Can You TRULY Experience ALPE D'HUEZ on Zwift?

Have you ever wondered if Alpe du Zwift - the Zwift version of Alpe D'Huez, is accurate and actually comparable to the real thing? Let's find out. :-)

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My name is Adam, I am 35 years old and I am a former marathon runner who shifted his focus on ZWIFT CYCLING.

Road to A is a channel focused on INDOOR ZWIFT RACING with the ultimate goal of reaching the A+ CATEGORY. Is it progression realistic? Maybe. I'll need to train a lot and lose a lot of weight, too. However, I believe the BIGGEST LIMITATIONS riders (and athletes in general) have are those they put on themselves and this channel is my way to prove that idea. If you feel like you are riding (or living) BENEATH YOUR POTENTIAL, you need to tag along! The destination is clear but the journey won't be easy.

Currently I am racing in B CATEGORY.

As for my ZWIFT SETUP - I am riding on a ZWIFT HUB ONE indoor trainer. Steering can give you pretty substantial advantage during the racing and for that I am using the ZWIFT PLAY controllers. I use these for virtual shifting as well and to make sure I'll be covered if they run out of battery or generally stopped working, I've got the ZWIFT CLICK as well. I am running my Zwift in 4K and using the ULTRA settings.

#RoadToA

Chapters:

00:00 Alpe du Zwift vs. Alpe D'Huez
00:10 3 Things I needed to consider so it makes sense
00:30 Wattage during the test
01:05 Weight settings
01:57 Accounting for the wind outside
03:20 Test
10:28 Results
13:04 My thoughts on Alpe du Zwift vs. Alpe D'Huez

[RoadtoA]

Have you done the real thing? How was it? How did it compare to Alpe du Zwift for you? Let me know in the comments! ⬇

[scottmccann]

You've went in great detail the weights, wind etc. You've probably done it the most scientific of everyone who does Zwift. Well done

[skullsenna]

Very nice video, great approach to the experiment. To replicate the effort, and not have to trouble yourself with other factors, you can stick simply to wattage. By this, I mean you can take the file from your Garmin/Strava, break it down to only have the section for the climb itself (so you would need only to know when you had start/stop signs on the FIT file). Then you can upload it to Zwift as a Custom workout, approach the bottom of Alpe d'Zwift and start the workout there. At most you would lose like a second, in terms of wattage synchronization, and saves the hastle of all the other calculations. I did it a long time ago with Ventoux, it worked pretty well (apart from the fact that I broke down in tears inside, because I forgot to turn on the fans and it got REAL hot, REAL fast haha). Take care and ride on!

[daved]

Bravo to you! Great job comparing, and I always wondered when doing this on Zwift. You are lucky to do the real climb! Thank you for all the hard work!

[stevenmihalik]

I've always wondered about the climbing comparison to Zwift and outdoors! As someone who lives nowhere near any sort of mountains, it's nice to know that Zwift translates well.

This was such a a great idea for a video! Seriously impressive work, Adam!

Also, love the pup making a cameo 😂

[RideWithGerben]

Great video. Love the graphs and great to see that the time difference is so little! Also you have chosen a perfect day for this comparison ride. When I did the alpe it was the heat that got me, it was like cycling in a oven. :D

[Stephensry]

This is an amazing video comparing the two

[SFrank]

Excellent video, well done to put down that much work for other zwifters. You deserve more views !

[bertespino]

Great detail and thoughtful analysis, well done, sir! 🤙🏼

[TheRmr]

Outstanding video, thank you. Reassuring too, for those of us who haven't been lucky enough to ride the real thing ... yet!

[robtempest]

Great comparison - for those of us that don't have the real thing in easy reach, it's great to know that AdZ is a decent enough emulation in terms of effort to be able to do it and still feel some sort of achievement.

[fabiodagostino]

Very cool what you did, congratulations!!

[sgp]

Really good analysis on something I've been curious about since joining Zwift.

[truthfacts]

Good Morning from mostly flat Florida, except part of Florida I live in has hills . But do not ride the open roads . Joined Zwift in Dec 2023 . Been doing Triathlons and Duathlons since 1985, indoor training since 1987. So in the old days rode by feel. Zwift has made my outdoor riding stronger and faster . Looked only at your time chart and made me smile . Outside vs Zwift, 1st number being Outside, 17 to 6 with 1 tie . When I ride indoors my cadence is 80 or above which means my cadence outside is 8 to 10 RPM'S higher . And Alpe Du Zwift and the Grade are my 2 favorites . 1st will only do 2000 ft few times per week . The Grade I do weekly as well, have done up to 3 to 4 reps . Being 67yrs old the climbing helps me alot maintain strength to my legs instead of lifting weights .

I race, but training is my passion on Zwift, ranked in top 50 in United States top 200 in the world in my age division. If I was in my 30's well be right there with you up these climbs . Thanks for making my efforts worth it seeing your time chart .

[jmettee]

Great work! As a mechanical engineer, I think you hit all the aspects & compensations for weight & wind to make this as close of a comparison as possible given all the variabilities. Good to know that Swift has done a good job of relocating the real effort. Also cool to see your side-by-side video showing the path is replicated quite well too

[juliochidox]

Wow, so duckin great video 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾 really useful, thank you 🙏🏾

[dinoaustralia]

Well done on doing all that work! It's really good to know this information

[hbraju]

weight analysis was really good, now i know why my speed is not good when riding outdoor, as I only wear cycling shorts while riding indoors, but there is lot of weight to be carried when outdoors

[NeonGrayEdits]

Very interesting, impressive all the time and thought you put into this. Well done.

[jimdennison]

Great vid! I did AdZ at 198w average and AdH at 200w average a week apart in 2022. My AdH effort was about 20% slower but yeah so many factors that can add up (weight differences or inaccuracies in my zwift config, different Power Meter on my bike vs indoor trainer, ...). But the weather thing is interesting point too ... especially that such as small wind (was is about 7-8kph?) needs an additional 10% of power ... Zwift is great but the wind direction and speed is deffo something that is lacking and would make even things like races more strategic and realistic