Zwift, TR, Sufferfest etc

[satori]

Just a random thought for people who are considering getting a trainer. Do yourself a favor and get a smart trainer. It doesn't have to be a Wahoo Kickr or Tacx, but if you're going to make an investment in a trainer, get something that will actually be useful and something that you will enjoy using.

Check out DC's trainer guide for extremely detailed information on each trainer out there. I used this before I bought mine.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/

[Dromond]

It's interesting to read your thoughts here as I recently met a triathlete who was so into Zwift he only rides indoors now. I'll admit to being curious because while I'm not a serious athlete, I do struggle to keep my fitness where I want it to be - especially in winter - and the idea of being able to work on that while it is raining / dark outside is appealing. I'd occasionally ride a trainer years ago when I lived on the ice coast, but never got really into it as there just wasn't enough motivation or structure there for me.

[satori]

I raced tri's for over a decade and ran D1 as well, so exercise has always been a vital part of my life. I'd like to be doing so much more than I am, but honestly don't have the time for it.

I wasn't sure if I was going to really enjoy Zwift or not. Back in the day when I had some kreitler rollers I would only spin on them after a track or cc interval session to flush out my legs, or when i was going to ride but it was pissing down, so it wasn't something I ever looked forward to as part of my training regiment. Now, I only ride indoors and am probably in the minority, too.

I love riding outside i groups and love taking in the scenery. It's beautiful here. But as I mentioned previously before I just don't have the time to ride outdoors and half the year I can't anyways, so it's a win-win situation. I also enjoy video games, so the Zwift element is quite appealing to me. It can be really fun getting into a good rhythm with a group just riding, or racing. They have a decent amount of interval workouts too, so if you want to pick and choose there are lots of good ones. Overall, I'd say Zwift is a great way to get back into riding indoors and at $10/mo it's not bad at all. But, I don't think it would be nearly as engaging nor fun if you don't have a smart trainer.

[radam]

I got an extended Zwift free trial last winter and found it enjoyable even without a smart trainer. Though I do have one of the trainers thats on their list of "zPower" trainers, so when coupled with a speed/cadence sensor it can infer the power. I'm sure that everything would've been better with a smart trainer, but my $40 investment for the sensor was easier to stomach than dropping all that coin on a smart trainer. I didn't continue Zwift after my trial was over because I was mainly only using it for the structured workouts and didn't care for the group ride/racing aspect of it. Now I just use the very basic Wahoo fitness app to monitor speed/cadence while on the trainer and usually toss on some bike racing to watch and bang out a 45 minute workout. I may join up with Zwift again in the early winter, but my trainer is in a unheated garage so when we're in the dead of winter I simply can't summon the motivation to go spin in that icebox.

[satori]

Yeah, that'd be tough to do it in a freezer. I know my ass wouldn't get up for that. You can't bring the trainer/bike inside just for your ride? Throw a towel down on the floor and spin inside for an hour? I'm sure you would already be doing that if you could. Tough one mate.

It sounds like you'd like TR better than Zwift then. If you're not into any of the free rides or races then the workouts won't do as much for you. Not that it's that much cheaper, but it is about $20 cheaper/year than Zwift. Maybe try TR next time.

[Garth Bimble]

Bump...

So I have a Kinetic dumb trainer (perfect for me , I think it's the old "Fluid" model) and want to get into Zwift. What's the consensus...should I try it first with one of those BLE/ANT sensors that connect to the bike (those only work for speed, right?) and see if that's enough to keep me happy or just say fuck it and make the leap right into a smart trainer?

I'm not into the hard-core sufferfest cave shit, just looking to find a more entertaining mode of off-season training.

[LightRanger]

Bump...

So I have a Kinetic dumb trainer (perfect for me , I think it's the old "Fluid" model) and want to get into Zwift. What's the consensus...should I try it first with one of those BLE/ANT sensors that connect to the bike (those only work for speed, right?) and see if that's enough to keep me happy or just say fuck it and make the leap right into a smart trainer?

I'm not into the hard-core sufferfest cave shit, just looking to find a more entertaining mode of off-season training.

I have the same trainer. Been meaning to check out Zwift. Before I bought this thing for general usage, I'm pretty sure I checked that it was compatible:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Have used it with my Ambit 3 and Strava and it works great.

[Garth Bimble]

I have the same trainer. Been meaning to check out Zwift. Before I bought this thing for general usage, I'm pretty sure I checked that it was compatible:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Have used it with my Ambit 3 and Strava and it works great.

As best as I can tell my trainer is just an older version of the current Road Machine, with a few minor cosmetic differences so with that in mind i've been looking at this:

https://www.amazon.com/Kinetic-Kurt-...kinetic+inride

It attaches to the trainer, not the bike but I guess instead of one of those dongle thingies you connect to a computer via smartphone. Also, it's power meter not speed so I'm not sure how much difference that makes.

[Iowagriz]

You should be able to connect with a speed sensor and play around in Zwift.

I just took the plunge and got the elite Doreto smart trainer. Initially ran it off the wife's iPad, but quickly realized that I enjoyed how immersive this game is. So, for another $200 got the Apple TV unit. Hooked that up to the 60" tv. I have not used the training plans, but am using it to establish a solid base for training to begin in January.

Similar to those above, I can easily see myself riding more indoors. In fact, it was 56 and sunny on Saturday and I rode inside so I could get it done in a shorter period of time (and better). The smart trainer is worth it in my opinion, increasing the tension on the climbs automatically is making the workouts more efficient. My 90min ride went by quickly, past rides on my rollers were numbing after 45min.

[satori]

For those of you with smart trainers, I have a free month of TrainerRoad that you can try. If you're interested, let me know. I'll try to check back here over the next few days to see if there are any bites.

Cheers.

[WaistDeepGroomers]

So what's the cheapest $ setup to realistically get a good enough system going you're going to use it a lot? NGO income is making this a prohibitive expense RN. I got a dumb trainer for $30 last winter and used it a handful of times for hour-ish intervals, which was fine, but tough having a relatively low 'hard gear' for doing 30 sec on, 30 sec off sprints. Doing those on the road bike last summer helped a ton for my endurbro races.

At any rate, I'd probably be investing in one of these or getting XC skis so I have less excuses to get moving in the winter.

[Iowagriz]

With the above bump of this thread I saw my initial post back in Dec.

Smart trainer worked well this past winter. 90 days of riding indoors, 10 days outdoors, then I rode TransIowa. Pulled the plug after 160 miles of gravel. I could have ridden longer, but was going to miss the cutoff at Mike 205.

In hindsight, I was amazed that I could do that after limited time outdoors.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[satori]

So what's the cheapest $ setup to realistically get a good enough system going you're going to use it a lot? NGO income is making this a prohibitive expense RN. I got a dumb trainer for $30 last winter and used it a handful of times for hour-ish intervals, which was fine, but tough having a relatively low 'hard gear' for doing 30 sec on, 30 sec off sprints. Doing those on the road bike last summer helped a ton for my endurbro races.

At any rate, I'd probably be investing in one of these or getting XC skis so I have less excuses to get moving in the winter.

I'm the last person to be qualified to be able to recommend something as my knowledge of trainers is limited, and my experience of actually using them comes from the trainer I have now and some old kreitler rollers I used to have. I saved up for a long time in order to buy my trainer, so even if it takes some time, it might be worth waiting to get something that you'd enjoy. I would say make sure it has ANT+ and bluetooth capabilities, or it won't run any of the programs out there.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/10/...endations.html

Check out DC's recommendations. This is the best guide I know of.

[carpathian]

I've heard of Zwift for about a year and slowly became more interested. Started watching YouTube videos showing races and stuff and hearing how people get hooked in it.

Here in Alaska it is cold and shitty for a long time . This last 2 weeks I decided to double down and make pain cave happen. Good excuse to finish downstairs of house right proper.

Anyway, I ordered kinetic rock and roll ($400)direct from some shop in Indianapolis expecting 3 week delivery by ground. I had plenty of time to get shop dialed and take much needed extended break from training schedule.

I got 4k Apple TV last week ($180). Then smart trainer showed up yesterday...

I was nervous hooking all the shit together expecting inevitable technical glitch.

5 min later I was rolling along looking at my watts for first time . I instantly felt like a dog chasing a ball . I could see my watts/kilo and the guy in front of me. And then all the sudden a KOM race ?! 15 min in and I'm about to puke because I drank 2 beers and some weed before and now unexpected race pace... Funny

Chicks have taints because taint her ass and taint her pussy. Guys have chodes.

Sore chode today for day 2, did 45 min at 250 watts. 6 months until Kohala...

[buttahflake]

I tried, i really did, I broke the rollers out and set up in the garage, watching the rain come down. It was okay for about 10 minutes, and then I wanted to slash my wrists. I was gonna go all in on a a smart trainer and zwift, nope. Purchased some studs from vee rubber for the fat bike and have been getting out for an hour a day. I can’t ride indoors.

[HankScorpio]

I tried, i really did, I broke the rollers out and set up in the garage, watching the rain come down. It was okay for about 10 minutes, and then I wanted to slash my wrists. I was gonna go all in on a a smart trainer and zwift, nope. Purchased some studs from vee rubber for the fat bike and have been getting out for an hour a day. I can’t ride indoors.

I'm torn about getting a smart trainer. Some days I convince myself I'll ride all through the winter with my fat bike, studded tire gravel bike, lights and all my winter riding gear. Then there are days like yesterday where I get out work have to force myself to get on my bike to pedal outside. I then think how many more miles and exercise I can get with a trainer.

I'm totally ignorant of the smart trainer trend. I know I'll need a smart trainer and the Zwift subscription but I have a feeling its more complicated than that. I saw a deal on a smart trainer and don't want to have to end up spending a ton more dough to get going.

[Sinfield]

Just ordered a wahoo speed/cadence sensor for my dumbtrainer as we have officially hit rainy season here. I did some instructured indoor stuff latter half of last winter and it was amazing how fun riding was all summer when I was in better shape than most of my buddies. I'm thinking that I will try trainer road as I've never been much of a video game guy. I just wish they offered a free trial like all the other programs do

[carpathian]

For the last 5 months I've been running this construction project and having stress dreams about work nearly every night.

Got on Zwift 2 days ago and then dreamed about Zwift last 2 nights instead . A welcome change, lol

[SLCMunchie]

Buying a smart trainer is a gateway drug into spending more money, but luckily the benefits are exactly as Sinfield describes. I bought a tax flux about a year ago. subscribed to Trainer Road due to hating the zwift game thing. one year later, i've podium'd twice in my local cyclocross series, and am in the running for 1st place in my group point series. rarely did over 2 hours a week on the trainer, but did it consistently. trainer road offers 12 week plans- base, build, specialty which will dial you into fitness for your goals. while i'm definitely a racer at heart, i think anyone can benefit from some regular training on the trainer and following a trainer road plan makes it accessible and the gains can be seen. i usually watch TV or motivational races while i'm doing it... Cheers to trainer season- not. thankfully i'll have a lot more time to ski this year instead of inside looking at a stupid screen.

[justcuz]

I run zwift 2-3 times a week. I have the CycleOps Magnus thing. I really kind of enjoy it and credit to Zwift, they seem to be doing well adding features (and they damn well better b/c they just raised the price). To me it beats the gym, it's easy, and I don't have to leave the house. I can do it in the morning before anyone gets up and it's not time away from other things that I enjoy (family, skiing, drinking, etc.). Works for me.

[Flyoverland Captive]

I'm totally ignorant of the smart trainer trend. I know I'll need a smart trainer and the Zwift subscription but I have a feeling its more complicated than that. I saw a deal on a smart trainer and don't want to have to end up spending a ton more dough to get going.

Nope; that’s really all you need. We bought a Wahoo Snap and use Zwift (shared account).
We bought the extra cadence sensor, but it’s not really necessary.

Zwift has a 7-day free trial.

[carpathian]

3 Coors Lite + fat joint + my first FTP test = 308

I'm just trying to set my self up for personal growth.

[HankScorpio]

Nope; that’s really all you need. We bought a Wahoo Snap and use Zwift (shared account).
We bought the extra cadence sensor, but it’s not really necessary.

Zwift has a 7-day free trial.

Thanks man. Doing some research on this and its simpler than I thought. Looks like it all just connects via Bluetooth.

[carpathian]

Day 6 in a row. Chode is feeling better.

[Dromond]

Nope; that’s really all you need. We bought a Wahoo Snap and use Zwift (shared account).
We bought the extra cadence sensor, but it’s not really necessary.

Zwift has a 7-day free trial.

What are your thoughts on that trainer? I rode a non-smart trainer a bit years ago, but can’t make sense of these negatives listed on a review of it and if they are anything I would even notice or care about. Like how inaccurate is it before calibration? Do you need to calibrate every session? Is the acceleration delay annoying or unimportant? The benefits of a wheel-on trainer to me is that I can throw my not very fancy commuter on there relatively quickly, swap bikes more easily if someone else wants to use it, etc.


Review:
Power measurement requires calibration to be accurate; accelerations aren’t measured quickly; after coasting at a high power setting, pedaling at low rpms is very difficult