Zwift and My 2019 Cycling Challenges

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Zwift and My 2019 Cycling Challenges

How I’m Using Zwift to Reach My Cycling Goals

May 19, 2019

I have four goals for my personal cycling program this year and it turns out that my Zwift subscription is playing a key role in reaching them.

Here are my goals for 2019:

  1. Keeping my prostate cancer at bay
  2. Getting on the podium in my age group at the USA Cycling National Masters Track Championships in Septemeber 2019
  3. Winning my age group in the Mole Hill sprint at the Alpine Loop Gran Fondo in Harrisonburg, Virginia at the end of September
  4. Losing the stubborn 5 pounds that I can’t quite seem to shake

Why I Turned to Zwift

Life suddenly good very busy in January with the non-profit [Cancer Journeys Foundation] and my software company, Weavy.com. [If you are a software developer, take a minute and check out our full-stack embeddable communications and collaboration framework – https://weavy.com.]

Work, plus an incredible rainy season here in Southern California completely disrupted my normal training program of two 25-35 road rides per week along with one or two sessions in the Velo Sports Center in Carson, CA.

The Zwift virtual cycling community is filling the void. I’ve set up my old Fuji Track Pro in the home office and I’m training 30-45 minutes beginning at 5 a.m. in the morning before I head to the office in Venice.

How I’m Using Zwift

I’ve used an indoor trainer for years, but Zwift has made those indoor miles interesting and useful. I’m working HITT intervals into my indoor sessions and it’s fun to have other riders to chase down. And, full disclosure, to try and catch the people passing me.

I have my old Fuji Track Pro set up on a Kinetic Trainer in my home office, with a 42 in TV mounted on the wall. I use my old MacBook Air to connect online to my Zwift account and mirror the app to the big screen. This works really well.

I haven’t joined any group rides yet. My training goal right now is doing a warm-up and then a series of HITT intervals. Right now I’m at 30 seconds full gas, two minutes rest, then 30 seconds full gas.

I have a training plan that Jon Fraley gave me for training for the 500-meter time trial and I’m going to pull that out and begin following it.

Since I’m using a track bike I’m essentially riding a fixie, which limits the speed I can generate. That said, the Zwift dashboard shows my cadence, heart rate, and riding time in minutes and seconds, so it’s easy to do the intervals and measure the rest period accurately.

I’m using a basic Kinetic fluid trainer that increases resistance as I up my cadence. It’s pretty good, but it doesn’t generate the air resistance of actually riding outside or on the track. But, it’s way better than nothing at all.

By | 2019-05-19T21:38:03-07:00 May 19th, 2019|Categories: Cycling Goals, Tools|Tags: , , |Comments Off on Zwift and My 2019 Cycling Challenges

About the Author:

Robert is an entrepreneur, business owner, best-selling author, startup and early stage company advisor, former career US Army officer, competitive cyclist, amateur auto racer driver, former helicopter pilot, and amateur wine and foodie, who loves travel, adventures, and helping people.