some reason, but that was back in beta..
Soldato
So it's the variety more than perhaps the effectiveness? That's probably fine, I don't see me doing too many tbh. I guess if I do run out of them, then I could look at other options. Thanks.
Soldato
Did a race with a work mate today, he's Cat C, so I did my first race in Cat C with him. It's a sprint race though (9.9 miles I think it was) so I thought I could perhaps hold my own. From 85, he came 7th, I came 35th, so was well pleased with that Around 7 miles I was actually 24th, but I just couldn't keep that power up. As it was, my ave HR was 160... which is only a few of my supposed max for my age!
Definitely better on the Kickr than my old wheel on. I can actually get my power down
Around 7 miles I was actually 24th, but I just couldn't keep that power up. As it was, my ave HR was 160... which is only a few of my supposed max for my age! Definitely better on the Kickr than my old wheel on. I can actually get my power down
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2004
- Posts
- 10,646
Well done mate. Zwift is brutal really, it's a savage start into basically flat out til the finish.
I go full gas out the pen and settle into 180-185bpm which is pretty hard and power wise sit at threshold for most of it. Downtown dolphin is hard both ways but I find anti clockwise easier by going hard up the cobbled climb. Recover to the park and push 400w over each wee blip in the park.
I go full gas out the pen and settle into 180-185bpm which is pretty hard and power wise sit at threshold for most of it. Downtown dolphin is hard both ways but I find anti clockwise easier by going hard up the cobbled climb. Recover to the park and push 400w over each wee blip in the park.
I was on the downtown dolphin tonight too. One of those daft all grades mixed start which I don’t like. I’ve only ever raced where you go up the cobbled climb, have to keep the power on over the top and really string it out if you’re feeling good.
Put myself down to C as I’ve not raced since October, dropped about 40w off my FTP. I was going OK, absolutely nothing over threshold but holding with some B and C Ok for 20 mins then had a TCP connection crap itself. Lost 10 seconds and had to do a lap by myself before being picked up by a further back group.
Pace wasn’t quite as high so came to the end with them all mixed up with some people a lap down. Turns out I came second in C on ZP. About 250w average so around 3.0-3.1.
End up with legs which are a different kind of sore from Zwift racing compared to road rides.
Put myself down to C as I’ve not raced since October, dropped about 40w off my FTP. I was going OK, absolutely nothing over threshold but holding with some B and C Ok for 20 mins then had a TCP connection crap itself. Lost 10 seconds and had to do a lap by myself before being picked up by a further back group.
Pace wasn’t quite as high so came to the end with them all mixed up with some people a lap down. Turns out I came second in C on ZP. About 250w average so around 3.0-3.1.
End up with legs which are a different kind of sore from Zwift racing compared to road rides.
Surprised to find the TDZ Stage 8 kinda tame tonight. Did the Champs Elysee course and besides an initial mild effort to stay with the front group out the gates it was fairly easy to stay with the group. Considered making a break but figured that's futile solo on Zwift. In the end rolling into the finish I found myself on the front and knowing I can't sprint I upped the tempo 0.4miles out. Got passed 50m or so before the line! 6th I think. Haven't seen 200+ bpm in a little while 
Wow I'm overdue an update in here, but not much to report. Bit of a trainer issue (sorted by firmware update and calibration) possibly ruined a TTT for me, but hopefully made a bit of a comeback. Tonight will tell as it's WTRL TTT time again. In an easier group this time, bit of a 'comeback' ride for the Team & guys I rode a lot with last autumn. I should be one of the stronger ones there so should be good to push myself a bit without blowing and finishing solo...
TTT getting dropped. One of the team (Sarah) had a trainer issue (Stages bike, sounds like a flywheel problem) and in doing so skipped her turn and I got my timings wrong starting 15s early and then ended up fighting for the front... Before then doing a 30s longer turn than planned! Couple of gap closes and someone surged the front up the first part of the KOM. Sarah dropped and 2 of us eased to get her on, but the front guys didn't hear. Then when we'd almost closed the gap their 'only 4.0w/kg' up the first ramp really maximised me. I went so deep, that even after Sarah called to leave her, I barely made it back on the group. Then the final part of the KOM I just blew up and told them to leave me. I was quite disappointed as knew this group shouldn't be as hard as that - but when I looked at the ride data afterwards it confirmed things. 10 minutes a few watts over my FTP (276W), but realistically more like 15-20W over where I am right now.
So on the weekend I decided to do the short stage of TDZ, with a plan to do a longer ride on the sunday. Trainer was really not good, so I knew it had a problem (getting some belt slip, but also power was really down). I pushed on and finished, knowing it was good training, even though the power numbers really off (but know I'm off the boil at the moment - just not *that* much!). Threshold for 40+ minutes but power around 50-60W down.
So on the sunday after a couple of warm ups, calibrations, spindowns and a firmware update I rode the long stage of TDZ and had a fantastic ride. Utterly emptied myself and gave myself horrible DOMS for several days afterwards. Ooops!
But power and numbers back up where I want them to be. A little below the FTP I set a few weeks before on an amazing few rides, but at least now more of a realistic measure where I am at 'normally' on a happy/repaired/calibrated trainer.
But I am getting a bunch of belt slip at the moment, even with a new belt. Thought it was cold related but even after pointing a heater at the Flux and riding it hard for ~1 hour I'm seeing it. Doing some investigations now but possibly can't resolve it until I find more info and refit my pulley arm/wheel... Until then if someone comes across someone selling a KICKR Core (unlikely) then let me know...!
Do you have any old laptops/old rigs? I'm running a 6 year old cheapy reconditioned i5 I threw an SSD into. Doesn't set the world ablaze but for £350 (back then) can't fault it. Did consider reusing my old Q6600 rig, but most of the trawling I did seemed to suggest it wouldn't be any better... Also didn't have an old Geforce to sling in it.
If I was going tablet route I'd probably get a MS Surface Go2. Got one for the other half last Xmas and it's a good bit of kit. Unsure how good it would push 1080p or bigger though. If you where after something *just* for Zwifting and have a big screen/display to use, then the AppleTV is pretty unmissable. Certainly with the current price of GPU's.
But if you've got an old 1050/1060, it could be worth looking for old business/desktops. Scroll back a page or two in here and you'll find a bit of info when we threw a few ideas around. Think someone even got a reconditioned HP Workstation, but can't recall what GPU it had.
But 2 laps of that would be utterly brutal! Was it part of an event? Would be a 6-7h ride for me... Maybe one for @AndyCr15 to get his teeth into!
TTT getting dropped. One of the team (Sarah) had a trainer issue (Stages bike, sounds like a flywheel problem) and in doing so skipped her turn and I got my timings wrong starting 15s early and then ended up fighting for the front... Before then doing a 30s longer turn than planned! Couple of gap closes and someone surged the front up the first part of the KOM. Sarah dropped and 2 of us eased to get her on, but the front guys didn't hear. Then when we'd almost closed the gap their 'only 4.0w/kg' up the first ramp really maximised me. I went so deep, that even after Sarah called to leave her, I barely made it back on the group. Then the final part of the KOM I just blew up and told them to leave me. I was quite disappointed as knew this group shouldn't be as hard as that - but when I looked at the ride data afterwards it confirmed things. 10 minutes a few watts over my FTP (276W), but realistically more like 15-20W over where I am right now.
So on the weekend I decided to do the short stage of TDZ, with a plan to do a longer ride on the sunday. Trainer was really not good, so I knew it had a problem (getting some belt slip, but also power was really down). I pushed on and finished, knowing it was good training, even though the power numbers really off (but know I'm off the boil at the moment - just not *that* much!). Threshold for 40+ minutes but power around 50-60W down.
So on the sunday after a couple of warm ups, calibrations, spindowns and a firmware update I rode the long stage of TDZ and had a fantastic ride. Utterly emptied myself and gave myself horrible DOMS for several days afterwards. Ooops!
But power and numbers back up where I want them to be. A little below the FTP I set a few weeks before on an amazing few rides, but at least now more of a realistic measure where I am at 'normally' on a happy/repaired/calibrated trainer.
But I am getting a bunch of belt slip at the moment, even with a new belt. Thought it was cold related but even after pointing a heater at the Flux and riding it hard for ~1 hour I'm seeing it. Doing some investigations now but possibly can't resolve it until I find more info and refit my pulley arm/wheel... Until then if someone comes across someone selling a KICKR Core (unlikely) then let me know...!
Hahaha I hadn't realised it was a hilly course! Which route did you do? Huge kudos for crossing it off regardless. There's only a few times I've ridden that long (or longer), but have done 3 hours quite a few times (helps that one of my 'regular' rides is 2.5 hours)!
Nope. Although 3R did it a few weeks ago. Quite a few times now their Endurance weekend series have done routes/courses for people to cross off.
Nope... Nearly did last year and did around 60/70% of it the year before (or was it the one before that...). Not heard much about SUFF recently, they done much to the platform the last year or so?
What external displays do you have/want to use, as that may determine what to use (resolution/ports).
Do you have any old laptops/old rigs? I'm running a 6 year old cheapy reconditioned i5 I threw an SSD into. Doesn't set the world ablaze but for £350 (back then) can't fault it. Did consider reusing my old Q6600 rig, but most of the trawling I did seemed to suggest it wouldn't be any better... Also didn't have an old Geforce to sling in it.
If I was going tablet route I'd probably get a MS Surface Go2. Got one for the other half last Xmas and it's a good bit of kit. Unsure how good it would push 1080p or bigger though. If you where after something *just* for Zwifting and have a big screen/display to use, then the AppleTV is pretty unmissable. Certainly with the current price of GPU's.
But if you've got an old 1050/1060, it could be worth looking for old business/desktops. Scroll back a page or two in here and you'll find a bit of info when we threw a few ideas around. Think someone even got a reconditioned HP Workstation, but can't recall what GPU it had.
Only certain android tablets will work, but if you have a good smartphone it could be worth getting a USB-C to HDMI converter and pushing that out on a display (if you have one). Certainly a cheap option. My Samsung S10 runs Zwift really smooth but I've not pushed it over HDMI...
Slow and steady does it. But also if you're riding outside/garage it's worth getting a calibration done.I'm starting to slowly get back into it after having a virus and chest infection for about 3-4 weeks. It's scuppered having a go at TDZ, and comparing yesterday's ride with one from before Christmas with a similar average heart rate, it seems I've lost about 60W. Garmin is telling me that my Vo2max is dropping too
Hahahaha proper made me chuckle, really like thatJust getting on Zwift now, 2 laps of The Mega Pretzel. Otherwise known as The Shed Whitton Challenge
But 2 laps of that would be utterly brutal! Was it part of an event? Would be a 6-7h ride for me... Maybe one for @AndyCr15 to get his teeth into!
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After spending about 6 weeks with poor gear changes on my Turbo I finally bothered to replace the cable today. I hadn't realised the front of my shifter is now fully detatched from the bit that grips the bar, but it does make getting the rubber hood off really easy Gave it a good clean up too, frame, gears etc.
Raced the Longer stage 8 earlier, managed to get in the front group pretty much straight away and this made things soooo much easier! Kept it fairly consistent, few digs up the little ramp half way round the lap, but other than that sitting at sweetspot for most it. finished up in 19th place overall with 286W average for 44:30. I'm definitely getting stronger and able to push more indoors over the past couple of weeks. It's probably the first proper focused block of training i've done for a while with slow accumulation of effort week on week despite the cold and my longer weekend rides being few and far between. Think I'm going to try to do one or two races a week on zwift for little while longer, they certainly get the blood flowing and I seem to be able to push a bit more in them with something to chase.
Gave it a good clean up too, frame, gears etc. Raced the Longer stage 8 earlier, managed to get in the front group pretty much straight away and this made things soooo much easier! Kept it fairly consistent, few digs up the little ramp half way round the lap, but other than that sitting at sweetspot for most it. finished up in 19th place overall with 286W average for 44:30. I'm definitely getting stronger and able to push more indoors over the past couple of weeks. It's probably the first proper focused block of training i've done for a while with slow accumulation of effort week on week despite the cold and my longer weekend rides being few and far between. Think I'm going to try to do one or two races a week on zwift for little while longer, they certainly get the blood flowing and I seem to be able to push a bit more in them with something to chase.
Back to bloody Zwift crashing (graphics drivers). I spent time playing around with them last year when I had issues and thought it was fixed...
This was on Sand and Sequias which is a route I’ve ridden quite a lot, so a random crash of the Zwift.exe coming down the hilly section before the main climb. Froze with a graphics error on the minimap and then showed the reason with some openGL64 dll error.
Updated to the Nvidia 461 January 2021 drivers for windows 7, rebooted, removed and reinstalled Zwift then reupdated it too... gave up for the night as that wasted loads of time & someone had started up a coal fire which I was sucking in lungs of. Grrr!
This was on Sand and Sequias which is a route I’ve ridden quite a lot, so a random crash of the Zwift.exe coming down the hilly section before the main climb. Froze with a graphics error on the minimap and then showed the reason with some openGL64 dll error.
Updated to the Nvidia 461 January 2021 drivers for windows 7, rebooted, removed and reinstalled Zwift then reupdated it too... gave up for the night as that wasted loads of time & someone had started up a coal fire which I was sucking in lungs of. Grrr!
Soldato
Wow I'm overdue an update in here, but not much to report. Bit of a trainer issue (sorted by firmware update and calibration) possibly ruined a TTT for me, but hopefully made a bit of a comeback. Tonight will tell as it's WTRL TTT time again. In an easier group this time, bit of a 'comeback' ride for the Team & guys I rode a lot with last autumn. I should be one of the stronger ones there so should be good to push myself a bit without blowing and finishing solo...
TTT getting dropped. One of the team (Sarah) had a trainer issue (Stages bike, sounds like a flywheel problem) and in doing so skipped her turn and I got my timings wrong starting 15s early and then ended up fighting for the front... Before then doing a 30s longer turn than planned! Couple of gap closes and someone surged the front up the first part of the KOM. Sarah dropped and 2 of us eased to get her on, but the front guys didn't hear. Then when we'd almost closed the gap their 'only 4.0w/kg' up the first ramp really maximised me. I went so deep, that even after Sarah called to leave her, I barely made it back on the group. Then the final part of the KOM I just blew up and told them to leave me. I was quite disappointed as knew this group shouldn't be as hard as that - but when I looked at the ride data afterwards it confirmed things. 10 minutes a few watts over my FTP (276W), but realistically more like 15-20W over where I am right now.
So on the weekend I decided to do the short stage of TDZ, with a plan to do a longer ride on the sunday. Trainer was really not good, so I knew it had a problem (getting some belt slip, but also power was really down). I pushed on and finished, knowing it was good training, even though the power numbers really off (but know I'm off the boil at the moment - just not *that* much!). Threshold for 40+ minutes but power around 50-60W down.
So on the sunday after a couple of warm ups, calibrations, spindowns and a firmware update I rode the long stage of TDZ and had a fantastic ride. Utterly emptied myself and gave myself horrible DOMS for several days afterwards. Ooops!
But power and numbers back up where I want them to be. A little below the FTP I set a few weeks before on an amazing few rides, but at least now more of a realistic measure where I am at 'normally' on a happy/repaired/calibrated trainer.
But I am getting a bunch of belt slip at the moment, even with a new belt. Thought it was cold related but even after pointing a heater at the Flux and riding it hard for ~1 hour I'm seeing it. Doing some investigations now but possibly can't resolve it until I find more info and refit my pulley arm/wheel... Until then if someone comes across someone selling a KICKR Core (unlikely) then let me know...!
Hahaha I hadn't realised it was a hilly course! Which route did you do? Huge kudos for crossing it off regardless. There's only a few times I've ridden that long (or longer), but have done 3 hours quite a few times (helps that one of my 'regular' rides is 2.5 hours)!
Nope. Although 3R did it a few weeks ago. Quite a few times now their Endurance weekend series have done routes/courses for people to cross off.
Nope... Nearly did last year and did around 60/70% of it the year before (or was it the one before that...). Not heard much about SUFF recently, they done much to the platform the last year or so?
What external displays do you have/want to use, as that may determine what to use (resolution/ports).
Do you have any old laptops/old rigs? I'm running a 6 year old cheapy reconditioned i5 I threw an SSD into. Doesn't set the world ablaze but for £350 (back then) can't fault it. Did consider reusing my old Q6600 rig, but most of the trawling I did seemed to suggest it wouldn't be any better... Also didn't have an old Geforce to sling in it.
If I was going tablet route I'd probably get a MS Surface Go2. Got one for the other half last Xmas and it's a good bit of kit. Unsure how good it would push 1080p or bigger though. If you where after something *just* for Zwifting and have a big screen/display to use, then the AppleTV is pretty unmissable. Certainly with the current price of GPU's.
But if you've got an old 1050/1060, it could be worth looking for old business/desktops. Scroll back a page or two in here and you'll find a bit of info when we threw a few ideas around. Think someone even got a reconditioned HP Workstation, but can't recall what GPU it had.
Only certain android tablets will work, but if you have a good smartphone it could be worth getting a USB-C to HDMI converter and pushing that out on a display (if you have one). Certainly a cheap option. My Samsung S10 runs Zwift really smooth but I've not pushed it over HDMI...
Slow and steady does it. But also if you're riding outside/garage it's worth getting a calibration done.
Hahahaha proper made me chuckle, really like that
But 2 laps of that would be utterly brutal! Was it part of an event? Would be a 6-7h ride for me... Maybe one for @AndyCr15 to get his teeth into!
Cheers! We did 113 miles, 8500ft climbing. Took 8.5 hours. Was a good un!
Although I’ve had a killer sore throat ever since....
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2004
- Posts
- 10,646
Got talked into the WTRL TTT tonight as a spot opened up, looks like I'll do it again if I can.
Was conservative with my watts and probably went a bit hard on the front when I did venture towards the front. Need to practice staying in line rather than surging forward and back.
It will be something to aim for to hit the magic 4w/kg on certain events.
My heart rate explains how hard it felt
https://www.strava.com/activities/4772219064/heartrate
Was conservative with my watts and probably went a bit hard on the front when I did venture towards the front. Need to practice staying in line rather than surging forward and back.
It will be something to aim for to hit the magic 4w/kg on certain events.
My heart rate explains how hard it felt
https://www.strava.com/activities/4772219064/heartrate
Associate
Ha! You got roped in by the team I ride for (albeit in a much lower cat). Nice numbers!
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2004
- Posts
- 10,646
I was in kelpies group, think there's a bit of rivalry with synthrider or whatever group he captains.
Associate
Synth is in the Gaels, friendly rivalry across all the teams, good fun, think the wulvers are the other frappe team. All about getting in to the PL
Soldato
I started my first training plan on Zwift last night, FTP Builder. Quite enjoyed it. It was 1:07 long, but the time goes quite quick with things separated into 4 minutes, 6 minutes, 2 minutes etc. It also seemed just the right level (as it should, based on the previous days FTP test) of me dying right near the end! Love how it gets you doing different things, like hold {90%FTP} watts but at cadence of 65, then at one point was something like 75% FTP but out of the saddle, 60 cadence for 30 seconds. That bit was harder than I thought!
Love ERG mode. I had to turn it off on my old trainer as it might boost to a high wattage and the wheel would just slip, but it's soooo smooth on the Kickr.
It appears it is done on whatever route I have selected in the ride bit too, right? So I can tick off some routes while I'm doing it too
Love ERG mode. I had to turn it off on my old trainer as it might boost to a high wattage and the wheel would just slip, but it's soooo smooth on the Kickr.
It appears it is done on whatever route I have selected in the ride bit too, right? So I can tick off some routes while I'm doing it too
Soldato
Yes you can ride any route while doing a workout, assuming you haven't joined an event (that is a workout) that is set to a particular course.
Well I had a mega ride. Really really pleased with that one and the team did mega. 'Fall Out Boy' have now become 'Nirvana' and riding at 7.15pm rather than 7.40pm actually works really well for me as I get to catch my lad just going to bed when it's a short course like that...
We had a new guy along, RL friend of a couple of others in team and his power numbers where insane. Flat course and a light 68kg doing 5.0w/kg pulls. I was on a flier (just as well really) as ended up in rotation behind him and having to sit 2nd wheel to those 5w/kg pulls by a short lightweight guy was no mean feat...! My normal job of watching gaps at the rear changed into watching gaps at the front. So with a mixed bag of riders & weights, I was sitting 2nd/3rd wheel when the stronger guys came through to stop surges from gapping the weaker guys. It worked really well and we only had 1 rear small gap to close and only lost 1 rider along the way (utterly at his limit).
https://www.strava.com/activities/4772278234/
Finished at 3.7w/kg (or 286W) avg which is a bit over my FTP (276W) set a number of weeks earlier on another flier of a day (or a week I had). I had thought that week was a '1-off' but I think with that result last night I've proved to myself it wasn't, so really quite chuffed!
Now I just need to be able to repeat that kind of ride to prove to myself that's what I'm 'normally' capable of when doing a TTT.
Racing really does that, pushing you. But with Zwift it's just sustained threshold work, bouncing into VO2max type efforts and then recovering in sweetspot or just above. Does quite a bit for your threshold!
Great numbers too, not too dissimilar to my TTT effort, but at no point was I at sweetspot lol!
Gutted as like you say what an utter waste of riding time - and we all know how scarce that seems to get.
Hope you get it sorted, any options to get it up to W10 instead of 7? Might future proof it a little more, might even be more stable.
That is an epic one fair play! Great to do with a group of mates too.
Nice one and good ride mate, good numbers! Similar HR and power to mine (296W vs 286W), but you guys where a minute quicker than us (39:42 vs 40.44!). Brutal isn't it?!
Good to have another Zwifter & TTT'er in here! Welcome!
That's a great way of doing them. I went through a phase of doing my FTP tests up ADZ. I'd ride out to the foot as a warm up, then start the effort at the bottom, slight rest after the 20 minutes where up, then push on to the top.It appears it is done on whatever route I have selected in the ride bit too, right? So I can tick off some routes while I'm doing it too