Zwift Chat

[ColinJ]

No. Climbing on Zwift is so much easier than real life, God knows what my virtual gear is, but being able to do a cadence of 90 on 20% plus gradients isn't realistic.

That is going to be one limitation on my Victory - it maxes out at 16%, but that will do me indoors! If I really want to tackle 20-25% I can find lots of climbs near here which are as tough as that.

You can if you gear your bike correctly.

Maybe not 90rpm but towards 80rpm . My lowest gearing was 17 gear inches

My lowest road gearing is about 25 gear inches. Sometimes I could do with nearer 17!

I just watched this video of a chain gang hurtling up the Norton Summit climb near Adelaide. (Mute Durianrider's waffling unless you really enjoy it!)...



That is the kind of thing that I fancy doing on Zwift.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

That is going to be one limitation on my Victory - it maxes out at 16%, but that will do me indoors! If I really want to tackle 20-25% I can find lots of climbs near here which are as tough as that.


My lowest road gearing is about 25 gear inches. Sometimes I could do with nearer 17!

I just watched this video of a chain gang hurtling up the Norton Summit climb near Adelaide. (Mute Durianrider's waffling unless you really enjoy it!)...



That is the kind of thing that I fancy doing on Zwift.

I don't know how Zwift deals with a trainer that maxes out, but ignoring the climb portal there aren't many climbs that go over 16%. The radio tower has the steepest bits I think and that maxes out at just over 16%

 

[ColinJ]

I don't know how Zwift deals with a trainer that maxes out, but ignoring the climb portal there aren't many climbs that go over 16%. The radio tower has the steepest bits I think and that maxes out at just over 16%

Hardknott Pass certainly exceeds 16%!

Surely, it must either just let the trainer max out so in my case anything over 16% would feel like 16%, OR it would have to scale the gradients somehow so 25% (say) would feel like 16%, 12.5% like 8% and so on?

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Hardknott Pass certainly exceeds 16%!

Surely, it must either just let the trainer max out so in my case anything over 16% would feel like 16%, OR it would have to scale the gradients somehow so 25% (say) would feel like 16%, 12.5% like 8% and so on?

Hardknott is in the climb portal.

I've just been reading up on the effects of maxing out and I think it is the bit in bold. Zwift then uses your power output to calculate where you are on the route based on the Zwift gradient.

 

[ColinJ]

I've just been reading up on the effects of maxing out and I think it is the bit in bold. Zwift then uses your power output to calculate where you are on the route based on the Zwift gradient.

Ah, so it kind of adjusts the trainer difficulty setting automatically whenever the gradient exceeds the trainer's maximum. That implies that it knows the capability of whatever trainer is being used.

Are there any plans for Zwift to let us develop/upload our own routes (as opposed to workouts)? I think that would be a killer feature!

It strikes me that it would be really simple to convert a GPX file into a Zwift route. Some difficulties would be...

• Generating the scenery. A.I. could be really good at doing that!
• Knowledge of how wide the roads were and what the surfaces were like. There might be a way of scraping that information out of Open Street Map?

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Ah, so it kind of adjusts the trainer difficulty setting automatically whenever the gradient exceeds the trainer's maximum. That implies that it knows the capability of whatever trainer is being used.

Are there any plans for Zwift to let us develop/upload our own routes (as opposed to workouts)? I think that would be a killer feature!

It strikes me that it would be really simple to convert a GPX file into a Zwift route. Some difficulties would be...

• Generating the scenery. A.I. could be really good at doing that!
• Knowledge of how wide the roads were and what the surfaces were like. There might be a way of scraping that information out of Open Street Map?

There are loads of pre set routes, and you can free ride anywhere, but you have to do the turns manually when free riding - companion app makes this very easy.

Zwift is all about community and getting as many people as they can on the same stretches of road, so I'd be gobsmacked if they let you build your own routes, but with free riding you don't really need it.

 

[alex_cycles]

Hardknott is in the climb portal.

I've just been reading up on the effects of maxing out and I think it is the bit in bold. Zwift then uses your power output to calculate where you are on the route based on the Zwift gradient.

I'm pretty sure all gradients in Zwift are halved anyway. I think I read it on Zwift Insider. Can't remember. Anyone who cares enough can Google it

 

[ColinJ]

There are loads of pre set routes, and you can free ride anywhere, but you have to do the turns manually when free riding - companion app makes this very easy.

That sounds good.

Zwift is all about community and getting as many people as they can on the same stretches of road, so I'd be gobsmacked if they let you build your own routes...

I can see what you are saying there. Maybe a compromise - rides and races on DIY routes by invitation only, open group rides and races on official routes only?

... with free riding you don't really need it.

Well, that's a matter of opinion isn't it? Imagine if AdZ had not been added. Tens of thousands of riders would have wanted it so if Zwift hadn't added it, it would be ideal if somebody else could have done!

There are some climbs on the Costa Blanca that I used to ride every spring. I would love to ride those on Zwift and I bet many other riders would do too e.g. the Col de Rates - a fantastic climb which has featured in many Spanish races.

Having said that... There is obviously already a lot of good riding to do on Zwift.

 

[mjd1988]

Ah, so it kind of adjusts the trainer difficulty setting automatically whenever the gradient exceeds the trainer's maximum. That implies that it knows the capability of whatever trainer is being used.

Are there any plans for Zwift to let us develop/upload our own routes (as opposed to workouts)? I think that would be a killer feature!

It strikes me that it would be really simple to convert a GPX file into a Zwift route. Some difficulties would be...

• Generating the scenery. A.I. could be really good at doing that!
• Knowledge of how wide the roads were and what the surfaces were like. There might be a way of scraping that information out of Open Street Map?

I think some competitors have definitely done this, RGT, BKOOL ?

 

[ColinJ]

Zwift is all about community and getting as many people as they can on the same stretches of road

Thinking about it, and only half joking...

What about Zwifting for anti-social b*st*rds like me!!?

When I see drone footage of the crowd at Glastonbury, I am so happy not to be there! I had the same reaction when I watched one Zwift video which had about 100 riders. I just found discussions where people were saying that only being able to see and get messages from 100 riders was too much of a restriction!!! I would prefer smaller numbers rather than greater numbers. Obviously, 6 or 7 riders would be a pretty limited race, but I would have thought that 30 or 40 would be pretty good?

I think some competitors have definitely done this, RGT, BKOOL ?

The thing is, my turbo bike is singlespeed and will rely on the Zwift cog/Zwift combination for virtual gearing. I don't see the rival companies being able to support the Zwift cog any time soon?

 

[CXRAndy]

Re gradients, the resistance, just hit constant if you go over in gradient capacity of turbo, you won't actually feel it. You can make it tougher by using another harder gear.

Zwift automatically sets the turbo at 50% hill reduction eg 16% feels like 8%. Again you can make 8% feel tough by choosing a harder gear than you would normally ride. Most folk will just ride, at whatever cadence they can cope with .

I can make a 5% hill feel really tough by selecting 11cog and grinding up

Colin if you join in big hilly events where there can be literally hundreds of riders taking part, it will feel like a chain gang. You will very quickly find your position and will be moving closely behind others all struggling to get up one of the big climbs like ventop or Alpe du Zwift.

There will be plenty of routes for you to explore. Some on here have ridden all of them, filling up their table of completes. There are 3 or 4 which will never be done by me, too long and repetitive monotonous climbs. The Uber Pretzel is one of the long if not the longest

Edit it's the Prl full (London) which has repetitive climb over the same course.

I think I might have done the Uber Pretzel which finishes at the top of Alpe du Zwift at 80 miles. Definitely done the Four horseman route at 56 miles

Some of the biggest routes will take an average rider 5-7 hours to complete

 

[alex_cycles]

Edit it's the Prl full (London) which has repetitive climb over the same course.

11 times up Box Hill. No thanks Once is enough. Twice at a push on certain race routes. More than that is just silly

For me it's a question of time, rather than distance. 2 hours indoor riding is enough for me. I think I once did 25 laps of Volcano Circuit to get the badge. That took a little over 3 hours. But I prefer to be outside for the long stuff.

 

[CXRAndy]

I've done a few 100 milers, which seems to go quite quickly in a big event. They're usually organised on flatter course and travelling speed in a big group is fast. 4hr15 there abouts.

I would need a mass organised event to contemplate the Uber Pretzel. So I always had a group to ride with to chat and pass the time.

Never solo attempt

 

[13 rider]

Finally ticked off the oh hill no badge , it's horrid no warm up straight onto the grade which in a way helped me pace it better by being slower on the lower half then giving it all on the top half ,managed a pr on the top section but was 4 secs down on my grade time overall but you don't get that Strava segment on this route but I was reeling in my ghost on the upper sections . On the upper segment I managed 3.6w/kg for 9min 32secs

 

[Whorty]

I think some competitors have definitely done this, RGT, BKOOL ?

BKOOL had this feature back in 2017 when I was using it - was quite cool to ride the same routes virtually I'd done in real life.