The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

[wonko]

I recommend trying a workout, or maybe even better, an actual training plan I've not done a free ride for months now, they almost seem like wasting time when done on an indoor bike.

Thanks for the suggestions. My free rides aren't dawdling around, most days they are closer to time trials and I'm often around my threshold for an hour or so. Other days I'll do more intervals and anaerobic bursts, so i do mix it up a bit. I suppose I do it more for the exercise than the cycling (if you see what I mean), I get a good cardio workout and burn a stack of calories for that guilt-free feeling all day . My fitness is going in the right direction doing what I'm doing, but I'm sure a proper training plan would be more effective - I'm not sure I want to commit to anything too regimented at the moment, though, but I'll give it a go sometime.

 

[SoliD]

Slowly sorting out my garage a bit to make my Zwift set up a bit more permanent, had been running an MS Surface Pro over the winter, had some old pc parts lying around so built it back up and got Zwift installed with a BT usb plugin. Seems to go ok, struggles with big packs (old i5 and GTX950 I think in it), probably need to look at the graphics settings too. Can actually see whats going on in Zwift now at least anyway! didn't realise there was a distance shown on the close the gap thing until yesterday

Will get a better photo.

@john_smith I bought one of the vacmaster ones but need to sort out the angle properly. I struggle with cold hands sweaty body, so need to position them carefully, that one allows nice angle and a big long stick is used to angle it at me and off me depending on how warm/cold I am.

 

[john_smith]

Good fans. I used a pair of thoseplugged into remote controlled smart switches on my old setup.

 

[platypus]

Noooo 400m short of my tron bike and the turbo has been packed away for an unknown period of time (we're selling the house). Oh well, something to look forward to when I get my setup back out in the new place. Going to really suck for my race training though, just can't replicate the level of workout outside.

 

[UTmaniac]

Noooo 400m short of my tron bike and the turbo has been packed away for an unknown period of time (we're selling the house). Oh well, something to look forward to when I get my setup back out in the new place. Going to really suck for my race training though, just can't replicate the level of workout outside.

Power meter on your bike and a smartphone that can run Zwift? Ride outside with Zwift running on your phone.

 

[john_smith]

Power meter on your bike and a smartphone that can run Zwift? Ride outside with Zwift running on your phone.

Genius!!!

 

[AndyCr15]

As you can see from posts above, I've been doing it this month for the double XP Works fine, although my 4iiii seems to 'go to sleep' very quickly when you stop, so you have to keep checking that it stays connected. Also, for a ride of 3+ hours, maybe have the phone plugged into an external battery.

 

[Berger]

I did a Zwift and it didn’t crash! Saved from the uninstall!

I did the Italy Special race, same as a month ago, same overall power but better power across the rest of the board and 5bpm less average HR.

Threw in an attack on lap 2, but nobody wanted to come with me. Lap 3 we had a split which I got stuck behind but managed to bridge over dragging a few with me. Tried to push the pace on lap 3 at the back end of the course coming into the volcano but again most people seemed at their limit, I wasn’t going to just sit on the front and drag everyone else along.

Sprint finish, finishing towards the back of the group of 20.

 

[Roady]

I don't really look at my power on the road, if anything it limits my performance.

Looked one night at an A80 and I was doing 450w going through to take my turn on the front and thought ****, this is hard.

Haha a bit like Andrew Feather the Hill Climb champion guy I watched the GCN+ thing about a few nights ago - trains with one, but doesn't ride his HC's with his HR as 'doesn't want to know'!

@Roady is this the right replacement freehub for the original Neo? https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/697103#overview

@One More Solo sorry for the delay mate but yes, if you've not got one already that will fit. The Tacx DD trainers all use the same Freehub IIRC. I bought one for the Flux (S/H for £25) and then just switched it straight over to the Neo.

So I was wondering other than DIY if there is a fixed front wheel stand for bike trainers? A quick Google search and I've found a flex one, and obviously the kickr Hill climb one, but I just want a fixed frame to mount it to.

Tacx do a stand for fixing the front wheel when using rollers. I've seen a number of those on peoples setups. It is 'bolted' to the frame so you'll need to get/build a base for it. Several I've seen have put casters on the bottom so it can move slightly when sprinting etc.

Do most of you guys/girls use a dedicated trainer bike?

Yes, an old alu frame. I wouldn't use a carbon frame on a dedicated turbo setup.

Edit sold the flux locally in the end and bought a Kickr core.

Good choice - and that's coming from a previous Flux owner!

Also tried the Alpe du Zwift this morning for the first time - I'm not exactly lightweight so fairly happy with 48:16.8.

Good work and welcome back! That's also a great time up there, my PR from a couple of years back is similar. I've been easily 30-50W below and 5+kg away from troubling that anytime since.

I did a Zwift and it didn’t crash! Saved from the uninstall!

Good to hear and totally understand where you're coming from with the frustration! Why the hell ZwiftHQ decide to release updates on a Tuesday/Wednesday when the most popular series (WTRL ZRL & TTT) are run on a Wednesday/Thursday has always escaped me. Bizarre. I get not wanting to do it on the weekend (more hobby cyclists), but Mondays or Fridays would suit better!

My last couple of TTT's have been 'ok'. I'm mostly skipping turns at the moment just to stick the group and finish as being one of the weakest along. Am kinda a sub-captain now though, so people do listen to me! Anyone around 250-300W FTP and 3.4-4.0w/kg who fancies a go at TTT'ing give me a shout sometime, we're generally the team new riders start with and progress up from.

 

[Berger]

Well another Zwift update to install tonight but fortunately no issues.

Hopefully whatever driver/game problem I was having has gone and I can leave it alone.

I jumped into the EvoCC volcano short race (20 mins) B grade. I’ve done it a lot so know the score, just ride the laps with the bunch. Come from near the back through the bunch for the uphill into the volcano start/finish.

Last lap we were coming to pass a large D grade so I powered through our group and off the front doing 5w hoping that some people might “stick” to the D grade and get a little gap. Kept it going and had 1 second but pointless continuing. Sit up and let myself be reabsorbed, even riding at 5w you can’t pull away from the bunch riding 3.5approx.

Recover and wait for the final uphill, not too hard from the bottom, sitting front 5. One guy takes a flyer but I lean on the others to try and close it down more while riding about 5-6w. Get to about 200 and start to sprint, get a couple of places, close on the line but I got a silver with the flyer taking the win, my best result so far this year.

 

[xdcx]

Good to hear and totally understand where you're coming from with the frustration! Why the hell ZwiftHQ decide to release updates on a Tuesday/Wednesday when the most popular series (WTRL ZRL & TTT) are run on a Wednesday/Thursday has always escaped me. Bizarre. I get not wanting to do it on the weekend (more hobby cyclists), but Mondays or Fridays would suit better!

They used to always release their patches on Friday's and leave us suffering the fallout/bugs/drama of them all weekend before bothering to fix them during the week after.
I don't think their solution comes in form of day they release the patches, their solution comes in the form of actual QC and not essentially releasing rando crappy tested patches to every client around the world and hoping it is alright..... with Zwift, we are actually just all beta testing continuously for them and paying to do so.....

 

[UTmaniac]

@Roady Couple more short ERG workouts for you to think about trying, both 20mins and 29TSS, https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/less-than-30-minutes-to-burn/knife-edge and https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/less-than-30-minutes-to-burn/atovers

Both a bit like a short 13min TT, personally I found Knife Edge a bit tougher, with the longer z5/6 mini-blocks.

 

[SoliD]

I don't believe 5 minutes is sufficient warm up before going that hard.

 

[One More Solo]

Thanks @Roady, I took a punt on that freehub before you replied and all installed and working smoothly. Welcome back!

 

[Jonny ///M]

Well another Zwift update to install tonight but fortunately no issues.

Hopefully whatever driver/game problem I was having has gone and I can leave it alone.

I jumped into the EvoCC volcano short race (20 mins) B grade. I’ve done it a lot so know the score, just ride the laps with the bunch. Come from near the back through the bunch for the uphill into the volcano start/finish.

Last lap we were coming to pass a large D grade so I powered through our group and off the front doing 5w hoping that some people might “stick” to the D grade and get a little gap. Kept it going and had 1 second but pointless continuing. Sit up and let myself be reabsorbed, even riding at 5w you can’t pull away from the bunch riding 3.5approx.

Recover and wait for the final uphill, not too hard from the bottom, sitting front 5. One guy takes a flyer but I lean on the others to try and close it down more while riding about 5-6w. Get to about 200 and start to sprint, get a couple of places, close on the line but I got a silver with the flyer taking the win, my best result so far this year.

Nice one mate, good to see improvements and they make it worth it. My last race on the volcano I went from the hill outside from a group of As after leaving the C group, died a little and had to kick again to the line as it's further than you think.

Did my first crit in a while with the boss last night so left the bike setup on the turbo to do it again tonight. Shut the shop early so we could get a Zwift in before he was going out to get melted.

We had spoken in the shop about how he used to ride crits, basically all in and leave it on the road as your eyeballs are rolling. Tonight I decided to ride it more aggressive by attacking on the drag after the park and also a few other flat bits but they are worthless for any sort of gap. I got a good gap after doing 500w ish up the hill then sat about 400w on the flat but even then the bunch close you down so easily.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5262472478/analysis

Those heart rate spikes

 

[Berger]

It’s all that outdoor riding making you better indoors!

Have to start training for the winter season

Makes a huge difference when my options are ride 400w for 2 mins or walk haha.


I spoke too soon about Zwift being fixed.

15 mins into Yorkshire. Crash to desktop no error, restart. 30 mins into Innsbruck crash to desktop no error.

Load the file into Zwiftaliser.

Ant paired just once, one TCP attempt at the start of the ride. Everything looks perfect.
Nvidia drivers are 466.11.

Rolleyes.

Remove Zwift. Update drivers to 466.29 literally a week newer for what is old hardware so probably no longer supported. Reinstalling Zwift fresh...

Since I did two warm ups. Two races/rides of 75 mins approx each this week with not a single issue. Then I change nothing and it’s unstable as crap this weekend. I’d strongly suggest it’s not my hardware...!?

More troubleshooting. I have found the folllowing windows error “the application has been blocked from accessing the graphics hardware”

 

[Jonny ///M]

That's an absolute ******* mate.

I had similar with call of duty warzone and it done my nut in. Nothing changed hardware wise but it eventually stopped crashing.

Got enough ram etc? Some folk had issues with overlays on warzone if you are displaying anything.

 

[Roady]

Recover and wait for the final uphill, not too hard from the bottom, sitting front 5. One guy takes a flyer but I lean on the others to try and close it down more while riding about 5-6w. Get to about 200 and start to sprint, get a couple of places, close on the line but I got a silver with the flyer taking the win, my best result so far this year.

Good numbers buddy, maybe it's just me but the times you talked about these Volcano races and the 'uphill' I always thought you meant the proper volcano climb, not the little ramp!

with Zwift, we are actually just all beta testing continuously for them and paying to do so.....

Feels like it every time doesn't it.

At least the fence is back to zap the fliers in group rides... They removed it because they screwed it up, so what are the chances it comes back even more broken?!

@Roady Couple more short ERG workouts for you to think about trying, both 20mins and 29TSS, https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/less-than-30-minutes-to-burn/knife-edge and https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/less-than-30-minutes-to-burn/atovers

Both a bit like a short 13min TT, personally I found Knife Edge a bit tougher, with the longer z5/6 mini-blocks.

Good shouts thanks.

Did quite a sporadic 2 hours on sunday morning when the other half (+1/2) suddenly announced they where going to Bristol IKEA. Missed any of the usual groups I'd do endurance with but wanted some intensity anyway.

A totally unplanned last minute dive into a 70km hilly race was probably not the best... Barely made 25km before getting dropped! Brutal pace on a brutal course, my legs just popped at the base of the KOM after some big efforts on S&S to stay in the group - https://www.strava.com/activities/5266399245

Spun the legs out a bit then jumped into a sprint race, intending to use as a tempo spin around something flat and legs actually felt pretty good so even sprinted for the 'win' from the group: https://www.strava.com/activities/5266679300

Dropped back to something I thought would be more endurance (expecting 2w/kg) and ended up helping sweep for a ride with a massive group doing 2.5-2.8w/kg, needless to say those closes hurt! Threw in the towel after half an hour, if I'd realised the group pace before joining I'd have stuck in the group and not been sweeping/chasing! Oh well... https://www.strava.com/activities/5267064501

I don't believe 5 minutes is sufficient warm up before going that hard.

They're really not, I'm quite bad at not giving myself enough time for a warmup but even then I'll have close to 10 minutes...

Thanks @Roady, I took a punt on that freehub before you replied and all installed and working smoothly. Welcome back!

I've not been anywhere but thanks!

Finally got my Neo settled/sorted, after buying the freehub ratchet tool, bearing and a 'ReAxle'. It kinda needed those parts anyway but think the main vibration and noise I was seeing/feeling/hearing came from the inboard Neo disk bearing (a large one) not having an o-ring behind it, so the inner race rotating on the spindle. I bodged one in there (not quite the right size) as it's made a massive difference. Ordered some the right size (pack of 10) so should be sorted for anything in future (and even got an extra spare outboard disk bearing when required).

But £300 on an old Neo OG and then ~£120 on tools & parts isn't too bad really. Lots of time spent but happy to do that to save £500+! Certainly now I've learnt so much about the internals of them (and the Flux before) I can fix almost anything, do good maintenance and have the tools. Anyone wants any help with theirs just shout!

I’d strongly suggest it’s not my hardware...!?

More troubleshooting. I have found the folllowing windows error “the application has been blocked from accessing the graphics hardware”

So many problems mate, gutted you've still not got it stable! Although that sounds like something left over from an old install, or maybe not installed under an Admin account on the PC? Track down the exe that's actually triggering that and it may help you decide which needs a reinstall, probably worth a good removal of too... If that's Nvidia triggered one of the driver cleaner utils and then check it's all gone (mainly for the exe with the permission error)???

When I get around to sorting a PC (lets face it the price on cards at the moment it'll be a while) I'm dreading this. My 6-7 year old crappy laptop is pretty rock solid!

 

[Berger]

I had a rant on the forums and someone linked me to a Facebook group who are more helpful and have put lots of guides together.

It seemed all fine watching someone else ride yesterday for an hour, see what happens if the weathers good I’ll be riding outside, but if not then it’s turbo again.

 

[Berger]

Well all fine tonight after the weekends remove/update/install.

Team Italy race, 51 mins averaging 289w (only 3.6wkg hey fatty bum bum), NP will be higher though. Finished in the front group after a big suffer in the last half lap.

I think I’ll save/print off all the instructions and setup a windows USB to reinstall from (or whatever you do).

Then when it’s a rainy day or I can’t ride I can do a complete refresh of the system. Do all the steps in the guides and see.

If my Neo packs in then I’ll be asking you Roady.