I was doing a workout and thought I’d do a portion of Alpe D’Zwift.
I was riding at 220watts and about 5mph on about a 9%grade. It was all I could do to move the pedals at 65cadence
At the end of the workout I was still on the 9% grade but I almost stopped pedaling, down to about 20cadence. My Watts dropped to something like 75ish. My speed on the other hand was at about 4mph
So what I noticed was —
220watts / 65 cadence / 9%grade = 5mph
75watts / 20 cadence / 9%grade = 4mph
If you are larger and have trainer difficulty @100%, the low cadence could potentially overheat. My H3 did @100 kg and 55-60 rpm & 250 watts. I lowered the TD to 50-60% to allow the rpms to get up and no issues since. Lowering the TD simulates lower gearing; you can still push the watts but at a higher cadence.
Were you doing a workout as opposed to a free ride? In a workout you don’t feel the gradient, and the resistance varies purely based on the power targets in the workout. In a workout you are also vulnerable to the Spiral Of Death if you let your cadence drop.
Riding up a hill I’m pushing 220watts at 5mph cadence 60
Same hill, same gear, same rider 75watts at 4mph cadence 20
So lets say I’m outside and I’m riding up a hill “pikes peak” for an example
If I slow my cadence, my speed will decrease — that does not happen in zwift
Interesting. Approximately, 200lbs (90kgs) at 220w and 5mph means a 9% gradient hill? But by cycling at only 75w and 20 cadence you’re only dropping to 4mph (but should be dropping to under 2mph. Maybe there’s a quirk in the software that is allowing this to let folks who have stopped on a hill to more easily restart their rides (from 0 cadence obviously)?
Very rarely will anyone want to do a ride at 20 rpm cadence. As you increase cadence in your situation from 20rpm and go upward, what happens? I’m guessing that maybe at some higher rpm level the resistance suddenly increases significantly or your speed drops significantly?
Many times I do a ride of 20cadence. Imagine you’re going up a steep hill, you need a break and get your but off the saddle – cadence drops to to pretty low (let’s say 20) then after you’ve had your break, you sit back down.
when I increase my cadence, my watts go UP, the speed goes up very , very , very slowly - in my original example (I go from 5mph to 4mph by reducing my cadence/watts) it happens in reverse - watts go back up and so does the speed (up to about 5mph).
The speed typically sits at 5mph when I’m trying to climb Alpe Dzwift. regardless if my watts are 75 or 300
I know this sounds really weird - and it is.
It could be that you have entered an incorrect/very high body weight. Check the settings (kg?) for the weight in the app and on your profile on the website.
I had that thought as well. I’ve changed my weight in the system a few times with no change in experience. I’ve gone from 100lbs to 200lbs to 260lbs and NO change.