Why am I falling behind when riding on gravel or sand?

Bugs and Support
1

I am already 6 years Zwift member and have a Tacx NeoSmart2 device. In Zwift I ride a Specialized Tarmac bike. My Tacx starts trembling when I ride on gravel or cobble stones.

What happens now in Pacer rides and Group rides is that I can follow the Beacon or Pacer when we are riding normal paved roads, however when we ride on gravel or sand (e.g. Watopia or Makuri) I have to push very hard to keep up with the Group. Most of the times I ride around the pacer or a bit in front, but when we ride on gravel, everyone is overtaking me and sometimes I even have to let the Group go, although I push hard (I see my Watts/kg being higher than everone overtaking me).

Anyone an idea how come?

2

sounds odd. you will need to push harder on gravel/sand sections as there is less draft but so will everyone.

Personally i hate the real road shake effect of the neo so turn it off in zwift settings. Worth trying that to see how you get on.

Also depending on what route you are doing if it’s pretty flat you might be able to choose a better bike.

3

Thanks Gordon. The strange thing is, it hasn’t happened any time before, just the last few weeks I have observed it. Last year, defo not.
With respect to the bike, I have a Specialized Tarmac, with fast wheels, so believe that’s ok. I will turn off the shake effect and see if that helps to keep the pace.

4

Are you running on an old release of the game app and so you haven’t got the benefit of reduced rolling resistance there?

5

My App (on a Macbook Pro) is being updated on a almost daily basis.

6

If you are getting an update every day then something is wrong with your Macbook

1 Like
7

updates are should be every 2 weeks. occasionally there might be a follow up bug type fix inbetween

9

I use the Roval Rapide CLX,

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10

I’m going to bump and second this. Last week, I was riding with Maria on the big ring. When we hit the jungle, I was doing 2.8-3.0wkg just to hang with the group. +.5wkg over pavement.

I was also using the Roval CLX wheels…

This week, I swapped over to DT Swiss wheels, and did not have the same issue on dirt as I did with the Rovals.

Something is up with the CLXs on dirt.

2 Likes
11

Woah glad I finally decided to look at bug reports here, because I’ve been dealing with this for months. I am absolutely killing myself on gravel to keep up with the pack. I’m also using the Roval CLX, so looks like I’ll be trying different wheels to see if it still does it.

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12

The Roval wheels are all pretty slow, unless you’re using the Roval Alpinist CLX on a big climb. If this is a bug, and if it’s related to those wheels, I suggest visiting zwifterbikes.web.app to pick a wheelset for the route you are talking about. I’m pretty sure nothing from Roval will be suggested.

13

Hi @Sean_Molin, welcome to the forums!
I’m Fernanda, from Zwift.

I couldn’t avoid this thread, and try to do my part, first I want to reinforce the best selection of wheels for Gravel, to see if even using these wheels you feel you are going too slow:

  • CADEX AR 35
  • ENVE G23
  • Reserve 25 GR
  • Roval Terra CLX

Did any of you try these sets? Even if using a gravel bike, choosing the best wheelset makes a huge difference in the performance.

Keep me posted!

14

I was having an issue when riding the Roval Rapide CLXs on gravel and the problem immediately stopped when I changed to Zipp 454s.

I was getting dropped from groups even when putting out at least 1 w/kg more than the riders around me with the CLXs and when I switched wheels, I was able to stay in the group at the same output as the others

1 Like