Zwift avatar grinds to halt on climbs at lower rpm

Bugs and Support
1

Hi,
I have a new issue that hasn’t happened before on Zwift. When I’m climbing on steeper gradients and drop to below about 68rpm my avatar just grinds to a halt. I’m still pedalling away irl.
The only thing that gets it going again is returning to a higher cadence.
Had a look on google and forum but can’t find anything. Any help why this is happening and what to do to fix it would be very welcome!

May/may not be relevant - This has happened since putting new bike on turbo which has a power meter. Old bike did not. However I haven’t done steep climbs for a bit on old bike so not sure if it would’ve happened anyway. And it’s working fine/no issues except in this very specific situation.

Zwifting on Mac, companion app on Android.
macOS ventura
Version of Zwift is 1.32.1
Companion App v3.42.0
Trainer - tacx flow, ANT+

Thanks!

2

Sounds like your wheel may be sleeping on the higher resistance on the climb. Check the tyre pressure, roller tension and the other setup instructions.

1 Like
3

Trainer resistance unit overheating could also be a possibility. Aim a fan at the trainer to test.

4

Hey thanks for this suggestion. Do you mean sleeping? Or slipping? I certainly can’t feel any slipping.Tyre pressure, tension etc all fine. I can calibrate it again to double check.

5

Thanks Paul for this suggestion. Would be odd if this is the case as it has certainly been put through it’s paces in other situations. I can push the same or higher watts for longer at a higher rpm with no issues at all - and same when it was about 30 degrees hotter had no problems. Do you think that the lower rpm would cause that much overheating?! Cheers

6

I don’t think cadence would be a factor in overheating - I can’t think of a reason why it would be. Overheating would be most common when the trainer resistance is highest (eg, steep climbs with trainer difficulty set high) and your power is high.

7

I did mean “slipping”.

As for Paul’s suggestion, the Tacx Flow is well known for overheating on long climbs (the trainer warming up through the increased resistance that it’s applying).