Zwift Chat

[berty bassett]

Haven’t read article yet - but if it’s on about why we do it
I do it solely being competitive - the side effect is I get fitter - I really enjoy the races on turbo , I get beat by close rivals and sometimes beat them , I get a real buzz from it. I also try on segments on strava just to see if I can get near the top and see if I can beat it next time
Being the wrong side of 50 I think it may be less of a buzz when I see figures going down but then I may delete strava and just ride
I don’t think I ever train for a future event , I think I just try and keep up with others
It’s fun , real fun - but serious fun - if it wasn’t serious for me then I wouldn’t have changed turbos
O and I can’t remember Breedon bearing me ?!
Watching his progress like a hawk !

 

[<Tommy>]

Tommy lobs existential grenade into CC forum

I am sure I am not the only one here who has in recent times thought about some of the issues raised in the article. Enforced rest has certainly made me question some personal “whys” and “what fors” as I enjoy the please of doing pretty much feck all and not bothering to measure it.

It wasn’t meant to be a grenade honest! . But on reflection I suppose it is a bit of one. Seeing people’s responses is interesting, and perhaps ironically some of the responses reflect the conclusions of the article about changing behaviours. For what it’s worth I don’t think there is any need to justify how seriously you take something to other people. That is something for you to decide. Obsession isn’t generally healthy but you can conclude for yourself where you position yourself on the scale between healthy activity and obsession.

On a side note there have been numerous moments during my time on this forum when people have lined up to say how seriously they do or don’t take their riding. It sometimes reads like a competition in itself to see who can best find the middle ground!

The article isn’t about cycling specifically but moreover an observation on the changing manner in which we as a society approach things. Strava is used as an example because it allows us to measure our effort and compare it with others. My own response to the article, which people are then reacting too here rather than reading the article... Is that I often see in people’s posts here, and on strava in people’s ride titles, a rhetoric that just simply wasn’t around 10 years ago.

I would suggest you read it rather than second guesssing the general thrust of it though .

 

[bridgy]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...s-baking-why-is-modern-leisure-so-competitive

I found this piece interesting and also quite relevant to our little group here. Often I see posts where people refer to ‘the season’ as though we’re training for a competition. Label rides as ‘training rides, zone two rides, recovery rides etc etc’ to explain why there might be a perceived lack of ‘achievement’. Or look for justifications or dare I say excuses, why we feel we’ve ‘undeperformed’. Not a dig at anyone in particular because I think most of us are guilty of at least one of those things. Just food for thought

Thanks Tommy - interesting article. I think it's as much - if not more - about the use and effects of social media as about competitive exercise or tools to measure performance.

The sharing of stuff on social media does create competitive pressures on people, and many people get carried away with this unfortunately. But it's just a tool, and can be used very effectively (as I think most of us do, most of the time) if you keep things in perspective.

Social Media is very new and there's loads of negative (as well as some positive) knock-on effects from it for society as a whole. The same could be said about the internet as a whole. Maybe (hopefully!) as a society we'll gradually get better at using the best elements of it and filtering out the worse extremes!

 

[<Tommy>]

Thanks Tommy - interesting article. I think it's as much - if not more - about the use and effects of social media as about competitive exercise or tools to measure performance.

The sharing of stuff on social media does create competitive pressures on people, and many people get carried away with this unfortunately. But it's just a tool, and can be used very effectively (as I think most of us do, most of the time) if you keep things in perspective.

Social Media is very new and there's loads of negative (as well as some positive) knock-on effects from it for society as a whole. The same could be said about the internet as a whole. Maybe (hopefully!) as a society we'll gradually get better at using the best elements of it and filtering out the worse extremes!

Yes. It doesn’t have to be seen as a critisism as such, but more a reflection on changing norms.

 

[<Tommy>]

I like my rivalry with Bob

Seems a bit harsh picking on the bloke in a wheelchair

 

[theboxers]

Well that was an experience. The longest time I've ever held at 100rpm on cadence +/- 2 (FTP Builder - Session 2 - Strength). Alright it was at low power but you've still got to turn the cranks . No FTP increase this time .

The planned training sessions are much better than Bkool's versions so far. They seem to fly by even though there are long low power sections. Enjoying, , Zwift so far.

 

[CXRAndy]

Seems a bit harsh picking on the bloke in a wheelchair

Its because I know what its like to be looked down on

 

[Whorty]

It wasn’t meant to be a grenade honest! . But on reflection I suppose it is a bit of one. Seeing people’s responses is interesting, and perhaps ironically some of the responses reflect the conclusions of the article about changing behaviours. For what it’s worth I don’t think there is any need to justify how seriously you take something to other people. That is something for you to decide. Obsession isn’t generally healthy but you can conclude for yourself where you position yourself on the scale between healthy activity and obsession.

On a side note there have been numerous moments during my time on this forum when people have lined up to say how seriously they do or don’t take their riding. It sometimes reads like a competition in itself to see who can best find the middle ground!

The article isn’t about cycling specifically but moreover an observation on the changing manner in which we as a society approach things. Strava is used as an example because it allows us to measure our effort and compare it with others. My own response to the article, which people are then reacting too here rather than reading the article... Is that I often see in people’s posts here, and on strava in people’s ride titles, a rhetoric that just simply wasn’t around 10 years ago.

I would suggest you read it rather than second guesssing the general thrust of it though .

I read it, and what I took away from it (well not directly fro the article, but it made me think about this) was that technology is supposed to make the world 'easier', less manual, and give us more free time, yet whether it's work or social scenario, the more we use technology the less time we seem to have. Take work, when I started in 1990 as a statistician we had the computing power in computer rooms less than we have in our pockets today, yet were still able to run companies and make decisions. Today, we have too much information at our fingertips, and we are constantly analysing and evaluating the world, so much so that I think we forget to just live in the world sometimes. Same with the likes of Strava; we could just ride our bikes and enjoy what we're doing but we sometimes spend as much time looking at ride numbers, and comparing (whether against ourselves or others) our performance as we do actually riding.

How the world has changed .... <we need an old man emoji>

 

[Whorty]

Well that was an experience. The longest time I've ever held at 100rpm on cadence +/- 2 (FTP Builder - Session 2 - Strength). Alright it was at low power but you've still got to turn the cranks . No FTP increase this time .

The planned training sessions are much better than Bkool's versions so far. They seem to fly by even though there are long low power sections. Enjoying, , Zwift so far.

Yep, big fan of the workouts. Will be doing a controlled ride later, so set up my own session for this to stop me being tempted to start racing people. Created my own custom workout at 2 hours long, but keeping power between 185 and 195 the whole time. I'd prefer to do a proper hard session, or a race, but I know my body needs rest days too so this is my way of ensuring I behave myself

 

[Whorty]

Its because I know what its like to be looked down on

Should have a chat with Lee, being a short-@rse he also knows what it's like to be looked down on (I know, pot and kettle, but it's rare I get to have a go at someone else being as short as me )

 

[theboxers]

I read it, and what I took away from it (well not directly fro the article, but it made me think about this) was that technology is supposed to make the world 'easier', less manual, and give us more free time, yet whether it's work or social scenario, the more we use technology the less time we seem to have. Take work, when I started in 1990 as a statistician we had the computing power in computer rooms less than we have in our pockets today, yet were still able to run companies and make decisions. Today, we have too much information at our fingertips, and we are constantly analysing and evaluating the world, so much so that I think we forget to just live in the world sometimes. Same with the likes of Strava; we could just ride our bikes and enjoy what we're doing but we sometimes spend as much time looking at ride numbers, and comparing (whether against ourselves or others) our performance as we do actually riding.

How the world has changed .... <we need an old man emoji>

Hey You get orf my lawn

 

[theboxers]

Yep, big fan of the workouts. Will be doing a controlled ride later, so set up my own session for this to stop me being tempted to start racing people. Created my own custom workout at 2 hours long, but keeping power between 185 and 195 the whole time. I'd prefer to do a proper hard session, or a race, but I know my body needs rest days too so this is my way of ensuring I behave myself

To be fair there are similar workout sessions on Bkool. But like their ride choices, both 3D and Video, there is such a big choice you lose yourself trying to find one. Also the plans are limited in choice and variation so become repetitive (boring).

I've not done the same or a similar training session yet on Zwift.

 

[Whorty]

To be fair there are similar workout sessions on Bkool. But like their ride choices, both 3D and Video, there is such a big choice you lose yourself trying to find one. Also the plans are limited in choice and variation so become repetitive (boring).

I've not done the same or a similar training session yet on Zwift.

The Zwift ones work for me because I'm still riding in the world with others and hence I can be distracted by the other avatars - this makes the time go faster, for me at least. Only tried a Bkool workout once and it just felt clunky, but then that was a few years ago so maybe if i tried again I'd judge it differently now. Not sure.

 

[Del C]

The Zwift ones work for me because I'm still riding in the world with others and hence I can be distracted by the other avatars - this makes the time go faster, for me at least. Only tried a Bkool workout once and it just felt clunky, but then that was a few years ago so maybe if i tried again I'd judge it differently now. Not sure.

I've been meaning to ask you this.

Are all the Zwift workouts out on the road, so that you have other riders avatars around you? I see lots of riders with the 'open book' in front of them, which I read was somebody in workout mode.

I'd be much more tempted to join a Zwift workout plan if this is so. I started one on Bkool and got bored to tears after around 3 weeks, riding against a graph....... it wasn't a lot of fun.

 

[Aleman]

Yes @Del C All the riders with a screen in front of them are on some sort of workout, from the first person view you have other riders around you, and can interact via messaging