Zwift, TR, Sufferfest etc

[Dee Hubbs]

Don't get all this obsession over weight from those who aren't racing at the pro level. I would say that someone just getting into cycling who isn't significantly overweight can actually make power gains that are beneficial faster than they can lose weight. The more overweight you are the easier it is to just lose weight from riding. But after a few years and if you are already at a reasonably healthy weight then comes the choice on whether or not you want to have fun at life or excel at the Saturday morning world championships. If the latter is more fun then go for it.

So in 10 months of Zwifting I have dropped 10kg. I have also gained strength and muscle endurance. BUT Zwift is based on w/kg. So when the Zwift peloton is moving at 2.8 w/kg, the old 96kg me needed to put out 270 watts to sustain 2.8w/kg, where as the new 86kg me only needs to put out 240 watts to maintain the group pace of 2.8w/kg.
I think weight has a lot to do with the performance level in this Zwift thread.

[huckbucket]

So in 10 months of Zwifting I have dropped 10kg. I have also gained strength and muscle endurance. BUT Zwift is based on w/kg. So when the Zwift peloton is moving at 2.8 w/kg, the old 96kg me needed to put out 270 watts to sustain 2.8w/kg, where as the new 86kg me only needs to put out 240 watts to maintain the group pace of 2.8w/kg.
I think weight has a lot to do with the performance level in this Zwift thread.

It ain't just zwift and it's why every pro looks like Calista Flockhart. This is definitely worth a watch.

[EWG]

It ain't just zwift and it's why every pro looks like Calista Flockhart. This is definitely worth a watch.

“It’s a simple matter of weight ratios”

Very true. Also true that my racing days are over. These days I want to have fun, and I do enough things (skiing, soccer, mtn biking, basketball) that I have to worry more about resilience than biking speed. I lift, and I look like a cornerback, but it allows to me to take a lot of abuse and hits in contact sports with less injury risk. Plus it makes a lot of aches and pains go away. But it keeps me 15-20 lbs heavier than I’d try to be if I was simply racing bikes.

I’ve also noticed that I can only stay really, really lean while still staying strong for maybe a couple months. Then I start to break down and I have to eat more again. So I flux maybe 5lbs up and down and I carry a lot of extra muscle weight.

However, for my lifestyle, it’s totally worth it.

[grrrmountainman]

Out for tonight’s ride, gotta go make a site visit for work.

[huckbucket]

“It’s a simple matter of weight ratios”

Very true. Also true that my racing days are over. These days I want to have fun, and I do enough things (skiing, soccer, mtn biking, basketball) that I have to worry more about resilience than biking speed. I lift, and I look like a cornerback, but it allows to me to take a lot of abuse and hits in contact sports with less injury risk. Plus it makes a lot of aches and pains go away. But it keeps me 15-20 lbs heavier than I’d try to be if I was simply racing bikes.

I’ve also noticed that I can only stay really, really lean while still staying strong for maybe a couple months. Then I start to break down and I have to eat more again. So I flux maybe 5lbs up and down and I carry a lot of extra muscle weight.

However, for my lifestyle, it’s totally worth it.

Yeah man .... it's a balance. Health over performance is where we all are today unless performance is paying the bills.

[ridinshockgun]

“It’s a simple matter of weight ratios”

Very true. Also true that my racing days are over. These days I want to have fun, and I do enough things (skiing, soccer, mtn biking, basketball) that I have to worry more about resilience than biking speed. I lift, and I look like a cornerback, but it allows to me to take a lot of abuse and hits in contact sports with less injury risk. Plus it makes a lot of aches and pains go away. But it keeps me 15-20 lbs heavier than I’d try to be if I was simply racing bikes.

I’ve also noticed that I can only stay really, really lean while still staying strong for maybe a couple months. Then I start to break down and I have to eat more again. So I flux maybe 5lbs up and down and I carry a lot of extra muscle weight.

However, for my lifestyle, it’s totally worth it.

I completely understand the math and don't need an explanation on that.

This is kind of what I was getting at and why I mentioned that for some, especially if you're 20 lbs overweight, weight loss is easy and needed and when just getting into training or riding power gains happen pretty quickly as well. This is why I differentiated between someone who may be overweight vs someone who is at a pretty healthy weight already. At some point these numbers start to converge and the effort involved to lose 5 lbs, sustain that weight loss, and still put out the same power becomes more and more difficult. As in, if you're lean and strong but carry a bit of upper body muscle it may not necessarily be best for your mental and physical health to try to look like a pro tour rider so you can beat your group ride to the top of the climb or win more zwift races.

If you're just a naturally lean person and just getting into riding and/or training you can probably realize more gains by just training and getting stronger vs losing 2-3 lbs and seriously degrading your quality of life to do so.

I just see so much "lose weight, lose weight you gotta lose more weight" when it comes to cycling when most of us are doing it because it is fun and it makes our life more enjoyable. So is it really making your life more enjoyable to drop that extra 5 lbs

[wendigo]

if you really want an eating disorder become a bike racing, rock climber.

[VTskibum]

This is kind of what I was getting at and why I mentioned that for some, especially if you're 20 lbs overweight, weight loss is easy and needed and when just getting into training or riding power gains happen pretty quickly as well. This is why I differentiated between someone who may be overweight vs someone who is at a pretty healthy weight already. At some point these numbers start to converge and the effort involved to lose 5 lbs, sustain that weight loss, and still put out the same power becomes more and more difficult. As in, if you're lean and strong but carry a bit of upper body muscle it may not necessarily be best for your mental and physical health to try to look like a pro tour rider so you can beat your group ride to the top of the climb or win more zwift races.

There's an easy fix for the Zwift races part and it's in your user profile, dieting is maybe the easiest Zwift Power-up there is

[EWG]

if you really want an eating disorder become a bike racing, rock climber.

...wrestler, gymnast, runner, etc. Or you could become a swimmer - no calorie issues there. You will, however, be completely insane because you are in a pain filled sensory deprivation tank 3 hours each day...

I completely understand the math and don't need an explanation on that.

This is kind of what I was getting at and why I mentioned that for some, especially if you're 20 lbs overweight, weight loss is easy and needed and when just getting into training or riding power gains happen pretty quickly as well. This is why I differentiated between someone who may be overweight vs someone who is at a pretty healthy weight already. At some point these numbers start to converge and the effort involved to lose 5 lbs, sustain that weight loss, and still put out the same power becomes more and more difficult. As in, if you're lean and strong but carry a bit of upper body muscle it may not necessarily be best for your mental and physical health to try to look like a pro tour rider so you can beat your group ride to the top of the climb or win more zwift races.

If you're just a naturally lean person and just getting into riding and/or training you can probably realize more gains by just training and getting stronger vs losing 2-3 lbs and seriously degrading your quality of life to do so.

I just see so much "lose weight, lose weight you gotta lose more weight" when it comes to cycling when most of us are doing it because it is fun and it makes our life more enjoyable. So is it really making your life more enjoyable to drop that extra 5 lbs

Yeah, agreed. For various reasons my world/social circle is in part made up of bikers and triathletes that are competing at the highest levels in the sport so it's a constant "nutrition" pressure undertone talking with any of them. It's pretty fucked up frankly. But for them, the math is simple = maintain the same power output and take off 1 kg and you climb x second faster. I guess if you are going to sacrifice every spare minute of your life to go faster on a bike, getting rid of an extra 3kg is a pretty minor sacrifice.

But that ain't me. To the extent it ever was, it's not anymore. So I just smile and nod and pat them on the back - but not hard. Don't wanna break someone's rib.

[carpathian]

I'm gonna stick with the donuts and beer as reward for the hard work!

You guys on at 4pm MTN Time or 6 today? My invite says 2pm here AK time, still at work...

[wendigo]

2 ak time on thurs. yeah tough one to pull off

[EWG]

2 ak time on thurs. yeah tough one to pull off

Whatever. He's got 20 hours of daylight. Plenty of other times during the day to get stuff done.

[wendigo]

ha right now there is ~7 hrs of light a day

i would join the ride but am heading out for a skate ski in the daylight.

[EWG]

ha right now there is ~7 hrs of light a day

i would join the ride but am heading out for a skate ski in the daylight.

Oh shit, right. I'm an idiot.

Then what the hell is the problem? Gets dark for AK at 1:30 anyway so it's either zwift with us or drink...

[buttahflake]

I come from skinny stock, ain’t no weakling! I can do pull-ups for days. Skied today for the first time this year, so good right now, that and I did TdZ Sand and Sequoias yesterday at just under full gas, I’m cooked. See y’all in a bit.

[buttahflake]

Small fun group today, some new playas!

[dan_pdx]

Had my first "real" ride last night and rode for just short of an hour, about 45 minutes of which was dueling with someone who seemed pretty close to my level of fitness (i.e., low). It's pretty fun! Doesn't match riding outside, but I would never get this density of people to ride with outside.

Following suggestions from folks here, I selected a route to ride, and didn't make any changes at intersections, but it was totally unclear to me how I was progressing along the route - I didn't seem to get any "distance remaining in route" display or anything like that, just a "total mileage covered on this ride" display. How is that information displayed?

Also, the graphics are pretty heinous using a 10-year-old laptop, and after looking at video of Zwift running good framerates at 1080p, I have to say that would be a nice step up. I'll give it awhile, but might consider seeing if one of the other PCs around here can do better.

Question on sound: the only sound effects I got was rumbling when I went over wooden bridges, and a sound effect for thumbs ups. Other than that, Watopia was silent. What's that all about? Is that also a result of having a crappy computer? Is there no background music or anything?

[Dee Hubbs]

Small fun group today, some new playas!

SORRY boys, I got help up on the ski hill. My perfect attendance record just went out the window....

[EWG]

SORRY boys, I got help up on the ski hill. My perfect attendance record just went out the window....

Roll call from tonight. Who was there?

Buttahflake
ticketchecker
EWG

And two new fellas that I don't know TGR names for. I assume one was Full Trucker. The other I'm not sure. Was it carpathlan?

[bennymac]

I was the yo-yo'ing guy - need to sort out my power lag issue. Hope it wasn't too annoying for others.

Was a good workout for me - these rides force me to put out a lot more effort that I would do just goofing around on random routes.

Carp goes up the Alp in half the time it takes me. I think the Innsbruck hill would be a speed bump to him

[EWG]

I was the yo-yo'ing guy - need to sort out my power lag issue. Hope it wasn't too annoying for others.

Was a good workout for me - these rides force me to put out a lot more effort that I would do just goofing around on random routes.

Excellent.

So buttahflake, tickerchecker, EWG, Full Trucker and Benny Mac. Full on Deadhead reunion.

[Full Trucker]

Roll call from tonight. Who was there?

Buttahflake
ticketchecker
EWG

And two new fellas that I don't know TGR names for. I assume one was Full Trucker. The other I'm not sure. Was it carpathlan?

Yes, F. Trucker == Full Trucker. All black kit save the shoes, giant beard. Also, I unlocked black shoes tonight, so that's rad. I think the fella you're missing on your list was bennymac... he was the one with connectivity issues in the jersey that had some stripes.

buttahflake was the pacesetter on the Tron bike, no?

[buttahflake]

Yes, I was the de facto Dee Hubbs this evening!

[Dee Hubbs]

Yes, I was the de facto Dee Hubbs this evening!

The 4 yo I'm teaching to ski on Thursdays wanted to ski until the lifts closed. I can't argue with that!

[bennymac]

The 4 yo I'm teaching to ski on Thursdays wanted to ski until the lifts closed. I can't argue with that!

Legit!