Welcome to my week 2 Zwift Tron Bike Update
About This Series
Dads Riding Bikes had our second daughter the last week of August 2023. In order to manage riding with a newborn, I am going to be doing a lot more Zwift riding, as I do not have a lot of availability for long outdoor rides. To have a goal to keep me motivated, I decided to try to unlock the Zwift Tron Bike. My current FTP of 224 watts (Last Tested in July of 2023 using the Zwift Ramp Test) and a weight of 175 pounds (79.4kg), which comes out to 2.8 w/kg
Another slow week for Dads Riding Bikes. I had a minor medical procedure on Monday, which kept me off of the bike until Thursday. On Thursday, I was able to get on the trainer during my two-year-old’s nap while my wife watched our newborn. I climbed 1,502 ft (458 m), moving slowly but surely to unlocking the Zwift Tron Bike. This week I discuss using ERG mode in a workout to help tackle hilly routes.
Tip of the week: Utilize ERG Mode Workouts and Select a Hilly Route
Zwift ERG Mode
Zwift ERG Mode is a great way to get your climbing elevation in. ERG mode is a setting you can enable only when doing a workout. It allows the trainer to stay at a designated power (watts) based on your current cadence instead of adjusting to the current course gradient. This is a benefit as it allows you to totally focus on maintaining a specific power for a set period of time and not have to worry about shifting gears depending on the gradient. You should use this to your benefit and then select a route in Zwift that has a lot of elevation gain. I chose “Road to Sky“, which is in Watopia and takes you up the “Alpe du Zwift”, which simulates the real-world Alpe d’Huez, which is the iconic climb from the Tour de France.
The other great thing about ERG mode is if you pair it with the Zwift Companion App (on your phone), you can adjust the intensity of the workout as you ride. Today was a bad day for me and I had to reduce the bias to 75% of my FTP. I haven’t been sleeping and training as much, so I am not in top form, but any workout is a good workout when you have a newborn.
Current Progress on Tron Challenge
As of the time I am writing this post, September 22, 2023, I am 10,127 ft (3,087 m) into the “Mt. Everest Challenge”, which is 6% completed.
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Checkout Week 4 Update
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