Zwift Chat

[JuhaL]

Don’t forget in Zwift you can reduce the trainer difficulty/resistance setting and so increase cadence without any impact on power output. That’s way you won’t need to replace your crankset.

Yes i'm aware about that setting, like you said it gives those extra gears what i need. I will probably start to use that when i do some mountain rides. I will start with a default 50% instead of 100% what i have now.

 

[JuhaL]

Sounds like cheating to me Can you not get the same effect just by increasing your weight by 15 to 20Kg

I did decreasing weight test few weeks ago in Innsbruckring. After that i felt bad and that was right for after that cheating test . Huge lap improvement and power output

 

[Whorty]

Did you do it last year? Participants had to start with an ftp. It was horrible, the long one at 1h 30m. The workouts that followed were also generally longer last year and perhaps a bit too hard. The change seems to have encouraged more people to complete the ZA which is great.

I did the short FTP before ZA this year, but I think I need to do the longer one to see what my FTP should be. I mostly completed the ZA workouts at my 243 FTP, but every now and then had to ramp the % down within the workout. looking forward to the longer FTP session .... not!!

 

[theboxers]

It feels way more realistic. In a mountains i feel that i need 1-2 extra gears. I have now 52/36 and 11-28. Something like 50/34 11-28 would be more practical now. With Bkool Smart Pro i didn't have that issue. Better start training from the very beginning . Bkool give me good power output sometimes, my ftp was 294. But now with Drivo 2 i would say it's closer to 200 than 300, much closer.

Try looking at a change of cassette rather than crankset. An 11-30 (11 spd) will give the same range of lower gears without changing the high end. A move to a 11-32 or even 34 will give a gear or 2 lower with the same crankset. Yes the jumps are a little bigger at the low end, but the mid block to high end will be almost the same.

A hanger extender / road link will make it possible for an even greater range of cassette to be used. I'm on an 11-42 on a kickr 2018 with no issues so far.

 

[bobinski]

Sounds like cheating to me Can you not get the same effect just by increasing your weight by 15 to 20Kg

I hope no one is reducing their weight because it messes with the CC Strava placings

Otherwise trainer diff changes has NO impact on power and therefore speed. I can link to a GP lama vid to show this but suspect you are just being cheeky

 

[bobinski]

Sounds like cheating to me Can you not get the same effect just by increasing your weight by 15 to 20Kg

I hope no one is reducing their weight because it messes with the CC Strava placings

Otherwise trainer diff changes has NO impact on power and therefore speed. I can link to a GP lama vid to show this but suspect you are just being cheeky

 

[CXRAndy]

755 x 550

cheers

 

[JuhaL]

Try looking at a change of cassette rather than crankset. An 11-30 (11 spd) will give the same range of lower gears without changing the high end. A move to a 11-32 or even 34 will give a gear or 2 lower with the same crankset. Yes the jumps are a little bigger at the low end, but the mid block to high end will be almost the same.

A hanger extender / road link will make it possible for an even greater range of cassette to be used. I'm on an 11-42 on a kickr 2018 with no issues so far.

Same thought i had but i think i am gonna set a trainer difficulty lower and set higher later if my physical capacity allows that.

 

[theboxers]

Same thought i had but i think i am gonna set a trainer difficulty lower and set higher later if my physical capacity allows that.

Adjustment of difficulty is the easiest and cheapest way to go, , I used to do that myself. One problem, it gives a false sense of achievement. It makes you think you are doing better than you really are .
I found out the hard way when riding up a hill local to me that wasn't that steep or long, 9-10% and about 1/2 a mile . My legs just went nope about half way up .

Since then I've had the trainer at 100% and adjusted the gearing accordingly. I still may not be able to climb up some of these hills around where I live but at least I know why that is the case.

 

[JuhaL]

Adjustment of difficulty is the easiest and cheapest way to go, , I used to do that myself. One problem, it gives a false sense of achievement. It makes you think you are doing better than you really are .
I found out the hard way when riding up a hill local to me that wasn't that steep or long, 9-10% and about 1/2 a mile . My legs just went nope about half way up .

Since then I've had the trainer at 100% and adjusted the gearing accordingly. I still may not be able to climb up some of these hills around where I live but at least I know why that is the case.

On the other hand, power output is still realistic in a lower difficulty?. I try to think this way, if i can set the difficulty level higher in a step by step later, that would be encouraging too.

 

[bobinski]

On the other hand, power output is still realistic in a lower difficulty?. I try to think this way, if i can set the difficulty level higher in a step by step later, that would be encouraging too.

yes it is...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mjAZyhOlt0

 

[bobinski]

I have just done the Kiss at base ride. Its not at my base! nearer 3w/k for 8okm after a 10km leg spin and was a bit of a challenge. My relative sweet spot at the moment seems to be 25-40 minutes of effort and then a quickening struggle to hold power. Uggh-the only answer is more base training.

 

[JLaw]

Did you do it last year? Participants had to start with an ftp. It was horrible, the long one at 1h 30m. The workouts that followed were also generally longer last year and perhaps a bit too hard. The change seems to have encouraged more people to complete the ZA which is great.

I did. The difficult ones last year had the very short high wattage intervals over and over... Once I came out of the saddle for one I knew I was toast -- cadence would drop, resistance on the unit spikes and even the rest periods weren't enough to get back on top of things.

They definitely seem shorter this time around. Last year I often skipped the last easy/off interval in a set when it was followed by a rest between sets. SImilarly the rest interval before the cool-down to try and keep the overall time down a bit.

I hope I'm coming back into shape and that's contributing to the relative ease of ZA this year as well :-)

 

[LBHIFI]

Koolskamp race: This is not supposed to happen. A freak accident ?
Wilier could have some explaining to do.

 

[Aleman]

Problem is any defect in carbon is a catastrophic failure waiting to happen! While companies do their absolute best to ensure zero defects it can't be guaranteed. Wasn't there an issue with specialized fork crowns coming unglued a couple of years ago?

I keep looking, well lusting really, at carbon bikes, but there is this little nagging voice at the back of my head saying yes but! Sort of pushing me towards a Ti frame ... Most of those though have carbon forks. Doh!!