Typically, each week Zwift sends me an email summarising my activity for the week. For previous weekly reviews click here.
However, this week Zwift – again – did not send me an email. Maybe it will come through later in the week. Who knows.
Review The Week
This week I continued on with my strategy of:
- At least 1 harder workout
- 1 ‘difficult’ climb
In terms of the harder workouts I completed a couple – the Sweet Spot Training ride on Wednesday, and TT Strength Reps on Saturday.
For the climb this week I used Tacx Software (a Zwift alternative) and hit the Villard Notre Dame route.
On the subject of Tacx Software, I’ve had a hit and miss week. I really enjoyed the Tacx video ride, but haven’t had quite as much fun in blogging / recording the ride experience. More on that below.
The biggest win for me this week has been to set a new personal best during the Villard Notre Dame climb. I managed a 204w average, with a 197.4w weighted average during this climb. Still not breaking above the 200w weighted average, but it’s a step in the right direction.
If I had the desire to change my riding schedule, likely the best thing I could do currently would be take a ramp test. For the moment, this will have to wait as I believe there are still gains to be had from my current riding strategy.
I found the Tacx Software to be a really interesting proposition. After some initial teething problems, I am really looking forward to exploring the huge variety of climbs on offer over the forthcoming weekends.
For whatever reason, the people at Tacx have decided to add DRM (copy protection) to their video content. I kinda get this. Other companies offer these video rides, and it likely takes significant investment to record / film each ride.
That said, in the world of Twitch / Mixer / YouTube / live streaming, is stopping the ability to record your “game” a good idea?
It’s not like this software DRM solution is going to stop anyone but the irresolute pirate. A quick trip to Amazon had me in possession of a Razer Ripsaw HD, which sits between my graphics card output and my TV input, and allows me to “capture” the entire video. DRM sidestepped.
The downside, for me, is that I have somehow ended up with a pink tinged (purple tinged?) overlay over the video. This isn’t the Tacx DRM at work, either. This is something of which the root cause I am currently entirely stumped upon. I’ve tried a replacement Ripsaw, changed all the cables, used different computers… all to no avail. I have only a few ideas remaining before I give up and send everything back.
Once I have a solution to this problem (which may simply be me taking photos of my screen), I will do a proper review of the Tacx Software. In the mean time, I’d recommend you check it out for yourself as it is really quite good.
My plan for the week ahead remains the same as the past three weeks now. At least 1 harder workout, and a difficult climb.
I have no expectation to keep setting new highs after each climb, but so long as I keep pushing myself I feel this is the very best way for me to improve my fitness.
I would definitely like to complete the Tacx Software Amsterdam city ride this week, so will likely do that as my “easy ride”.
There are a variety of structured workouts available in the Tacx Software, as best I understand it, but I haven’t yet figured out that part of the UI. As such, Zwift likely remains my workout provider of choice for the foreseeable future.
Hopefully I will come up with (or find) a solution to the screen recording issue. It’s really bugging me – so if you have any ideas, do shout up.
I’m also hoping to get in a group ride, if at all possible, this forthcoming Saturday. I very nearly joined one on Sunday instead (a 100km+ ride with two trips up the Volcano) instead of doing the Villard Notre Dame ride. I have no regrets here, but I saw that ride in progress during my pre-climb warm up and I was sad to miss out.
Here’s to a strong week!