I think XP for climbs would change this…
I doubt it will, it is all about how far they ride in a week on Strava.
The most XP you can get in a hour is doing a workout up the ALPE and I don’t see many people doing that.
does it matter if you’re going up the alpe or not?
if you have a workout that is about 2.30 long you get the XP for the workout, then ride over a mile marker and you get the XP for that, load the workout again and repeat!
edit - i should point out i don’t do this but if you want to max out XPs per minute
Yep. BIG BIG BIG XP bonuses can be won when the big wheel spins.
fair point
XP become increasingly pointless (pun intended!) with a limit on levels, if anything do things that get you the least XPs otherwise you’ll just be sat at level 60 for longer
You can structure an interval workout so you’d get similar XP to free riding on the flats. But then when you’re done the workout you can coast back down the Alpe and pick up a bunch of XP quickly. It’s a double win if you’re also going for the Tron bike.
I really don’t get people who freewheel down the alpe - that is just baffling to me. I don’t go on zwift to not pedal!
1 Like
I agree no free wheeling down the alpe. In Fact you can see where I reached the top and stopped the workout.
But the point is there is better ways to get XP than riding with the PP.
Haha, don’t get me started on workouts on ADZ. 
All you need for a workout is turn the pedals and change gears up and down. Workout mode isn’t riding ADZ, they shouldn’t get their 38 minute time for it either.
On the other hand if I’ve ridden up ADZ properly (no workout mode) then I earned the descent. There was one who used to join at top of ADZ ages ago when that was possible and just coast down to get the kms, but we noticed that and “encouraged” him not to do that.
I would like to see more XP for riding ADZ in normal free ride mode (not a workout).
If you can do 38 minutes in a workout up the alpe you can do it in free ride. there is Zero time difference doing it in an workout or on a free ride.
3 Likes
We’re getting off topic here, but have you ever used ERG mode?
I would like to see more XP for riding ADZ in normal free ride mode (not a workout).
[/quote]
But only if trainer difficulty is set to 100% and your lowest gear is a 39/25, am I right? 
I did use it a few times on Makuri. No feeling any gradients, just spin away at whatever required power. But never on ADZ - my conscience won’t let me do that.
Have you ever tried a workout on AdZ?
You realise that if you’re in a low-power section of the workout, then you’ll be going very slowly up the Alpe because it calculates the speed exactly the same in ERG mode as in normal sim mode, right?
3 Likes
Totally true if you have trainer difficulty set to zero.
Not true at all under any other circumstances. If I wanted to do AduZ in an hour I could probably do it tomorrow (if I could hold about 92% of FTP in a workout or with TD set to zero).
Could I do the same with TD set at 50% in a free ride, managing the power through the gradient changes? Maybe … but it"d be considerably harder.
I don’t think it is any harder in a free ride (if you have the correct gearing - running out of gears is a different problem).
In a workout you go slower every time there is a increase in gradient where if you are in a free ride you can compensate by changing gears.
I think the fastest up the Alpe would be free ride with +50% TD.
… but then your power will rise and fall as the gradient increases and decreases, which is more fatiguing.
I feel an experiment coming on. .
… let us know how it goes.
Agreed. With the trainer difficulty to zero it would be much easier for me to get into TT mode and ride at a steady wattage at 90-95 rpm. With it set at 100% I’d lose time shifting with the gradient changes and grinding away in sections at 50-60rpm would just wear me down.
Climbing is harder than flat road riding–that’s just a thing. Two AdZ attempts with TD set to 0 and set to 100 will be remarkably different experiences. Yes, the power required for a given speed on a given gradient will be the same, but your recruitment of muscle groups and use of fast vs slow twitch fibers will be very different (because of the differences in resistance), the rate at which those muscles will tire will be very different.
I could ride 1km by sprinting at max effort, or by spinning at 100w. The same power will be needed to carry me the same distance, but one will be a lot harder effort than the other. 
2 Likes
This isn’t really a good comparison to trainer difficulty. If you are sprinting at max effort you are pushing different watts than your 100W session. With any trainer difficulty you are going the speed you would be going for whatever wattage you are putting out. The only difference is how fast your pedals are spinning on the hills. You might be grinding with 100% trainer difficulty and spinning with 0% but the power will be the same at the same pace on a hill.