Jeffrey Ritter
Well-Known Member
I might be willing to give this a try. Been on Zwift since beta days. Have never raced, not a 3+ watts kind of guy. When is the next Hound & Hare?
Zwift - Cruzbike Activities (races and group rides)
- Thread starter RojoRacing
- Start date
I might be willing to give this a try. Been on Zwift since beta days. Have never raced, not a 3+ watts kind of guy. When is the next Hound & Hare?
CruzLike
Guru
Hi Jeff the H & H ride is on Thursday evening at 7:35. If you are a afternoon rider the "Chop" ride could be interesting. Trplay is a fan of them. Too early for me. I'm still paying for his social security at that time of day.
Come out and play.
ratz
Wielder of the Rubber Mallet
Pretty sure Hardy is in bed by the time I get to the trainer. Sucks being older than me? What is this retirement you all speak of I get to start saving for retirement at age 68 when the kids finish college.
RojoRacing
Donut Powered Wise-guy
I may jump into the WBR 6 lap volcano race or the ZHR up and down race this evening about 7:15-7:30 PST, no promises but I hope I get out of work on time and with a little energy left in the tank.
RojoRacing
Donut Powered Wise-guy
Was too late home to do the flat volcano race which was for the best because I like to sink my teeth into a solid climb on zwift instead of a surging road race pacing. Kind of a predictable result with only one other A racer because riders both in real life and online are afraid of mountains. Started up the mountain and stretched the field of 7 racers out holding a solid 315 watts for 16 mins up the reverse Epic KOM climb then to both @trplay and my own surprise we turned right up the radio tower. I didn't save anything to the extra 5 mins of 13% climbing but hell when you sign up you got to finish so I recomposed myself and got out of the saddle(this was on my DF bike) in my 39-28 and held my 60 cadence all the way up. I think I had about a 1 min gap on the way down so it was a steady conversational pace to the finish talking with Henry about random stuff like crank lengths and stuff.
One of the questions Henry asked was do I think riding in zwift on the NEO accurately matches outdoor efforts and my answer is a resounding YES. I've been trying to best my 20 min power outside up a local canyon for the last month averaging about 320 watts give or take 5 watts each time so very consistent results. Today For 23 mins I averaged 315 watts that's 5 mins longer then my outdoor canyon climb. Looking at my power curve on zwift I managed to improve both my best 20 min and 30 min power by 2-3 watts so yeah I'd say riding in zwift on a NEO at 100% simulation matches outdoor effort pound for pound if you approach both with the same mindset. I say same mindset because climbing a mountain outdoors and climbing a mountain in zwift have the same appeal to me. I wont get climbing power figures in zwift if I pick a flat route or choose a training session on trainer road, that not how my mind works and is probably true for 95% of everyone else.
I don't have mountain I can ride out locally outside right now with ease so I'll try and do at least 1-2 zwift races or alp de zwift climbs a week as my hard days to help further my goal of 375 watts of power for 20 mins. I'll fire up the discord channel for those of you who would like to talk shop, post climb or race mostly because that's when I'll have the time to breath and talk.
One of the questions Henry asked was do I think riding in zwift on the NEO accurately matches outdoor efforts and my answer is a resounding YES. I've been trying to best my 20 min power outside up a local canyon for the last month averaging about 320 watts give or take 5 watts each time so very consistent results. Today For 23 mins I averaged 315 watts that's 5 mins longer then my outdoor canyon climb. Looking at my power curve on zwift I managed to improve both my best 20 min and 30 min power by 2-3 watts so yeah I'd say riding in zwift on a NEO at 100% simulation matches outdoor effort pound for pound if you approach both with the same mindset. I say same mindset because climbing a mountain outdoors and climbing a mountain in zwift have the same appeal to me. I wont get climbing power figures in zwift if I pick a flat route or choose a training session on trainer road, that not how my mind works and is probably true for 95% of everyone else.
I don't have mountain I can ride out locally outside right now with ease so I'll try and do at least 1-2 zwift races or alp de zwift climbs a week as my hard days to help further my goal of 375 watts of power for 20 mins. I'll fire up the discord channel for those of you who would like to talk shop, post climb or race mostly because that's when I'll have the time to breath and talk.
RojoRacing
Donut Powered Wise-guy
cover your ears if you don't want to hear the color commentary at 1:50 into the video when I realized I wasn't done climbing.
Tomorrow (Sun Nov 11) the Zwift Fando season kicks in. For the US, the best times appear to be 9AM ET or noon ET. There are three different lengths and courses to pick from. Tomorrow’s rides are in Watopia.
I have the 9AM ride on my calendar with the Bambino ride which rides over the three sisters route.
I have the 9AM ride on my calendar with the Bambino ride which rides over the three sisters route.
MariposaLand
Active Member
I’m getting into Zwift on my S40. Rode my first race today. I think I came in last. I’m having a hard time learning to draft. Are there any secrets? It seems like when someone goes past me they just blast around me even when I’m putting out some Watts. My Zwift weight is 10 lbs higher than my real weight due to loosing some weight. Will 10 lbs make a difference in my speed by very much? I would like to ride with some CBers.
RojoRacing
Donut Powered Wise-guy
Well start by correcting your weight, no reason to work harder then you have to. Will 10lbs make a huge difference? not really, but it would gain a a little speed most noticeably in race results or segment times. I think most people expect too much of the draft, it's not like you're magnetized to the other rider and like real life there is a bit of momentum to consider. If it was your first race then don't worry, we all sucked at drafting in zwift when we first started. I kept rubber-banding back and forth between off the front to off the rear, it took me a few races to understand when and how hard to push in order to match other riders. Get used to keeping one eye on the riders list on the right in races or when pacing with someone, most important data there is each riders W/Kg output. The numbers will change instantly so react that instead of waiting to see the other avatar start accelerating away, because if you ramp up your power then you'll be 2-3 seconds behind.
Don't get discourage yet, keep practicing, it's a new style of riding that takes time to adapt to.
Don't get discourage yet, keep practicing, it's a new style of riding that takes time to adapt to.
RojoRacing
Donut Powered Wise-guy
MariposaLand
Active Member
Thank you! This was my first race and it seemed that everyone was in the A group. However i am using a laptop which is about 4 ft from my eyes and I can’t read the small fonts. I have the Zwift iPhone Companion app on my handlebars. Maybe the same info on who is near me would be available there.
RojoRacing
Donut Powered Wise-guy
Don’t need to take it easy, the knee injury was superficial and the only reason I could walk the first week or ride the second and third was due to the swelling. At this point it causes zero pain but I’m still looking into what to do about the bone growth if anything. Just a matter of getting back in shape because last nights race kind of sucked because I had to ride like a roadie and play their games because I’m not strong enough to just set the pace.Looks like there were 5 known Cruzbikers Zwifting throughout the day yesterday. Our hero and highest ranked recumbent Zwifter on the planet Jason, finished off the day for Cruzbike with a fine second place finish in the Watopia Figure Eight Hilly Race. Even with a healing knee he was able to come within two tenths of a second from winning the sprint finish. Jason, let that knee heal dummy! Below is a graph showing you an example of the 100's of neat data grabs one can get while Zwifting. It is comparing the power curves between the two top racers. Nice job Jason.
RojoRacing
Donut Powered Wise-guy
At one point I had some pretty fast guys in my nemesis chart. I think it’s based of the people who most join the same races as you.
RojoRacing
Donut Powered Wise-guy
You got to get on the in game message and peptalk those D riders to work together because it’s you guys versus the A’s.
@MariposaLand welcome to Zwift. Please do work on adding discord. Many of the group rides I do have a discord channel for the ride which is a nice distraction. I even play music and have discord going on my phone at times 
also, which time zone and time of day do you ride? We have a few ET riders, at least one CT and then there is Rojo/Jason over in PT.
also, which time zone and time of day do you ride? We have a few ET riders, at least one CT and then there is Rojo/Jason over in PT.
MariposaLand
Active Member
I live in CT universe. I’ll look at Discord, thank you. My schedule is up to my customers so it is hard for me to schedule. However, 7:00 pm would be a time I am normally home in the winter.
