I’m a new Zwifter, but a recent ACL surgery is the reason I finally pulled the trigger on a Wahoo Kickr Core 2 and Zwift set up. I just started my physical therapy on a bike this week, and my first two days didn’t register because I couldn’t pedal far enough in the app to save.
This got me thinking that a rehab or injury feature would be great. I haven’t been able to finish introduction steps either, again related to the distance I can cycle, even if I cycle 20 minutes at a time. I’d love to be able to fully utilize Zwift features, and toggle it back to regular function once I’m cleared for full activity.
I think the minimum distance for a ride to save is only 2 kilometers, so maybe you just need to start with a flat route, like Tempus Fugit, to ensure that you complete that distance in the time you’re able to ride.
Thank you, I think that’s roughly correct. I’ve observed it to be at 1.25 miles. That said, for people with leg injuries or surgeries (i.e. knee replacements, ACL replacement, etc.), it’s not a tenable distance at first. Cycling is a core component of the rehab though, and it would be awesome to feel like you can still participate and track progress towards recovery.
You could also set the trainer difficulty slider all the way to the left, to completely negate any elevation.
Or create a workout with 20 or 30 minutes of only 40 or 50 watts.
That should be an easy spin, and long enough to get the required distance for Zwift to recognize it.
There are some workouts with long warmups, but they tend to increase the required watts over the duration of the warmup.
Go into Companion app and add routes to your list that start very close to the top of hills, making it easier for you to reach the minimum distance of 2Km downhill.
There are probably others, but two that spring to mind are…
Road To Sky (Watopia, downhill dirt or uturn down tarmac )
Petite Douleur (France, down Petit kom reverse or uturn down Petit kom)
Both routes above start with a very small section of uphill, so make sure to reduce trainer difficulty.
Another option are the increasingly popular rubberbanded group rides, as long as you turn the pedals at any power reading you will stay with the peleton. Hopefully link below shows these rides, because Zwift and Zwiftpower still do not have a filter for banded rides.
Temple Trek is a good one, then you must do a right turn at the first junction to go the same direction as Road to Sky. Then go straight ahead at the Alpe du Zwift junction.
When I went through recovery from serious injury I stuck to Tempus Fugit and kept the trainer difficulty low. The hardest thing at first was just overcoming the resistance to get moving. I didn’t even have an FTP because I couldn’t do 10 minutes, nevermind 20 minutes…
I might also suggest using private club events so you ride alone, that way you won’t be tempted to chase other people. If anything feels wrong stop immediately.
Yeah, I was also thinking a ‘rehab’ mode, or something similar might help some folks. Zwift can package up a set of settings that would be easy to select as a mode to help individuals focus more on their recovery and less on things such as leaderboards, racing, and maintaining a “productive” amount of TSS.
For instance the settings could be a combination of dropping trainer difficulty, removing leaderboards, turning off generic workout recommendations and “up next” comments about increasing intensity, promoting banded group rides over races, etc…
Mature workout apps always ask how it felt. That would help any with recommendations they want to make as well. They could start with a really light and short workout, and then tune the recommendation based on the experience reported by the user. Too long, too short, too easy, too hard, etc.