Hi Zwift
a bit of a controversial one, but something that concerns me is ‘zwift addiction’ and how we can make safe use of the platform without encouraging riders to keep riding at the expense of no rest days and potential burnout and injuries.
First example is the work from home badge, something that rewards a riders for not taking a rest day in so long can only be negative in the long run. It’s not easy for riders to take things “easy” on zwift, there’s always a KOM, sprint or a few riders to draft that even a recovery ride becomes a race.
In fact, I would not only remove this badge, I would add the platform could have prompt messages of “it’s time for a rest day” after many consecutive days of riding or accumulation of many “intense” rides which you can determine from our heart rate readings.
I love zwift but have unfortunately suffered from this and have seen riders getting injured and then being out of the sport for weeks recovering. I have also seen riders leave zwift altogether as it becomes too addictive and they can’t control themselves.
There is only one “work from home” badge and if you have it, you have it. If you want to take a rest day, don’t worry about the badge. If you are on a rest day, rest completely or do a planned active recovery day, so on that day it is up to you to say stuff it to the sprints and KOM’s.
You can say the same about Strava. There is no need to segment hunt every day. You CAN run or ride a segment without trying to improve it every day.
I use Zwift to compliment outdoor training and helping me reach RL goals. Simple as that. So yes, at this stage I am riding and running on extremely tired legs, but that is exactly what I need to be able to do in a couple of months’ time IRL. E.g. I did not rest (everything but!) for todays Fondo ride. It was simply part of my training.
Zwift, Strava, TrainingPeaks, you name it. All just tools. It’s up to you to use it properly. Get your bigger picture as to what you want to accomplish and stick to your goals.
Why do so many people try to pass their owen individual responsibility on anybody else?
We are all adult and (hopefully) thinking people, no need for “big brother watching us”, no need for removing anything and add prompt messages - there are so many and so different users…
PS. Exception - parents should take care of their children, of course - but I am optimist and believe they do!
Many people do recovery rides instead of days off. Recovery ride is a very low intensity, relatively short ride.
The risk of injury from workout in Zwift is extremely low. It is a non-impact activity. The worst that can happen is over-training, and the downside of it is loss of efficiency of training.
Noone forces you to collect all badges or ride every day if you do not like this idea.
if humans were fully capable of doing everything that’s right for them ALL the time, well, wouldn’t that be something!
All I’m asking is removal of work from badge as it motivates 14 straight days of cycling, there should not be any reward for any amount of straight days of cycling, whoever wants to do it, it’s their own choice but not enabled by the game (this is like saying it’s always the addicts fault to have an addiction)
training peaks which was mentioned above has a “it’s time to take a rest day” sort of message when the fatigue is too high, so it’s not like this is groundbreaking territory. Whether the athlete does it or not, it’s their responsibility of course, but there is some awareness being raised
Based on your posts it appears you are making the assumption that all 14 days in a row will be hard rides. There is nothing inherently dangerous to riding 14 days in a row at a leisurely pace (ie active recovery and/or endurance zones).
As others have said it is up to personal responsibility to ride/train responsibly and limit/avoid injuries. And by your logic Zwift should also remove the “Olympian” badge for running (mile under 5:00min) because me as an out of shape runner could cause serious injury to myself if I try and run that fast on a treadmill and get thrown off the back of it (instead I am just aware I will never get nor try for this badge because I am aware of my capabilities).
Let’s get back to the old adage of live and let live. Let everyone decide how they want to experience Zwift as their decisions do not affect your life in the least bit
So, how do you choose such a recovery ride instead of one of the "competitive " rides? I’m still having problems selecting routes and rides. What makes this more challenging for me, is my mouse either sits on the computer table, or sometimes on a music stand in front of me so that it can operate the computer. Next issue is that I can not read the screen from 2 metres away, I try to move it as close as I can but it is still not great. I see route changes “icons” that pop up, but by the time I stop, get off my bike the icon is gone. Then I have to get back on my bike and start peddling again. My setup is not perfect, but how can I improve my rides to be less complicated?
David, you can ride any route as a recovery ride. Recover power zone is defined as less than 55% of your FTP. This is a power at which you spin the pedals, but do not sweat and your breathing rate and heart rate are just a little elevated. I do not know if Zwift has workouts listed as recovery rides. Some cycling applications do, but really, all you need to do is to watch your power numbers, listen to your body, and take it very easy. Switch to a slow easy gear and do not pay attention to other cyclists who will pass you over and over again.
