Here's a question for you. If the team is lined up nose to tail, are the following riders wasting watts that aren't being used due to sticky draft - i.e. are the watts in excess of those required to maintain the speed of the rider in front 'wasted' due to the fact that zwift will not make you overtake unless there's you're doing significantly more. If this is the case, is the ideal position to maintain a 1m gap to the rider in front?
Hi Nick. Interesting question and something I don't have an easy answer for. What I would say is that in a TTT you are not trying to 'overtake' a rider in front, so as much draft as is available is useful. Then once a rider has done their turn, it is they who drops right off the power and drifts back. This power drop does need to be significant, to ensure THEY don't get pulled along and that the team can move past them. What I (and others) are calculating is how this draft means riders can do less behind the lead rider and go the same pace. Since this video I have actually gone further to take account of weight and height. You can find it on my website. In reality, we all know that trying to hold a paceline in any Zwift TTT is difficult enough, so trying to hold 1m off would be probably impossible. I am simply helping people get closer to this with a Power Calculator by rider by position, but it does take practice ideally.
Really interesting Paul and some impressive analysis here. Good work
Awesome Analysis thank you.
Thanks for the good info, Paul !
Here's a question for you. If the team is lined up nose to tail, are the following riders wasting watts that aren't being used due to sticky draft - i.e. are the watts in excess of those required to maintain the speed of the rider in front 'wasted' due to the fact that zwift will not make you overtake unless there's you're doing significantly more. If this is the case, is the ideal position to maintain a 1m gap to the rider in front?
Hi Nick. Interesting question and something I don't have an easy answer for. What I would say is that in a TTT you are not trying to 'overtake' a rider in front, so as much draft as is available is useful. Then once a rider has done their turn, it is they who drops right off the power and drifts back. This power drop does need to be significant, to ensure THEY don't get pulled along and that the team can move past them. What I (and others) are calculating is how this draft means riders can do less behind the lead rider and go the same pace. Since this video I have actually gone further to take account of weight and height. You can find it on my website. In reality, we all know that trying to hold a paceline in any Zwift TTT is difficult enough, so trying to hold 1m off would be probably impossible. I am simply helping people get closer to this with a Power Calculator by rider by position, but it does take practice ideally.