Where do I begin? I signed up for The Herd’s ride that began at 11:55 AM but when I attempted to open the Zwift desktop program it tried to update and gave me error message “Patcher: ERROR #Z112, FILE “Patcher.cpp”, LINE 602: Failed to download needed server files for update! (Last: “ZwiftApp.exe”)”. I went to the Zwift support pages to find a solution but none of them worked. Maybe this equates to a flat tire on a ride?

Running out of time I canceled The Herd ride and signed up for the ZHCC 1.5 ride around Richmond, VA starting at 12:30 PM. Still trying to find a solution as the start time got closer I gave up on my PC and started Zwift on my Android tablet.

The Zwift orange app opened on the tablet and I started pairing sensors to the tablet using Bluetooth. The smart trainer connected, heart rate monitor connected but the cadence sensor connected and then dropped off. I got off the Blue Norcross AL bike trying to fix the cadence connection only for it to drop off again several times. Added to that problem the tablet sat on my desk a little too far to see the details of the ride route and riders.

Next I installed the Zwift orange app on my phone thinking that it would be closer and see the route better but when I opened the app the smart trainer sensor failed to connect. I suspected the tablet connection caused the problem so I closed the app on my phone.

Dismounting one more time I brought the tablet to the bike and laid it on my phone mount. I could see better now and started to makeup for lost time. The front group rode about 3 1/2 minutes in front of me but I passed several other riders as I maintained 2.0+ w/kg while they showing less w/kg.

Frustrated with the issues I stopped at 7.56 miles and 29:56 minutes. Not a good ride to finish 2019.

After the ride I remembered changing a setting on my router and wondered if that caused the problem. Changing the router setting I started Zwift on my PC, the update started, finished and opened. The router setting must’ve been the problem blocking the update. The Zwift worked with the router setting until an update wanted to install. Who knew?

Inspite of the technical difficulties I recorded a personal record and two 2nd fastest times according to Strava.

Hopefully 2020 starts better. Weather conditions probably means another Zwift ride on New Year’s day.