I've done two rides on Zwift now and love it. Looking forward to trying the group ride tomorrow. I am a D rider but just looking to have some fun and see what happens.
Spent a frustrating Sun ABP ride this am. I believe that I am ready to roll, and even understand how to use the Zwift Mobile App, Discord "push to talk," and pedal at the same time. And particularly, where to put (and how to set up) all my devices! Looking forward to next Saturday. Would be great to have a list of participants to follow to assure that we can meet up early and spend the first easy miles getting comfortable with the system. This morning, I "plopped in" in the second hour on a big hill. Not sure how many w/kg @Francis Picard was throwing down, but I blew within a min
John, we "usually" (only been at this two weeks) post our intent in this thread the day before. Sonce Sid, who has been our leader, wont be there, I think, I'll post the route we'll do early on Black Friday. And my intent, at least, is to go like this:
With mid-week OS rides, an hour is my go-to in Nov-Jan. The pace is perfect... Black Friday is not. I still have a hospitalist call schedule. Looking forward to a more "interactive" winter on Zwift.
Saturday ride @ 0800 (PST), 1600 UTC, on Zwift. Meet just before the start banner on Watopia. Try the "Mountain Route" (reverse of what we did last week)? Before you start the ride, select "Change" from the Start dialog box, then select Mountain Route. That way, you'l automatically follow the course.
My plan is to build towards 2.8-3.0 w/kg during the first 30 minutes, then use the two climbs - the KOM, and the subsequent steep road up to the radio tower - as FTP intervals. 30 km ride.
Moving closer to getting organized on Zwift rides. The fact that I need reading glasses to identify my team mates does not help! Once I got in the groove, we hit that freakin' KOM climb. My SRM gave me a lot more watts than registered on Zwift? Got lost in a big pack, and battled to maintain contact as I emerged from the other side. @Al Truscott and company extended the gap, and I ended up with with 35 min at FTP at the KOM banner. Have to admit, I took a ride back to Watopia base camp on the helicopter from the summit
I like Zwift cause I can go 50 mph downhill and not worry about losing it in the turns. Once again we started out with 5 riders today, and stayed together in group going past 30 minutes. Then those climbs did their separation. Also had a brief @Edwin Croucher sighting. Kudos to everyone on the Discord settings. Talk was clear, background noise was at a minimum - all Heard was a little bit of bike noise on the steepest slopes. @Scott Dinhofer was on Zwift starting out as we ended...he could warmed up while I cooled down?
Thanksgiving week is a very busy week here. I was happy to get on the bike this morning and the goal was to just get an hour or so in hanging around the ABP level. My eye sight has changed a lot in the last year and I can't wear the glasses during the rides. I sweat a bit. This morning, there I was at the beginning of my ride and I squinted at the Zwift screen. I thought I saw @Al Truscott @John Culberson, @Mark Roberts, @Jeff Horn cruising out in front of me. I did not have the discord hooked up so I couldn't hear anyone. I finally caught up and yup, it was all of you. I wasn't sure how long I was going to be able to ride for so I didn't hang with everyone. It was great to see you out there. Maybe I will see you tomorrow. It is one of my rare Sunday's off.
Serious sweat on Zwift today. Three water bottles. Three towels and I had to change my hat, shirt and shorts because of so much sweat! And that was Zone 2/3. Don’t underestimate hydration.
Loving the Zwift and really want to join in on a Saturday or Sunday ride. I made it a couple weeks ago but had just done a race and was just not feeling it so I dropped out pretty quick. Also, did not have Discord working so could not talk. I think I have Discord ready now and am pretty comfortable with Zwift. Even uploaded an EN workout today and did it. IMO this is sooooo much better than trainer road. Now to my problem. 8 PST is just too late for me on the east coast. Everybody is already up and wanting to do other things by then. So I am thinking why not have two group rides. One at 8 EST and another at 8 PST. Also, would love to see some more riders closer to my ability. I am a D rider.
So here is my plan. I will be riding the Volcano Flat Course this Saturday at 8 AM EST. This course should make it a little easier for us to stay together and easier for those new to Zwift or at a D riding level like me. I am thinking about 2 to 3 loops or whatever takes about 60 to 90 minutes. My plan is to ride at a very easy ABP so that maybe some more folks can join in and experience the fun. I have not actually used Discord yet during a ride but I will be trying it. I will also have the EN Sunday ABP Ride GroupMe open if you cant get Discord working. We will meet at the arch for the course loop start. It is about 0.3-0.4 miles from the point where the game drops you in at. Just soft pedal to get there so you don't go flying past it.
There are 90 folks in there. There's a lot of banter (mute under settings of GroupMe maybe?) but we use it to rally people for "alternate" rides.
So if there's an 8am PST SAT RIDE and an 8am EST SUN RIDE...but you want to ride at 4:17 am on a Wednesday b/c your Boss is traveling to Germany just this once, we can't just organize another one...like that...but you can post to the GroupMe that you will be there and see who is there.
This past Saturday we had 6 folks riding together starting at 6am...for 3 hours...and the more TeamEN folks you follow, the more you will find to ride with at anytime!
Hope that helps!
~ Patrick
Ps if you get traction with a group consistently every Saturday then we can talk about a schedule!!!
@Bill Eckert Not sure yet what my weekend looks like, but as it draws a bit closer, I may be in on the earlier ride on Saturday. And as the season progresses, that will likely be my go-to Saturday riding time. I agree with @Coach Patrick about maybe using the GroupMe for Zwift as a way of setting up more impromptu rides, though I’m afraid it may get lost in the very long string of messages that greets me every day (def have them muted, sorry, guys).
@Bill Eckert: I’ll roll out with you at 8am EST on Sat. I’ve followed you on Zwift. I’m introducing some intense midweek bikes, so level D building to C is good. If @Al Truscott and the 8am PST group is hitting the Mountain again, I may try to settle in until the climb “puts me into difficulty” once again
It's no surprise I like going up and down, and those mountain rides are the perfect length for me. So I'm hoping to do 3 Sisters starting @ 0800 PST Saturday, then when I get to the radio tower, I'll do 2 or 3 trips up for the work intervals. I *could* start as early as 0700 if that works better (sunrise is 0735 nowadays here.)
Comments
A key skill is remembering that if you lose the group, you can always return ny exiting the app, starting over, and "Ride With".
So far, this has mostly been an OF ride. (That's a quadruple entendre!)
My plan is to build towards 2.8-3.0 w/kg during the first 30 minutes, then use the two climbs - the KOM, and the subsequent steep road up to the radio tower - as FTP intervals. 30 km ride.
So here is my plan. I will be riding the Volcano Flat Course this Saturday at 8 AM EST. This course should make it a little easier for us to stay together and easier for those new to Zwift or at a D riding level like me. I am thinking about 2 to 3 loops or whatever takes about 60 to 90 minutes. My plan is to ride at a very easy ABP so that maybe some more folks can join in and experience the fun. I have not actually used Discord yet during a ride but I will be trying it. I will also have the EN Sunday ABP Ride GroupMe open if you cant get Discord working. We will meet at the arch for the course loop start. It is about 0.3-0.4 miles from the point where the game drops you in at. Just soft pedal to get there so you don't go flying past it.
Looking forward to this and seeing who shows up.
There are 90 folks in there. There's a lot of banter (mute under settings of GroupMe maybe?) but we use it to rally people for "alternate" rides.
So if there's an 8am PST SAT RIDE and an 8am EST SUN RIDE...but you want to ride at 4:17 am on a Wednesday b/c your Boss is traveling to Germany just this once, we can't just organize another one...like that...but you can post to the GroupMe that you will be there and see who is there.
This past Saturday we had 6 folks riding together starting at 6am...for 3 hours...and the more TeamEN folks you follow, the more you will find to ride with at anytime!
Hope that helps!
~ Patrick
Ps if you get traction with a group consistently every Saturday then we can talk about a schedule!!!
I am in that Group me but I have also had to mute it because if the numerous messages. I will have it united for the ride Saturday.
@John Culberson looking forward to it.