How I Would Start on ZWIFT For The First Time

I joined Zwift 16 months ago (at point of uploading this video) and I haven't looked back since... This video is what I would do now if I had to start again as a Zwifting beginner.
The link to the Zwift forum mentioned in the video is in the comments.
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[@RyanCondon]

Here is the forum post I referred to in the video. forums.zwift.com/t/zwift-racing-score-next-phase-september-2024/635405

[@Synchrothron]

Hey Ryan, I've started cycling in July and got my home trainer a month ago and for my luck your channel was there. Otherwise I would probably have a dust collector. After installing Zwift and messing around for two days, I got categorized into "C" and it was frustrating as hell. Being dropped in the first 2-3 mins of every race has totally tanked my motivation. Then I've found your video doing the Everest challenge, while your girls are roasting you on camera and it gave me a totally different perspective. I've learned that day that I could actually have fun while losing. So I figured I'll just bite my tongue and have a good time, regardless of results. Today I've finished my first Galibier race, got trashed by people twice my age and the only thing I took away from it is how much fun it was. Thanks Ryan for the wonderful content! Keep up the good work! Greeting from Switzerland

[@RyanCondon]

@@Synchrothron congratulations on losing, its part of the journey. I hope you keep doing it as one day soon youll be the one doing the dropping. 🙌💪

[@G-Unit-fitness]

I just want to say, Ryan’s channel was one of the main reasons I pulled the trigger and got into Zwift! As a bigger rider myself, don’t be discouraged if your goal is about fitness and weight loss, I’m 27 weeks in and haven’t been this fit since my early 20s! And everyone around me is noticing! Honestly it’s a game changer! Do your research obviously, but this is a great community and Ryan’s a gem to follow, his journeys has been nothing but spectacular! I honestly cant say enough good things about it! For example, I was burnt out after a 50 minute group ride the other day and Beth who I’ve never met before, dropped behind to draft me to the 60 minute victory! 😅 damn.. what a community! I hope this little snippet of my experience helps someone! And thanks Ryan! I’m planning on riding with you in October 😅

[@RyanCondon]

Amazing stuff! Your progress sounds epic. 💪🙌

[@kevstephen9393]

It's been great following your journey, I've just subscribed to zwift 10 minutes ago after being off for four months... I look forward to racing you. 😊

[@RyanCondon]

@@kevstephen9393 cheers mate. Good luck with the new season.

[@dmitry.gashko]

Hey Ryan, I know you don't usually like such comments, but still. Since you switched to YT as a main job, I think you could invest some time into a proper structured training. In earlier videos you mentioned that your just a beginner and you just do what motivates you - Zwift races. But I would not call you a beginner anymore. And anyway - Zwift races is more enjoyable when you have some proper training as well. Also, you can do some videos about your training journey, to add more variability in your content. I'm not a cycling coach, but I would recommend at least to add like three 1-2 hours zone 2 rides a week - they're low intensity, so you should be recovered next day (when you get used to it). Personally for me it makes so much difference when I have a Zwift races with a little Zone 2 rides and 3-4 Zone 2 rides a week. Not even I watts, but how it feels. But what more important - as I see you have 90+% or your activities in Zone 4-5+. But if you don't have a lot of low intensity trainings you just would not be able to improve significantly at some point. Because with high intensity training you increase you fitness level, but with low intensity you improve your potential - the level you can reach with high intensity trainings. Yes, you do have really long runs etc, but they're rare. To feel the difference you need to have at least a few Zone 2 trainings a week. Then you can also add trainings in some more intense interval trainings and train specific zones, so you can produce more power for longer on Zwift races. Also, set some minimut training time a week and try to stick to it (e.g. 5 hours a week, or 10 hours etc). Just try it for a few month, it may be not your thing, but it would improve your fitness level for sure. Again, it requires some time investments, but it might give you a lot more. It can push you up next level in your cycling/fitness life.

[@RyanCondon]

Thanks for the comment. I run pretty much every day, at least 5k and further at weekends. Racing on Zwift I do for fun.

[@CycleWithMatts]

Wooooo new Ryan video

[@dmitry.gashko]

By the way, don’t you still have Strava? It would be great. You can just sync it with Zwift, and that’s it. But if you also post your outdoor rides and runs there, that would be awesome. Personally, I’d love to see your activities on Strava-Zwift is really bad for this and doesn’t cover outdoor activities as well. For example, if I saw a 100k run on Strava, I’d be so excited to wait for a video.

[@RyanCondon]

Thanks, i do have a Strava account. I just dont use it, never been interested in recording more than filming.

[@SteakandChains]

Having a near permanent set up has been key for me to stay consistent with Zwift. I’ve had my Zwift account since year 1 of Zwift, but this is the first year i actually have ridden consistently week after week thanks to videos like yours and keeping my setup ready to go all the time.

[@RyanCondon]

@@SteakandChains A hassle free setup definitely helps. Thanks for watching. 🙏🙌

[@falkenjaeger-u2u]

I can't believe you're already at level 35 on Zwift after only riding for 16 months. A true cardio addict 🚲🚲🚲

[@rosvopaisti]

I'm at level 49 after eight months, but I haven't made a single cool video and I wouldn't even know how to.

[@angus3187]

@@rosvopaistihow many km’s have you done over the 8 months

[@RyanCondon]

Thanks. I love it.

[@Sebbekrajja]

Im at lvl 16 after 10 days.

[@rosvopaisti]

@@angus3187 About 4900 (in Zwift, that is)

[@reenpompeen882]

❤

[@Eightfathorses]

Ryan you've gotten the other half all excited about trying swift. I fear this is going to be expensive 😂😂😂

[@RyanCondon]

@@Eightfathorses lol its not a cheap hobby but cheaper than some.

[@Eightfathorses]

@@RyanCondon probably cheaper than his obsession with guitars to be fair 😂🙄

[@roeland_st]

I hope to see you sometime on zwift. Probably not in a race as I only do my workouts on there when the Belgian winter kicks in.

[@anthonyoliver2639]

I totally agree that Alpe du Zwift is a very good indicator of fitness level. I was targeting a sub 3 hour marathon (a pb) and in parallel I was aiming to get Zwift concept bike (Tron) in the 4 month build up period. That's 48 climbs up the Alp. I was doing the climb around 3 times a week and just as I was peaking for the run I did an all out effort at 56 mins. I got a 2:58 marathon if the back of it. I did a good amount of running too but I firmly believe the Alp got me strong. I love it and I've raced up it IRL too. I would advise all new Zwifters to select the Everest challenge straight away, so all your climbing counts towards the Tron bike. Many folk will prefer group rides over racing..and many group rides are almost racing

[@RyanCondon]

@@anthonyoliver2639 Thanks Anthony and congrats on both your marathon and ADZ times. Youre a beast! 💪

[@DontGetDroppedCycling]

This game looks cool! Might have to try it 🤪

[@RyanCondon]

@@DontGetDroppedCycling Brother! Its a tough gig. You might get drizzy dropped!

[@TheGeniesis]

Few tips from me (I jumped from low D to mid B cat in 1.5 year) 1. Start hard pedaling 1-2 sec before the ride start and stop 1-2 after the start. Otherwise you might get dropped at the start. 2. Change your gears before climb starts. There is a small delay which might cost you a lot of strength to not get dropped because of that. 3. Change front gears during descent to low on the front. Many descents can jump from -12% to +12% in 2-3seconds. Without good legs you will stop in a mid of the climb and won't be able to start pedaling with hard gears. 4. Don't ride on the front/back of a group unless you know what you're doing. It's too easy to get toasted with too high watts to stay on the front or get dropped riding on back. 5. Use lower handles during sprints - free watts 6. ALWAYS sprint at the end of the race. Staying helps. 7. high cadence (85 for rest, 90-100 normal) is your friend 8. Have 2 fans and remote pilot for them 9. Eat and drink during a ride. When you feel hungry - that's too late. I eat banana each 45mins, start drinking after 20mins (1l/h) 10. Robopacers are scam :D 200w for 50kg is different than 200w for 120kg. Most people use watt/kg ratio, but still I found that for 2.6w/kg ride I (82kg) have to do 2.8w/kg, and super light women 3.5w/kg. Numbers for robopacers never works for me. If you feel you can ride 2.5w/kg, find 2.2w/kg robopacer. At the end of the day you will stay most of the time around 2.5w/kg 11. Ride with stronger riders - they are always pushing your limits and can advise you. Also, during longer sessions it's not that boring, when you can have a conversation with someone 12. Strava hearth rate is just an estimation. Do 2-3 max HR tests and then set your own "max". It will help you later to understand how much strength left in your body. 13. Experiment with trainer difficulty. It won't change watts which you need to produce, but might help to stay with high cadence 14. Read pacer's messages during group rides. In many situations there is a yellow beacon which holds the proper tempo and red at the end who sweeps (helps people to get back to the group when they got dropped). If you stay with the red beacon you might not survive it. Basically they do intervals to help others. 15. If you see that you're getting dropped during a group ride - write a message that you need help. Usually people will wait/sweeper will help. Do it when there is 2-3sec gap. +10sec gaps are sometimes impossible to catch or require 2-3 sweepers to work. 16. Sweeping - you must stay in the sweeper draft. It will require to do high watts for several seconds. Still, the main work is on the sweeper. E.g. if sweeper do 5w/kg, you need to stay around 3.8w/kg.

[@RyanCondon]

@@TheGeniesis alot of good tips. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. Congrats on your promotion.

[@ne0paul]

Awesome video 👍🏻 Here's a newbie error for you...Been on zwift for a month now and tried alpe du zwift for the first time a couple weeks in, took me over 2 hours!. Turns out I had set up the wheel on the bike and the indoor trainer wrong (wahoo kickr snap) so the tyre was rubbing against the rim brakes the entire way up 🤣😅. It was only when I finished and seen red trainer tyre dust everywhere that I realised! Absolutely brutal 😳. Things have been going much better now that I'm riding with the brakes off 😎🤦. Look forward to more zwift videos and hope to see you around watopia sometime 👌

[@RyanCondon]

@@ne0paul now that an ADZ PR you will never beat. 🙏😅

[@kates8704]

Great video! Hope you've managed to remove your saddle 🤣🤣 I'm just getting back to Zwifting after a couple of months off in the summer! Its hard but good! 😄

[@RyanCondon]

Lol thanks. The return is brutal, good luck. 🙌

[@KdM_BigRingBubba]

Good stuff, Ryan. It was fun watching you getting going on Zwift and discovering all the pain points that many of us do along the way. Keep up the great work - don't think I could keep up with you anymore!

[@RyanCondon]

@@KdM_BigRingBubba Thanks. Pleased you liked it.

[@OnaTechMike]

Another fantastic video! You're so personable and I can't help but get excited every time I see that clip of your victory.

[@RyanCondon]

Thank you! That means a lot. 🙌

[@jonm8423]

What did you mean about being on the wrong frame? The TT frame is the most aero?

[@RyanCondon]

But no draft benefit from the pack. Drafting in the pack can give you up to 30% power reducing benefits.

[@jonm8423]

@@RyanCondon ah, I see..

[@benneh242]

Very timely video as I'm just looking into this, cheers. BTW, how's your toe doing sing TPC? My ankle is just about healed now, time for a run tomorrow.

[@RyanCondon]

@@benneh242 Toe nail fell off yesterday. Feels better now.

[@benneh242]

@@RyanCondon both of mine are gone too :D