Zwift Chat

[Whorty]

My enforced taking it easy is giving me the chance to try out a few things.

Put the turbo resistance back up to 50% from around 25% today and rode up Leith Hill 51 seconds faster than in ToL stage 3 with drafting on! Wasn't pushing it, just using the extra resistance to push against.

Also took over a minute of my PB on the Greatest London Loop. I'll need to think a bit more about settings when I'm back to normal.

I'm racing at 100% - I seem to get faster times that way, especially where hills are concerned. I find it less 'spinny', so less stress on the heart, and more 'leggy', and I'm a happy grinder

 

[<Tommy>]

I know your a tall chap so it must be quite adjustable, ,does it feel as though you are riding a bike or a piece of gym equipment, , I have read the reviews and a few mentioned that they had had problems,any niggles at all
CheersTommy

I think I prefer it to having a bike on a turbo. I’m more confident putting power through it for sure. If you go onto dcrainmaker there are people posting problems they’ve had. I couldn’t say whether those are big issues or if it’s just the unlucky few. I do wonder how much of a pain it would be to send it back if it did need repairing. But hopefully I don’t have to find out!

 

[<Tommy>]

My enforced taking it easy is giving me the chance to try out a few things.

Put the turbo resistance back up to 50% from around 25% today and rode up Leith Hill 51 seconds faster than in ToL stage 3 with drafting on! Wasn't pushing it, just using the extra resistance to push against.

Also took over a minute of my PB on the Greatest London Loop. I'll need to think a bit more about settings when I'm back to normal.

I'm racing at 100% - I seem to get faster times that way, especially where hills are concerned. I find it less 'spinny', so less stress on the heart, and more 'leggy', and I'm a happy grinder

Doesn’t this just mean you’re using a different part of the cassette? or am I missing something?

 

[Milzy]

I can’t wait until the final stage is over as apparently I’m over training according to Strava summit. o_O

 

[Whorty]

Doesn’t this just mean you’re using a different part of the cassette? or am I missing something?

On flats maybe but not on hills or descents. On hills you feel the gradient which means dropping the cadence when in 100% mode, but at say 20% you can still spin a higher cadence albeit in a higher gear. On the downs it's interesting; at 100% I spin out or have to pedal like crazy to get any power up, but at say 20% its easier to keep power on. This is a double edged sword for me at 20% as it means there is less chance of a rest on the downs.

Watts is watts, as they say, but for me I find it slightly more natural to ride at a lower cadence when going up hill so I can hold the power better. Of course everyone is different and I don't think there is a right or wrong way.

 

[JuhaL]

I'm racing at 100% - I seem to get faster times that way, especially where hills are concerned. I find it less 'spinny', so less stress on the heart, and more 'leggy', and I'm a happy grinder

When you do that you should listen Judas Priest - Grinder repeatedly .

 

[berty bassett]

On flats maybe but not on hills or descents. On hills you feel the gradient which means dropping the cadence when in 100% mode, but at say 20% you can still spin a higher cadence albeit in a higher gear. On the downs it's interesting; at 100% I spin out or have to pedal like crazy to get any power up, but at say 20% its easier to keep power on. This is a double edged sword for me at 20% as it means there is less chance of a rest on the downs.

Watts is watts, as they say, but for me I find it slightly more natural to ride at a lower cadence when going up hill so I can hold the power better. Of course everyone is different and I don't think there is a right or wrong way.

I know the algorithm is different for different people but I leave resistance at 100 , never touch it and I don’t think I ever spin out ?
going down the alp I had a little race with Adam once and in places I was touching 6w/kg in 50-11 and legs wouldn’t have been going anymore than 110/120 as I just can’t keep that sort of cadence - but power was the thing what had to go first , if I had60-10and pedalling at say 50 rpm I would still have had to back off power

 

[<Tommy>]

On flats maybe but not on hills or descents. On hills you feel the gradient which means dropping the cadence when in 100% mode, but at say 20% you can still spin a higher cadence albeit in a higher gear. On the downs it's interesting; at 100% I spin out or have to pedal like crazy to get any power up, but at say 20% its easier to keep power on. This is a double edged sword for me at 20% as it means there is less chance of a rest on the downs.



Watts is watts, as they say, but for me I find it slightly more natural to ride at a lower cadence when going up hill so I can hold the power better. Of course everyone is different and I don't think there is a right or wrong way.

But on a hill if you want to be “less spinny” On a lower realism setting you just shift into a smaller cog no? You can find a cadence you like that way?

 

[Whorty]

But on a hill if you want to be “less spinny” On a lower realism setting you just shift into a smaller cog no? You can find a cadence you like that way?

Could just be me, but for some reason I just can't hold the same power at say 25% going up hill compared to if I'm at 100%. On the flats I don't see much difference, it's just the hills that for me. Could be a psychological thing or a physiological - not sure. But it works for me.

 

[Whorty]

I know the algorithm is different for different people but I leave resistance at 100 , never touch it and I don’t think I ever spin out ?
going down the alp I had a little race with Adam once and in places I was touching 6w/kg in 50-11 and legs wouldn’t have been going anymore than 110/120 as I just can’t keep that sort of cadence - but power was the thing what had to go first , if I had60-10and pedalling at say 50 rpm I would still have had to back off power

Maybe 'spin-out' wasn't 100% correct, what I mean is I can't spin fast enough to create any power (even on 50/11). My legs max out about 105 cadence, and this only creates about 140 watts. I can do the odd short sprint to get more, but basically I'm rolling down hill at below 100 watts and cadence of about 85-95. To be fair though, this helps me recover so it's not bad thing

 

[<Tommy>]

Could just be me, but for some reason I just can't hold the same power at say 25% going up hill compared to if I'm at 100%. On the flats I don't see much difference, it's just the hills that for me. Could be a psychological thing or a physiological - not sure. But it works for me.

Maybe it’s because on a higher realism you are going at a lower cadence unless you shift. Where as on a lower realism setting you have to shift to go at a lower cadence. So maybe you don’t so much 🤷‍♂️

 

[Whorty]

Maybe it’s because on a higher realism you are going at a lower cadence unless you shift. Where as on a lower realism setting you have to shift to go at a lower cadence. So maybe you don’t so much 🤷‍♂️

Yeah, probably true. At 100% realism my lowest gear is 50/32 (or 30, can't remember) so when I hit 10+% gradients, to even turn over the crank I have to hit over 250 watts. However, at say 25% realism I can still spin at (say) 50/19 and if want to go even lower I still have somewhere to go.

Of course, I could just get the front deraileur sorted out

 

[CXRAndy]

I run about 15% it provides enough resistance and ease off to apply power against, but allows me to have only one or two gear shifts-keeping me in my Goldilocks cadence zone

 

[JuhaL]

Stage 4 - 1.32.15, i am toasted. Not sleep very well lately, i hope that i don't pay the penalty for this ride later.

 

[Freelanderuk]

Stage 5 ToL starts tomorrow (Wednesday 18th December)

A GROUP (Men & Women)

ROUTE: Keith Hill After Party
LAP DISTANCE: 36.2 km / 22.5 mi
ELEVATION GAIN: 407 m / 1335 ft
LAPS: 1
TOTAL DISTANCE: 36.2 km / 22.5 mi