Yes!
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Hi all, I posted a questionnaire on trainer apps that was flagged and pulled. I am not trying to spam you all but I am writing an assignment where I am considering the differences between the trainer apps on the market and whether the current popularity of Zwift is largely due to the restrictions imposed by Covid-19.
I was previously using Trainer Road. I switched to Sufferfest because as I spent more time on the turbo I needed something a bit more distracting. I quickly moved onto Zwift, mainly after following the threads on here, and have enjoyed the races I have done. However, I have kept sufferfest as I like the yoga and strength videos. When Covid is over and I can go back to real races I am not sure what I will do. I like proper structured training like TrainerRoad but I also like the engagement on Zwift and the cross-training on Sufferfest. Why can’t one app just do it all?
Generally interested in the thoughts of those posting on here, you seem to be on the whole converted to Zwift but I wonder if that is just to meet your competitive demands in this period?
Didn’t know where to put this … but if anyone is still looking for turbos, these guys seem to have stock still: https://www.mantel.com/uk/turbo-trainers
I read that Mantel is basically the Dutch CRC, so makes sense that they seem to have good stock of Tacx (but no Wahoo).
Back on Zwift and had my first ride yesterday but the resistance on the trainer kept fluctuating massively so the torque to push pedal was really high then ease off. It was like doing a Tabata climb. I noticed that the cadence on zwift was reading really low (in the 30s). I don’t have a cadence sensor so it comes from the Flux but my wahoo elemnt was reading much higher. Has anyone had anything similar?
I do HIT by using the wahoo to control resistance and it works fine.
Not something I have to worry about with my dumb trainer!
Snap. But interestingly zwift still makes up a cadence. You’d think it would just read zero or at least flatline on a given number.
I think I will buy a cadence sensor and hope that resolves it.
Why won’t my HR monitor connect? In order to get my trainer and cadence monitor to connect, I have had to turn off all bluetooth connections and use an ANT+ dongle. All set up now, other than HR monitor. Any ideas please?
Batteries in HR Monitor?
Is your HR Bluetooth or ANT+? I have to have all Bluetooth or all ANT+ connections (power, cadence and HR). I bought a wahoo tickr so I could have all of the signals working on the same protocol
There’s obviously a BLE/ANT hierarchy going on. When I use the Surface Pro, I have to make sure none of my Garmins are on before the Surface connects to the PM & HRM using Bluetooth. Then I can turn on my Garmin(s) and they then use ANT.
I can’t use an ANT dongle with the Surface as it only has 1 USB port (I use an Ethernet adaptor in it)
Started racing fairly regularly on Zwift in the last few weeks. Dumb trainer (old watt bike pro bought off gym), but lord I am rubbish.
I can’t seem to get my head around going Harry Blatters for 3 minutes from the gun and so then end up in a group that’s a bit easy but not easy enough to get away from.
Settle into this then very often get popped losing concentration (dumb trainer means you need to watch for hills to make an extra effort, no feedback), and once popped you’re done even from a comfortable group.
If I am still in the group near the end I’m as rubbish at the last 3 minutes as the first…
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Best I get out of it is a decent sweetspot workout. Need to work on a top end…
you’ve pretty much exactly described my 4 week experience of Zwift so far @TROSaracen ! Except i’m probably working closer to FTP than sweetspot!
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On any course that is remotely hilly, use the best climbing bike and climbing wheels you can: The splits always occure on the climbs, a bike which is 1s slower climbing will be at a significant disadvantage. However, when you are in the pack, keeping up on a “slower” bike is really not an issue.
The other watchout is the climbs followed by a descent. Nasty people, like me, will push 400w+ at the end of a climb in order to get a 1s gap on the descent: anyone not paying attention will get dropped off the back and have zero chance of getting back onto the group on the descent.
Talking of cadence, why do some courses have your avatar out of the saddle at anything under 80rpm and other do it under 70rpm?
There was an article that popped up on my Facebook feed that speculated about why the pros racing on Zwift during lockdown were doing so badly against the regular Zwift racers. They came up with a number of explanations including:
- the pros weren’t taking the time to learn the courses, so were getting caught out on the climbs
- most pros seemed to be just using a laptop or a tablet to view Zwift. Apparently they should have big screens so that they can follow what’s going on
- most didn’t appear to be using decent sized fans to keep cool
- the pros need to lear how to draft - they all do too much work “on the front”
The thing that they missed was that most of these pros would have worked really hard over the winter to be in peak form for the Spring classics and grand tours, so probably CGAF about racing a bunch of choppers in a video game
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So I should use the Tarmac Pro/Enve 3.4 almost always? Anything described as ‘flat’ I always use Madone/808.
I use the S5 and Zipp 454 where there are no climbs above 3.5%. As soon as there is a climb above that I use the Trek Emonda and Mielenstein wheels. Even Watopia Flat is too hilly for the S5. I only use 808s on TT bike
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Right, so even the Crit course with that cobbled ramp is lightweight bike then?!"
I’d have assumed that because the crit course is so fast that a faster pack bike would be more beneficial for keeping with a group and that a lightweight bike isn’t needed for the rollers.