Originally Posted by
Black wallnut
Not to hijack the thread but IRL I climb a local grade that I think averages 6% but has plenty of 8-10% parts at a rather low cadence, 30-40 rpm. In Zwift i have my difficulty set at 50%. Are you saying that if I dropped that down I could for the same effort spin faster on climbs? Would that also slow my pace? I try to run a balance of time and distance. I have goals for both. Strava goals are distance based to take in multiple apps and outdoor. Zwift weekly goal is time based and a bit lower than Strava to allow for completion if I choose to do other apps. My understanding is that if you decrease difficulty you will go slower. Zwift requires a set amount of work (watts) to gain altitude and there is no changing that other than switching to workout mode.
It's possible to make the same watts at 100 rpm as at 60 rpm. Same watts, same climbing speed. But it's likely that a lot of riders like me at low Trainer Difficulty are going slower up these long climbs.
(Even in ERG mode in a workout, Zwift still has accurate climbing speeds. I was just doing a cooldown at the end of an interval workout. 70 watts at 12% grade is just 1 or 2 mph, as indicated! My avatar was crawling up the hill, but it's legs were spinning away. I do like ERG mode workouts, since the terrain doesn't affect the scheduled workout at all.)