We’re getting ready to put a bunch of new Zwift events on the Slowtwitch schedule. Including RUN events. It occurs to me that we might need a place for questions from those who want to anything about Zwift, our own events, or to suggest when you might want them, what you want, and so forth. I’ll answer as well as I can. In the meantime…
If you’re not currently a Zwifter and you want to be, here’s where to go and if you click this link you’ll be doing Slowtwitch a small favor when you sign up. With that, I’ll answer questions, take suggestions, and this will be an sticky thread, more or less evergreen.
Can you define short? Because essentially the Rise and Grind is a 55 minute wringer of a ride. It’s probably the closest to a full hour FTP test that I’ve ever done.
Something in the 5-15 mile range. My go to is the 10 mile but that’s bc a town I lived in did a weekly one and it’s 20-30 minutes for most so I can get a warm up and cool down in about an hour or less depending.
I want it to be ITT bc there are plenty of drafting events and I trust the ST crowd a little more. Gonna have to do that weight thing in another thread. Also would be fun to compare a similar course outside in the spring.
Main limiter would be whether people were riding in aero position or not I guess. Could lead to some good data and discussion, possibly.
Also might be easier to do multiple times as the race u mentioned is basically east coast only.
So, right now, we don’t have races—just group events. It’s just that the structure of the Rise and Grind & Hilly Vanilli rides make them roughly 55 minute 99% efforts.
It’s a question for Dan as to whether races would be something in the future. I tend to think the market needs more group events and structured training versus races, but that’s me.
U could totally be right. Maybe a monthly 20K or have STers hop into an existing TT. I would just kinda like to see some ST data on indoor to outdoor times. I am slow in Zwift compared to real life (not actual speed, but compared to others).
I know a lot of the difference is handling and aeroness but wonder how it all stacks up.
I’d love for a race series that takes place 1x per week, maybe a Tuesday or Wednesday, but mid afternoon. Say a start time of somewhere between 4:30 and 5:30, EST. That allows us to get home from work, grab a snack, warmup, and then race. Dinner as recovery and then we can actually fall asleep that night. I hate morning rides and the afternoon/evening leagues I’ve been able to find are closer to 7 or 8, which puts the end of the race close to 8 or 9… and I can’t sleep if I race hard that close to bed time. Maybe I’m alone, but I’d love to find a race series in that time frame. I’d even be willing to help set things up if we had someone with some experience to guide us.
Not that I’m opposed to adding a weekly race to the schedule, but this would be a Tuesday evening event that we’d be competing against: https://zwift.com/events/view/150163
5:05 PM EST start, 22 and change miles, A-D categories. Just to throw out there.
Is that a series or just a reoccurring race? I like what they are doing with the Wake and Grind Monday morning series where there are points, you’re racing against the same people every week etc., it’s just too damn early in the morning for me.
I honestly don’t know if it’s a series, but if my memory serves me correctly, this is a recurring event that changes “locations” weekly.
It hurts my soul to wake up at 4:30 for the Rise & Grind, but I know myself - if I don’t get up and get it done, I’m not going to get the workout in. So might as well put it to use.
I’d love a weekly TT or some sort of series - after all we are triathletes! Maybe so more people could participate, the time could be different each week - maybe a rotating schedule over the course of a month?? I’d personally love a start around 5 am, but that won’t work for all. Distance in the 10-15 mile range could work well, and some could probably use it as a rough FTP test.
Can i ride a course by myself? Sometimes i find it distracting if i’m riding in the NYC one and there are hundreds of riders everywhere. Occasionally i’d like to ride in the country without a million people everywhere.
I sometimes see screenshots of people riding on courses i’ve never seen before with no one around. Perhaps it’s because they are racing and in first position?
Is there a way to see the route for a workout? For example, a few weeks ago the Hilly Vanilli did several laps on a course in Central Park, and then hit a climb on the Sky Loop, which I did not see coming.
Can i ride a course by myself? Sometimes i find it distracting if i’m riding in the NYC one and there are hundreds of riders everywhere. Occasionally i’d like to ride in the country without a million people everywhere.
I sometimes see screenshots of people riding on courses i’ve never seen before with no one around. Perhaps it’s because they are racing and in first position?
Cam
sign on with internet, then disable internet. you’ll still be on course, but no one else will be around
Is there a way to see the route for a workout? For example, a few weeks ago the Hilly Vanilli did several laps on a course in Central Park, and then hit a climb on the Sky Loop, which I did not see coming.
it’s on the web or in Zwift Companion. Not (yet) within Zwift itself.
How come some of the races and group rides that i’m considering racing don’t have the length in the detail? Is there a way to find this out? I find it hard to believe that people will join a race/ride without knowing how long it is. Although maybe most people are way more familiar with the routes than I am, so if the race says 4 loops of ______, people just inherently know it’s 36km.
is it possible to select routes available to group rides but not currently to individual riders? for instance, one route in CP allows one to circle around the lower loop on CP (I think they call it the LaGuardia Loop), but it seems to be available only to races/rides, but otherwise unavailable to individual riders.
i’d like to use this route, as it’s mostly flat and is good for doing intervals (funny enough, did intervals on the real-life counterpart)