Zwift - Crubike beginners guide and how to's (Q&A to get you going)

[ratz]

Zwift is catching on. Obviously. But the barrier to entry is still pretty high.

Why ? Well because There's no great source of brief instructions to the whole eco-system that I can find. So that's what this thread is for. So we can get you to enage in the 8-seconds before you loose interest.

Most people can get into the program and ride, beyond that you have to be pretty motivated to get in an do the other stuff. It's getting better but it's not user friendly yet.


Here are the four basic steps to get into and work your way to racing.

Step 1 - What you need to do this:
https://support.zwift.com/hc/en-us/...-need-to-start-using-Zwift-?section=201145285

Step 2 - Sign up for an account
https://support.zwift.com/hc/en-us/articles/213094526-How-do-I-join-?section=201145285

Step 3 - Go ride around
Just go ride around a few times and get the lay of the land

Step 4 - Put you toe in the pond with a group ride.
https://zwiftblog.com/joining-group-ride-race-zwift/

Step 5 - Come back and try a really short race so you can debug what you know
http://zwiftblog.com/joining-group-ride-race-zwift/
https://zwiftblog.com/how-to-race-on-zwift-strategy-tips-etiquette-and-more/


We will keep how-to and help Q&A in this thread and smack talk and organizing rides in the other thread. Step 4 above is tricky for example if you are on the tablet version of Zwift. Dead obvious on the PC / Mac version. So I will post a screen shot of that in the future.

Advanced things like step by step signing up for zwiftpower.com and linking to strava we can post simple clean guides or links to the instructions on this thread as we go.

 

[ratz]

One of the first things you might start with is Discord. .... here's an invite to the Cruzbike channel. https://discord.gg/Xdz4sF2

After you master the basics learn how to use "push to talk" for during races if you plan to huff and puff. This really works best just using your smart phone and headphones you probably already have.

 

[ratz]

Nice attempt at an actual manual here; for those that like to pre-read before jumping into things.

http://titaniumgeek.com/zwift-user-manual-unofficial-running-updates/

 

[ratz]

Zwift Trainer Difficulty Setting for Smart Trainers

Background:
https://support.zwift.com/hc/en-us/...gest=8c6f4e1edc5f204e775890003b3109b29a2b66ca

Reference for how steep a course maxes out at:
https://zwiftblog.com/route-details/

Smart Trainer Users:

• The difficulty setting is an awful bad name for this feature.
• This is a shortcut they took on the math because current technology doesn't all them to create a Virtual Cassette of gear ranges. They don't know what gear you are in nor when you shift so they can't virtualized that unless they moved shifting to a game controller. Technically with di2 and etap they could do that. But that's not mainstream enough yet.
• Zwift has Gradients that range -14% to +14% (or there abouts @trplay correct me if that's wrong)
• If the bike you put on the trainer isn't geared for those gradient in the real world you need this slider; otherwise like the real world you won't get up that hill. Because you lack the gears.

Implications to all riding

• You need to understand the max hill you can climb on your bike in the real world (in my case I'm geared for the occasional 9-10%)
• The cassette I put on the trainer 11x28 is probably only good for (7-8%) max
• You need to set the slider to account for that as a percentage (7/14 = 50%)
• The default is 50% since most people avoid >7% if they can.
• If you get the right percentage you can match your real world setup; then you will just be able to get up most hills.
• The net effects of this in the simulation
  • You will feel less resistance so you won't run out of gears.
  • The hill you are climbing remain calculated at the full slope. So you will go up it slower
  • If you are not at 100% and you successfully can climb a zwift 14% hill then
    • You have proven you have the stamina to do it in the rear world
    • You have not proven that your bike posses the gears to allow you to do it.
    • You have not proven that you would not go so slow that you'd tip over if you had the gears.
  • If you are at 50% and you are climbing a 14% hill remind yourself:
    • On that bike with that gearing this effort is how a 7% hill would feel;
    • You'd be going twice as fast mph/kph as what the simulation is showing you on a 7% hill in the real world.

Implications to racing

If you know the max elevation of the climbs in a race you should:

• Compare that to your gearing on the trainer.
• Get the difficulty slider as high as possible for that race as supported by your gearing.
  • This is keep you in the high inertia part of your cassette on the flats
  • You get the proper down hill effect for your body weight; so you don't run out of gears.
• If your big ring shifting is not reliable then consider only the gear range of your big ring and set you difficulty accordingly so you can eliminate front shifts.
• Start Simple
  • Biggest gradient in race is 6%
  • Biggest gradient I can climb in big ring 50/28 is 5% Just Barely
  • 5 / 6 = 83%
  • Put slider near 80% for the race.

The Jason Factor.

• Jason races on 10-14% grades in the real world
• Jason's bike is geared for it.
• Jason Zwifts at 100%
• You aren't Jason you likely won't be Zwifting at 100% unless you have at 42T cassette on your trainer or you never leave the flat part of the virtual world.

 

[cpml123]

Thank you for this info on Zwift! It's so scattered on the website and hard to know exactly what's needed.

A couple questions...

1. Is the difference between Zwift and Trainer Road mainly on how the ride gets "socialized?" I.e. TrainerRoad is for single user bike training whereas Zwift is multi-player virtual bike riding, even though both software controls the smart-trainer.

2. Any pro's and con's of deciding between Zwift and Trainer Road, other than riding by oneself or with other riders?

Thanks. Michael

 

[ratz]

1. Is the difference between Zwift and Trainer Road mainly on how the ride gets "socialized?" I.e. TrainerRoad is for single user bike training whereas Zwift is multi-player virtual bike riding, even though both software controls the smart-trainer.

This article answers it better than I can:

http://road.cc/content/feature/217593-zwift-vs-trainerroad-which-best-you​

Summary of that article

Both Zwift and TrainerRoad are popular at the moment, but both serve their objectives with different approaches. Zwift turns cycling into a game while TrainerRoad offers a very serious and structured view on training​

They’re both have their advantages, so which you choose comes down to personal preference. In our experience, each one suits difference [sic] people and their objectives differently, so our tip is to try them both before deciding which works for you. ​

 

[cpml123]

Great article. Thanks!

 

[LMT]

I've started using Zwift and am enjoying it. I've taken the workouts and plans from TR and used the custom workout feature in Zwift to put together the workouts from TR. Worked a treat today, the 2 hour 'Hunter' flew by, 3*20 minute sessions at SS with recovery. Geiger tomorrow.

 

[ratz]

Zwift bug; if using an iOS version a single copy of Zwift will grab ALL Devices it sees and will not release them; making it not possible to have two Zwifters both using iOS; at least 1 must use a Desktop Mac/PC and get setup first. The iOS user must join last. iOS is support to release all the devices after 3 minutes. I can confirm that after 3 hours it still does not release them. I have reported the bug. Support is telling me I'm nuts even though I can reproduce it. The mere idea that they Pair any device they see is batcrap crazy; and not how those protocols are meant to be used. *sigh* we'll see where this goes. Doesn't bold well for the idea of filling a room with Apple TV's and trainers to make a workout studio.

 

[RojoRacing]

Do you have to purchase zwift through the apple store in order to use it on the ipads or apple TV? I heard paying through the apple store will cost you a % more because they like to take a piece of the pie.

 

[Mathew Fy]

Do you have to purchase zwift through the apple store in order to use it on the ipads or apple TV? I heard paying through the apple store will cost you a % more because they like to take a piece of the pie.

The Zwift app is free with a $15 + tax in-app purchase. Up to six family members may use the app. Apple takes the cut from the developer, no additional cost required.

 

[ratz]

Sign up for zwift at zwift.com and it will work on the iOS/ATV version.
You can sign up through Apple but there is no point and that they limit you to 1 rider per i-tunes account so just use zwift.com

ATV has:

• Remote
• Jack for HDMI
• Jack for Ethernet
• Built in wifi and bluetooth
• Power cord

Need to supply your own HDMI cable.

Connect to TV apply power, and enter your wifi password is how I set ours up.

The device allows for 2 and only 2 Bluetooth connections:
1) Neo connects on 1 connection and give Power, Cadence, and Trainer control on 1 link
2) HR Monitor connects to #2

None of the ipad problems I had occur it just works correctly with multiple trainers in the room.

The TV OS is nice now they re-organized the preferences and simplified them. Only about 15-20 things to set and other than video resolutions they are all obvious.

The only thing that took time was figuring out which Video settings to use. The 4k has ALOT of supported settings and most TV's can sort of do things that shouldn't which gets you cut off pictures in the game.

In the end one for our TV's works at 1080p SDR 50hz, and color High RGB, the other works at 1080p SDR 60hz, and color High RGB. CYMK color made the Zwift world washed out and ugly. Both of our TV's can do HDR but that forces CYMK and in both cases we got washed out color and chopped off graphics at the top of the game and the right hand side. Moves and TV looked fine but ZWIFT is using a grapics mode where you have to get it perfect.

Takes a little practice to use the ATV remote to get into the game but that comes quick. For in game control using Zwift mobile link on Cell phone is a no brainer.

The fly by mode on the ATV is pretty gorgeous at 60fps.

 

[ratz]

The Zwift app is free with a $15 + tax in-app purchase. Up to six family members may use the app. Apple takes the cut from the developer, no additional cost required.

That's normal apps; but the zwift app requires 1 paid account per person; and only 1 person can sign up through the app via in-app purchase; the rest have to sign up at zwift.com. Which if you had a previous account and you want to re-activate it, is the only way to get the grandfathered discount through December 15th. The one person limit stumped me at first back when we tried to setup my son and he was sharing my itunes account.

Ray has all the details.
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/11/zwift-releases-apple-tv-4k.html

Also changing people in the APP is annoying if you have long emails and long passwords.

 

[ratz]

Thanks all for taking time to spell all this detail. I do appreciate the time it takes. From this I think the answer is no. It will cost more coin in the form of purchasing the app in some form or another. Even if you already have two zwift accounts and do own an apple account through a tablet. It's all magic to me. Getting to where I am at now, simple as it actually is, was a nightmare and the nightmare continues.

There's no account to buy; just login with your existing one. Device cost is your ONLY expense. The App itself is free.

 

[ratz]

Thanks, Please tell me I'm not the only one! Surely I'm not the only one. So, I'm off to Best buy. Which one 32gb or 64GB? This would be so much easier on discord

32gb is fine and the 64 does not ship until mid December.

 

[ratz]

I have an itunes account so it basically gave me prompts through the process. Its not clear if I was charged for the app or not and I still haven't figured out how to use the Zwift controls from the ipad.

Here's a little photo essay of answers.

It took exactly 19 minutes to get it out of the box and to where Connie was cruising through London

That was about what it was for me; plus the 30 minutes to figure out how to make it compatible with my older TV.

 

[Suz]

I'm having a problem riding with someone else. I couldn't find Connie on the list when we were trying to ride last Friday.
Joy said she had a search bar to find a rider. I do not have one that I can see. Can anyone post a screen shot of where the search is located? I am using an app on my laptop (windows).
Any advice?

Edit. I have an iPhone but don't ride using the app on the iPhone while on the computer Zwift app. Can you do that if they are different operating systems?

 

[ratz]

1. Install "Zwift Mobile Link" on your iphone.
2. Login
3. Tap MORE at the bottom
4. Tap Find Zwifters
5. You can then search by name or by Strava friends.
6. Friend then on Zwift

Next time you start a ride any of your friends that are riding you can "join" them at their location

 

[Suz]

1. Install "Zwift Mobile Link" on your iphone.
2. Login
3. Tap MORE at the bottom
4. Tap Find Zwifters
5. You can then search by name or by Strava friends.
6. Friend then on Zwift

Next time you start a ride any of your friends that are riding you can "join" them at their location

Ah! I had the Zwift app (orange) not the mobile link (blue). Sweet! Such an easy fix.
Thanks Ratz!
I've added Connie.

 

[ratz]

Ah! I had the Zwift app (orange) not the mobile link (blue). Sweet! Such an easy fix.
Thanks Ratz!
I've added Connie.

Correct that is confusing. They JUST release the Phone racing app (orange) a few weeks ago; prior to that it was just Mobile Link (blue) for controlling the game so that will be confusing for a while as people often just called it the zwift phone app because there was only 1 app.