Muscles are where fat is burned. Muscle is the engine. The goals here are two-fold.
First, we are doing Zwift indoor cycling as part of our effort to burn fat. Outdoor riding and especially hill climbs are wonderful for this goal. We need specific efforts in indoor cycling to target fat burning. We need gears and a cadence that will incorporate our strength.
The second goal is retaining and increasing muscle mass. Aerobic exercise by itself will not build the strength we want. Strength exercise like weight lifting prevents the body from stealing unused muscle tissue for energy, protein, and nutrients. Don’t confuse thin with fit. If weight loss is mostly muscle loss, losing fat becomes more difficult.
The body does not like to burn fat. It requires more energy to convert fat into usable fuel than it does to burn simple sugars. To encourage the process of using stored body fat for fuel, we want to exercise early in the morning before eating. Our body should be using fat while we sleep and, in a true sense, we are fasting for those eight to twelve hours. This process will continue by lifting weights, cycling, and jogging. As soon as you increase your cycling or running to a high aerobic effort, you start to burn more calories than your body can provide by converting fat into fuel.
Eating right before exercise will only tell your body to burn those calories instead of using stored fat. There is a totally different approach for athletes before an intense race. Morning workouts will raise your metabolism for up to eighteen hours. Having more muscle through strength training will keep your resting metabolic rate (RMR) higher too.
Sprinting and anaerobic efforts kick your body into burning its supply of muscle glycogen. On the other hand, long endurance training can cause muscle loss. Your body may break down muscle tissue in your arms, back or chest to provide protein, energy, and nutrients to your body. This is why we need to keep calories, nutrients, and protein at the proper levels while reducing fat intake. Marathon runners and many Ironman competitors are training on the edge of what is possible. The risk of long endurance exercise includes overtraining, being under nourished, and suffering muscle deterioration. They may look ultra lean, but often they suffer hormone deficiencies, iron depletion, and training injuries. Leave that to the pros.
Strength training the whole body raises muscle mass. Additionally, it raises hormone levels. With sprinters, the muscle cells in their arms, shoulders, and chest store more fuel (as in carb loading) and provide more energy when needed. This is why a sprinter who uses weight training for only the leg muscles will not become a world champion. But look at well known sprinter is Usain Bolt’s upper body muscle structure!
Weight training is necessary. You might only be able to go once a week and lift. If so, work your entire body. I prefer to go twice a week and do half my body each time. Best scenario is to do some type of weights daily, even just a few minutes with a pair of light dumbbells. Personal trainers are in the best position to access your needs. Always stick to good form, perfect form. Don’t compromise form in order to lift more weight. Do the down movement slowly, eccentric movement. It is the hardest to do in a gym with other people because most don’t set a good example.
Sprinters benefit when they train their entire muscle system. Marathoners often suffer from deficient muscle mass.
Make a Schedule
The best scenario for power cycling is sixty minutes of low intensity exercise each and every day. A good level might also be something like 3 days of 45 minutes, 2 days of 20 minutes, and one day of 90 minutes, with one day open. The minimum amount of exercise is four sessions of 30 minutes each.
Make a Routine
After getting up early a few days in a row, you will want a day to sleep in. You can skip the bike, get up late, make some coffee. But then go for a walk outside or do 20 minutes of other exercise, such as the foundation exercise linked below. Don’t let yourself get lazy. That’s not an option.
If you wake up five minutes before your alarm goes off, that’s a bonus. It may seem hard to do all of this regularly. It will become much easier when it becomes an ingrained habit. Many sources say it takes three to five weeks of steady behavior before our body and mind reprograms. Until then, it may fight you from time to time. Expect a setback or two, a temporary weight gain, a lack of motivation, or some other diversion. It will get easier when your program becomes a habit, the normal routine.
Preparation will help your new routine. Before going to bed, lay out your clothing for the morning. Set up the coffee maker, pack your lunch for work. Take a minute and oil your chain. Check the tire pressure.Above all, make sure you get enough sleep, at least eight hours.
Drink Plenty of Water
Dehydration will not only hamper performance. It will hinder fat burning as well. I use filtered water with a splash of lime juice. I find I drink slightly more that way. Read a few more thoughts in the article Hydration for Zwifters.
Variety is the Spice
Keep it fresh. Change your weight routine without trying to add five pounds every workout. Find some new music on Pandora or YouTube. Enter a race, try a group ride, or do a different type of workout. Only did 3 of 6 sections? So what? Next time try to do 4. The improvement is more important than the success.
On the Bike
You might want to ride a straight 45 to 60 minutes every day in a gear that puts your cadence under 80 rpms. Intervals break up the monotony of long segments. Please, don’t use a huge gear that will make your knees ache. Everyone is different. (I am giving general directions but I am not a personal trainer.) All advice has to be tailored to your level of fitness and ability. It is safest to consult a professional that will help you individually.
Note the effort is in the blue zone. This is a fairly easy ride. You might want to skip the yellow and red sections. Green is medium, yellow is a bit harder. Orange is hard and red is very hard. Remember, the high levels are burning very little fat. If you are gasping for air, then your body has to burn glycogen, sugars, and carbs.
Note this is a very long workout. It does use the blue and green zones well. Don’t forget, when you use a workout like this, you can skip ahead by hitting the tab button. Use it to shorten your warm-up or finish early. I left the Zwift ad in there on purpose.
Core Training, Foundation Work, and Weight Training
I have found these videos to be of great benefit personally. There are many other programs and routines available. Check the source and their credentials. As stated everywhere: “Check with your Doctor especially regarding any health conditions you may have.”
I have been taught through the Colgan Institute and reflect a lot of that in my training, diet, and advice. I am always learning more on nutrition and diet.
Does the urge to sing – or lip sync if you’re a bit breathless – ever overcome you while Zwifting?
If it does, then the Zwiftcast LipSync Challenge could be a fun chance to win some Zwift swag or Spotify or iTunes vouchers over the holidays.
“It’s super simple really”, says Simon Schofield, host of the Zwiftcast podcast. “We just need to see a short video clip of your best lip sync efforts whilst Zwifting. Me and fellow hosts Shane Miller and Nathan Guerra will judge the best three – and they get a load of swag and vouchers!” Simon adds:
“I think we’re looking for clips showing Zwifters overwhelmed by the twin passion of a great tune and that exercise high you get every so often whilst Zwifting.”
Solo performances are cool, says Simon, but duets work too. Simon has put a video together (see below) with an example of a good ZwiftLipSync and details of how to enter the contest, which has a closing date of January 2nd.
It’s best to post your video entries on YouTube or Twitter. If it’s Twitter, using the hashtag #zwiftcastlipsynchallenge will help and if on YouTube, just ping a quick e-mail to Simon letting him know you’ve uploaded an entry. His address is [email protected].
The only other advice is to keep the clips short – around 15 seconds is an ideal length.
Good luck Zwifters and let’s see some passionate performances!
As of today ZwiftBlog has officially been renamed to Zwift Insider.
First, a Little Background…
When I began building this site over two years ago, I wasn’t sure what it would become. At that time there was a clear need for a public, community-driven website that answered Zwifters’ questions, publicized events, and generally served as a hub of information for all things Zwift.
I wasn’t sure if ZwiftBlog would become that site, but I knew Zwift was a game-changer in the cycling world, and I could be a part of the movement. So I took a simple blog live and began posting articles.
Honestly, I spent way too much time in the following months writing hundreds of posts, running speed tests, creating maps, and analyzing new routes. But it was all so much fun!
The Current Situation
Today we’ve got a team of 30+ dedicated Zwifters posting on a variety of topics. We’ve also begun partnering with top community members like Zwiftcast, Zwift Community Live, TeamODZ and Shane Miller to share the incredible content they are creating.
Our partnership with Zwift HQ is also now official: they are giving us advanced notice on events, game updates and more so we can have quality, informative articles ready to share when the time is right. Zwift is also helping to cover some of our regular monthly expenses (with the agreement that Zwift will in no way influence site content decisions.)
Why the Name Change?
ZwiftBlog has become much more than a simple blog. It’s now a community-driven hub of information for all things Zwift… and it’s only going to get better. It deserves a less generic name.
On top of this, Zwift has their own corporate blog which they are now updating regularly–this is the real “Zwift Blog.” Our new name will help clarify the difference, especially for Zwift newbies.
What’s Next?
We’re just beginning to take this to the next level. The Zwift Insider team will continue to deliver quality, timely content for the Zwift community. We’ll endeavor to share the best content created by the community. And we’re even expanding our online store to include inspiring pain cave posters and Zwift Insider swag!
It’s all going to be a lot of fun, and I hope you’ll hang with us for the ride.
Zwift’s feature requests forum is full of game improvement ideas from dedicated Zwifters. Zwift marks these posts as planned or completed, and Zwifters can upvote and comment to encourage implementation of a particular request.
Here are the top five “no status” feature requests, with some comments. (Anything marked as planned or completed has been left off this list along with some feature requests that don’t apply anymore or are duplicates.)
Allow Save Without Exit
It’s is only a matter of time before this arrives. In the grand scheme of things this isn’t the biggest piece of work to implement and I’m sure it’s been pushed to the back of the queue in favor of more flashy updates (e.g. new maps). I recon it will arrive in 2018 and be welcomed by all.
This request is 3 years old now and it would be ideal for practising sprints or perhaps performing an FTP test but I’m not sure how high up the ladder this request is. I can’t imagine the Velodrome being the standard 250 meter track if it was implemented as it would soon become over crowded within the game and you could easily lose sight of your rider. Having multiple velodrome instances would fix this, but the bigger questions is, will it arrive? Perhaps one day, but I would expect to wait a couple more years at least for it.
Yes, I think this will arrive one day, but like the “Save without exit” it’s a small request in a big field. I don’t believe it would take much effort to implement, but as Zwift is still a small company they need to apply their resources efficiently. A year or two at best before we see this one drop.
This feature is about trying to view a particular rider anywhere on Zwift, whether that person is racing or just riding along and also having the ability to roam via a camera and/or drone.
Perhaps a little controversial among those who commentate on the game but I don’t see this feature coming at any point. I believe only a few people will find it useful and as it won’t appeal to the masses this won’t be high up on the list of things to do at Zwift HQ.
There is already a manual hack to change the world you’re riding in, but how about being able to apply that to group rides and races, so these events happen in a different world than what Zwift has scheduled for the day?
I was always led to believe that the reason for not officially being able to pick a world was due to the fact that some worlds might become too quiet (Richmond for example). But would that matter if you were racing or part of a group ride? In my eyes I don’t think it would matter and being able to give the option to event organisers is only a good thing. I know event organisers are asking for a lot at the moment and I don’t know how much work it would be to give this feature to a select few but I do feel it would be well received.
So, will it arrive anytime soon? No. I’m all for the feature myself, but as with some of the others on this list, I feel it’s at the back of the queue.
Zwift has released the latest update, which in the words of Jon Mayfield “… includes a lot of smaller fixes and features we wanted to get out to everybody now, up ahead of a larger release we are still working on.” Here are a few of the items included, with my notes in italics:
Added 10,000 calorie mission, active through Jan 14th: riding for 1 hour at 200 watts burns roughly 700 calories, so this is a 14 hour challenge at that pace. Learn more by reading “How Many Calories Am I Actually Burning?“
Added confirmation dialog when deleting activities of substantial length: it’s no fun accidentally deleting your activity. I know from personal experience!
Distance and time based events that don’t have a race results popup now have a simple finish screen: a good change which will result in a less confusing experience for non-race group events.
You can no longer change your weight once you have joined a group ride: this will at least stop a few weight dopers who don’t plan ahead 🙂
Group workouts speed up inclines has been increased: thank goodness! Those 2mph climbs were no fun.
Fixed issue with avatar’s hair sometimes disappearing around holidays (ie, Christmas and Thanksgiving): this seems to be the beginning of a joke, but I’m not sure what the punchline is.
Winter Training: Oreo Cookies Do Not Mix with the McCarthy Special
Editor’s note: Dr. Nick Green is writing a series of posts documenting his winter training progress as he works to drop weight, build power, and be ready to take Strava KOM’s when spring rolls around. Browse his past posts here.
Warning – numbers ahead!
Following the ‘joy’ of the fitness testing, I dove into my first structured training ride on Zwift. The ride of the choice was the “McCarthy Special“. If you haven’t checked it out yet, following a ten minute warm up there is a three minute effort at your FTP, followed by three minutes at 112% of FTP and another three at 125% of FTP. These efforts are followed by nine minutes of 63% of FTP before repeating the cycle two more times. For this first attempt, my wattages worked out to 243 watts, 272 watts and 304 watts with the nine minute cool down between efforts being 152 watts.
The first try at this workout went surprisingly well. The first repetition was great, I would even say somewhat easy. Now the second repetition through was decidedly more difficult, with the end of the 304 watt effort being quite challenging. By the end of the third block of efforts, the fan was just not doing enough to keep cool, and the towel was ready for the laundry.
Red Line – Heart rate, Pink Line – Wattage
Interesting for me to see a max heart rate during this ride of 160 bpm… that’s almost max!
The following three days allowed for two more hour long Zwift rides, as well as a 60km solo ride on what has become the last nice outdoor ride of the year.
This was followed up by one of the early lessons I’ve learned on Zwift. Although my coworkers are great cooks, one of them tempted us with several bags of Oreo Cookies. Despite my drive to slim down, cookies have always been a weakness. The lesson learned: never push your body after eating food the quality of an Oreo. By the second repetition I was unable to push through the 304 watt effort, and the third attempt the 304 effort was abandoned after a minute and a half.
At this point in the journey, there really hasn’t been any appreciable increases in performance, although the Critical Power graph keeps getting minor bumps towards higher power output. It’s the Critical Power graph that is quickly becoming my favorite post ride metric, as it shows how hard (or not!) the ride has gone, and if there have been any improvements to performance during the effort. It’s the post ride feedback my analytical mind was missing from stationary training without Zwift.
The next installment will include some attempts to increase maximum wattage, and an attempt to train through the pain of a recurring back injury. Until then… Ride On!
Zwift has just taken a real-time status monitor live at status.zwift.com.
The system, powered by statuspage.io, monitors several separate Zwift services and delivers the current status of each:
Login: logging into Zwift, Zwift.com, and Zwift Companion
Ride: free riding in Zwift’s virtual worlds
Events: in game signup, joining, and participation in events
Workouts: in game workout activities and plans
Partner Connections: uploading to third-party connections such as Strava, Garmin, Training Peaks, etc.
The new status page also displays a daily incident log (including one from yesterday where some users were having login issues and reported riding alone.)
The creation of this status page has been a topic of conversation for many months now, so we’re happy to see it up and live. Now when Zwifters encounter a connectivity issue they can check this page instead of posting a question in Zwift Riders. If the status page shows Zwift is having a problem, Zwifters know it’s a system wide issue and they can keep checking status.zwift.com for continued updates.
Editor’s note: Scott Paciorek undertook a 24-hour ride as part of the World Bicycle Relief Zwiftathon on December 2, 2017. This is the story of that ride, in his own words.
On December 1st I started on a 24 hour journey into the unknown. I mean, I knew I could ride at least 6 hrs as I have done that before. But 24 hours was uncharted territory! I had no idea what would happen, I had no idea how the body would react, where the mind would take me. So I gathered up my gear and headed out to my church gym wondering what would await me. Would there be people at the gym? Would anyone be there to cheer me on or say “good luck?”
And So It Begins
I arrived at 5:30pm to a cold empty gym. I asked myself again, “Why?” Then at 6:00pm the journey began.
I set out in London riding the flat course on Zwift. I chose the flat courses as I felt it would give me the best chances to not be over tired at the end. The plan was simple: ride 6 hours, get off the bike, stretch, eat, bathroom etc… but no more than 20 minutes. I could not let the lactic acid set in.
Two hours in I felt it… uncomfortable rubbing from my bibs. My first thought was to ride through it and see if it got better. Thirty mins later I made the decision to stop and change bibs. Six hour ride plan broken, now what? Get back on the bike and push on.
I then noticed people I know through Zwift joining the ride and joining me on Discord (in game chat app). I said to myself, “Here we go.” (You don’t realize the importance of riding with friends until you set out to ride 24 hours. More on this later.) I was being encouraged and distracted at the same time and friends would join and leave and join and leave as the night went along. I did some rough calculations that if I kept riding the London Flat course I would end up doing 55 laps or so. I shuddered at the thought or riding in a circle like that, but my fellow riders would seem to make that bearable.
Approaching 6 hours I was at 100 miles and kept riding to see if I would change courses automatically. That didn’t happen, so I stopped to switch over to the new course for the rest of my ride. I got off the bike and took the planned break, walk, stretch and bathroom. A little past midnight and I have a century under my belt and feeling good.
Watopia Time, 6 Hours In
On to Watopia and roughly 18 hours of riding left. Every pedal stroke at this point was uncharted territory. I have never ridden this far and did not know what to expect. Would I have the legs to do this? Was my mind ready? Was the equipment ready? Who knew? God did. I said a prayer and climbed back on the bike and away I went into the unknown.
This is the time span that I dreaded most. I thought if I was going to quit it would be during the hours between 1-6am.
Leg 2 began as uneventfully as the start of the ride I was on Watopia and riding with friends and chatting on Discord. The ability to chat with someone as I rode was a mental life saver. Throughout the night friends would jump on and ride for a while with me, so there was never a time I remember being alone, whether virtually or in real life. My wife arrived at 1:30am and sat with me until 7 a.m. and I cannot thank her enough. Just her presence gave me strength to carry on. As I rode overnight my mind wandered and I asked myself “why?” only to be followed up with a “because it is there and this is a test.” I felt as if you were to chop my head off my legs would have continued to spin. It became almost mechanical at this point. I had been riding for well over 12 hours when the sun came up.
Day Breaks, 12+ Hours In
As the day broke friends and church members came by to wish me well and bring me food, although I think the real reason was to see how a crazy man was doing. Daylight! Less than 12 hours to go and this would be over. I received a message that said at my current pace I could do 400 miles. The decision was clear if at 24 hours I was reasonably close then, 400 miles it was going to be.
Noon time rolled around and it was time for a break. Twenty minutes max was all I afforded myself for fear of lactic acid settling. Off the bike and to the restroom I went, changed bibs and realized quickly I had nothing for lunch. “Scott what were you thinking?” My mind raced and I was unclear on what to do. then I realized I had some Smucker’s Uncrustables still left from the night before. They may not have been the lunch I was thinking of but they would fill the void and prevent me from getting hungry on the bike.
The Last Leg
Back on the bike I went and was looking at the last leg of this journey. I was exhausted but at the same time was motivated to get this done. Half an hour back on the bike a friend showed up with every cyclist’s go to fuel: PIZZA! Yes prayers were answered a pizza box was handed to me and I immediately began to eat. Life was good again and I felt rejuvenated. My third (or was it fourth?) wind kicked in and I was left alone from 2-4:30pm with my thoughts. This is when the reality of what I was doing hit me. Twenty-four hours on a trainer and Zwift and 400 miles. Holy cow! Was I crazy, or did I really just want to challenge my mind and body?
4:30 approached and visitors came in to wish me well or just watch. Not sure which one it was but I was glad for the company.
Kickr Disaster Averted
Zwifters I normally ride with were now appearing and Discord chatter increased. I had one ear on Discord and one ear for the people in the gym with me. I was feeling good and was ready to finish and then it happened: my chain started skipping all around the rear cogs. I couldn’t believe and quickly told the riders with me to stop I had a mechanical issue and will be back ASAP.
I jumped off the bike to inspect and noticed my bike had become undone from the dropout and Kickr disaster averted! Reset the bike on the trainer and jumped back on for the finish. Now it was adrenaline and sheer willpower. Closing in on 24 hours I was at 390ish miles and the decision was made to continue on until I achieved 400 miles.
Journey’s End
24 hours and 20 minutes after the journey started, I was at 401 miles and it was over. Emotions drained, physically exhausted and mentally scrambled I finished. It was then I took inventory of my body. Feet OK, Legs heavy and sore, saddle interface sore and painful, pinky and ring fingers on both hands numb.
A week later and I still have numbness in my hands but it seems to be easing.
The Stac Zero trainer (available from Clevertraining.com) sits in a rather unique spot of the market. To this date, it’s the only crowd-funded project trainer that successfully made it to the market. (It’s also the only crowdfunding project that I supported which shipped on time.) It’s a wheel-on trainer, but there’s no contact between the wheel and the trainer. As a result, it could be the ultimate sound-free trainer. In the version I own, it’s also one of the cheapest trainers on the market with a built-in power meter. All of that is greatly summarized by DC Rainmaker’s hands-on of the trainer in summer 2016.
After reading his hands-on, it took me only a day to cease my participation in the disastrous LIMITS power meter campaign. Based on my personal experience, I have since recommended this trainer many times. This review summarizes my perspective one year later.
It folds away quite nicely.
To date, I haven’t fully understood the naming of the Stac Zero trainer. It’s possible that they stacked up some of their early prototypes and figured that they really don’t take any space. Really: this trainer has been sitting in a tiny niche all summer.
You could store it in a Japanese container apartment. You could take it in a trolley and fly with it around the globe. Just for the fun of it, I fitted it in a trolley that I use on EasyJet and Ryanair flights. Read: yes, it fits in your hand luggage. I’m not sure it would pass the security check, however.
Setup
This review won’t include an unboxing, because it’s my second season with the trainer. Instead, here’s the un-storing in a short series of photos.
(1) You fold out the legs. Pay attention when you carry it not to get your fingers caught between them. It can hurt. Ask my girlfriend how mad she was with me.
(2) You put it on the floor, open the quick-release of the magnets (not strictly necessary) and increase the gap between the two bits that will hold your frame. They are able to hold the bike on any quick-release skewer, but they also work with alternative axles: this season, I forgot to exchange my Pitlock with a quick-release and only noticed it after the first ride.
(3) You put your bike at about the right position and then tighten those screws. Do it symmetrically. I find it a bit difficult to decide when I have tightened it enough. Usually, I tighten generously, then give it a try and untighten them a bit if I hear tension in the frame. The broken piece on the trainer was damaged on delivery. It didn’t like the long flight, apparently. After the initial batch, the Stac Zero guys improved their packaging, however, so this shouldn’t happen again.
Reading these three steps takes more time than doing any of this. Anyways.
(4) Next you pull these little screws on the side of each magnet. That allows you to rotate the magnet and bring it parallel to the rim. Your rim needs to have an alloy surface, because carbon is not magnetic. Once they are in the right position, the magnets neatly fit back. Almost neatly in my case. One of the two seems to have escaped the eyes of quality control and doesn’t fit in all the way; but the magnets are stable.
Including taking pictures, switching between different rooms, rolling out the floor mat and setting up the sweat catcher, this took me five minutes and zero tools. However, one of Stac Zero’s weaknesses is the setup repeatability. You use a quick lever to adjust the distance between the magnet and the rim. Without any aid, getting the same exact distance on two different occasions takes a bit of luck and guess work. Even if your preferred distance is not pre-set, this tool helps massively. Variations in the setup (i.e. how much more or less watt I’d pedal in the same gear at the same cadence) have not been higher than 10w, in my experience.
If, for whatever reason (e.g. different wheel size), you need to adjust the position of not just the magnets, but of the whole resistance unit, you can do this with a regular Allen key. It takes loosening and tightening two screws. Obviously, that also makes the trainer very maintenance friendly.
Battery housing
The power meter needs three AA batteries to operate. I had to change them only once since owning the trainer, coincidentally a week ago. The battery housing is the third bit of the trainer that gave away the prototype character of the Stac Zero concept. It was a bit finicky to get the battery holder to exchange the batteries out of the housing, because there is very little space. I keep this in past tense, because the company has updated the battery since. It’s now a Li-Ion battery that is recharged via USB.
One more thing: On the Stac, the rear wheel sits 5cm above the floor. Hence, the bike might lean forward. I found that uncomfortable. I had been too lazy to get my old Elite front wheel stand from the basement, so I just took two pairs of broken jeans. Conveniently, I had also been too lazy to throw them away yet. They even give a more realistic feel to the whole thing. I should make it a Kickstarter, maybe. But on Indiegogo.
Silence
Stac Zero claims to be the most silent trainer on the market. DC Rainmaker agreed on that. I originally made some audio samples myself to demonstrate it. Here are five audio samples:
Cycling at 120w:
Cycling at 120w, in the background you can hear the GCN show on the weak speakers of a Microsoft Surface Pro 3:
Cycling at 200w:
Cycling at 200w, again with the GCN show:
Cycling at 200w, while I’m talking in the phone, no more or less loud than usual:
My face was 30cm on top of the phone and I was talking right into it. The computer was 50cm on the side and not directed at the phone. The phone was mounted on the handlebar. I haven’t cleaned my drive train since July and gave it fresh grease for the last time in September. Because, you know… I was a bit lazy.
There’s still sound from the bike. But how much really? I also add this video, courtesy of the Triathlon Magazine Canada. They compared the sound from the Stac Zero with the one from a Blackburn Tech Magic 5 and a Kurt Kinetic Rock and Roll, and they add a decibel meter. Oddly, they find that the Kurt is as silent as the Stac Zero. What’s going on here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIO7rMYcc4Uab
On the Stac Zero, the only sound generated is from the drive train. As you pedal faster, there will be more noise. On the Kurt, sound comes from the drive train and from the resistance unit. Also their noise levels increase with speed. However, it is possible that the rear wheel spins faster on the Stac Zero at a given power output. Hence, for 200w, you’d have more noise from the drive train. The noise from the resistance unit will, at lower power levels, be more silent than the noise from the drive train. Only at higher power levels, it might start to dominate. To conclude: the Stac Zero is built for silence, but how audible the advantage is depends on your power profile. You’ll definitely never hear any trainer sound. No high-pitched buzzing.
Sweat
When Stac Zero launched their campaign, they faced some skepticism about their claimed resistance power. They say that the trainer could build up to 2000w resistance. I’m not the right person to formally test it out, as I’m not Marcel Kittel. My maximum 5s power to this date is about 650w (about a week ago). I’m riding a 50/34 and 12/30 compact setup. At that level, I was in my highest gear, pushing out a cadence of about 100rpm (I’m talking about 5s averages.) Consider that a better rider might do 110rpm on a 53/11 gearing. You could expect (or calculate) that without changing the distance of the magnets (i.e. changing the default resistance of the trainer), this guy might push out about 20-25% more peak power.
There was no big movement in the trainer, but I didn’t dare do it out of the saddle. Last season, I had done a similar sprint with less tension on the frame and had found it to be too unstable. When I had gone out of the saddle, the trainer tilted a bit and I was afraid it would flip over. That limits peak power; a wider base could be a remedy, and I can imagine various custom hacks to achieve that. A stronger rider will also induce less wobble at higher power, because his body will be more stable.
This year, apparently I have more tension on the frame and things are more stable. When I go out of the saddle (e.g. during climbing), I do not have any issues with the wheel touching the magnets (a recurring issue of last year). However, with my current FTP at 201w, I can use my 50/12 in sprint intervals. A better trained rider might want to decrease the distance between the rim and the magnet. I’m currently using a setting that’s slightly easier than the second level (of three levels) of the distance calibration tool they provide. In other words: I’m not exploiting the Stac Zero yet for real.
To sum it up, let’s assume you’re able to produce about three times your FTP during a sprint effort: If your FTP does not exceed 250w, you’ll be fine with a 50/12 setup and the Stac Zero. Beyond that, you might want to switch to a 53/11, though I assume you’d already have it on your bike at that level. With 53/11, I speculate that 1300-1400w comes close to the maximum power that the Stac Zero can take under realistic conditions. That matches also with the indications on Clevertraining.com. Unfortunately, I can’t test it out.
I never had wrong power readings from the trainer. Any dropouts that I encountered on Zwift were WiFi related. The ANT+ connection works flawless. I use it with the [amazon_textlink asin=’B004YJSD20′ text=’Suunto Movestick Mini’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’zwif-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’40bef2e5-e0f3-11e7-937c-b3e7d41f55e9′].
Swag
The Stac Zero is a clever trainer, but not a smart trainer. The resistance unit is not controllable. You need to set your resistance level before the ride. When they entered the market, the brains behind this trainer indicated that a smart resistance unit might be on the way for the 2017 season. They presented a fully functional prototype in fall 2017 at Interbike, but suggested that it would very likely not go on sale before the 2018 season – after beta-testing. That shouldn’t hold you back from buying the trainer if you like the concept. The prototype is compatible with the first generation trainer. The team has indicated that the final product shall be compatible as well, so an upgrade is possible. For details on this, please go and visit DC Rainmaker. After you finished reading the rest of this article. And, of course, come back.
The trainer exists in a version with and without power meter. I do not have a second power meter to compare against. Or, I do have one lying around… but that one is a LIMITS, and that’s as good as not comparing it to a power meter at all. For what it’s worth, below is a big batch of comparisons between the two from last January. The take-away: the Stac Zero power meter does not need a warm-up time, operates consistently, reacts immediately to variations in power, and has no weird power spikes or dropouts. Except when I stop because I forgot to fill the bottle. Or to turn on the fan. Or to switch the light off. Below is a sample chart from a random Zwift workout.
Oh, and I should speak about the wheel weights. I don’t use the wheel weights, so I almost forgot. The trainer ships with weights that you would attach to the spokes. Their purpose is to turn the back wheel into a full fly wheel; this should make for smoother pedaling and for a more realistic feel. Until recently, they were not compatible with asymmetric spokes. My back wheel has asymmetric spokes. An updated design of the weights does work with asymmetric wheels as well. I can’t say anything about how they change the feeling. However, I personally don’t need them most of the time. Only when my cadence drops below 70, i.e. when I do tractor pulls, do I feel that the resistance is not as smooth as it could be.
There’s also an app for the Stac. I have installed it on my phone, but I have virtually never used it except for updating the firmware. The app connects to the trainer via Bluetooth. It includes a mini game (“Call your watts”, in which you set a watt goal and then try to hold it for a specified time), a workout log (of workouts you do within the app) and some diagnostic capabilities that will be useful if something is wrong. Nothing is wrong over here. The app gets the core functionality wonderfully right. The additional gimmicks I find unnecessary and not too well implemented. (For instance, when my screen turns off during the mini game, it’s interrupted when I turn the screen on again.)
Summary
The Stac Zero is a textbook example of innovation through simplification. Apple built an empire with that concept. I don’t think the market for bike trainers is quite as big. I also don’t think they have the retailer power that Apple had. The Stac Zero will remain a niche product, but it has its market.
It’s the trainer for people that search an extremely simple yet modern trainer that is easy to store and carry and does not produce intrusive sounds. The Stac Zero (with power meter) targets the segment of the Wahoo Kickr Snap (a wheel-on trainer) and the Tacx Flux (a direct-drive trainer). In some ways, it’s easier to use, while in others, it’s a bit more quirky than those two. At this moment, it does not have a controllable resistance unit. It’s still the better choice than the Flux if silence and price are more important than varying resistance, and it’s the better choice than the Kickr Snap if you want a contactless trainer instead of a smart trainer. Once the Stac Zero comes with a controllable resistance unit, I’d give it the edge over either of the two and, given the price, very likely the rest of the competition.
+ great portability, usually less noise, easy maintenance, very low failure rate, no setup cost, no power cord needed, tested power accuracy within +/-2%, calibration-free power meter.
– plastic pieces feel a bit flimsy, access to the batteries is a bit finicky, repeatability of the setup is less straightforward than how it looks, base could be a bit wider to provide more stability for higher power output
o might not achieve the full claimed 2000w, but will be enough for most riders anyway, and can be tweaked to higher watt with narrower magnet distance configuration and a 53/11 gearing
Jon Mayfield himself revealed during the last hours of the World Bicycle Relief Zwiftathon that more than 20,000 miles (or 32,000 km) were from Apple TV Zwifters. I guess this probably means at least 500 or more Apple TV users during that 24 hours–impressive!
The last update was version 1.0.22144 on December 1. It fixed some bugs such as the display problem with Apple TV 4K on older 720p TV sets, but some bugs are still alive.
It also seems clear from the number of posts in Zwift Riders and Zwift iOS and tvOS Users that Zwift for Apple TV has many users and that the number is increasing. Many but not all posts are from happy Zwifters.
We have seen more frequent mentions of problems with pairing devices, maintaining connectivity with devices, crashes, and rides not being uploaded. For sure this is because of more users, and most users probably do not experience problems. If you do it can be very hard to find out what causes the problem because you cannot access log files and such from your Apple TV.
My advice is to contact Zwift support directly using the ‘Submit a ticket’ button or the chat function on https://support.zwift.com to try to resolve the issue.
For some problems there are workarounds. Read on for more tips and tricks.
I cannot select my TrainingPeaks custom workout!
If you have linked your TrainingPeaks account to Zwift your planned workouts for the day are uploaded automatically to Zwift into the TrainingPeaks Custom Workouts folder.
The issue is that if only one workout is uploaded for that day you probably cannot select the workout. It remains greyed out and cannot be selected.
There is trick you can use.
Make sure that you have more than one workout in TrainingPeaks for the day – then you will be able to select either of them in Zwift. You can simply duplicate the workout in TrainingPeaks with copy & paste:
Zwift Companion drops connection
It seems that pairing multiple devices using Zwift Companion give some Zwifters problems.
The way you can use Zwift Companion as an intermediary to connect multiple Bluetooth devices to the Apple TV (which also has Bluetooth channels for itself) is quite ingenious. However, if the connection drops between Zwift Companion and Zwift it may also cause an annoying drop in power, heart rate, and cadence if the loss of connection is more than just a brief occurrence. This is extremely hard if not impossible to troubleshoot on your own– hopefully something we will get improvements for this in later versions.
Until then: Try to simplify you setup as much as possible, but you may have to get assistance from Zwift Support to troubleshoot it. Making sure that Zwift Support knows about your problem is also your best hope of getting the developers at Zwift to improve the software.
Music, lots of music…
You cannot run Netflix and Zwift at the same time on Apple TV, but you can play music and run Zwift at the same time
You’ll have to start the music in iTunes (or any other music app for Apple TV) before you start Zwift.
Hit menu a couple of times to get back to the home screen (music is playing), start Zwift, pair up devices and ride while listening to your own choice in soundtrack.
With the Apple TV remote: Music can be paused with the Play/Pause button but cannot be started again. Track skip does not work.
With a universal remote like a Harmony: Track skip works but you cannot pause the music.
With the Apple TV remote app for iOS: Track skip, Fast Forward, and Rewind is possible.
With the Apple Remote App for iOS (not to be confused with the ATV Remote app): From the Now Playing screen you can Play, Pause, Fast Forward, and Rewind, and track skip. You even get album art. The only catch is that you have to have Home Sharing enabled on the Apple TV to use this app.
John R. Uppard gave another great tip in Zwift iOS and tvOS Users:
Another possibility is to start iTunes (or Spotify or whatever) on your iPhone then AirPlay it to Apple TV. You then will have both music and game sound while you can control the playlist directly from your phone.
Force close can fix different worlds on ATV and in Zwift Companion
There is still several reports of Zwift showing one world and Zwift Companion another, especially around the time when the world changes.
This is a know issue related to old data not being cleared, but force closing the Mobile Link app should solve the issue.
If this does not fix the problem, force close the Apple TV app as well: Double click the home button on the Apple TV remote and close the app like by swiping up on the remote.
Friends are picked – even if you want to be alone…
It is still a minor annoyance that the first friend in the ‘Join’ panel is checked even if you do not click on him/her. It happens when you move up to pick a workout/route or move back down, so just be aware that you do not suddenly get to ride with some when you planned on something else.
User/password not remembered
There has been a few reports about user and password not being remembered (correctly) on tvOS as well as iOS but it does not seem to be a widespread problem. There does not seem to be a work-around for this so contact Zwift Support if you cannot get the username and password to ‘stick’.
To be continued…
We are looking forward to what happens next with Zwift for Apple TV and will be back with updates, tips, and tricks.
