The big change in my Zwift life these days is my move to the shared family living room. I could practically be Santa and stuff stockings while riding my bike on the trainer.
Previously Sarah and I had a back room Zwift set up, from the early pandemic days of Zwifting, but we’ve recently had an adult child move back home for a stretch while they’re in school, and another adult child come back for a few months between jobs.
That’s a lot of people in a small house.
In response to the space crunch, Sarah’s moved her trainer to the basement and I’m set up for Zwifting in front of the fireplace.
Thanks Sarah for setting my bike and trainer and big screen all up and making it possible. Thank you everyone else in the family for your support of my living room Zwift activity.
It’s like having a pit squad for dropped towels and turning up the fan. Lol.
This year we don’t even have a full size Christmas tree since the bike, the trainer, and the screen are using valuable floor space.
But it didn’t occur to me in all the squishing in to give up Zwift. It’s a big part of my life. In terms of motivation, it helps that my knees feel their best when I ride everyday.
This fall I’ve gotten back into racing a little bit. I’ve been racing with a women’s team for a change. I’ve joined ZSUN, Sarah’s club, and a women’s D team that’s part of ZSUN. They’re lovely folks and I appreciate so much the work that goes into organizing. Thanks Chantal.
Miss my TFC fellas but as I’m just getting back into racing, I can’t quite keep up with them yet.
I’ve settled into a pattern with Zwift right now and there’s really three things that I’m doing regularly. I’m doing easy going group rides. I’m doing workouts. And I’m racing, and that includes doing course ride overs with my team in advance of the actual races.
There are a lot of group rides and workouts on Zwift. Want some advice about where to get started?
Here’s mine.
Group Ride
Regular blog readers know that I love the Herd and their very punny rides. My favorite is the Thundering Turtles but there are others.
I also like the Herd’s Monday Morning Coffee Crew. It’s a great community and I love that they do what they say they’re going to do.
A few years ago I blogged about my favorite group rides on Zwift and though it needs updating it still mostly holds.
Workouts
My new favorite Zwift workouts are the Baseline Camp series. You can read more about it here.
“Uncover your strengths and train
smarter in 2025. Over six weeks,
challenge yourself with six rides—three
workouts and three tests—tailored to
transform your riding approach.”
The workouts are challenging but not impossible and I like benchmarking and testing part of it.
Here’s the attacking test and my results.
Big Challenge
I’ve never done the Rapha 500 but every year I’m tempted.
“500 kms. Eight days. 24 – 31 December. A tradition like no other.”
It used to be an outdoor thing but now you can complete the challenge on Zwift.
“For your indoor rides, we’re serving up a calendar full of group rides to help you crush kilometers with friends worldwide. Choose your speed with five subcategories, each led by a RoboPacer.
Need a dependable wheel to follow on your journey to 500 kilometers? RoboPacers to the rescue. Join any Pacer Group on a free ride to help you go the distance and ride at a speed that suits you, with loads of RoboPacers to choose from!
Complete any Rapha Festive 500 event on Zwift, and you’ll unlock the in-game Rapha Festive 500 kit for 2025. Don’t miss out on your only chance to unlock this exclusive kit”
You can plan it out here.
Here’s my Merry Zwiftmas room!
