Although group rides on Zwift vary in terms of pacing and route selection, they are remarkably consistent in many ways. Here we’ve constructed a sort of “Ride Pyramid” illustrating the essential elements which make up all group rides on Zwift.
When you lose, don’t lose the lesson. If you don’t make it to the top of the Zwift race podium, it can be helpful to spend some time analyzing your race to determine what kept you from a win. This may help you spot areas of necessary improvement. It may also help you explain away the loss so you feel better about yourself.
Zwiftcast’s Simon Schofield was the first non-Zwift employee to ride on Zwift. But he famously neglected to opt into the “Climb Mt. Everest” challenge, placing him amidst the hordes of Zwifters who have accumulated thousands of meters of elevation which will never be applied to the coveted Tron bike.
The best part of the story is how, in very British fashion, Simon doubled down after realizing his error. He has repeatedly vowed to stay far from the slopes of Mt. Everest, having convinced himself that he has no need for a Tron bike. Note: unlike most of our charts, this one uses accurate data.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of this first set of Zwift charts? Got an idea for a useful chart we could put together? Share below!
I agree that there’s no real need for a Tron bike. For a month mid-May to mid-June I switched to the super heavy Safety Bike with the heavy Zipp 858/Super 9 wheel set for all my rides. I rode with A. Anquetil on Big Loop and for the Epic KOM climb the average power I needed to stay with her was 4.48wkg. Last week I switched back to the Tron Bike, and today rode Bigger Loop with AA. The power needed to stay with AA was 4.44wkg. So the difference between the Tron and Safety with Disc on Epic KOM was only 0.04wkg. I weigh 64kg, so that’s only 2.6watts different between the two bikes.
The Zipp 858/Super 9 is the key here. I just got myself a new safety bike + safety wheels and tried it out with the C. Cadence crew on Figure 8 last night and it’s a total pig. Heavy on the climbs and terrible rolling resistance for the flats and descents. The Buffalo bike with a disc wheel is decent though, so I’m sure the same applies to the safety bike.
You had me at “no real need”😂 Love, the Tron-less Simon.
Gday Eric, another couple of very accurate charts.. My racing loses are very much because of too much cake.. haha also group ride chart is bang on. You really do need those dad jokes thrown in.. The tron is good to have, but most of us don’t use it anymore anyway.. as always keep up the great work Eric..
Those two guys who finished ahead of me got DQ’d for no heart rate, AND one of them was a total bagger. I am the champion of the world.
#winning
I suggest a graphs of the change that Zwift needs to apply an update vs the amount of minutes before the race you want to enter starts.
I think there’s a strong inverse correlation.
Solid idea!
Likelihood of wifi dropout vs. Importance of race?
LOL. That’s a good one. I’ll add it to my list!
As someone who won his last race as a C (one of what would have only been 3 wins in my 6 months as a C), only to find out I wasn’t in the final standings because I had a wifi dropout as I crossed the line AND then found out that Cat Enforcement counted my effort (even though my results didn’t count in Zwift or ZP, CE grabs all efforts and counts them race or not, finished or not) and I was now a CE B, that one really hurts.
Man that’s awful. Hope the time in B goes well!
It takes 5 min to get the from bike,