Cycling Thread 2.0

Alright?

Say I’ve got a bike, a non-smart turbo trainer, a yoga mat, and nothing else. What’s the minimum extra kit I need for Zwyft?

(As cheap as possible pls)

Scroll down to “classic trainers” here: http://zwift.com/en/get-started/

if it’s listed then you’ll need a speed and cadence sensor and then you’re good to go.

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speed sensor i think is it, but you might also need a cadence sensor (they’re often sold together though). a heart rate monitor would be handy but don’t think you need one.

cadence sensor = pedal rpm
speed sensor = back wheel rpm

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i guess also, depending on what sensors you buy you’ll need to be able to connect them to whatever you’re running zwift on. so if that’s a computer you’ll need a bluetooth adapter if they’re bluetooth sensors or an ant+ adapter if they’re ant+. if you’re doing it through your phone / tablet etc then it should be easier to bluetooth them to that.

:upside_down_face:

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Is that lot going to be more expensive than buying the cheapest Zwyft-compatible trainer, do you reckon?

wtf is this

Cheap Polish equivalent.

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aye, easy. probably £40 ish for both the sensors. my bluetooth adapter was £5.

your computer might already have a bluetooth thing in it but mine didn’t

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Cool. See you on the information super highway soon!

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@japes what trainer did you get?

kinetic road machine. seems decent, never used one before though so idk

it’s got a “power meter” built in, though it’s not a “real” one as it only measures the speed of the fan inside the fluid rather than using strain gauges. apparently it’s not too far off if you calibrate it properly.

FTP test are fun aren’t they

got off the bike and had to hold on to the wall to stop from falling over lol

what’s the point of one please?

Calibrates your Functional Power output (highest average power output for an hour) and gives you a better idea for training zones. They are properly grim and hurt a lot.

it’s the measurement that all your other zones are derived from

like how you need to know your max heart rate to work out what bpm the other zones should be, like endurance is 70% of max HR or whatever it is. for power zones they use FTP (the maximum you can sustain for an hour) so in theory you can do 70% FTP forever and 150% FTP for 10 minutes or whatever it is

ah right I see

are you gonna get a power meter for the outside world?

maybe one day. it would definitely suit my ‘all the gear no idea’ style.

it’s more that all the training programs i’ll be doing on the turbo are based off power. so like do 10 minutes 50% then 5 mins 70% or whatever. also a good way to track if you’re getting any stronger.

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How closely does power correlate to bpm?

It must be pretty close, I’d have thought.

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yeah, it should correlate but the reason that power is favoured over heart rate is that power is constant. heart rate varies with temperature / fatigue / if you’ve had any caffeine etc and a bunch of other things it’s difficult to control, whereas power is always the same no matter what (in theory)

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I have absolutely no idea :upside_down_face:
but the few times i’ve followed any sort of training plan i’ve just taken power to mean heart rate