Zwift - Cruzbike Activities (races and group rides)

Phantomrider

Phantomrider

Active Member
This is getting my interest so today I created an account, setup my laptop and paired my sensors to see what it was all about. Now mind you I’m riding an old cyclops fluid trainer (no intelligence) so keep that in mind. I’ve been looking at the kicker core and snap and trying to make a decision. I will ride in the garage so setup and tear down will occur everyday cuz the cars go in the garage. So any feedback on the two trainers would be appreciated, I also would either ride my V or the Catrike 700 depending on the mood. Also, the V is 11sp and the trike is 10sp so that can create an issue with wheel off. I am in north Texas so I have lots of days to ride outside and will do that at every opportunity. I’ve had this trainer for about 4 years now and it has seen very little use as I get bored just setting there spinning. My initial thoughts are the snap would be easier since I really don’t have to break anything down but would need a training wheel as I’m not crazy about putting a zip wheel and a tubeless tire on the trainer.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, I may just jump in one of those races to see what fun you folks are having.
 
P

Pollock

Guru
Hey @Phantomrider ! Welcome to the Zwift portion of the club :)

If you need a training wheel anyways for both your trike and bike, I would say go for the Core or similar. A lot of riders also like the Tacx Neo. You still have to change a wheel either way, but it will be quieter and you will / should have all the sensors you need on the trainer itself except HR.

I ran around on Zwift with an old Kurt Kimetics last year for a few months. It works, so spend a month trying it out first with what you have (if you have a wheel already). I suspect in about 2 weeks, you will be ready for a,Christmas trainer upgrade ;)
 
P

Pollock

Guru
Oh, if you are going to do a group ride, run an FTP test. It is handy to do before your first race if only to know what category to select; unless you already know it.
 
RojoRacing

RojoRacing

Donut Powered Wise-guy
signed up for a 35km four lap innsbruck race with 5 other A racers, ended up riding 35 mile four laps on the london loop with as the only A racer with maybe 1/2 the B, C, D racers who should have been in the race. I don't think many of the racers wanted those extra 13 miles of race distance nor the climb up box hill each lap because most had quite before the 3rd lap and I was the only finisher of the full 35 miles. I did kind of cheat though because with no one to race with I rode the first 2 laps hard then switched the trainer difficulty to zero so I could just leave it in one gear at 200 watts and watched youtube videos till the finish.

I wonder if I should just avoid events that don't follow the course schedule of that day.
 
P

Pollock

Guru
Eight straight days of racing? You need a break day!

It took me an extra day to recover from our Thurs Hound and Hare. Apparently, I found a new set of muscles and they were complaining about being found! I’ll find something for tomorrow after I give the bike some care.
 
RojoRacing

RojoRacing

Donut Powered Wise-guy
Shall we start taking bets on whether on not Jason will race the 6 lap volcano event in 90 mins if he also races the 1 lap event in 20 mins?
 
RojoRacing

RojoRacing

Donut Powered Wise-guy
Well I won the first race by timing my sprint better then the other which was good because I only got like 6 pedal strokes out of the saddle before my legs said no and I had to manage the last 300 yards in the saddle. I started the second race but half way through tossed in the towel when my HR exceeded 180 and I just didn't feel like pushing so hard today. Today was going to be a easy day of spinning and watching youtube but that plan feel apart fast.
 
ReklinedRider

ReklinedRider

Zen MBB Master
trplay said:
We sure could use some recumbenteers to help in tonights Hound and Hare.
Click to expand...

After 2 weeks waiting on TACX to send the disc extractor tool, followed by 3 weeks of illness (the Man Flu....aughh!!), I'm just getting some rides around 'London' and 'California' in (at a distressingly low watts/kg :(). Can't wait to get in good enough shape to start at the low end of the race world.....

thanks again trplay for the advice about the disc extractor
 
P

Pollock

Guru
@trplay that is awesome news about Connie! Both the race wins as well as training for PBP.

I think you need to pick up those long 4+ hour rides now. The first 200k rando’s start real soon! Otherwise, you will end up as rider support in Aug ;)
 
benphyr

benphyr

Guru-me-not
trplay said:
..There are strong disagreements towards this hi-viz safety jersey. Some seeing a highly visable day/night cycling garnet ...
Click to expand...
I'm no help but here's my 2c:
-Love the High-vis aspect, just have a hard time thinking of orange and yellow (construction/outside worker) colours as anything else.
-High-vis outdoor wear often has vertical stripes on the front and X (or sometimes V) patterns on the rear to differentiate.
-I like the largish reflective parts on the arms.
-Team Moose logo will hardly be seen if at all while on the Cruzbike - Front would be better.
-But I wear a very yellow rain-jacket with scotchlite all over it for most of the Fall, Winter, Spring so.. take the above with a grain of road-salt.

Cheers,
Ben.
 
P

Pollock

Guru
I would have suggested going for more single colors instead of the mix. The grey vertical stripes look like suspenders ;) I do like the hi-vis colors and reflective material on it. You will likely still need reflective singlets for the longer rides at night unless you wear another, warmer under layer for night.

Also keep in mind how it might wear on 1 Team Moose.
 
B

Bill K

Guru
I wonder if the reflective diamond patches on the arms could be cut in the shape of a moose? that would be cool.
For an outer layer on a brevet I prefer something with a full zipper front so it is a bit easier to swap layers around as the temperature changes (especially if the material is not stretchy).
Stylish? You want drivers to see you and avoid you! The less stylish the better (but I'm sure most people would disagree).
Thumbs Up!
 
benphyr

benphyr

Guru-me-not
trplay said:
...Luckily, it was just in time for the Zwift Zebra race.
Click to expand...
So, you cleaned and maintained bikes for an hour, went for a 40mile ride in the cold with cold weather gear - worked out some kinks with respect to riding outside, and with traffic. Then, upon arriving safely at home, for a break you did a Zwift race?!? :cruzbike:

(p.s. It is about time that the autocorrect recognizes Zwift as a word in the English language!)
 
RojoRacing

RojoRacing

Donut Powered Wise-guy
Entered the EVR west race tonight last minute against my gut feeling since I've been doing so little riding and zwift races always extract my all whether I have my all to give available or not. Getting crushed on a saturday group ride didn't help much ether but then again a 50 min ride up the alp de zwift the night before probably didn't help me on saturday ether. Anyways we had like 12 A riders with a few B riders mixed in tonight for 10 laps of totally flat richmond, total race was a little over an hour. Aside from 2-3 half hearted attempts to get a breakaway going by other riders the pace was a steady 250ish watts and knowing I'm not at my usual best I just sat in the group the whole way maybe only pulling 30 seconds total. I kept my eye on the single team X racer who was rolling along at 140bpm vs my 160bpm and like me never taking a pull, those guys are known for roadie tactics in every race I've seen them in. I figured he'd wait till 2 laps to go then try for a solo break or maybe just go for a long early sprint. There were no attacks in the last 2 laps of the race which was surprising so it came down to a group sprint which kind of started out early but soft by the team X guy. By the time I reacted he must have had a good 15 meters and pulling away with his aero power up. I gave a solid out of the saddle effort without any power ups but just as I sat back down I realized how fast I was closing in and with a split second hesitation I stood back up and tried to bring it home only yo come up 2 inches short, basically a photo finish. I should have never thought myself the underdog because my lack of confidence going into the sprint is what kept me from winning. I think I needed team Moose yelling in my ear, that's what I get for not telling Henry I was racing.

Oh and post race I got up walked to the kitchen for some water and got back on for a cool down spin. I noticed my seat bones were a little tender but ignored them as it's normal for them to get a little testy on the DF trainer setup. 15 mins later I found myself shifting around on the seat a lot due to discomfort so I tried stand up for a few mins to get off the seat but I could still felt my seat bones throbbing so I cut the cool down ride short. My bones were in so much pain when I got off that when I tried to sit down in a chair I almost couldn't bend at the waist and when I forced it, I got stuck in that chair for like 10 mins unable to stand up or bend over to reach my shoes. 2 hours later I'm still hobbling around like I just got done running 100 miles and I have no idea what changed to upset my seat bones so much. The only ting I can think of was this race was totally flat so I never got out of the saddle at all for the whole hour which is unheard of for me on zwift so maybe it was some kind of delayed reaction to blood loss then a sudden blood surge in that area when I got done. Really makes me wish I had the Vendetta down here with me.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=128224
 
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