Zwift Chat

[Norry1]

A few observations/queries from trying out a few rides on Zwift now...

1. Drafting doesn't feel as 'real world like' in the same way that it did on BKool (with the Pro) - you don't seem to get the 'suck' in the same way and cannot ease off as you would on the road
2. Hills certainly feel like hills! Tonight's 17% ramps had me on my lowest gear (36/32) on the Kickr which would never be the case when I was on my Pro on BKool
3. Why are some bikes glow in the dark? How do I get one?!
4. Points earn new bikes/wheels etc. Do these actually give you performance benefits in races? Or are they just for the bling factor?
5. Tonight's ride was a bit confusing with everyone in the same kit!!!

1. Agreed, although I'm on a dumb trainer.
2. Can't comment as I'm on a dumb trainer.
3. This is the Tron bike. You have to do the climbing challenge which takes a long, long time.
4. There are performance impacts - Zwiftinsider has lots of articles to study
5. Yep You start looking at cap and sock colours

 

[Freelanderuk]

10 minuets before the start the battery on the heart rate monitor pack up so it was a scramble to find a spare ,10 minutes into the ride lost all signals from the core , a quick restart and had lost over 400 places , but enjoyed it and the OH was wondering what was happiness as I was swearing at the screen
Well done all

 

[Monte]

Nice to see a few fellow cycle chaters tonight, it’s been a while...

That finish hurt

 

[fossyant]

Well that was quite enjoyable. Nearly 1,300 riders - didn't see any Cyclechatters at all.

I saw you. My end bit is PTT. I did a quick group chat sayin Another Cycle Chatter. There were 3 of us at about 10 miles to go on screen.

I finished about 450th. I say about as on the last climb about 0.8 from the finish every other rider was beamed up by Aliens and I finished with nobody about. Zwift didnt upload so ive had to download the fit file from zwift and its lost the last 2 miles. Well thats a bummer as Im not recorded as being on Stage 1. Now lying in bed as I can hardly walk and just taken my magic pain killers (for my busted back).

Not happy as I climbed through over 100 riders in that last lap. Killed myself. Might add the Cycle Chat ending as our club isnt doing much now.

Who said turbo training isnt hard. Even had second laptop issues. Using an old laptop for music and it decided it wouldn't connect to the wifi tonight. Good job really as i wouldnt have seen the Tour event had i not been faffing about.

 

[Whorty]

so much for not a race! New max heart rate

Great to see people out - Was with Whorty for a good while but kept getting slaughtered on the bigger gradients. Loving new york but not sure the profile will suit me for racing.

Sorry couldn't stick with you. Legs went after about 20 mins (I was with @bert1971 and @Monte at the time). Thought I'd just roll in then @rob01792 came by so tried to get a 2nd wind and stay with him, but no second wind for me. So i thought, that's it, nice slow ride to the finish then you came along. Tried to work for you as long as possible but legs just not having any of it today. could have been due to race last nice, or maybe just one of those days. That NY course really is brutal though

 

[fossyant]

Pretty sure it was Monte and Norry who were near me at about 10 to go.

 

[Brendan Parker]

Well that roll out opened my eyes to them climbs. Wasn’t expecting that
Was defiantly a tough one for me but really enjoyed it. Great to ride with the CC boys. Like old times. Just wish I knew who most of you were as we all have different names on zwift to on here

 

[Norry1]

 

[bridgy]

A few observations/queries from trying out a few rides on Zwift now...

1. Drafting doesn't feel as 'real world like' in the same way that it did on BKool (with the Pro) - you don't seem to get the 'suck' in the same way and cannot ease off as you would on the road
2. Hills certainly feel like hills! Tonight's 17% ramps had me on my lowest gear (36/32) on the Kickr which would never be the case when I was on my Pro on BKool
3. Why are some bikes glow in the dark? How do I get one?!
4. Points earn new bikes/wheels etc. Do these actually give you performance benefits in races? Or are they just for the bling factor?
5. Tonight's ride was a bit confusing with everyone in the same kit!!!

1. Yeah Zwift have gone for the approach of just increasing your speed for the same amount of watts, rather than reduce the resistance when in the draft I think it's a shame they didn't copy bkool on this particular feature as bkool's way was much more realistic feeling

2. The pro max's out at around 10% for me - less if you're heavier. I'm looking forward to more realism when I get my neo! You can reduce the "difficulty" level which will mean you don't get so much resistance on the steep slopes so don't run out of gears - won't mean you go faster though, just effectively a gearing change

3. See https://zwiftinsider.com/unlock-the-tron-bike-in-zwift/

4. Yes, some better performance - see https://zwiftinsider.com/5-fastest-bikes/ and https://zwiftinsider.com/tests/

5. Yeah I hate it when they do that - can't tell who I am!!

 

[fossyant]

Looking at those results, I was behind Martin and just in front of Michael.

How do you add to a team on Zwift,

 

[JuhaL]

That NY course really is brutal though

I have to say all stages test our endurance, especially stages 3 and 4 doesn't bring any relief. Comparing elevations to distance stage 4 is toughest. I didn't realize that stage1 start 11km ride before actual stage start.

 

[Whorty]

View attachment 435158

Not good numbers for me Must try harder Well ridden everyone else - some strong riding tonight. Great to see so many of you on the course

 

[CXRAndy]

The last short climb coming from Fataga to get over the top at the viewpoint is def. more than 7%.

Tell me about it, i wasnt expecting that climb, I thought I had dealt with all the major climbs. I could of done without it. I let the wife I would be out 6 hours and WhatsApp my location, so she could track me. It was a long day, a few minor mechanical issues, broken spoke again and after the last photo shot, i lost brakes almost completely, going straight across a corner in front of a car- similar to pad knock. I have new pads and rotor which I was bedding in on this ride. Thank goodness they came back working next corner.

 

[bobinski]

That was bloody hard. I had no idea what the course would be like. I tried to stick with a group holding positions 90- about 110. They kept pulling away on the inclines perhaps because they knew better when to apply power and I would lose the group and have to sprint or apply consistent power to get back to them. Once in the group I really rested. The draft may not grab you and let you relax the way bkool does but you can adapt to it. 1/2 way through the final lap I really began to struggle to stay with the group and they dropped me more than the previous lap and as we hit the last climb I just couldn’t hold with them. Saw Mr Parker!
My times put me 2 mins behind Paul:
80Th robert dynowskiZSUN
50:57
+06:24
3.3w/kg 245w 251w 3.6w/kg 3.9w/kg 4.2w/kg 4.7w/kg 72.0kg 166bpm 175bpm

A pretty brutal but great race course.

 

[bobinski]

I saw you pass me in a group on the steep bit at the end of the first lap. I couldn't hold that group on that gradient and never saw you again . Those steep inclines absolutely killed me today .

Good to see a number of us on the start line

We yo yo’d back and forth for quite a while. I admit I pushed harder with you there! Really good ride mate.