DaveLeeNC

I am (or will be in 2 days when my Strava 2 months credit runs out) a paid ZWIFT guy. But the weather around here in Nov/Dec was so incredibly good that I don't think that I have done more than maybe 8 rides so far (that will change quite soon as the weather returns to winter normal). So the net is that I am pretty inexperienced WRT ZWIFT. If it matters I ride ZWIFT on a Lemond Revmaster (spinner bike) with Garmin Vector Power pedals. That works relatively well although there is no feedback regarding the hills.

Anyway I decided to give a Watopia Race (one of the ZTR things which seemed to be to be well-run based on what I could read) a try. So I 'showed up' maybe 20 minutes early and the first thing that I did was to change my profile to match the requested name (add ZTR). So far so good. Pairing my devices went fine as well. So I had some time for a quick warm-up EXCEPT that I recalled the instructions saying to request the 'flat course'. I had never heard of that and didn't see an option to do that. So I ended the ride, restarted ZWIFT, and started all over again.

This time I did see a 'flat course' option (did I miss that before??). Still time for a bit of a warmup so I headed out and would reverse the course back to the start (race was on the reverse course). I run on a laptop that drives a TV set (where the ZWIFT UI lives). And I realized that I didn't have my 'virtual keyboard' up (all interactions while riding are using a wireless mouse so I use a onscreen keyboard for key entry when required). And I figured that I might need the keyboard. So back to fix that and now I am going to struggle (maybe - I don't know the ZWIFT routes well enough to know) to get back to the start on time.

So I put the hammer down and (DAMN this thing needs some way other than coasting to stop) I blasted through the start, turned around and came back, and turned around again and still have maybe 1 minute to spare. So what happens now? The F****G PAUSE screen covers the entire screen so you can't see anything. How in the world are folks supposed to know when to start other than having a well-synced clock (which I didn't have). So I got off about 15 seconds late but caught up to the B group by blasting past them at some ungodly speed and then slowing down while they caught up to me (neutral start, BTW). OK, fine.

But I had trouble keeping the right pace. I would get ahead, get behind, and note that I had never before tried to draft anybody. So about 10 minutes in I had drifted back and I was about to get dropped. And that is the time that my Ant+ dongle/power pedals decided to stop communicating for 5 (or maybe more) seconds which meant zero power. This happens probably because I have two wi-fi routers in the same room as the ZWIFT system and I don't yet have a 'USB extension cable' so that I can better place the Ant+ dongle. So now I was WAY behind and I didn't really have my bike close enough to the TV screen so I could not easily read the names on the 'name list thingey' on the right. So I had pretty much no idea where anybody was. So that was that and that was my first ZWIFT race (all 12 minutes of it).

Now for a question. Is there some way to make that stupid pause screen go away while you are waiting for the start? I assume that somebody typed 'START' at the proper start time. But I couldn't see it.

Thanks.

dave

PepeM

Isn't there a back button or something like that? I can't remember how but I've definitely made that screen go away.

E-drafting is tough.

DaveLeeNC

IIRC, there is a back button that shows up when you pause. And that button takes you to some other BIG thing that has profile, summary, and stuff like that (IIRC).

dave

PepeM

Just did a Zwift race. Pressing back does the trick, or at least it did for me.

MagicHour

Yeah to join a group ride or race roll GENTLY up to the start line, come to a stop and hit BACK button from pause screen. The pause screen won't pop up again-unless you start pedaling and stop again.

DaveLeeNC

Thanks for the info regarding 'BACK'. My recollection was that when I hit that button it went 'back' to the beginning of the ride. Sounds like my recollection is incorrect.

dave

RoderWrench

If you have a smart phone, do yourself a favor and get the Zwift app to use it as a controller. It works great and makes things much easier to control.

PepeM

Btw I think I got myself a top 5 in a C race last night. Went off the front on the last small hill but then I dialed it back because I was cooked. Didn't notice the finish line was really close so a few guys passed med before the end, I reckon I could have kept pushing if I had noticed we were that close. Unless there were some other riders on a breakaway I didn't even notice, I think no more than 3-4 passed me. My quads were on fire after that.

SpeshulEd 

I think I was riding the same time you kids were racing.

We need to organize a Bike Forums group ride or something, lol.