I did a WBR race this morning and it was a split start and also poorly attended. Not sure how i feel about the split times as i quite like to hang with the A group for as long as i can.
It was a stupid race this morning as we ended up just a bunch of 5 of us pretty quickly but the pace was all over place. There were times on the flats we were doing less than 200w and it just felt like a recovery spin and then all of a sudden 1 would attack and we all had to pull over 300w for a long time to catch up and this kept happening every 10 mins or so,it was just weird. There seem to be no logic to why or where they were doing it,very odd. Ended up 5th as i had to do all the chasing plus i couldnt be bothered to change gear to do a sprint so cruised home instead.

There were times on the flats we were doing less than 200w and it just felt like a recovery spin and then all of a sudden 1 would attack and we all had to pull over 300w for a long time to catch up

Not that I’ve ever done one, but that sounds fairly similar to a normal road race. I guess this is what makes it hard, the constant and unpredictable changes in pace and the need to push for as long as is necessary. The issue I’ve found is that the slow response times to putting in effort (a few second at least, sometimes more than 5) mean that you have to be very quick to follow breaks and as a result you end up putting in more effort than required.

Not even sure i need to write reports now…. You all know roughly how it went 🙂

Went off with the lead bunch, warm up 3/4 done, the climb wasn’t too bad, i held in there OK… over the line to begin the 4 laps. Just then, 1 guy went off the front, however, not only was he averaging 4.4w/kg for a DQ, he was on a TT bike…. So i ignored him, not that i could have gone at 4.4 if i’d wanted to… Lap 1, up the hill, i had a feather so did OK. Held my own and stayed in there… Lap 2… Same but without feather…. Round to start lap3… 13 in the bunch… You know the rest… We hit Horseguards hill…. i was hitting 3.6-4.0w/kg, all the riders around me, 5.5, 6.0, 5.7. It was all over.
Got dumped out the back and had to solo for the next lap and 1/4. I had a massive lead over the next bunch of over 3 mins, so i just put my head down and pedalled, trying to average 250w, which i think i did OK at…. Pootled over the line 43s or so beind the guy in front and 3mins+ over the next bunch.

Looking at the results the winner was a B rider who won by over 1 min 😀 even from 1 min behind…. 6.0w/kg average GTF in the sea ! Nutter…

We’ll see what happens in the dust up but i think i was 11th in C.

Destroyed now.

Looking at the live results I reckon quite a few that finished ahead of you in C will be promoted to B so you could potentially end up with another trophy. Well done.
Really tempted to do the 5pm race today, but had a cold last week and felt quite rough during and after the mtb ride yesterday, so maybe should just leave it for a day or 2.

Eddie BH out in London this morning!

Kryton57 – Member
Eddie BH out in London this morning!

he’ll be counting his blessings that i was in work then 😈

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=29357#

results are a bit lacking currently

https://www.zwiftpower.com/profile.php?id=2631412

Zwiftpower seems to have all gone to crap. All the previous races no longer have DQ’d riders as DQ’s now. People are still showing as moved from C>B for exmaple, but all around are riders that were previously DQ’d.

Kryton57, not seen you much in the strava feed. Indulging in a bit of stealth training? 😀

Weeksy, as per crosshairs post… https://zwiftblog.com/whats-going-on-with-zwiftpower-com/

Privacy issues/terms of service are incoming. until then it’s a very stripped down zwiftpower

Zwiftpower seems to have all gone to crap. All the previous races no longer have DQ’d riders as DQ’s now. People are still showing as moved from C>B for exmaple, but all around are riders that were previously DQ’d.

Yeah, I had that with a race last week while ZP was down. When it came back up the guy who finished nearly a minute in front of me was given 2.5 W/kg even though he must have been pushing out way more than that because I probably was over that too but was also given 2.5 W/kg.

No-one in the whole race was DQ’d or bumped up a group either.

I assumed as service was now resumed it was back to all systems normal.

I guess in that case, it’s just racing for pride then for now.

Dazh – i guess it probably was like a real race but it kinda all just felt wrong. I am sure one guy was just taunting us for a laugh as i had to dig deep to haul him back in. The lag in efforts is quite annoying in both trying to attack and covering them, as i found today this is increased when its a very small bunch.

As with most software systems they need to concentrate on getting the basics right and not fudge it up by trying to incorporate fancy bells and whistles.

i guess it probably was like a real race but it kinda all just felt wrong

I don’t really mind chaotic ones as I’m using these as training for MTB races so the unpredictable nature of how long you need to keep pushing for is quite realistic. What is annoying though is that when you chase you go too hard and end up overtaking the group rather than just tagging on the end, as a result the rest of the group speeds up and you go straight out of the back again.

I am sure one guy was just taunting us for a laugh as i had to dig deep to haul him back in.

Or maybe he was attacking repeatedly to try and soften you up? I guess it’s harder to tell whether someone’s taking it seriously on just playing on Zwift than in real life. But essentially the effect’s the same anyway.

I had a brilliant race once which was really chatty with about 6 of us… The other lads were complaining as this guy kept hammering off the front.

“If you want to sit on my wheel then i’ll keep attacking you”
“But that’s not racing” was their reply
“That’s exactly what racing is, get on with it”

They whinged and moaned lots… he kept attacking them and eventually won the race.. i’d been binned by then but i was laughing lots watching how it all played out.

The guy in my race would shoot off and hold us off for 5 mins then drop off the group and then come back and sit there and do the same again later, there was no way this was just an ordinary race attack. I guess its hard to describe but it just seemed odd almost like he was having connection issues. I have seen/been in plenty of races and todays was just a very strange one of fast pace mixed in with almost stationary riding,it was like a track race on the road.

The guy in my race would shoot off and hold us off for 5 mins then drop off the group and then come back and sit there and do the same again later,

Probably using a race to do some 5 minute intervals.

I think a lot of people use the races as training, so they’ll put in efforts when not necessary then have a rest. On the 100km race I did yesterday I was caught by a couple of germans. They were putting out 5w/kg to catch me, then proceeded to ride at 180-200w for ages which was disrupting my 250w time trial so I cracked on and gained 40s, then they streaked past me about 30 minutes later and I never saw them again.
Although if you’re not trying to be competitive then it’s quite good fun being a disruptor 🙂

Stoopid sodding people. My WBR race isn’t showing Cats. All the others from today are showing Cat results.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=29319 like that. My one is still showing all of us as U.

I’ve just emailed the WBR guys out of curiosity.

🙂

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=29357

Working for me?

Perfect. 🙂

Wasn’t before. I’m guessing my email and his reply “we’ll look into it” worked 🙂

Lets hope it updates more later as i may end up winning when they kick out all the >3.2 🙂

Well my new zwift pc +monitor on a articulated arm worked a treat, tho it is still somewhat ridiculous that a game with graphics that wouldn’t look out of place on an N64 even on ultra needs a powerful graphics card!

I did a cat D this time and came 4th, had a good battle with a chap up box hill – he tried to drop me going up an underground escalator (?!) but apparently his belt snapped! Was good fun, but i swear box hill is less hard in real life 😀

Potential zwift newbie here..

I’m looking at a smart trainer and wondering how critical the two way connectivity (eg automatic effort adjustment) is as that function costs a fair bit more.

Halfords have an Elite Nuvo smart on offer at the mo which is supposedly two way at £180 or the tacx flow at £220.

Planning to use my iPhone and the app initially. Might go for an apple tv or cheap laptop if I like it.

Thoughts? Alternatives?

TIA

did a cat D this time and came 4th

Great work mate. Its very rewarding for a computer game. Ha ha.

Battles can really make or break a race that’s for sure. It turns a dull spin into a battle of wills!

nemesis – if you have access to any compatible trainer zwift is fairly enjoyable but I do think the controllable resistance adds quite a lot. No massive deal, just a bit more intuitive to chnge to a lower gear for a hill rather than taking a higher one or even just spinning on and ignoring the terrain

Also, if you ride in a group/race you’ll find that people sometimes really ramp up the power on the hills – as I’m sure we probably all do in real life. On a dumb trainer you’ll need to have your wits about you so as not to get dropped

Thanks for that

I rode the first 4-5 months with a dumb trainer, there’s nothing wrong with it as such, it still works, you still race, you still go up and down… Just in 1 gear 🙂 I’d say from a fun perspective, dumb is 7/10 and smart is 9/10

I’m still needing to find a plan… Well…. maybe need a plan.

I’m still getting killed on that kick (or any other kick) on Horseguards hill coming to the end of the lap. The others seem to have the ability to stick in 5+ in the later stages of a race, i don’t have 5+ in me, it’s just not there. Is that power ? Is it technique ? is it just bloody determination ? I don’t really know. Is it the fact that each and every person who beat me wasn’t actually a C and their overall power put them as a B… possibly.

I’m not sure where the questions leave me, in the past 4-5 weeks i’ve upped my race performances from a little slump, i’m now able to put out about 10w average for the distance of a 4 lapper more than i was 4-5 weeks back, so i’m happy that i’m getting some form again. But that doesn’t change the fact that when we hit that hill on laps 3-4 i’m weak and lacking compared to the other guys i’m racing, it’s not a question of IF i’ll get dumped on that section, but which lap i will.

I still sit for the hills, i don’t know why but on the Snap i don’t seem to generate more power or better power up out of the saddle, is that a a quirk of turbos ? Or is it my perception that outdoors i make more power standing but in reality i maybe don’t actually make more ?

The clear and obvious answer for me is to drop weight, but as we’re all aware that’s not necessarily as easy as just saying it. If i were to race at 80kg, i’d be faster, of course i would, but we’d just end up with the same discussions then as today, but in B not C

I’m looking forward to Crosshair response 😀

I guess i want a short term answer to a long term issue. 🙂

I can’t train in the way he does, or others do, i just don’t ‘get’ it… I struggle with recovery rides on the turbo, if i do a gentle one it’s outdoors.
The trainer for me is an all or nothing thing really. There’s no middle ground.

I know what you mean. My Zwift time can be quite sporadic, I can be on it every other day or might not get on all week so it’s difficult for me trying to commit to a 8-12 week workout plan. I guess that’s the difference though if you want to get better you have to make that commitment.

we’d just end up with the same discussions then as today, but in B not C

you rang ?? 😀
Exactly the same for me weeksy; I can’t keep up on any of the little hills, say the one on the watopia flat.
I think I’m a bit of a diesel and can hold quite close to my max for pretty long spells but once I’ve done that I’m basically without any kick at all, at least by comparison (I can do a 1000+ sprint for 20 secs when I’m fresh but can barely get past half that on a hill half way round a race or at the finish sprint.
Seems the options for me are either to sit in a slower group and compete to “win” that or go harder and finish at the back of the next pack forwards. I still prefer the going harder option and live with the fact that the others in my pack haven’t ridden to their max (or their bodies work VERY differently to mine)

(I watched one of the vids that blader mentioned, of the world team B race – front group. Those jokers were obviously potential A’s up front, shitting out watts like they were going into orbit. Sure, they had a lull in the middle but they were chatting and joking on their radios and still well over 3w/kg doing that. As a mid-pack B, I can’t ride with them)

Planning to use my iPhone and the app initially. Might go for an apple tv or cheap laptop if I like it.

I’ve used my phone before in a pinch but a slightly bigger screen is definitely better. More immersive. Clicking on individual riders, etc, might be a pain when you’re riding. Plus it’s handy to be able to use your phone for the Mobile Link app or controlling music/discord/etc.

(I watched one of the vids that blader mentioned, of the world team B race – front group. Those jokers were obviously potential A’s up front, shitting out watts like they were going into orbit. Sure, they had a lull in the middle but they were chatting and joking on their radios and still well over 3w/kg doing that. As a mid-pack B, I can’t ride with them)

In all races i enter now i generally see the best part of 50% of riders either being a DQ or an auto-upgrade. Which seems a bit daft sometimes to me. I don’t get why they ride time after time in the wrong catagories. You even see there and see Josh Hayes EVB B in their name, but they’re racing in C… Invariably they do very well in C too LOL, which tells me that they’re actually B’s… If i look at their profiles, i then see them having done a dozen races in B… LOL. It’s kind of irritating as i’m turning myself inside out to stay in their bunch because i think “Well, they’re Cs, i should be able to hold a C group”… but in the full results i find that none of them were ‘real’ Cs as they’re all putting out 3.5w/kg LOL. So how was i ever going to hold onto them.

I understand the desire for glory as much as the next man, i’m competitive but if i was a B rider, dropping to C to win the cat, wouldn’t give me a lot of pleasure. It’s not even like some of these guys are 45th in a B race, they’re top 5s… LOL

I tried the WBR Flat race last night on my ancient Macbook, with what can only be described as ‘variable’ results. The graphics and lag are so wonky that I have to time sprints about 10 seconds ahead and then remember to back off before anything actually starts showing on the screen.

The end result was that I lost the lead group within about 10 seconds and had a few yo-yo battles after that, which were all good fun. Oh, and just after the finish my Mac crashed, so didn’t save anything to Strava. 😥

That’s not sounding ideal Gavin, on the PC you can export from Zwift and import into Strava, i assume the process is similar on MAC, go to Zwift.com and login, see your event and export it.

Thanks for the heads up on that – I didn’t know you could do that. I tried to upload it, but got an error saying ‘the .fit file was malformed’ or somesuch! Doesn’t matter really, just encourages me to look out for a cheap new PC as a dedicated Zwift machine.