In the last two posts I mentioned that I had not got the Neo setup quite right as the gears didn’t change very smoothly and one of them, the 4th from bottom gear (i.e. from the largest sprocket) slipped and was unusable. However, I have been riding the bike like this since July and it hasn’t stopped me enjoying riding on Zwift and so up until today have not got round to trying to fix it. This is also partly because it took me so long to fit the cassette in the first place that, since it was ride-able, I was reluctant to spend another 4 hours trying to sort it out. I did discuss this with Woodrups some time ago and the theory was that I had fitted the offending sprocket the wrong way round. I decided to attempt the fix at this stage as recently I had been getting involved in rather more demanding rides on Zwift including some handicap races and I found that the unusable sprocket was frequently the one I needed!

In the event, fixing it today was not too bad. I had indeed fitted the 4th sprocket the wrong way round and when I put the bike back on the trainer this gear now worked fine. Much to my dismay another sprocket had become unusable due to slipping. In this case I spotted straightway that I had put a spacer on the wrong side of it so it was hard pressed up against the next sprocket, thus making 2 of them unusable. This was soon remedied and now all seems well. The whole process took me about an hour so a vast improvement on the 4 hours the original cassette fitting took me.

I have made extensive and regular use of the trainer and Zwift but not had much time to record anything here. I will do so in the near future, including my first experiences of virtual racing. I’ve still be going out in the real world (IRL rides – in real life) while the weather has been good and will continue to do throughout the winter but there is no doubt I will hit next Spring significantly fitter than in the past now I have a smart trainer and Zwift.