I’m fairly new to Zwift say a month in and seem to have shot up the ranks to A cat in no time. My watts output seems to be when I’m in 24th gear just short of 400 as a gentle output. No effort really and can maintain that for a longtime.
My set up is a Ridley road bike. 3 front and 8 rear cassette on a basic fluid turbo trainer with Wahoo sensors. I’ve been mountain biking for years so power isnt an issue but I wonder if it is a true reflection of me or is the set up completely wrong. I have no heart rate monitor.
I don’t want to annoy people but I’m powerful in the legs and fairly fit but I’m not sure it’s accurate. It’s I did a C cat race the other day and was disqualified as left them for dead the last 2 miles although I was nearly puking with pain due to the effort to stay infront.
Definitely need to re-calibrate or get a power meter! If you can hold 400watts as a gentle output, or even with a hard effort you are on a par with the worlds top professional cyclists! To put it in perspective, the world record for the hour was set by Campenaerts at 330watts!
Thanks for that. Yeh it’s stupidly high that’s for sure. Need Zwift to wipe the slate clean and I start over again and play with the trainer etc. Do you know if you get down graded if it detects a drop in output like it does in an increase?
Good question! I don’t think so, in so much as (as far as I know) that you haven’t actually been allocated a category by Zwift, just told to move up to cat A. Although people are asking for categories to be allocated! You will have been considered a “sandbagger” even though it was not you intention! I would suggest to avoid racing until you can find a way to verify that your trainer power is accurate.
You will need to drop your ftp, if it has been auto detected and then let the system reset it.
I’m certainly not out there to con anyone. Just want an honest ride on a budget too. Don’t have mega bucks to through at it all yet. I think i need to do the FTP Test it need my set up right as just gonna go round in circles. Or maybe I’m a pro and never knew it!! Thanks again for the taking the time to reply. I’ve asked support also to see what they think
No I haven’t. I’m at 503 estimated for 108kg bloke. Snooker table rugby legs paying off. I need to play with it. Got a BDbikes magnetic trainer and that doesn’t give me anything In the way of watts. I choose other trainer on the system and it doesn’t even move my avatar on that one. So many you can pick from it’s hard to find the one true one that reflects my ability
I get low RPM but high watts. I see most sat at 80 rpm and 200 watts say but I’m 350 or more and at say 67 and really need to push to achieve 80Rpm. Watt go through the roof but guess it’s a bad estimate
Go outside and do a FTP test. This will give you an accurate figure and you will be able to see where you ‘really’ are. There are lot’s of ways of doing an outdoor FTP test, just Google it.
Yes I know it doesn’t solve the trainer problem but if you want to be honest it can help you start.