Companion app is inflating my elapsed times for Group Rides and free rides

Bugs and Support
1

I’m relatively new to Zwift but steadily figuring it out. I’m stumped, though, by inflated elapsed times for my rides. In Activities, the Companion app is adding nearly half an hour to my actual finishing times.

For example, I recently rode two 90-minute Group Rides. Before each I warmed up for 6-8 minutes in the pen on the blue virtual trainer. Within a minute of finishing the 90 minutes, I clicked End Ride on the TV display and closed Zwift.

Instead of reporting my elapsed time for each ride as 90 minutes (1:30), the Companion app says 1:49 and 1:56, respectively. Where did the extra 19 and 26 minutes come from?

In the same vein, the timer on the TV display said 2:21 when I finished a 40-mile free ride. The Companion app says my time was 2:49, or 28 minutes more. My elapsed time on the TV was 3:37 upon finishing a 57-mile free ride. The Companion app says it was 25 minutes more at 4:02.

Is it possible to correct this so that the app displays my actual elapsed time?

BTW, all other ride stats seem to be in sync between the TV display and the Companion app – distance, watts, cadence, heart rate, elevation. The app only inflates the elapsed time. Thanks for any insights and guidance.

2

Hi Ed. ZC (Zwift Companion) will always show total time for a ride, meaning warmup time in the pen + ride + any riding you do on-route after the ride. Not sure if you can make those numbers work out for your particular situation, but that’s how the ZC time is calculated.

3

Thanks, but it still doesn’t make sense unless the app’s timer starts as soon as I enter the pen. I sometimes get there quite early but I don’t actually start spinning on the virtual trainer until 6-8 minutes before the start. I don’t see any clock running until the gate opens and the ride officially starts. Then I End Ride immediately after the finish. I’m doing my best to preserve my event time, but then I see it inflated in the app by as much as 28 minutes. Frustrating.

I guess the positive thing is, the elapsed time for the event itself is shown at End Ride. I reckon I can use that to figure average speed instead of the bogus app time, so all is not lost.

I appreciate your help. – Ed

4

Ed,

Take a photo of the finish stats. They stay up plenty long enough to find the camera in the Companion App and take a picture.

I have a question in the same vein. Are average watts for a ride calculated including warm up time in the pen?

5

@avid_dk @G8rGuy the time in the companion app accounts for all time you spent in game (spawning on a road, sitting in a pen, etc) until you click “end ride” and actually save it. The stats are accurate and do not factor in time spent in the pens. Take a look at one of my rides from the Virtual Tour de France from the companion and Strava (notice the time difference but the average power is the same, well off by 1 watt but that could be due to rounding):

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6

Excellent way to prove the answer. Thanks for responding.

7

Yep, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Thanks for posting your data.

Too bad Zwift’s app times that way. But now I understand what’s going on and can do the math.

8

Thanks, David. Great photo idea and great question. I’d be interested to know, too. Who’d suspect that hanging in the pen can affect your ride stats?

9

It’s the difference between time in game and moving time. If you export the file to Garmin or Strava they use moving time. But your average HR, power, cadence will be the same both on Zwift, Strava, or any other platform.

I’ve recorded directly to my Garmin Edge as well to confirm the cadence/power/HR data from Zwift does not account any “warm-up” time spinning in the pens and it does not.

But for whatever reason Zwift has chosen to use total time versus moving time when they display the time versus every other platform that uses moving time.