Zwift Chat

[bridgy]

Quite a bit. To be fair, the worst part was getting off the bike and realising just how sore my bottom is. Definitely not sitting down on anything in the next 2 hours

I was desperate to get to lvl 6 to get a better frame/wheels. Managed to get there but I'm nowhere near the required 'drops'.

Top tip for speeding up your collection of drops is to ride with one of the pace partners. I do this when I just want to do a relatively easy hour or so (i.e not a race or workout) these days instead of riding solo or joining a group ride. The longer you stay with the pace partner the more drops you get because for every 5 minutes you stay with them it multiplies the amount of drops you earn - so it goes from 1x to 1.2x etc all the way up to 2.5x before re-setting again. There's usually quite a large group around the pace partners too, so the usual group dynamics on Zwift come into play and you go a bit faster than you would riding solo, so you cover more distance for your effort too which of course is also good for your XP and moving up the levels

 

[BurningLegs]

Just watched it

I ended up watching some of it last night, and caught up with the last bit this morning.

I enjoyed watching it, and there is a lot of good content on his Youtube channel about his prep for the event.

 

[Norry1]

I ended up watching some of it last night, and caught up with the last bit this morning.

I enjoyed watching it, and there is a lot of good content on his Youtube channel about his prep for the event.

Yep, I watched quite a bit of the prep, his YouTube channel is quite watchable.

 

[Peter Salt]

Top tip for speeding up your collection of drops is to ride with one of the pace partners. I do this when I just want to do a relatively easy hour or so (i.e not a race or workout) these days instead of riding solo or joining a group ride. The longer you stay with the pace partner the more drops you get because for every 5 minutes you stay with them it multiplies the amount of drops you earn - so it goes from 1x to 1.2x etc all the way up to 2.5x before re-setting again. There's usually quite a large group around the pace partners too, so the usual group dynamics on Zwift come into play and you go a bit faster than you would riding solo, so you cover more distance for your effort too which of course is also good for your XP and moving up the levels

Ah! Brilliant tip, thanks! I wasn't aware of this mechanic at all. I think I've seen one of these bots while descending yesterday, great, big yellow thing with lots of people around.

Are they available at specific times?

 

[Aleman]

I was desperate to get to lvl 6 to get a better frame/wheels. Managed to get there but I'm nowhere near the required 'drops'.

Another tip to increase drops, is to do some climbing, as you gain more drops per Km on a climb as you do when compared to a Km on the flat. ... Also drops are only gained when actually pedaling. Finally if you give, and (I think), receive Ride-On's you also gain drops faster for 15 or 30 seconds. That is what makes riding with a pace partner helpful as in addition to the drops multiplier, you also get lots of ride on's.

Pace partners are available all the time in Watopia

 

[berty bassett]

Top tip for speeding up your collection of drops is to ride with one of the pace partners. I do this when I just want to do a relatively easy hour or so (i.e not a race or workout) these days instead of riding solo or joining a group ride. The longer you stay with the pace partner the more drops you get because for every 5 minutes you stay with them it multiplies the amount of drops you earn - so it goes from 1x to 1.2x etc all the way up to 2.5x before re-setting again. There's usually quite a large group around the pace partners too, so the usual group dynamics on Zwift come into play and you go a bit faster than you would riding solo, so you cover more distance for your effort too which of course is also good for your XP and moving up the levels

And don’t forget to throw your bananas at the mushroom 🍄

 

[Legs]

Quite a bit. To be fair, the worst part was getting off the bike and realising just how sore my bottom is. Definitely not sitting down on anything in the next 2 hours

I was desperate to get to lvl 6 to get a better frame/wheels. Managed to get there but I'm nowhere near the required 'drops'.

Well done @Peter Salt ! I'm not sure whether you have experience of riding bikes IRL, but that's a great achievement. If your derriere is sore, it's worth investing in some decent cycling shorts and a good saddle.

If you've gone to the trouble of doing the Mountain Route, make sure that you've got the 'Everest' challenge selected, since you'll need this to be working towards the whizzy glowing Tron bike.

The best way to get drops is to ride with Dan Diesel, since you get an accelerated drop rate when you're close to a Pace Partner. The best things you can buy at an early stage are the Canyon Aeroad 2021 frame and the DT Swiss 62 wheels. After you've got those, you might want to work towards getting a TT frame (only if you ride TTs, though). Most of the items worth getting are level-locked such that you're bound to have enough drops by the time you get there; I'm only on L28 but I have 1,500,000 drops and nothing I want to spend them on.

To level-up as quickly as possible, ride each course once and once only - there's a big bonus for the first time you complete each course (effectively double points). Set your display to km, not miles. Always ride to the end of the next kilometre. If you ride up Alpe du Zwift or Mont Ventoux, do a U-turn at the top and get the free kilometres for freewheeling down.

However, NONE OF THIS REALLY MATTERS if you're not racing - riding the basic Zwift kit on the Mountain Route might take you 30s longer on a free-ride, but that's all. The in-game kit will not feel nicer, nor make you more powerful!

 

[CXRAndy]

What's this pace partner, been out of the loop too long?


Im on level 36, way behind most of you

Don't mention the Tron bike to our newcomer

 

[Legs]

Don't mention the Tron bike to our newcomer

Shoot, too late!

 

[Peter Salt]

What's this pace partner, been out of the loop too long?


Im on level 36, way behind most of you

Don't mention the Tron bike to our newcomer

After @bridgy mentioned it, I found this article: https://zwiftinsider.com/pace-partners/

Tron bike: Seen it here and there.

Well done @Peter Salt ! I'm not sure whether you have experience of riding bikes IRL, but that's a great achievement. If your derriere is sore, it's worth investing in some decent cycling shorts and a good saddle.

If you've gone to the trouble of doing the Mountain Route, make sure that you've got the 'Everest' challenge selected, since you'll need this to be working towards the whizzy glowing Tron bike.

The best way to get drops is to ride with Dan Diesel, since you get an accelerated drop rate when you're close to a Pace Partner. The best things you can buy at an early stage are the Canyon Aeroad 2021 frame and the DT Swiss 62 wheels. After you've got those, you might want to work towards getting a TT frame (only if you ride TTs, though). Most of the items worth getting are level-locked such that you're bound to have enough drops by the time you get there; I'm only on L28 but I have 1,500,000 drops and nothing I want to spend them on.

To level-up as quickly as possible, ride each course once and once only - there's a big bonus for the first time you complete each course (effectively double points). Set your display to km, not miles. Always ride to the end of the next kilometre. If you ride up Alpe du Zwift or Mont Ventoux, do a U-turn at the top and get the free kilometres for freewheeling down.

However, NONE OF THIS REALLY MATTERS if you're not racing - riding the basic Zwift kit on the Mountain Route might take you 30s longer on a free-ride, but that's all. The in-game kit will not feel nicer, nor make you more powerful!

Yes, I've noticed the bonuses from climbing, route completion and the like on my test rides. That's why I chose the the 'Mountain Route' yesterday. The downhill sections also allowed me to break the speed achievements (apart from the 100km/h) - I think these give you some bonus XP? I've got everything in metric and have 'signed up' to the Everest challenge when I first launched the game.

Riding IRL: Apart from pulling the kids on family rides, not really. At least not yet - planning to buy/build something over the winter for next season.

 

[bridgy]

After @bridgy mentioned it, I found this article: https://zwiftinsider.com/pace-partners/

Tron bike: Seen it here and there.

Yes, I've noticed the bonuses from climbing, route completion and the like on my test rides. That's why I chose the the 'Mountain Route' yesterday. The downhill sections also allowed me to break the speed achievements (apart from the 100km/h) - I think these give you some bonus XP? I've got everything in metric and have 'signed up' to the Everest challenge when I first launched the game.

Riding IRL: Apart from pulling the kids on family rides, not really. At least not yet - planning to buy/build something over the winter for next season.

Have you signed up for the everest challenge for the Tron bike? If not, do it now as it takes AGES to complete!

 

[Peter Salt]

Have you signed up for the everest challenge for the Tron bike? If not, do it now as it takes AGES to complete!

Yup, yup. I'm 12% in 😢

 

[Del C]

Interesting article regarding how the new pack dynamics will affect drafting in the TTT (next week's ZRL race is a TTT) - https://zwiftinsider.com/speed-tests-ttt-pd3/

Rode the WTRL TTT this morning. Apparently, the new pack dynamics were switched on everywhere today and should have been active in the TTT.

I can't honestly say I was aware at the time, but I messaged a mate after the race to say I felt I'd ridden more smoothly/evenly than for a while. This was mainly because I'd been having a conversation with the same mate about feeling wasted after Tuesday's ZRL, followed by a full day in the garden cutting stuff back for winter and then a TT event with my road club in the evening. I was fully expecting to explode this morning and get dumped out the back, but everything felt good!

Whether the pack dynamics played into this or not, I don't know. But it did feel a little less like I was getting churned out the back and then pinging off the front than usual.

Of course, it could also have been that the rest of my team just did a great job at towing me round!

 

[Legs]

Yup, yup. I'm 12% in 😢

Is anyone else going to break it to him?

No, you're 12% in the the Everest Challenge (8,848m of climbing). Completing the Everest Challenge gets you the Trek Emonda (which is an excellent bike for climbing).

After you've finished the 8,848m, you need to carry on for a further 41,152m of climbing to get the Tron, which is the best all-round bike in the game. So you're about 2% of the way on that. You don't need to go out of your way to rack up climbing; Tron will happen eventually...

Now you've reached L6, you can ride Alpe du Zwift! Every trip up AdZ is about 2%! Doing the Alpe as a TT-like effort is a great way to benchmark your fitness.

 

[Legs]

Of course, it could also have been that the rest of my team just did a great job at towing me round!

I'm riding with the AHDR Cheesecake Bombers this evening and our rotation is going to be 30s turns, except for these two monsters who'll be doing full one-minute turns... At least it's only a shortish course tonight...