Sep 2023
2:21pm, 29 Sep 2023
2,923 posts
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Big_G
I didn’t know him and never rode with him as far as I know but a popular member of my wider team died whilst on Zwift a couple of days ago.
My team is now trying to set up an ICE list. But I was wondering if anyone here takes any precautions whilst Zwifting? I virtually always ride when no one else is in the house and have never really thought about it before. There’s talk of messaging a partner after every race to let them know I’ve finished. Not sure if that would work as she’s a busy person at work, and if I forgot one day would that raise unnecessary alarm bells?
It’s brought up some interesting discussions about if Zwift should do more in this area. Comments have been made that Zwift almost encourages racing or training too hard, multiple times a week. Never really thought about this before either. Should Zwift say ‘look, we’ve noticed you’ve done 2 days in a row of hard sessions, maybe take it easy today?’ I do a lot of z2 stuff in Zwift and race once a week, sometimes twice, but I do know many people who basically only do races on Zwift and race very regularly.
(I know nothing about the circumstances of the chap’s death so by saying the above I’m not suggesting he raced too hard or too frequently as I don’t know anything about it).
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Sep 2023
2:34pm, 29 Sep 2023
22,141 posts
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larkim
Dangerous territory for Zwift to get involved with - once they start trying to watch for issues they start taking some overt responsibility for missing signs which ought to have triggered a response.
Mind you, there could be some way of sending off an alert in certain circumstances (e.g. if mid-activity the HR falls or rises in very extreme ways, have the option to have an email sent to some specific contacts maybe, a bit like the Garmin fall detection stuff.)
Mostly though RIP that zwifter and thoughts with their family and friends. Very sad.
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Sep 2023
2:50pm, 29 Sep 2023
15,524 posts
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jda
Zwifting does seem to encourage too much short high intensity stuff for my taste. Better designed training plans might help a bit.
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Sep 2023
2:57pm, 29 Sep 2023
2,925 posts
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Big_G
Larkim, good point. I’d not thought it through really, after reading comments from others.
Jda, I haven’t really looked at the training plans for sometime. Generally speaking is there a feeling they’re not great then?
Zwift Insider has a series where riders race 3 short, hard races in a row, back to back (I know Zwift Insider isn’t Zwift). I’ve done it and it’s very tough. I’ve seen people race, hard, 3 TTTs in a day. Or do ZRL plus other race series in parallel. I think there are just so many options and if a rider is that way inclined I suppose they could ride in a very unhealthy way, but I guess I’ve never really linked that to potential heart issues (again, to reiterate, I know nothing about the case I mentioned so I’m not making any assumptions about him - I’m just talking generally).
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Sep 2023
4:19pm, 29 Sep 2023
2,927 posts
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Big_G
Larkim, just thinking some more, whilst I’m on my second Z2 Zwift ride of the day. Garmin does things like ‘you’re overtraining’ (I’m paraphrasing) and I don’t feel it’s doing that with regards to potential heart issues. Should Zwift do similar?
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Sep 2023
4:45pm, 29 Sep 2023
80,517 posts
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Gobi
If I die on zwift my wife will know exactly where I am.
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Sep 2023
10:35pm, 29 Sep 2023
15,529 posts
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jda
Yes Big_G the plans seem mostly based on short hard workouts for the time-crunched cyclist who wants to feel the burn. At least that's the impression I get. Then consider fitting that around a racing schedule or vice-versa.
Canute on this site has written a lot on the potential for harm from doing too much high intensity stuff, which seems basically sound to me.
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Oct 2023
11:44am, 2 Oct 2023
6,069 posts
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Windsor Wool
I'm run injured which means that I'm back on Zwift. Perhaps I should have been on Zwift a bit more before I got injured TBH!
Anyway, the Climb Portal is new to me and as I like a climb I tried it this morning with the Coll d'Ordino. I quite enjoyed it although it's more like riding through a Coldplay video than the normal Zwift experience. The road is coloured to allow you to see the incline, I like that and the mid-climb segment breakdown is good - that's a bit like the Alpe.
Anyone else been on there? Recommend any of the other climbs?
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Oct 2023
12:28pm, 2 Oct 2023
20,727 posts
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Chrisull
I did the Colle d'Ordino too , found the whole multi-coloured thing a bit distracting, why not just some generic French scenery? But yeah I like the whole tells you what's coming (which as you say is a bit like the Alpe, but not as brutal). But when Rouvy do photo-realistic versions of iconic climbs, which are fun (only had a free trial), but no-one on there, I'd rather be doing some sort of climb but with perhaps just the road changing colour (Rouvy's gradient warning system is better than Zwift's IMO, in fact the Col is partly nicked from there I'm guessing with the colour changing). Yeah it doesn't feed into this fantasy of your on a road somewhere, instead it's a reminder you're on a turbo trainer in your garage, grinding away.
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Oct 2023
12:35pm, 2 Oct 2023
22,166 posts
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larkim
One of the things that's really nice in the "real" world in the Alps is that they give you the next km gradient etc, which is I guess what Zwift is apeing.
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