Zwift - Cruzbike Activities (races and group rides)

[Bill K]

Think I might jump on and give the big A$$ mountain climb a shot since I haven't ridden in over a week and I'm without a rear wheel for my Trek. I believe you guys said it was around an hour to climb right?

Alpe du Zwift on Strava: 1 hr 12 minutes @ 185 watts for me.
That puts me firmly in 25,567th place (out of 40,635).
I'm sure you can do better

 

[RojoRacing]

Ok so I gave it the old college try and snuck in just under 50 mins which ain't bad considering how out of shape I am right now. This was on my Trek because the V20 is still in storage up north. It was very helpful to be able to leave it in one gear and just stand for the short 10-13% areas and sit back down when it dropped to 9% or less. When it would ease up to less than 7% I would ease off as well to recover and save a little for standing again, not something you'd do in racing for a PR but is a good tactic for when you're climbing a unknown road. I remember saying a year ago it would be nice if they added an hour long climb after being disappointed with the tiny volcano climb release. This will probably be my default route for watopia days because there just something about setting into a steady climb that brings out the effort in me.

Things I didn't like
1. The grade is too consistent which is something a lot of people will struggle with because it doesn't let you recover. On the other hand it felt a bit lackluster compared to my real world climbs that have those 15-20% kickers strewn about to make those 9% sections feel flat. I understand it's a replica of the real world climb but still, give us something harder next time then.

2. It's a crying shame I can't flex my DH prowess coming back down like I can in real life

 

[anotherbrian]

Ok so I gave it the old college try and snuck in just under 50 mins which ain't bad considering how out of shape I am right now. This was on my Trek because the V20 is still in storage up north

Pfffft. My 298 PowerTap measured Watts was only good enough for a 54m15s. That was on my road bike rather than recumbent.

With enough fans blowing I should be able to do sub-50 at ~325W but I’ll save that for cooler weather, and maybe just do it with weight loss.

I’ve now done the climb 16 times, plus once that didn’t count because of a bug with turning around mid-climb. I’ve only pedaled down the hill once or twice... I’m usually in the shower before my avatar gets to the bottom.

 

[RojoRacing]

298? only 270 for me but that's were the weight difference comes into play. I should be able to break 300 watts if I can get back into my rhythm of riding more than twice a week. It's very rare for me to mount the Trek to the trainer because it requires special through axle adapters but with my wheels out for warranty I don't have much choice if I'm going to pedal.

 

[anotherbrian]

I’ve got a bargain basement Performance frame permanently mounted in the trainer. I’ll occasionally put a recumbent on, but it’s just easier using the road bike for 1-2hr sessions.

A loose goal this year is 4W/kg for Diablo Challenge, and it’s probably easier for me to drop ~10lbs than it is to gain ~15W. :-/ Tahoe is melting out though and I’m ready for some low-intensity but high-volume MTB’ing and beer drinking.

 

[RojoRacing]

I’ve got a bargain basement Performance frame permanently mounted in the trainer. I’ll occasionally put a recumbent on, but it’s just easier using the road bike for 1-2hr sessions.

A loose goal this year is 4W/kg for Diablo Challenge, and it’s probably easier for me to drop ~10lbs than it is to gain ~15W. :-/ Tahoe is melting out though and I’m ready for some low-intensity but high-volume MTB’ing and beer drinking.

Part of me would want to see what I could do on the V20 in the Diablo challenge but the other part thinks it would be a bad mix with so many other riders on the narrow road. Starting after everyone would work but defeat the purpose of showing off the bike ability.

 

[benphyr]

Part of me would want to see what I could do on the V20 in the Diablo challenge but the other part thinks it would be a bad mix with so many other riders on the narrow road. Starting after everyone would work but defeat the purpose of showing off the bike ability.

@RojoRacing Maybe you should hire yourself out as pace car (err Cruzbike) / rabbit. Then you could show off the ability, stay visible, and stay in the fresh air ahead of the crowd. Not sure if that is feasible but the mental image popped into my head of diamond frame greyhounds chasing a cruzbike rabbit around a mountainous oval while observers smoke, drink beer, bet on the results, wear loud t-shirts and preppy clothes, and see Cruzbike emblazoned reflecting off their glasses.

 

[RojoRacing]

It's rather rare to top a zwift segment even filtered by the day with so many top riders all over the world but here's the recumbent dork at the top of the sheet on the full mountain climb for the day. Seems all the dopers are over on the new bigger climb busting out 7w/kg challenging for the KOM these days and suffering the hate comments for it :lol
https://www.strava.com/segments/13641659?filter=overall

 

[RojoRacing]

Need this guy on A V20 in real life he puts me to shame climbing on a bent on zwift. He's very close to breaking into the top ten overall.


https://www.strava.com/activities/1624347243/segments/40678660094

 

[RojoRacing]

Maybe I'm not as out of shape as I thought or maybe I have the first tacx neo that's fallen out of calibration. I was short on time after a crazy stressful day at work before needing to pick someone up from the airport so I opted for just the small radio tower climb today. Started out steady and quickly found myself in my 39-28 granny gear so just kept the pace up to keep my cadence from dropping too low, lots of standing just like in real life. Anyone on zwift who claims that climbing the mountain on any other trainer setting besides 100% doesn't make it any easier is just retarded or in denial of their weakness. Even someone like me feels the limits of my gears and my legs burn when I'm forced to stand that whole radio tower section at the end because my cadence drops into the 60's even in my granny. Anyways a few mins into the climb I noticed someone ahead of me about 90 seconds holding a stead 4.0w/kg so I set him as my rabbit and gave him a ride on to catch his attention so he'd see me coming. Had a nice race to the end of the KOM section beating him by a few seconds which based on the confetti over his name as he crossed the line pushed him to a new KOM climb PR, I like to think I helped push him to that. Somehow I managed to average 298watts for 29 mins which is about 25 watts more then I would have guessed in my current state. I got to hand it to zwift because give me a big climb and someone to chance and I'll drag out my best. That 13-17% radio tower is a beast at 100% setting just like the top of Mt. diablo.

 

[anotherbrian]

Need this guy on A V20 in real life he puts me to shame climbing on a bent on zwift. He's very close to breaking into the top ten overall.


https://www.strava.com/activities/1624347243/segments/40678660094

I’ve seen him on Zwift before, and at the time I thought his outdoor rides looked legit (brevet/long distance).

https://www.strava.com/activities/1637254216#41008343403

Activity like that would make me skeptical about his indoor configuration though. Given the monster watts he ramps up to, his heart rate barely moves in comparison. Some of his outdoor rides show he has a higher max than ~150bpm, but the estimated powers are so much lower for them.

 

[RojoRacing]

Oh my post was totally tongue in cheek. I'd imagine if he rolls around on zwift with the same name as in strava it probably makes a few people question the legitimacy of Recumbent Dorks zwift results :lol

No one ever questions my results under the alias of Normal Bike Guy though

 

[RojoRacing]

I don't care what anyone says, climbing the radio tower at 100% simulation is F%#King HARD! even for someone like me on a DF bike with 39-28 gearing. That constant 13% grade keeps me at 60 cadence or lower for around 6 mins strait which forces me to stand the whole time, today my weak arms got tired of holding myself steady. People claim lowering the simulation has no effect on your speed which is true unless you're physically incapable of doing the climb at full sim because last I checked stalled out is quite a bit slower then snails pace at 50% sim. It kills me to see people avoid a great chance to become a good climber because of someone else poor info based on a limited opinion. I should have gotten the longer cage etap RD and a 32t cassette for my DF bike because gravity ain't getting lighter.

 

[anotherbrian]

My brevet/double century road bike has an 11-32 or 11-34 with a 52/36. My trainer bike has a 52/39 with a 11-21’ish corncob. The tight cassette works great for FTP tests but the gearing absolutely bites on hills in Zwift. I’d never ride gearing like that on hills in real life, so I have no compunction about moving that slider.

If/when I do a vEverest on Zwift I’ll put a 34/11-34 on the bike so I can stay within their rules (100% sim). My SNAP feels like it’s going to melt after a single 250W climb of AdZ though, so that’s my excuse for not doing 9x.

 

[RojoRacing]

Yeah that's the exception

 

[Pollock]

I was riding the Tour of Oz stage 6 with 2 Team Moose on Thursday. This stage was up Alp de Zwift; not my favorite route. I noticed a few new things this time up including an actually Yeti! That climb is always slow for me. I needed two breaks but made it up at a snails pace in about 2-2.5 hours.

The last stage is running this weekend. The route is up the Watopia KOM plus radio tower. If anyone is looking for a nice climb, jump on stage 7. It runs on the hour.

 

[Pollock]

Awesome! I will look for you tomorrow!

I road up the KOM climb today for scouting; it was about 45 minutes. I think you will be waiting for me!

I think I have only ridden up that side once before. Usually I go up the other side.

 

[Pollock]

I took a trip around the new UCI course today. Nice climb on it and interesting to see a new track again. I was running a workout on it in ERG mode, so only 82 minutes for the loop.

 

[Pollock]

For anyone that wants a bit of a structured workout for the next month or two, Zwift Academy is starting. You can find more info at https://zwift.com/p/zwift-academy-zam2018-faqs/.

I know at least three of us have joined. Don’t worry, at least two of us are D riders and the other might be a C; we do not have to keep up with the fast riders. @trplay and I were actually lapped on a group ride on Monday.

Come on out and have some fun riding with us!

 

[LarryOz]

Well I got my first Zwift KOM today! It was 8 laps "Innsburking" haha. Probably only got it because it has not been around that long to ride, plus it takes close to 2 hours at about 3.5 WkG, so not too many fools out there want to suffer that hard! haha
Funny thing is, I did not know I had taken it "because it was hidden", then suddenly I get an email that my KOM had been stolen. So short lived. Oh, well. I will probably be lucky to be in the top 100 by the end of the month!