How does Trainer Difficulty in Zwift affect your ride?

In this video I am trying a Zwift climb with different Trainer Difficulty. How does adjusting this affect the ride?
/ mattiasgriot
/ strava
Music I use is from
www.epidemicsound.com
Panasonic Lumix G80
Panasonic Lumix 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6
Panasonic Lumix 25mm f/1.7
Panasonic Lumix 45-150mm
Samyang MF 10mmf/2.8
Pentacon 50mm f/1.8
Sony Xperia 5III
DJI Osmo Action
DJI RS3 Mini Gimbal

[@ImBozz]

I've been wondering about this! Thanks for the video very informative!

[@mattiasgriot]

Great to hear, thanks!

[@Kereltien]

Well you said it right. It is cutting the gradient, and it is not alterd gearing at all. People think that is the same but it isn't.

[@foreveryoung8097]

When in ergo the program doesn’t put any gradients and only controls the power. Do this same test normal mode and you’ll see that the feeling is quite different.

[@mattiasgriot]

Didn't think of that at first 🙄, but realised it when I started climbing. So did it again in normal mode

[@foreveryoung8097]

Sorry, my bad. I wrote it while watching your video and posted right before you realized it didn’t change the gradient 😂

[@benturp3492]

People don't seem to understand that pushing say 300 watts on the flat is the Not the same as pushing 300 up a gradient 😂 I can tell you that it's a lot harder on max difficulty setting than say 50%

[@F1TZGER4LD]

Fully agree. I got a new indoor bike over Christmas and had TD on 100% up until ydays ride. Prior, I had my old indoor bike on about 35/40% TD. Old bike time up AdZ - 42min New bike time up AdZ - 58min. Night and day difference. You’ve still got to put the watts out but on 100% TD I’ve been struggling to do so. Don’t know why. Old bike pace group was A. New bike pace group is B haha. I feel like my FTP is a myth right now. Hoping now I’ve dropped TD on my new bike I’ll stop struggling. Someone explained TD to me like you feel every single bump on 100% so that’s why it’ll feel more taxing (even though watts are watts) haha it’s a mad one.

[@F1TZGER4LD]

I seem to shift a hell of a lot more on 100% too. Probably because of “every bump”. Who knows

[@benturp3492]

@@F1TZGER4LD I noticed that too. Like real life I suppose

[@benturp3492]

@@F1TZGER4LD yea for me running a 53/39 sweet spot is around 80% anything higher either my Turbo struggles or am grinding. But the resistance changes so it's harder to put the watts down for sure. Like going into a headwind pushing the watts or having a tailwind pushing the watts. As you say watts are watts but resistance is different so it's harder. Thats my take on it anyway 😂

[@F1TZGER4LD]

@@benturp3492 I definitely agree mate. I came on this video to look for your exact comment 😂 buzzing I found it. Now I can stop feeling guilty or like I’m cheating by lowering my TD 😅😂

[@garysladek9110]

Its like having a bigger cassette, when sliding difficulty down. Easiest way to think about it.

[@mattiasgriot]

True 👍

[@relaxwithbogo5579]

No it is not

[@user-zg4tw3qc5m]

You can use a lower difficulty setting to cheat. I gave it a try. I am an "A Rider" according to Zwift Power. I did the Zwift Fondo many months back and set my trainer difficulty to Zero. Once the course hit that front range climb that can take you to either the jungle or epic reverse, the attack begins. With Zero difficulty I was able to turn the Grade into zero instead of 10%. I was nailing 400 plus watts for that 2 mins or so and kept with the front. Normally at 100% trainer difficulty my legs can't deal with the amount of torque required to produce 400 plus watts for 2 mins on a 10% grade. Certainly not without standing and stomping. In real life you can't just opt to reduce or eliminate a grade. The best you can do is to choose a different cassette option for the IRL Event. However it is not the same a Zero Percent Trainer Difficulty. If you want to be strong when it is time to get on the road, use 100% Trainer Difficulty. Especially if you want to climb strong IRL.

[@edwiser]

If you just wants to play a game and not get any fitness then turn it all the way down. If you are wanting fitness turn it up to 100

[@VeloViking]

Hi there, nice to see another Scandinavian cyclist here on KZbin, there’s not many of us 🙂

[@mattiasgriot]

Hello! 👍 Nice, thanks for connecting. Where are you from?

[@VeloViking]

@@mattiasgriot I’m from Oslo, Norway🙂

[@chris1275cc]

It depends on what you are using Zwift for, which can be different between sessions. If you want to train to ride IRL (especially climbs) then it makes sense to go 100% because the real world has no difficulty setting and you will run out of spinning gears so learning how to vairy your cadence is important. If your focus is overall fitness or achievement within the game it doesn't matter, its not cheating and you should go with what feels best and/or more realistic to you.

[@mattiasgriot]

Agree!

[@blueyhills]

I have mine set at 60% to reduce number of gear changes. I just don't allow myself to use the easier gears.

[@matthewnormand2041]

Agreed. I used to be a 100% TD diehard but I've found for just riding around on Zwift, 50-75% seems pretty good. 100% is great to train for spinning or grinding up climbs (36/32 at 100% TD is no fun going up Ventoux). Even then, I'll back it off and just not use the biggest cog or two to keep the trainer spinning and overheating. 85kg going up a 10% grade for an hour really taxes the trainer.

[@StuartLynne]

The better way to do this is with two copies of Zwift with two accounts (for a short climb free account should suffice) on two systems. Pair both via Ant to your trainer or power meter. Start both avatars in the same location (you can adjust position in a single game by going into pair mode in the other.) Once both avatars are positioned in the same location, both paired, start your test. Both games will receive the same power data assuming no dropouts. If dropouts are an issue, use a trainer that can support multiple BLE connections (e.g. Wahoo Kickr) and pair both games using BLE.

[@mattiasgriot]

But you only get half the training then 😜. Seriously though, it would be good to do it that way maybe, if your trainer supports sending double signals

[@phillee9651]

for me i was faster up hill @ 50% but seemed to have drag on the flat and downhill ... @ 100% the ride felt more realistic 5% hill felt like 5% and downhills fast .... wahoo kickr

[@mattiasgriot]

True!

[@user-fk8rb8ue5h]

It's just way of altering gearing that is all in other words, if you've got a bicycle that's got high gears and you put it on the trainer. You alter the difficulty and you've got a differentr geared bike. People forget it's only a game. As for me I don't race at all and I'm quite happy to alter the training difficulty to make it easie.r

[@mattiasgriot]

Yes, agree. It is a game and an aid to get training done. What difficulty you use is and should be up to you (even if you race on Zwift)

[@todtemplin9927]

Slow down. You speak too fast for me.

[@mattiasgriot]

Sorry, I still struggle to find my rhythm doing talking head into camera. Usually I think I speak too slow.

[@F1TZGER4LD]

For him maybe. For me, absolutely fine 👍 thanks for the vid