Originally Posted by
spelger
hmmm, when i am climbing i can put out a pretty high wattage (for me) and i am crawling up that hill. on a flat with less power i can go faster. if the descent is steep enough i can put out 0 and still go faster than the ascent.
is this still the effect of the pint i had last night. (it was a big pint...22 oz followed up with two 5 oz samplers).
Your avatar speed in Zwift is proportional to your power output and the virtual road gradient, not the trainer difficulty setting - which only affects resistance. So with a lower setting, even though it feels like you are riding on an easier sliope because of the reduced resistance, your avatar still goes at the speed it would on the full gradient for whatever power you are producing.
As surak states above, difficulty at 0% is the same as riding in Zwift with a dumb trainer i.e. there is no gradient simulation, but your power still drives your avatar according to the virtual road gradient.