I am trying to get up the alpe du zwift in under an hour. The chart going around says you would need around 3.2W/kg for that. Today by chance I got up at exactly 3.2W/KG being 224W for 70KG. My result in the end was 60 minutes and 56 seconds. Where exactly did I lose these 56 seconds ? I must say that I started out a little stronger than I ended 235 W to 215 W and I often lose W on the turns where it gets a little less steep. Could this be some of the reasons or what else could I be doing wrong ?
Oh the frustration eh. I remember once when I was trying to crack the hour and I got 1:00:03 - it crushed me FYI, that effort was 3.17 w/kg.
Could be bike, wheels, sticky draft or could be that 3.2 worked for the person that put that list together but he/she actually needed 3.24 w/kg and might have used scaled for weight they measured slightly differently to yours.
Couple of tips - either do it as part of a group ride so you have plenty of people to draft (and encourage you on), or pick your best climbing bike and do it when AdZ has low usage so you dont risk getting a sticky draft. And get some more training in and go smash it!
Sticky draft is when you catch someone and use more watts than needed to get past (or even stay behind). To avoid, put in a short burst to get past without any “stickyness”. Yes draft is good hence the suggestion to join a group ride, but its not as useful at AdZ speeds as the flats of course.
The problem with drafting in Zwift is that you dont know exactly what range of power to put in to get the most benefit and you are just as likely putting in too much power than too little (at least on AdZ where you feel the benefit less).
Other than that, just get the right bike and wheels. But even then, if you encounter a few sticky draft situations, any benefit from bike/wheels may be negated.
FYI, that effort was 3.17 w/kg.