Looking at going to a smart trainer and a subscription to Zwift. For those that have done so, what are your thoughts? Was it worth the investment? Did you find yourself using the trainer more?
Yes and Yes. And with cold weather approaching, even more worth the investment.
Investment is something you do to save money for retirement. Zwift is what - $10 per month? Two trips to Starbucks.
I find it’s one way to make riding the trainer vastly more entertaining. The training plans and workouts may not be as extensive as some of the other training apps, but because you’re riding a virtual course with whoever else happens to be logged in at the same time, you (can) get a different experience every time. Especially if you participate in their group rides or races. That stuff may not fit in with a highly structured improvement plan but if you actually ride a bike for fun, this is a way to extend your summertime fitness and your tactical skills.
Looking at going to a smart trainer and a subscription to Zwift. For those that have done so, what are your thoughts? Was it worth the investment? Did you find yourself using the trainer more?
$10 a month is a minimal expense. I prefer the “basic” CT courses but I ride Zwift 2 -4 times a month. So for $2.50 to $5 per ride. Its worth the expense.
I ride inside the same before and after subscribing to Zwift.
Hell yes. I joined in April and sometimes on nice days I chose to do a Zwift race or structured workout instead of riding outside. This winter will be much better with it, for the last 20 years I stared at the wall riding rollers.
If you’re in my age group (40-44) worst investment you can ever make. Don’t even bother. Save your money and go buy donuts.
If you’re not in my age group, hell yes. I spend most if not all of my time indoors. Zwift is time efficient. I can be at the house working out when my family gets up in the morning and have plenty of time for the rest of the day to do family stuff. Before I would have had to drive somewhere, ride, and then drive back. A 5 hour ride can take 7+ hours. A 5 hour ride on Zwift takes 5 hours…maybe a few minutes more if you have to take a bathroom break. People think I’m crazy for doing 5 hour trainer rides, but I’ll throw on an old Tour race, watch a triathlon, or during football season, watch football. I’m basically knocking out 9 birds with 7 stones. LOL
I mostly do workouts on the game. On Tuesday I rode almost 3 hours after work at Threshold pace. That just wouldn’t be possible at this time of the year. I used to get passed on the bike in large races, for the most part that doesn’t happen any more. It’s all zwift’s fault.
But it doesn’t have to zwift. TrainerRoad can do the same thing, or even a dumb trainer. Just get on and ride. The best way to get better on the bike is to ride and a lot.
Yes it was worth the investment. In past years I commuted to work by bike at least twice a week between May and September. This year I think I commuted 3 times TOTAL. I don’t know if you could blame that all on Zwift, because I didn’t have a smart trainer the past summers like I do now, but it certainly helped. I actually don’t let Zwift control my trainer very much. Instead I control the power with the Wahoo app. I could just build the workouts I plan to do in Zwift, which is easy to do, but I just don’t. The app is easy enough for me. I have done a race before and that was actually more fun than I thought it would be. It just happens that not many races line up with either the time I am riding or the type of workout intensity I am after. It is fun having levels to try to reach and there are also achievements to go after. Sounds like Zwift is going to roll out some new feature where you can ride in a group with your buddies no matter the intensity of the workouts as long as you stay pedaling.
Long story short I wouldn’t think about riding my trainer without Zwift.
Edited to make clear I basically gave up commuting for Zwift.
I think atlas for me trainer road was a a better investment. The plans are designed better. I get bored with zwift world
Absolutely worth it. Don’t use the in-program structured workouts much, but it gets me actually excited to do Z2 work, and races are really good fun.
Never went there. TrainerRoad has been my go-to all along. And it was absolutely worth it.
Yes and yes. I was getting sick of staring at the graph in TR
I like using it with my Tacx Neo.
A new feature that I like:
You can now create your bike workouts in TrainingPeaks. If you sync your Zwift account to TP then today’s workout will show up in your list of Zwift workouts. Click-and-go. It removes me having to think about anything at 5am when I hit the trainer.
This x100.
I did two years of riding with a group on Saturday mornings. Lets say this example is for an 80 miler with 4 miles off the bike…
Up at 5 AM, out the door by 5:30, drive to meet-up spot, wait for people who forgot their watch/pump/shoes/helmet, start the ride by 6:00. Stop and wait 5 times because people have to pee, want to buy a gatorade, fix a flat, etc. Finish ride by 11 AM and start brick run by 11:10. Get back to car by 11:40. Drive home, hitting every red light, arrive at 12:15. Unpack my shit into my house. Shower. It’s 12:30 and I’m done.
The same workout on Zwift/indoor trainer…
Up at 5 AM, on the bike by 5:30. Ride uninterrupted, zero coasting, favorite show, music, book at your disposal. Finish ride at 9:30. Run out the door and get back by 10:05. Shower. It’s 10:15 and I’m done.
My wife (married for 2 1/2 weeks now!) probably loves Zwift more than I do.
This x100.
I did two years of riding with a group on Saturday mornings. Lets say this example is for an 80 miler with 4 miles off the bike…
Up at 5 AM, out the door by 5:30, drive to meet-up spot, wait for people who forgot their watch/pump/shoes/helmet, start the ride by 6:00. Stop and wait 5 times because people have to pee, want to buy a gatorade, fix a flat, etc. Finish ride by 11 AM and start brick run by 11:10. Get back to car by 11:40. Drive home, hitting every red light, arrive at 12:15. Unpack my shit into my house. Shower. It’s 12:30 and I’m done.
The same workout on Zwift/indoor trainer…
Up at 5 AM, on the bike by 5:30. Ride uninterrupted, zero coasting, favorite show, music, book at your disposal. Finish ride at 9:30. Run out the door and get back by 10:05. Shower. It’s 10:15 and I’m done.
My wife (married for 2 1/2 weeks now!) probably loves Zwift more than I do.
If you don’t leave the house - how is her boy friend suppose to come over…
I’m thinking of getting zwift this winter too… you can do it with a power meter or a smart trainer, does it make a difference what I choose? (Power meter or smart trainer)
I very much enjoy my Saris Hammer. Its super quiet so I can train in the AM and watch TV and not wake up my wife. Plus when I start an interval I don’t get the wheel slippage of a standard trainer.
As for Zwift I used it for two years, suffer fest for half of one, and tried Rouvy this fall but used their old version like 3 years ago. I recently just paid for 6mo of Rouvy and am leaving Zwift behind. Going on virtual group rides and races didn’t do it for me while Rouvy’s database of prebuilt workouts including suffer fest stuff and the ability to ride virtually all over the globe is more intriguing to me. Finally, with a wife headed to Kona in 2018 Rouvy allowed me to invite her to my membership at no additional cost so one subscription vs two.
I’m thinking of getting zwift this winter too… you can do it with a power meter or a smart trainer, does it make a difference what I choose? (Power meter or smart trainer)
The races are the real deal, it’s near impossible to force yourself to suffer that much using a structured plan on Trainer Road. They hurt. . . a lot. . . and that’s a good thing.
I’ve only used a dumb trainer. On the uphills, I can notice a difference between my avatar and others who I assume are on smart trainers.
Like Ziggie said, the races are no joke. Sure there are some aspects of gamification, but I have never buried myself on the bike in training like I have on Zwift. As for power meter vs smart trainer, I have used both. The smart trainer allows you to feel the gradient better. It helped me a lot training for St. croix and Chattanooga. There are also a number of good groups with whom you can ride, either workouts, races, or rides. If you use an app like Discord, then you can talk to each other. It works great for sharing in the misery of a workout or using tactics in a race.
PM if you have a question about it. I ride almost exclusively indoors now, with most being on Zwift.
As for the “investment” what is the total cost of the setup . . . as in if you have nothing for indoor riding what all would you need for a decent setup. I do have reasonable space that can be dedicated.
How does Discord work with Zwift exactly? Other than the program what do you need? I’m assuming a headset at least.