I have a question concerning zwift. I am a 47 y/o male that is not a huge biker, I have been using zwift for about a year now, I am Category “D” and race score 128. I have mainly been doing races all last winter and start of this fall. My races are usually avg around 200 watts at avg speed of 32~33 km/hr. Hills are the death of me as I am a bigger guy (245lbs). However last night I tried a 60 min group ride on flat course. This was a Watopia Cat D only group ride with a 1.9 W/Kg ride. When I got to the ride I only lasted about 5 min with the group and then was dropped off the back ending up 10 min off the pace and last out 34 riders. However I noticed during the ride that my power output, speed, etc was not the same as if I was riding in a race. Avg speed was 25.5km/hr my avg watts 112. Yet I was riding as hard or harder then in races. Why was this? Is this a setting or something? Please get back as I would like to try more events in zwift however I won’t be doing anything until I can “compete/ride” with others in my category.
Also I find Zwift support non-existent as I reached out with this question to them and heard nothing. I am not super tech savvy and Will try to find any answers posted here, but what would really help of someone would email me the answer at (Admin removed e-mail address)
I am using a smart trainer Saris, not sure of exact model.
As for the training, I have seen drop offs in my rides depending on how I feel (also mtb through summer and fall), this was not that. Examples of what was happening. Even if I pushed really hard on the group ride I could not get my watts to peak. even close to what they peak on the race rides. Also the little gage/ graph that is colour coded that runs along the bottom of the screen, during races it is grey/blue/yellow/orange/red, and I am up and down in the colours depending on how hard I push obviously only stating in red/orange for short times due to fitness etc. Last nights ride was all either grey or blue and could not get to any other colour. I feel like it is a setting or something?
If you can determine you trainer model, that would be helpful. It may need a firmware update, or to br recalibrated. If it’s a wheel-on trainer, it might br that your rear tire pressure is not correct.
It’s not a setting. It sounds like there is something going on with the trainer. If you run the Saris app, it should tell you which trainer you have, whether firmware updates are available, and that’s how you should calibrate it as well. Let us know what you find out from that.
The type of event is probably irrelevant. Focus on the trainer, its calibration, getting the roller tension correct, using a trainer tire, testing in the Saris app. You could also talk to Saris for trainer advice. If you had a direct drive trainer this would be less important. Your body’s state of recovery and rest can also factor into the perceived effort at a given power level.
I don’t think it’s the major factor in this case, but if you have just started using the turbo again after a summer break outdoors, your power output for a given heart rate in zones 3+ will be lower until your body acclimatises. Typically approx three weeks of regular turbo riding.
