Saturday Morning Zwift Ride (12/5)

[Michael T. Bello]

On Saturday at 9 AM, I'm planning the "Greatest London Flat” route in London (https://www.strava.com/segments/16982511). This will be a 90 minute ride.

If anyone is interested, just follow me on Zwift (Michael Bello - NCC) and I'll add you to the invite. If you follow me, please send me a note.

A few recommendations...

Zwift now allows late joiners to Meetups. Give yourself a few extra minutes to join the ride anyway (on Zwift 5 minutes before the ride would be ideal).

Please wear the NCC jersey. This makes it easier to recognize who is in the group. On a computer, log into Zwift, once riding, press “P” on you keyboard and enter NCCMAKIT. After that, you can use the jersey on any device running Zwift (laptop, tablet, phone, etc.).

Our previous ride were enhanced with conversations on Discord. After installing Discord, ˙˙use the NCC invite to join the conversation: https://discordapp.com/invite/uXdHm7m. 

If you are new to Discord, I recommend this article on ZwiftInsider: https://zwiftinsider.com/using-discord/. Please pay particular attention to Step 4: "Discord automatically places you in the text chat channel, which isn’t where you want to be. Click the hamburger menu (3 lines at top-left) to view all the channels on the server. Click “General” under voice channels, then click “Connect to Voice” to join the general voice chat." 

I also recommend testing Discord out prior to the ride. Feel free to contact me if you want to test Discord.

[jcolem...@gmail.com]

Hi Michael, I generally do a long ride on Saturday morning but longer than 90 minutes, I like the BMTR century which starts around 8:10. I’ve been riding a metric century not the 100 miles. This is supposed to be a Z2 endurance ride and I used to average 170W for it but now 155 W seems more appropriate. But I can join you on Discord if that’s OK? I think the time trial series can work nicely for me as I try to work my way back to good fitness so I’ll be joining you. I’m better at the Hillclimb though. Sorry to hear you crashed, I didn’t know that. Hope you are all healed soon. And thanks for doing all this Zwift organizing! Very appreciated. Take care, Jeremy

Sent from my iPhone

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[Charlie Bailey]

Jeremy,

It was great to see you again on the hill climb last night.

Feel free to join us on Discord while you ride you other route, that’s completely ok.

Also, it was Melissa that crashed a few weeks ago (nit Michael). I’m still in awe how she put out 3.5 w/kg last night during the hill climb while sitting up straight so as not to put pressure on her broken collarbone.

Charlie

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[Jeremy Coleman]

Melissa I'm sorry to hear about your crash! And yes, 3.5 W/kg is impressive for an invalid lol. Hope you are healing up well and without complications. Jeremy

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[Michael T. Bello]

On this rainy/snowy morning, we had a large group for our ride through the Greatest London Flat route. 

There is nothing like having eleven NCC friends (Charlie, Chris, Dan, Jaime, Jeremy, Joe, Melissa, Tim, Tom, Zinj, and me) to form a nice peloton. With the help of drafting, we kept a comfortable pace and still completed approximately 31 miles in our 90 minute ride. In our two laps of the course, we ascended 822 feet.

Welcome to Tim who joined us for the first time today.

Everyone was on Discord today, including Jeremy, who technically was doing another ride, but was still part of our conversation. Zinj updated us on his quick sale of one of his extra bikes. We also discussed Thursday's NCC Zwift hillclimb, European CX, school situations in light of the recent COVID spikes, and Zwift in general.

We mostly stayed together throughout the ride and used Discord to coordinate regrouping as needed.

As for this morning's Zwift accomplishments, Dan finished level 20 and earned his avatar the Fluoro Kit Pack. Joe completed level 15 and now has a new pair of stylish shades. Chris, Tom, and Zinj earned the Greatest London Flat route badge, which double their XP points for the first lap.

Here is the NCC Zwift schedule:

- Mon afternoon - Road Race (times will vary between 5 PM and 7 PM EST)

- Tue 8:00 PM - Social Ride (invite required)

- Thu 5:30 PM - Time Trial / Hill Climb (solo effort, TT bike required) (invite required)

- Sat 9:00 AM - Social Ride (invite required)

Follow Michael Bello on Zwift for invites to the invite-only rides.

Check the calendar page at www.nohobikeclub.org for full details on all events.

[Mike Hempstead]

Sounds like you guys have this dialed in pretty well.  I am going to transition over zwift very soon and look forward to joining you.

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[Charlie Bailey]

Mike,

It would be great to ride with you on Zwift - looking forward to it. Make an effort to get Discord set up before you join.

Bear in mind that Discord is not what I’d call a user friendly program, but well worth the effort to get running. Being able to talk with other riders during the trainer torture is key. Also, having headphones is a big help with audio quality, both for receiving and transmitting. I have tried (and destroyed) many different pairs and find the Soundcore Spirit to be the best balance of quality, durability, and price.

Charlie

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[Michael T. Bello]

Mike,

I see you followed me on Zwift today. When I send out the invites for the week, I'll add you to the invites. 

See you on the virtual roads.

MTB
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Michael T. Bello | 28 Pleasant View Dr | Hatfield, MA 01038 | Cell Phone: 413-218-9397 
mtbello.com | Twitter | Strava

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[hemp...@gmail.com]

Hello,

I think I am set up on Discord.  I got on last night and it appeared a few others were on our server.  I wore “hello” a couple time and tried to make audio connection.

I could hear someone riding Zwift (May have been CPoe) but apparently, they could not hear me.

My headphones are AirPod pro and I think those will be ok.

If you can tell that I am signed up correctly, let me know.  Or if I can test with someone.

I also signed up for Zwift Power with NCC group.

Thanks for the help.

Mike

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[Charlie Bailey]

Mike,

It sounds like you're good to go on Discord. Air Pods Pro work really well for audio quality, but be warned that they're not as waterproof as some others. I use mine in a pinch, but am concerned that I'll kill them by sweating on them. Discord has several different settings that we have all experimented with.

My settings are below - I'm sure others will have different opinions. Note also that fans blowing on your microphone(s) can cause all sorts of interference. We have noticed for example, that the built in noise suppression capabilities of the AirPods Pro don't play nice with the noise suppression built into Discord. My headphones have the microphone built into the cord on the right side of my face and I place my fans slightly to the left of me - that seems to work pretty well.

We noticed the rogue listener on the Discord channel on Saturday morning, it may very well have been Carson (I don't recall) but it was pretty clear that they didn't realize they were still on Discord or were having sound reception issues. In any case, they're gone now (I just checked).

We will also use video if there aren't too many (>8) riders on Discord, but we found on Saturday that sound quality seemed to suffer if we had more than 6-10 riders on video. We all switched off video and audio quality improved almost immediately.

Charlie

My Settings

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[Jaime Dávila]

If nothing else, I could see the"hello" post on the text channel.

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Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

[Charlie Bailey]

Jaime,

I’m not sure what you’re referring to. Can you elaborate?

Charlie

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[hemp...@gmail.com]

Thanks for that info.  I tried it Sat around 7 pm.

I ride in an I sun room where I can turn heat off with an overhead fan and I can crack the window next to me, so I would not have a fan noise issue or airflow on the mic.

I will try using the AirPods but may get something cheaper so I don’t ruin them.

Also, what do I need to do to get my Zwift workouts to show up on Strava?

On Dec 6, 2020, at 9:55 AM, Charlie Bailey <charlie...@gmail.com> wrote:

Mike,

It sounds like you're good to go on Discord. Air Pods Pro work really well for audio quality, but be warned that they're not as waterproof as some others. I use mine in a pinch, but am concerned that I'll kill them by sweating on them. Discord has several different settings that we have all experimented with.

My settings are below - I'm sure others will have different opinions. Note also that fans blowing on your microphone(s) can cause all sorts of interference. We have noticed for example, that the built in noise suppression capabilities of the AirPods Pro don't play nice with the noise suppression built into Discord. My headphones have the microphone built into the cord on the right side of my face and I place my fans slightly to the left of me - that seems to work pretty well.

We noticed the rogue listener on the Discord channel on Saturday morning, it may very well have been Carson (I don't recall) but it was pretty clear that they didn't realize they were still on Discord or were having sound reception issues. In any case, they're gone now (I just checked).

We will also use video if there aren't too many (>8) riders on Discord, but we found on Saturday that sound quality seemed to suffer if we had more than 6-10 riders on video. We all switched off video and audio quality improved almost immediately.

Charlie

My Settings

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[Charlie Bailey]

Mike,

Here's a handy article on connecting Zwift to Strava:

https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216918677-Zwift-and-Strava

Also, these are the headphones I recommend. I believe Zinj and Michael Bello will also recommend these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BHHB5RH

Charlie

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[hemp...@gmail.com]

Great.  Headphones will be here tomorrow.

Will check out article.

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[Mike Hempstead]

Cool.  I connected to Strava.  I have a Kickr Core without additional speed/cadence sensors or ANT+ dongle.  Will my zwift workouts still show up on Strava or do I need to add that?

Requirements

• An indoor trainer, a speed/cadence sensor or power meter, and an ANT+ dongle.

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[John Coffey]

Mike,

I have a Kickr Core and have used it successfully with a laptop and now with AppleTV. It will report watts, speed and cadence to Zwift. it will upload all that data to Strava at the end of your ride, as long as you've configured it properly.

John

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[Jaime Dávila]

Mike was testing his discord installation, and mentioned he had typed some testing text into the NCC discord chat, so I was letting him know that had made it through.

[Charlie Bailey]

👍

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[Kevin Weinman]

Hi all, I can solve the Mystery o' the Saturday Discord Interloper.  Apparently, even though I closed the flap on my iPad, I never actually signed out of Discord after the Thursday hill climb.  My wife reported some muffled voices coming from the general direction of the iPad from the other side of the basement right around the time of the ride.  Putting 2 and 2 together was pretty easy from there.  Sorry for the distraction, usually I'm the only one dealing with the effects of my technical incompetence... 

[Charlie Bailey]

That's pretty hilarious Kevin. I hope you didn't transmit anything "inappropriate".

:-)

Charlie

[Melissa Warwick]

That is too funny Kevin!! I will now make certain I log off. No one needs to hear my kids yelling at each other in the background! 

Thank you Jeremy and Charlie for the support. The NCC community has definitely made being injured more tolerable. :) 

Melissa