tailgunn

I did my first ride today, which seemed more like a race to me. Anyway, I noticed a few things. I have a Kinetic Road Control and it has been calibrated with the Kinetic app. Zwift also sees the machine, but it did not seem as if the trainer was adjusting difficulty. However, I was pretty much in top gear going as fast as I could go the whole time so maybe I would not feel it? Or, maybe I have some app settings wrong?

Also, I thought I was hauling a$$ but on the flats it said I was doing 19-20. I had to be doing more than that. It seems very slow to recognize my speed and especially changes in speed. Is that normal?

Eric F 

I would bet it's a settings issue. I'm not familiar with your trainer, specifically, so I don't really know where to point you. Maybe start with the "trainer difficulty" setting in the Zwift app. If TD is set to 0%, you won't feel changes of terrain in your legs. You might want to also ask your questions on the Zwift forums or the Zwift Riders Facebook group.

jpescatore

I had a friend who had a Kinetic trainer, he found this and got it going fine on Zwift. Don't remember what model he had, but maybe that advice to help.

spelger

briefly looked up what your trainer is and it is a smart trainer so you should feel grades changes. what route were you doing? if only riding on the desert route you will not feel much change since that is really flat. i agree with the trainer difficulty but the default is 50% so you should feel some grade changes.

what makes you think you should be going faster than 19-20? IRL many would be quite happy with this rate.how about this, if you significantly slow does is that reflected in the speed zwift reports?

msu2001la

Zwift calculates your speed based on power, so how many watts were you doing at 18-19mph on a flat road? Flat roads in Zwift feel pretty much like flat roads in real life and require similar level of effort.

To be clear: "in top gear going as fast as I could go the whole time" doesn't sound right. My guess is that your trainer is not applying/adjusting resistance correctly so you were just spinning away, which would correspond to a relatively low power output even though you were in a tall gear. Ride a hilly/mountain route and if you don't feel any resistance on the uphills, something ain't right.

tailgunn

I rode it again today and it is definitely working now; in fact, too good. I tried a group ride and had to quit. Any slight rise and I could barely pedal- that was on the Champs Elysee! I switched to just a training ride and it killed me. I cannot seem to find my profile or any other settings, but I only spent a minute looking. I'll figure it out later; thanks for the responses.

msu2001la

You know you can shift gears to make it easier to go uphill, right? I can't imagine the incline on the Champs Elysees route causing much of a problem even at 100% setting, as I don't think it exceeds 3-4%.

unterhausen

Sometimes I think zwift gets things totally wrong, but I also think that usually your speed is a little higher than it would be IRL.

jpescatore

My average Zwift speeds are about 20-25% faster than IRL - there is never a head wind, never have to slow down/stop for traffic lights, stop signs, etc, and never have to slow down on even the tightest turns. And I'm doing way more drafting on Zwift than IRL. When I try to estimate my overall mileage summing up indoor and outdoor, I discount Zwift mile by 25%.

I don't use a power meter on my road bike, but my Zwift speed up 3-8% inclines at a given level of perceived difficulty seems to be pretty close to IRL but on the flats my Zwift avatar is a speedy dude compared to me IRL.

msu2001la

Agree. There are many factors that slow me down IRL that are not present in Zwift, so my Zwift average speeds are usually higher.

That said, it's hard to really compare because in real life I never have a route with zero slow downs for traffic or turns, zero weather/wind factor, deep section aero wheels on a top-shelf road racing bike, and a huge draft pack to pull me along. My Zwift rides are also usually a lot more focused on intervals or specific training than my outdoor rides are.

Give me all those factors IRL and I bet the difference on a flat road is a lot less than 25%.

tailgunn

I did shift gears on the Champs with little effect, but I tried a training ride too and the inclines were so hard that the tire was slipping from my pedal mashing. I finally found the menu to adjust the difficulty, so we'll see how the lunchtime ride does today.