I began using Zwift late last year for offseason riding. In a way, it is my winter group ride replacement. I use a classic magneto trainer with a Garmin speed, heart rate and cadence sensor, which do the trick for me. Because I know the speed I’m pedalling, and since the resistance of the trainer is consistent, I can tell very easily if I’m improving.
Less than one week in and I find out that the Zwift Academy has started. It looked like fun, so I joined. I believe one had to complete 2 races along with some group rides and their training workouts to graduate.
The races were fun. I enjoy the challenge of competing with other riders any day of the week. but I had no way of knowing if my power was accurate. So I did the best I could to compare Zwift’s power to CycleOps power graph, which I wrote about.
Still unsatisfied, I got my hands on some Favero Assioma dual pedal based power meters, and did some real tests. Here are the results.
All tests were done on the CycleOps Magneto trainer. Speed was recorded using the Garmin 520 computer. Power was recorded from the Assioma Duo pedals and Zwift’s estimate.
| Kms/hr | Zwift Estimated Power | Assioma Power | % Difference | |
| 23 | 160w | 138w | +14.75% | |
| 34 | 320w | 272w | +16.22% | |
| 40 | 412w | 342w | +18.57% | |
| 48 | 490w | 414w | +16.81% | |
| 57 | 550w | 590w | -7.02% | |
| 64 | 550w | 690w | -22.58% |
Conclusion:
It’s pretty clear that Zwift’s estimates are off. In the lower power range zwift overestimates power by more than 30%. However, once it passes about 540 watts the pendulum swings the other way and then it begins to underestimate power by well over 22%.
I really enjoy Zwift and would encourage anyone to hop on the platform, with or without a power meter. Hopefully Zwift will be able to use this data along with data posted by other users to help them improve the accuracy of their software for all riders. Those who can afford power meters and the many who are just getting into the sport.