Comments on: The Watt Wasting Window: Riding Second Wheel Efficiently on Zwift

By: Andrew Roskill

Andrew Roskill — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 13:40:17 +0000

Why does Zwift tell you to “close the gap” if doing so is not advantageous?

By: David

David — Thu, 30 May 2024 14:11:39 +0000

This was the whole reason I got Sauce for Zwift. I thought by that using that draft meter I would be able to ride more efficiently, but based on your video I see I am still wasting watts. This doesn’t happen in the real world, if your drafting and put in more watts you will ride into the person you are drafting, so you know to back off and minimize your watts. I think a meter would be helpful. Maybe this is some thing the Sauce app can add? Or is it there and I have just not found it? It would really only be beneficial for competitive races and TTT’s. But the whole point of Zwift for me, is a tool just to stay fit. I don’t take the racing too seriously with such big discrepancies in power meters. So putting out more watts unnecessarily is not such a bad thing.

By: Larry

Larry — Wed, 29 May 2024 20:44:23 +0000

I’ve seen where the energy savings changes where you are within a pack.. supposedly the savings increase as you move to the front vs. hanging on the rear. Is that true?

By: SteveC

SteveC — Fri, 03 May 2024 08:47:08 +0000

You say this only really applies to second wheel, but I wonder…?

So, we know that 2nd gets a 23% draft discount, 3rd a 30%, 4th 33% and 5th 35%. Is the reality that your window just reduces in other positions? so a +/- 7% in third, 3% in 4th and 2% in 5th? That would explain why it’s much harder to notice – these are numbers that are practically impossible to maintain steadily as a real rider on a bike.

They’re also moot since the big discount is staying behind the lead – much more marginal in a pack. However, I do have one question.

If Rider #1 is doing 300W and rider #2 is doing 231, that’s optimal. Rider #3 can do 210 and stay attached.

However, if Rider #1 is doing 300W and rider #2 does a non-optimal 291, what happens? He stays behind, but does that mean that 20% of the pack savings are just lost? Does #3 have to now do 210W to stay attached, or has that risen to 265W having just lost the whole pack saving from P2?

Equally, does that 3rd position have an optimal window of 210-231W to play in risking wasting 21W effort? Clearly at this point, the bigger problem is that it’s actually quite hard to maintain anything nearly like a smooth power +/- 21W anyway!

By: Kurt Stueber

Kurt Stueber — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 17:00:12 +0000

Hey Eric. Great stuff. I’m guessing this would be proportional to the amount of draft, but might be interesting to know. Your test is on the flat, but what if you add some uphill drag, which reduces the draft amount, or some downhill, which increases the draft amount?

By: Tom Gullberg

Tom Gullberg — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 13:27:43 +0000

Interesting, I’ve tried Sauce for Zwift before to see where the best draft is in a Group (it shows a number indicating current drafting) and to me that seems to be just after the middle of a group – with some riders behind you. Do you have any thoughts on that?

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 21:03:07 +0000

In reply to Chan Stevens. Well said. Can’t understand why this hasn’t yet been implemented in the native Zwift HUD. RGT had it too. Crazy one would have to install a packet sniffer to get that information.

By: Michael Chritton

Michael Chritton — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 00:44:37 +0000

In reply to RollerBecca. Didn't know we could draft behind a pacebot. Cool

By: Sean V

Sean V — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 21:30:05 +0000

You say second wheel only but I’ve noticed this same behavior on group rides if you’re behind the yellow beacon. It can be hard to move past that guy dangling off the back to get back in the bunch! It is significantly easier to stay in the bunch if you’re… in the bunch.
Also, did Zwift do away with the red power number / wasted watt indicator?

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 19:45:44 +0000

RGT had this feature, it showed you the power window to hold a wheel.