unterhausen

I think you get used to the other riders at some point. Maybe after you've ridden through about 157 of them on a ride. I guess collision detection is too hard to figure out.

Is it possible to do the crit course in Scotland as a group ride? I think it would be good for intervals because of that hill in the middle

Eric F 

I fixed that for you.

Even when doing a Z2 ride, I don't mind having other riders around. The trick is being mentally committed to your workout intent, and not get sucked into being competitive with those around you. A pace-bot group can be helpful, too, because everyone is riding at your targeted w/kg.

Routes I tend to use for Z2...
Tempus Fugit is the flattest route, and the easiest to ride a steady target effort without ERG mode, but it can get visually boring. Each lap is 30-ish minutes.
Tick Tock has more variety than Tempus and a few moderate and short climbs. Maintaining a target zone is pretty easy. Laps are a about 30-ish minutes.
I'm liking Triple Flat Loops. There are some short climbs, but it's pretty easy to stay in a Z2 effort for all but a couple of quick punches. Laps take me about an hour.

terrymorse 

Thanks, I did see that "disconnect from the internet" hack. But I'm using Zwift through Apple TV, and I think disconnecting that from the internet during a Zwift session would be tricky. Turning off the router is another option, but that's not a great idea in a home with two people.

Thanks, Eric F, for the follow and the route recommendations. I'm going to try out one of them momentarily. Triple Flat Loops sounds inviting.

unterhausen

On the first group ride I went on, one of our group didn't know he was doing a workout. I'm not sure how you do a group ride and a workout at the same time. The group rides have had bugs occasionally. The rubber band feature often seems to fail to work. But if you are doing a group ride by yourself, you probably wouldn't have that turned on.

I also followed OP.

himespau 

Finally logged on to my companion app to follow OP as well. Looks like there are lots of choices for a meet up.

PeteHski

There are group rides and group workouts. You can't join a group ride in workout mode. The rubber band feature in group rides is not an option that you can switch on/off. It is either on or off for all riders in the group.

terrymorse 

Update: I calibrated the Zwift Hub power, then I rode a Zwift course called Legends and Lava while simultaneously recording pedal power on my Garmin.

The Zwift average power was just 4 watts higher than the Assioma pedal/Garmin average power. That's nice to see.

But an hour of Zwift still feels more leg fatiguing than an hour on the road. Maybe because you don't get any rest.

Eric F 

This is exactly it. Even going downhill in Zwift, people tend to keeps tension on the pedals more than they would IRL. From a training perspective, it's an effective tool.

PeteHski

Without a doubt. My average power indoor is much higher than outdoor over a couple of hours. There's a lot more coasting time outdoors.

chaadster

It’s not just Zwift; an hour workout on any “turbo trainer” should be more fatiguing than an hour on the road if you’re doing it right. Turbos have been preferred tools for decades for that reason. They’re a highly efficient workout mode.

PeteHski

While true, I never managed to string together enough consistent sessions on any of the turbo trainers I had before Zwift and other smart trainer apps.

My first serious indoor trainer was a Kettler ErgoRacer from the early 2000s, which had power, erg mode, interval programs etc. I hardly ever used it and it became the classic clothes hanger trainer. Then we had a Matrix gym bike (still have it actually) from 2018, which was slightly better with a screen and apps for virtual riding and web browsing. I actually did some productive training on this bike, but it was still hard to keep motivated. Then in 2019 I bought my first smart trainer (Elite Direto X) and this was a complete game-changer and I haven't looked back since, while massively improving my cycling fitness. Now I have a full-on Wahoo smart bike, which is awesome with Zwift, Rouvy, Wahoo X etc. There are times that I prefer it to riding outdoors - like right now with our current crappy weather - rain, sleet, mud and gusting winds.

In fact I'm going to do an hour on it right now.

chaadster

Yeah, there were lots of tricks to make turbo time more tolerable back in the day, but “game-ifying” it was Zwift’s brilliant innovation.

Even for me, as someone who was quite accustomed to turbo time pre-Zwift and have been fairly regular with it since at least around ‘02-‘04 when I got a CycleOps fluid trainer to replace old fan-resistance units, and downright regimented with it since ‘10 when I began coached, power-based stationary training, Zwift was a game-changer for me. I’ve been on Zwift since it was beta, so that says something about how much I like it! I don’t get into a great deal, but I find it a terrific distraction, and am content to just have the watts, HR, RPM and a screen to look at; I don’t do any of the game stuff like power-ups, chase medals or goals, get into bikes, wheels and kit, or any stuff like that. I scarcely even have world preferences, but having my on-bike effort directly relate to what’s on-screen is huge to me.

terrymorse 

I'm not interested in the gaming aspects (earning prizes or fancy bikes) of Zwift, but I've already realized that the realism is quite enticing. Getting caught and passed by another rider, chasing then down, doing KOM climbs for time, etc.

On yesterday's course, someone was dangling several seconds off the front in the rollers, putting out slightly more power than I was, but I was able to catch them by smashing the uphill bits. I rode behind them up the KOM climb as they gradually raised the pace. I attacked 300 meters from the summit, got a gap and held them off. That was fun.

RChung

As you've noticed, even as a climbing "has-been," climbing on a trainer isn't like climbing in real life. The crank inertial load is different.

terrymorse 

Indeed. If I had to describe the difference, it feels like I’m constantly pushing through mush on the trainer.

genejockey 

Last Sunday I didn't want to ride in the rain yet again, so I did two group rides on Zwift. One was one of the "Tour Of Watopia" rides, so no power limits. I just found a group that was riding in a power range I figured I could do for an hour, which turned out to be a 228w average, but with some surges and the inevitable increase toward the end leading to a sprint. That was fun!

The second ride was the TFC group ride. An hour long, with a ride leader, a sweeper, and the fence. I chose the "sub-2.5w/kg" group, because I wanted a nice Z2 ride. I did contest a couple of the sprints, and the ride leader turned off the fence for the last 10 minutes and about 20 of us took off for s***st and giggles, but overall, my power for that ride averaged 172w, and was a lot less "spiky" than the ToW ride.

I find when I ride alone, I do the same thing I do on the road - push hard some places, like hills and the rollers in Titans Grove, then other places I just spin along at a reasonable pace, unless there's someone up ahead tempting me to catch them. I don't noodle as much as I do IRL, because the scenery in Woodside and Portola Valley is much better than anything on Zwift, so I don't find myself riding along grooving on the imaginary flowers and animals.