Zwift Chat

[CXRAndy]

For anyone who still hasn't got the 100kph badge yet, apparently it's super easy if you do the downhill after the Hardnott Pass climb portal, which is available for the whole of this month. Of course you've got to get up it first...

There are a few descents where you can easily exceed 100kph. Bologna is easy too. I think I went at 114kph last year. I don't remember though a badge. I will have to check

 

[13 rider]

There are a few descents where you can easily exceed 100kph. Bologna is easy too. I think I went at 114kph last year. I don't remember though a badge. I will have to check

Not as a lighter rider on a free ride ,I've tried

 

[Legs]

For anyone who still hasn't got the 100kph badge yet, apparently it's super easy if you do the downhill after the Hardnott Pass climb portal, which is available for the whole of this month. Of course you've got to get up it first...

The very notion of riding down Hardknott at much more than 30km/h is laughable

 

[steverob]

I had spotted that and perhaps without my cold earlier in the week I would of had a go

Well you've got until the 28th, so there's a good chance.

The very notion of riding down Hardknott at much more than 30km/h is laughable

Very true!

On the ZwiftInsider page about the Climb Portal, they've posted estimated times to climb based on various w/kg outputs. One commenter has mentioned that it's all very well putting down times for sub 2 w/kg, but if you tried to ride up the real climb at that pace, you'd topple over within a few metres of starting!

 

[ColinJ]

One commenter has mentioned that it's all very well putting down times for sub 2 w/kg, but if you tried to ride up the real climb at that pace, you'd topple over within a few metres of starting!

And my Victory turbo (still 3+weeks from delivery!! ) will only be capable of simulating 16% so very steep climbs like that will only feel pretty steep!

This afternoon here would have been an ideal time for a smart turbo session. It was overcast with a very cold wind blowing. Not the kind of conditions that I enjoy venturing out in, especially with the risk of having to fix punctures with fingers rapidly feeling frozen! I had that happen just before sunset a week or two back and it puts me off venturing too far from home. If my winter bike were back in action I would feel less worried about it because that has heavy duty puncture-resistant tyres (plus very effective mudguards to keep salty/gritty winter spray off me and the bike).

Mark my words - unlike the past couple of years where spring almost didn't happen and winter lasted almost to summer, spring 2025 will be glorious and will start about 10 minutes after my new trainer arrives and has been removed from its packaging! I will probably then not feel like using it until November or December!

 

[CXRAndy]

The very notion of riding down Hardknott at much more than 30km/h is laughable

The notion of riding up Hardknott more than 30 kph is laughable for some 😃

 

[13 rider]

Looks like I'm going up virtual hardknott before the end of the month , just seen @steverob Strava file 64 +mph ,I presume on the downhill 😁

 

[steverob]

The notion of riding up Hardknott more than 30 kph is laughable for some 😃

I did drop as low as 3.5kph at one point on the climb!

Looks like I'm going up virtual hardknott before the end of the month , just seen @steverob Strava file 64 +mph ,I presume on the downhill 😁

As I mentioned on Strava, I got to 64.3mph (although Zwift displayed 65 on screen) without needing to change my bike, no powerups and I didn't pedal once I'd got up to about 30mph - just left it to coast down.

Even with my extra weight, I think if you select a heavy bike once you are on the loop at the top and pedal hard to get up to speed a bit sooner, you'll break the barrier with no problem. Note that you'll probably not hit it on the top steep section (I got it to 60.6 there) as it's over too quickly - the bottom section is far more likely a candidate.

 

[CXRAndy]

Victory turbo (still 3+weeks from delivery!! ) will only be capable of simulating 16% so very steep climbs like that will only feel pretty steep

If you have the trainer setting on 100% difficulty. 16% will be plenty.

There are very few inclines within Zwift that exceed 16% and if they do it's only for a few yards

 

[ColinJ]

Obviously, you would break your neck if you tried descending the real thing at high speed, but if the road were straight down with no gravel, potholes or wandering sheep (!) to cause problems then I'm sure that you could actually exceed 105 kmph/65 mph!

I once hit 88 kmph/55 mph freewheeling down the A58 from Blackstone Edge towards Littleborough and that stretch of road only descends at about 7%.

If you have the trainer setting on 100% difficulty. 16% will be plenty.

There are very few inclines within Zwift that exceed 16% and if they do it's only for a few yards

I wouldn't be complaining about it not feeling hard enough, just that 16% is not a realistic simulation of Hardknott! I get by ok tackling my local 16% climbs (slowly!) but suffer badly on 25+%. 16% wouldn't feel especially challenging compared to the real monster, which I have thus far put off trying to tackle.

Overall, I'm sure that I will be perfectly happy with 16%! I took a quick look at the Decathlon Van Rysel but dismissed that as an option when I saw that it could only simulate 6% - I have sprinted up local 8-10% ramps on a singlespeed bike so 6% is not much good for serious use!

 

[CXRAndy]

I may have a go at the Hardknott with climb portal