Ok, I did four one hour long Cadence rides. I actually did do an hour long Tick Tock before the pace change as well as a comparison but the average power of it was only 161W, so I think that might have been back when there was an issue with the pace bot’s power being wrong, so I didn’t include that one. My weight tends to fluctuate between 76->79kg depending on Dorito/Beer consumption.
The reason I use the Cadence pace partner is specifically to make Zone 2 rides less boring (If I want to go fast I join a race or do a specific workout). I try to keep my heart rate below 130bpm on these rides and my power below 220W. My ideal situation would be a pace partner that held me somewhere around 190W average. So I should probably use a MTB with Cadence next time and see if that works better.
- Sand and Sequoias before pace change:
- Avg Power: 181W, Avg HR: 121, Max HR: 136
- Sand and Sequoias after pace change:
- Avg Power: 180W, Avg HR: 122, Max HR: 134
- Tick Tock after pace change:
- Avg Power: 179W, Avg HR: 120, Max HR: 134
- Second Tick Tock after pace change:
- Avg Power: 179W, Avg HR: 123, Max HR 131
I can post screenshots of the HR and power profiles if anyone at Zwift is interested.
Now, it looks like Sand and Sequoias was not much different than Tick Tock, but it felt more chaotic both before and after the change, and I did feel that I needed to go into tempo a bit on the KOM both times, though just sporadically - which I was trying to avoid. I much prefer using Cadence on Tick Tock as I can keep my power and heartrate more stable, this is both before and after the change.
So in the end the change doesn’t look to make Sand and Sequoias worse for me, but it’s not ideal in both cases. Tick Tock remains totally fine for my purposes, and I think next time I’ll try Tick Tock with a gravel or MTB to see if that pushes me closer to my 190W average or if it’s too much.
Also, yes please, please change the chat logic for Cadence… seeing “Going up 10%” like 10 times in 30 seconds is just annoying, though it does predictably result in a bunch of “what has Cadence been dinking?!” discussion in the group.