I know it’s not Wednesday (when I normally do my weekly update) but I’ve been travelling to our London office and with the train strikes it’s all been a bit crazy so I’m a bit late, sorry!
Thanks to everyone who has been taking part in our Event Pace Partner rides this week - our test this week has been to have a mass start and see where the EPPs end up. There’s still some rides left today if you haven’t had a chance yet. Next week’s rides will be with a chatty EPP, so please try and check them out if you can.
Because next week is the end of the KASK mission, all the Cycling Pace Partners are going to be on hilly routes, to give you all a chance to finish off the mission.
Anquetil (4.2) - Bigger Loop
Brevet (3.3) - Hilly Route
Coco (2.5) - Figure 8
Daniela (2.15) - Big Foot Hills
Diego (1.8 ) - Ocean Lava Cliffside Loop
Diesel (1.5) - Out and Back Again
Dorothy (1.15) - Two Bridges Loop
And to our runners - I asked you last week if you wanted a bit more variety and the impression that I got was that you enjoy having the Running Partners on the same route, but you’d like the route to change weekly, so next week, they’ll be doing laps of Jungle Circuit.
I’ve done events loads and a mix of coco and Eddy am I not allowed an opinion ok not going to argue but surely I can have a valid polite opinion or do u not do criticism cheers
Not much choice when no events thanks end of conversation I have a severe
debilitating mental health issues related to over exercise as I run cycle every day I’m 51 I’ve had it my whole life that a good enough reason goodbye
A chatty PP? Hope there’s some new dialogue. Not sure I can face Diesel talking about scaring the critters every few km! Maybe you should do a deal with the team behind the Carrot apps
Really enjoying the variety of the rides. Keep up the good work etc.
Yes! Awesome to see the running routes changing. I will be doing a few laps in the jungle next week On the cycling side i have really enjoyed rides with Bernadette and Charlie in the past few weeks, both a good challenge and alternative to Coco.
Shower thought: “C. Cadence Classic”. Basically, bring back old-school Coco. Static pace, 2.5 w/kg all the time, only rides on Tempus or Tick Tock. This might not be possible, but maybe even apply the old pack dynamics to the Coco Classic blob so we can cruise at 150-170w instead of surging between 170-220. It seems like most of the other new bots and updates have been well-received, but some OG Coco die-hards are missing that low-Z2 (for me, anyway) steady all-day-pace cruising experience.
(Yes, I know we could just ride with the 2.0 bot instead, but Coco has a posse.)
I kinda prefer the old static pacing so I can disable trainer difficulty and just ride a Z2 pace with power mostly flat, no shifting, just steady cadence and power the whole time. (Being of similar weight to the PPs helps.) That said, I’m really happy with all the different pace options that have been added. I would call dynamic pacing a minor annoyance that forces me to watch more numbers on the screen on rides where I prefer to minimize that.
I’m sure it’s been suggested before but surely what you’re describing is just erg mode?
I think the dynamic pacing has been a revelation as it allows PPs to be both easy spin or a more interactive workout (albeit a lower wkg I grant).
Zwift has hundreds of workouts that you can do steady state stuff in so I’ve definitely enjoyed the more interactive aspect
For me the most common use case for PPs is the mostly steady riding with a large group of humans, with the convenience of being able to join at any time. I don’t require ERG mode to do a steady ride alone. I also really enjoyed the PP test event up the Alpe, and the dynamic aspect was a great benefit there. It was also much more dynamic (2x) which was important. There’s room for both use cases. If there were daily PP event rides on longer interesting routes (not laps) that would be fun too.
Yeah I don’t understand the asks to revert to the non-dynamic PPs, especially if you’re of a mind to set a 0% trainer difficulty. Effectively you’d have set your cadence and gear you want to match the power of the PP and then just hold that for the duration (maybe some tiny variations if you and PP are of significantly differing weights).
This seems to remove the point of riding with others in the first place over varied terrain (ie. ‘dynamics’ - course and/or pack) so might as well do a free ride erg training session set at whatever constant power you want.
0% TD doesn’t remove the need for gear changes or change in cadence. It only change that you don’t feel the incline but if you hold x power you will go slower up the climb so you still need to adjust your power to stay with the group if they increase power on the climb.
0% TD is like a dumb trainer where you change gears opposite from what you do outside.
On the cycling side i have really enjoyed rides with Bernadette and Charlie in the past few weeks, both a good challenge and alternative to Coco.