LM Zwift Meet up - Set Up
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So Zwift is basically an app that allows us cycle together virtually.
What is needed? You need hardware and you need three Apps.
Hardware.
1. A turbo or smart trainer. At the very minimum you need a basic turbo with a cadence sensor (pedal speed) and a speed sensor (wheel speed) on your bike. A recommended sensor set is here https://retail.cigalacycling.com/.../bundle-wahoo-rpm... The advantage of this is it is relatively cheap and it will do the job, the disadvantage is it wont provide feedback - which a smart trainer does. You go uphill, it gets harder..... etc....
2. A bike.
3. A laptop, tablet/phone to run Zwift (not all tablets/phones can run Zwift- I have a Samsung TabA which cant. Basically if Zwift doesnt show up on Google Play Store, your device is not compatible).
4. A separate tablet/smartphone to run Discord (explain below)
5. A towel, gallons of water and a fan if you can get your hands on one.
6. Heartrate monitor is useful but not essential.
Apps. You need 3 Apps (this sounds complicated, but it's not really)
1. Zwift. This is the App you will be using for the cycling. The cyclist on the screen is you, the harder you pedal, the faster you go. The cyclists around you are us. This is on my laptop in front of my bike. Zwift costs about €15/month. I think there is a 7 day free trial?
2. Zwift Companion. This is a separate App to Zwift linked. I have Zwift Companion on my tablet. It is used to accept the invitation to our Wednesday Meetups. It is also used to join any ot the many events or races that happen every week on Zwift. When you accept the Meetup in Zwift Companion, it tells Zwift (by some magic) so when you log into Zwift the Meetup is ready to go. You dont need to use this App while you are cycling.
3. Discord. This is an App we use to talk to each other during our sessions. This link https://discord.gg/eg5kFgGj is the Liquid Motion channel we use. When you dial into it you are in a phone conference. I also have Discord on my tablet with earphones - on the table beside me in the photo.
How it works.
Zwift needs to know two things, your weight (which you enter as you are setting up Zwift app initially) and how hard you are peddling (power). The cadence and speed sensors or the smart trainer speaks to Zwift (again by magic) and Zwift then calculates your power. It uses your weight and power to calculate your virtual speed. So for example, a person who is 70kg putting out 100watts will be faster than someone who is 100kg putting out 100watts.
Zwift (via Zwift Companion) allows us to do a couple of useful things.
Meetups - what we will be doing on Wednesday evenings. Basically we will be setting up private cycles in Zwift world for our group, we will not see any other riders on the route except our own group. We will make a setting which will keep us together regardless of ability.
Workouts - these are like traditional turbo interval sessions, for example 5mins Zone 2, 2 mins Zone 5 × 5 repeats. This is what we intend to move onto on Wednesday evenings.
Events - as mentioned above there are hundreds of cycles or races available every week to join if you are mad enough.
Liquid Motion Meet ups
Wednesday Evenings 19:30.
You need to download the Zwift Companion app on your phone and search for and follow Ciaran Maguire. This is in order to receive the invitation to the meet up.
You will receive an invitation to a "Meetup" by Wednesday afternoons on Zwift Companion, if you are doing the session, accept it.
If you wish to chat, we will be using Discord, the LM Channel is https://discord.gg/eg5kFgGj
Log on Wednesday evenings before 19:30, join the Meetup and away we will go.
Workouts.
Enter the meet up - click on MENU in Zwift - click WORKOUTS in the top right
pick the workout that has been sent out on Whatsapp / Facebook and in the Zwift companion message
Click BACK to go back to the main screen and there should be a list on the top left of the screen
of the different stages of the workout.
Everyones workout will be personalised to their required effort level, but we will all be suffering together.
We will keep it fairly simple for the first few until we all get the hang of it.
For Info - we intend getting a few TT Teams set up for those interested in doing a few team tt races on Thursdays.
___________________________________
So Zwift is basically an app that allows us cycle together virtually.
What is needed? You need hardware and you need three Apps.
Hardware.
1. A turbo or smart trainer. At the very minimum you need a basic turbo with a cadence sensor (pedal speed) and a speed sensor (wheel speed) on your bike. A recommended sensor set is here https://retail.cigalacycling.com/.../bundle-wahoo-rpm... The advantage of this is it is relatively cheap and it will do the job, the disadvantage is it wont provide feedback - which a smart trainer does. You go uphill, it gets harder..... etc....
2. A bike.
3. A laptop, tablet/phone to run Zwift (not all tablets/phones can run Zwift- I have a Samsung TabA which cant. Basically if Zwift doesnt show up on Google Play Store, your device is not compatible).
4. A separate tablet/smartphone to run Discord (explain below)
5. A towel, gallons of water and a fan if you can get your hands on one.
6. Heartrate monitor is useful but not essential.
Apps. You need 3 Apps (this sounds complicated, but it's not really)
1. Zwift. This is the App you will be using for the cycling. The cyclist on the screen is you, the harder you pedal, the faster you go. The cyclists around you are us. This is on my laptop in front of my bike. Zwift costs about €15/month. I think there is a 7 day free trial?
2. Zwift Companion. This is a separate App to Zwift linked. I have Zwift Companion on my tablet. It is used to accept the invitation to our Wednesday Meetups. It is also used to join any ot the many events or races that happen every week on Zwift. When you accept the Meetup in Zwift Companion, it tells Zwift (by some magic) so when you log into Zwift the Meetup is ready to go. You dont need to use this App while you are cycling.
3. Discord. This is an App we use to talk to each other during our sessions. This link https://discord.gg/eg5kFgGj is the Liquid Motion channel we use. When you dial into it you are in a phone conference. I also have Discord on my tablet with earphones - on the table beside me in the photo.
How it works.
Zwift needs to know two things, your weight (which you enter as you are setting up Zwift app initially) and how hard you are peddling (power). The cadence and speed sensors or the smart trainer speaks to Zwift (again by magic) and Zwift then calculates your power. It uses your weight and power to calculate your virtual speed. So for example, a person who is 70kg putting out 100watts will be faster than someone who is 100kg putting out 100watts.
Zwift (via Zwift Companion) allows us to do a couple of useful things.
Meetups - what we will be doing on Wednesday evenings. Basically we will be setting up private cycles in Zwift world for our group, we will not see any other riders on the route except our own group. We will make a setting which will keep us together regardless of ability.
Workouts - these are like traditional turbo interval sessions, for example 5mins Zone 2, 2 mins Zone 5 × 5 repeats. This is what we intend to move onto on Wednesday evenings.
Events - as mentioned above there are hundreds of cycles or races available every week to join if you are mad enough.
Liquid Motion Meet ups
Wednesday Evenings 19:30.
You need to download the Zwift Companion app on your phone and search for and follow Ciaran Maguire. This is in order to receive the invitation to the meet up.
You will receive an invitation to a "Meetup" by Wednesday afternoons on Zwift Companion, if you are doing the session, accept it.
If you wish to chat, we will be using Discord, the LM Channel is https://discord.gg/eg5kFgGj
Log on Wednesday evenings before 19:30, join the Meetup and away we will go.
Workouts.
Enter the meet up - click on MENU in Zwift - click WORKOUTS in the top right
pick the workout that has been sent out on Whatsapp / Facebook and in the Zwift companion message
Click BACK to go back to the main screen and there should be a list on the top left of the screen
of the different stages of the workout.
Everyones workout will be personalised to their required effort level, but we will all be suffering together.
We will keep it fairly simple for the first few until we all get the hang of it.
For Info - we intend getting a few TT Teams set up for those interested in doing a few team tt races on Thursdays.
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