Zwift Chat

[ColinJ]

Sounds like it's a bit too hilly for "easy" measured efforts up your way.

The 3 busy valley roads out of town are much flatter but even they have undulations which catch me out. I hadn't realised how much I subconsciously try to ride at a certain cadence rather than a certain effort. If I don't watch my power and/or heart rate all the time, on reviewing my ride later I usually find that I averaged around 175 W rather than my goal of 145-150 W because the effort crept up every time that the gradient increased and the instantaneous power ranged from 0 to 300+W.

I like our hills but I do wish that I also had a few very quiet, flattish routes nearby. I have to travel over an hour by train to get to them (Cheshire, the Vale of York, or the Fylde (out Blackpool way)).

 

[alex_cycles]

The 3 busy valley roads out of town are much flatter but even they have undulations which catch me out. I hadn't realised how much I subconsciously try to ride at a certain cadence rather than a certain effort. If I don't watch my power and/or heart rate all the time, on reviewing my ride later I usually find that I averaged around 175 W rather than my goal of 145-150 W because the effort crept up every time that the gradient increased and the instantaneous power ranged from 0 to 300+W.

I like our hills but I do wish that I also had a few very quiet, flattish routes nearby. I have to travel over an hour by train to get to them (Cheshire, the Vale of York, or the Fylde (out Blackpool way)).

To be honest i never look at the power while riding - just ride easy or hard by feel and let the chips fall where they may.

But it's definitely true that it's almost impossible to go easy up a steep gradient (above a few percent) - even with silly gear ratios. It just takes a certain level of effort to drag your weight up the hill even if you're going slowly.

But what @Legs said - indoor is much easier for controlled workouty stuff - as long as you can make yourself do it. Outdoor is much more pleasant.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

Here in east Southampton, we have a reasonable mix. We have some short rampy hills and not very hostile flat in the local ~5 miles, but you have to go ~8 miles to climb a single descent hill that doesn't quickly link with others or go ~11 miles to reach a chain of 250+ feet hills. Not a lot 500+ feet, for those it's ~22 miles to get to around Petersfield or South Harting. There's The New Forest on the other side of the city, but that means cycling in and through the other side of the city, which ime isn't terrribly pleasant and so I've only ridden there a handful of times. When I was fitter, I always wished we had a 1000+ feet climb in the county, but I believe our closest one to that is just north of Taunton!

But my main point for posting, rather than a cycling advert for Hampshire, was to say that my gravel ebike has made it possible to do z1/2 in the South Downs hills I love and wish they were a bit closer to home, something that was just about possible when I was 75-80Kg rather than the current 93Kg and when my z3 was ~215W+ (these days I'd do well to do 215W for 20mins).