If you are searching for a beginner-friendly ride to develop your Zwifting skills, then check out the Rookie Group Ride hosted by RO4H. Every Sunday at 10am EST (3pm UTC), this led group ride is an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of social group riding in a friendly, collegial, and non-judgmental atmosphere.
Ride Goals
The goal of this ride is to provide an introduction to some of the basics of group riding unique to Zwift. The power of the group draft is emphasized, so we start the ride with tips on how you find, ride along, and stay within the ride leader’s peloton, the blob. We’ll also cover variable topics based on your questions – with a smattering of Zwift lore interjected. All questions are welcome, and no question is trivial.
For example, if you don’t know that the “leaf” symbol to the left of the HUD is the Feather PowerUp, then you are missing out on a bonus that may help you set a PR or assist in your trek up to the Radio Tower.
Regardless of our levels of experience, we all learn from each other. So all Zwifters, from experienced to novices, are welcome to ride along, share their knowledge, and build our Zwift community.
Pacing and Structure
The ride is structured to have an overall average pace of 15–16 mph (24–26 kph) traveling along mostly flat, mostly paved surfaced routes. The fence is utilized since it’s a helpful marker for riders to gauge their position relative to the ride leader. On the flats, we ride about 1.0–1.1 W/kg and stay well under 2 W/kg on any inclines. Of course, your w/kg will be different (unless you weigh 88 kg). We are not racing, despite the old adage that Zwift is always a race!
Since we’re accommodating a wide range of fitness levels, we understand that any pace will be a great effort for some while being effortless for others. Subsequently, the ride pace will trend slower rather than faster to maintain group cohesion. The leader strives to maintain the advertised pace as this is an unwritten obligation of the ride leader to the group.
Sweepers
We appreciate that you join a group ride to ride with others, but many folks aren’t sure of what pace they can ride, don’t know their W/Kg, and are concerned about keeping with the group. To assuage this potential anxiety, we have fantastic sweepers. They not only help dropped riders rejoin the peloton but also create a second or third pace group, so no one has to ride alone. Our sweepers are wise to the ways of Zwift and readily interject their wisdom into the conversations. You will learn that sweepers are the unsung stars of a social group ride because they truly unite the group.
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Zwift Companion Recommended
The concurrent use of the Zwift Companion (ZC) mobile app is recommended. ZC does many things, but for this ride, it helps with communication by letting you scroll through the chat messages, eliminating overlap from the on-screen group chat messages, letting you see the name of the person who wrote the chat messages, allowing you to direct messages to an individual rider in the group, and much more.
Wrapping It Up
If you are timid about joining a group ride or new to Zwift, if when you hear someone say, “The Blob,” you think of a classic sci-fi movie, or if you don’t know the difference between getting dropped or getting drops, then don’t be shy, check out the RO4H Rookie Group Ride. You’ll be glad that you did!
The RO4H Rookie ride is amazing. Zwifters helping Zwifters. If you’re an experienced Zwifter it’s a great way to get an extra 27km at a relaxed pace on a Sunday. Ive been Zwifting for 6 years and I learn something new every week. Tim is super knowledgeable.
RO4H is a great, supportive, fun group.
I’d done a few group rides before this one but still learned a lot from the ride leaders. It was a friendly group true to the advertised comfortable pace and I highly recommend it.
Thank you for the kind words. We really like hosting this ride and sharing some of the knowledge that we have accrued over the years of Zwifting. But mostly, we want folks, especially new riders, to have the tools necessary to get the most out of their group riding.
I wish this ride was available when I started Zwifting. A great service to the Zwift community old and new. Well done, Tim!
Just curious. You say: “Of course, your w/kg will be different (unless you weigh 88 kg).” Why ? (I am 88kg)
If you weight the same as I do, then to have the same watts/kg, we will produce the same watts. So the watts for those who don’t weight the same as us will be different in order to produce the same watts/kg as we do. For example, when we are making 1.1w/kg we are producing 97 watts. While a 68kg rider will require 75 watts for 1.1w/kg. Ideally it would be nice if everyone in the group weighed the same so we would all be making the same effort. Using w/kg as a metric to describe the groups pace is imprecise but close enough and is the convention on Zwift. I like to also add the anticipation speed in mph/kph to the ride description because some folks have a better feel what what effort a certain speed requires.
Tim, really great initiative, only ridden the first one (shame on me) but the practical instructions and information about Zwifting are really helpful. It sometimes can be thankless volunteering to support Zwift rides but you and the rest of the RO4H team are selfless when it comes to helping others whether they are new to Zwift or have been riding for a while. Don’t give up your passion because Zwift is a better place with RO4H 😊
BTW really nice article 👏
Hey Tim. The Cookie ride this morning was fantastic. You do a great job. I’ve done a number of group rides and always get left in the dust. Today was different and settled in with a group and thoroughly enjoyed it. See you next Sunday!
Ed Conaway