Welshfarmer – i take it you have sufficient pressure on the wheel from the roller and your tyres are pumped up to suitable psi. Failing that may be clean the roller as it can get a bit mucky causing less friction. Also check your tyre as if its not turbo specific it may have become worn thus less friction which may only present itself when resistance is largest.

I’ve found isopropyl alcohol good for cleaning the tyre and roller. Used to do it once a week or so and it did help, though as above, tyre pressure and roller adjustment are the basics.

Christ on a bike, just done that kiss crit thing. There’s some numbers being knocked out there!!

. Id jumped on the bike with about 5 mins to spare, done battle with with Windows update and my laptop deciding that it was going to open every application that was open when it shutdown.

I was just hanging on for dear life round there, I think I managed 3 laps before I just couldn’t hack it anymore. Every lap I was dependent on a powerup at some point to keep me in the group, then the last 4 laps…nada.

Did the last 4 as hard as I could with one or two others out of a group of about 10 prepared to do any work, picked up a good few stragglers and it went down to a sprint at the end for nothing but pride at the end, eberyoev else had aero’s so chased hard and came second in the group, nowhere overall.

Good news though, first FTP increase since operation diet/zwift started, 335-341. Combined with the 7kg I’ve dropped since Christmas I’m pretty chuffed.

I’ve been using contact cleaner on the tyre / roller for the best result. The Tacx Vortex seems to be incredibly sensitive to tyre pressure, if it’s not at 120psi it will slip at their recommended tightness (which reduced slightly in the recent firmware update).

Scaled – those are some pretty impressive numbers, you have got to be happy with those. If you dont want them i will gladly have them 😀

Cheers for the advice chaps. I will give the roller a good clean as I think it got covered in rubber recently when the mat under the trainer got a bit ruckled and touched the back wheel causing it the have a hole melted in it 🙂  I am now convinced that has not helped

lol

I did tighten it on a bit and that has helped a bit. Pressure is fine.

Did my first race this morning after a week on zwift and not riding since last august. Was pleasentlp surprised when despite being dropped into TTing 4 out of 5 laps I got upgraded to C. This stuff is addictive isn’t it?

Did a ride today with my Conti GP4000 fitted instead of the turbo tyre…. It seemed quicker/easier ! Weird… I’d have thought turbo tyres were the best really… But i seemed to be able to hold higher powers for longer on the 2 very short intervals i did.

In other news but more for others rather than for you or Joe as you’ve been updated.

I took the Isaac off the turbo for the first time in an eternity yesterday, it’s been the best part of a year since it’s moved in anger anyway. I pulled the front brake… .”Hmmm that’s a bit weird” i thought… The lever doesn’t retract and the brake was stuck on.

All this roadies technology is alien to me, but a brake cable is a brake cable of course, so once you work out how/where they route, it’s not exactly rocket surgery 🙂
Pulled cable out…. tried a new one… Nope….
Tried loosening some of the adjusters on the Canti (i think) arms etc, nope…
With cable off it was fine at the caliper end (to my novice thoughts anyway)
The lever end felt stiff, but i’ve nothing to compare it with, so i took a leap of faith that it’s the lever. Spoke to Banjo Cycles who couldn’t fit me in..

Ended up ordering a new Campagnolo Veloce 10 speed Shifter/brake jobbie, which arrived quickly today after requesting they got it sorted on as quick a shipping plan as possible.
Wasn’t too bad at £40…. Admittedly £40 more than i wanted to spend…. but hey ho….

It arrived this morning and opening the packaging i could tell straight away it was massively better than mine, you could feel a flick in the lever… mine didn’t have that.

30 mins later, it’s all fitted, cabled, gears indexed and the bars badly re-taped…. Quick test up the road and feels good… Shifts fine (although i still only have 9 out of 10 gears, just depends which one i leave out on this thing) Brakes all OK and retract nicely.

Gentle ride after lunch in the garage as i’ve got my lad at home for last day of half term today.

Hopefully tomorrow morning i’ll scoot over to the next village on it just to make sure it’s OK outside.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/23jaxxs]2018-02-16_12-26-20[/url] by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/232Kxde]2018-02-16_12-26-00[/url] by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

What degree is the rise of that stem (17 degrees)?

Lol I have no idea, I don’t even know what make it is. I had to Google what brakes I have yesterday, as for crankset, BB, anyone’s guess.

I also think it’s the angle of picture.

That stem reminds me of my On One 100mm 35 degree stem I bought for my old road bike when my lower back went.

Jumped on Zwift earlier for first time since 2nd Feb, felt surprisingly good, new PBs up to the radio tower and a new higher estimated FTP. 🙂

Sweat Weeksy, and condensation.  It’ll drip down the cables and rust the cable or outer and everything siezes it happened to me .

Google and get a turbo “thong” to catch the sweat and save some cash .

Kryton, 100% agree, that’s what’s killed it. Need to make more effort on upkeep.

So it’s race day today. Cat4 at Thruxton! Quite a daunting day but looking forward to it, I never got to race motorbikes here, so excited about cycling it.

What to eat, what to wear, how to ride, what to do, I have absolutely no idea at all. Lol.

Zwift racing you only have to think about the pedalling, you don’t need to think about how to move forward etc, it just happens. I’m not expecting such Zen like moves today.

I’m just going to pedal until my legs go pop and my HR explodes.

It’s been nice knowing you all.

So it’s race day today. Cat4 at Thruxton!

Best of luck! You’ll be fine. Just find a bunch you’re comfortable with and stay with them, don’t go solo for too long in any breaks and keep an eye out for whats happening around you all the time. You’ve got the power now so the rest is just energy-conservation tactics until its time to make that killer break 🙂

I’ve got CX at Rouken Glen, but not expecting to do anything too special, its been mostly track riding for me this week.

See you there Weeksy – I’m the bloke on the Bowman Palace 1×11

Curto, I’m on a red Isaac with bright green camo tape. I’ll be hard to miss!

good luck weeksy, curto and anyone else racing outside – hope it stays dry for you

Good luck weeksy and curto.

turns out my gold in the zhr race was more than that, i actually won the race!

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=42812

That was great fun.

first ever race and took me 20 minutes to work out how to do it, by which point I’d wasted too much energy panicking to close gaps too quickly. Once I realised that it all came back together on every corner I just relaxed and focused on keeping it as smooth as possible and after that I was fine.

got squeezed too far over on the last corner but reckon I finished top 15 which for a first race where all I wanted to do was finish in the bunch, I will take.

with that chicane at the end I think the only way to win is get right on the front going into it. I’ll try to do that next month.

I went, I was rubbish.

Disappointed lots

Well done Curto! I only managed top fifteen too 🤣

I had to switch sides on the hill- luckily I bugged out from the left as I’d have been close to the crash and it was too much of an ask to get back from there.

If you hit the chicane top 5, you tend to get swamped from behind as you’ll have had to work very hard to earn it. Ideally you’ll get a free tow to the chicane and then go.

Weeksy, don’t be.  There’s a lot to road racing its very difficult and complicated.  Most people go with raised expectations to be shot down in flames by those more experienced.   Took me a year to get settled.

If you’re in a race your already within the top 1% of cyclists in the world.   Build up your experience and confidence and keep it up.

weeksy, how was it compared to your last time?

I hope you don’t give up*

a) because I bet you can improve now you have the power and the weight

b) because I absolutely expect you to join me to show me the ropes if/when I ever enter a race this year 🙂

weeksy, how was it compared to your last time?

I hope you don’t give up*

About the same, slightly better… Not much in it. I did notice on the line i had brake rub from my rear wheel, but was too late to do anything about it, but don’t get me wrong, i don’t think for a second that affected the result.  I went off, it was all OK, sitting happily in the bunch etc, looking for a gap/line i can take advantage of… then suddenly i’d moved from a nice mid-pack position to an off the back position….. then i was gone, done, shot out and floundering… I did another 2-3 laps with a random guy, taking turns but then decided “I’ve had enough”

Sorry to disappoint, but that’s it for me…. That was it before i started the race, nothing changed in the race to show me otherwise. The riding just doesn’t excite me or inspire me… XC racing is FUN, even when you’re in 25th or 45th position, it’s still good fun, taking corners, hitting berms, jumping etc… it’s a good laugh, a bit of adrenaline. RR is like Zwift but colder and windier. Nothing more, nothing less for me.  Maybe it comes from my motorcycling background on tracks that I need a bit ‘more’ excitement, but either way, the race did nothing to convince me that i was either fit enough, nor enjoying it enough to give it another go.

I’d have to add in witness multiple expensive and painful crashes but I am in agreement, I much preferred XC and was crap at road racing.  Not that I’ve never crashed in XC mind…

Horses for courses…

Anyway, Zwift was down yesterday morning so you made a good choice and got a ride in.  Due to perceived danger of ice in the country lane I spent 2 very dull Z2 hours on the turbo watching Brittania.

Rode the February Zwift Fondo around the Watopia Pretzel yesterday. Another 1300m on the way to the Tron bike.

Zwift was a bit buggy, with no names showing up for the majority of other riders on the desktop app, but ok on the mobile app. Only 10 seconds where everyone disappeared.

Think I chose a reasonable pace, as I was about out of gas by the finish after 2:24, which I was happy with. 268w average.

I’m down to a gnats whisker over 94kg from 95.5 in the last month and a half. 90kg is this years aim before the Ride London 100 in July.

Is there any way to give group ride-ons? I spend ages at the back end of events/training sessions (in the cool downs) giving them out.

Lets hope Zwift is playing well today then… After a slack week last week due to planned ‘tapering’ it’s back into the land of either Z2 or racing for me….

There’s a 16:05 on London Classique that has appeal…. Either that or just a Z2 around greater London flat….

Depends how long the work on the Kawasaki i have to do later ends up taking me. I’m hoping it’s 15 min.

Well i did the met5 race this morning and although we carried on as if nothing had happened the race actually crashed with 15 miles left to do. It didnt do anything on screen and the only indication that something was wrong was the distance left to finish never changed and thus no finish line either. It was greater london flat route but we actually went up the first section of box hill which at the time seemed odd. Race organiser looking at it as he was in the race and seemed to suggest the route was the cause of the issue.

LOL i can imagine your face at the time when doing the flat and throwing a left over the bridge/Thames… “Errrrrrrm, what’s happening here then ! “

MagnetoDog is Zwifting in C today… the Cowboy 🙂

He’s sticking in 450w about 2 mins into the race.. he must be in the lead bunch based upon that…

I can’t wait for the “I got a DQ again ” post later 🙂

Weeksy, i couldnt believe we were heading for box hill, my hr was 173 so i went very slowly trying to get it down for the big effort to come but alas we turned off after a minute up there. I realised something was wrong fairly early so i backed off a little although i was shattered anyway after staying with the A group for 16 miles of a flat course with loads of hills on it!!!

MagnetoDog is Zwifting in C today… the Cowboy

Started a few seconds late, shoes were wrong, paid for it in sweat, bridged a few gaps but finished way down the field…

Damp!

Anyone in for the 3:30pm Bikeradar race ? 5 laps Volcano CCW.

Legs are admittedly a bit tired, so think i’ll enter in C today… but should get a decent workout out of it.

Not for me weeksy, i had an almost vomit inducing ride this morning in the mgcc race. The pace was furious from start to finish and i ended up getting SILVER in B group but in actual fact we were quicker than the A group!!!! The first 5 in B group all finished with 2 secs of each other but i dont think any of us could actually sprint for the line. I was only sprinting at about 500w yet managed to come from the back to 2nd as we were all wasted. I think i finished with an avg of 280w but it felt like 350w,it was truly the road to ruin!

Ha ha, you’re a crazy man that’s for sure! Well done on the Silverware!

Now that i have a working hr monitor i have been waiting for the ideal race to see what my max was. I assumed my max was 180 but it turns out today i got to 185. I am not certain it will go much higher  but now i have that metric is there any easy calculation to find my zones? My avg hr for todays race was 169 which is also a new high.

Thetallpaul

is there any way to give group ride-ons?

On the mobile link app, press and hold on your position arrow on the main map and it’ll hand out Ride Ons to everyone near.

Went outside in the road bike today my lack of aero and a strong headwind made it hard work.

deffo think Zwift favours the larger framed person as I chuck out power but aerodynamics don’t feature.

Made a proper pigs ear of that. Set it all up before i went to collect my lad from school, of course, today was the day he was late ! got back and was putting my shoes on as the clock counted to 0s.

15s elapsed as i set off and i ploughed ahead at a decent pace, arguably maybe too much pace and i suffered late on. Made it from 123rd to about 63rd place….. Wasn’t too unhappy with my performance, but the legs are struggling currently.

I’ve got a day off biking tomorrow as up in London until late for work.

Knackered.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=44843

deffo think Zwift favours the larger framed person as I chuck out power but aerodynamics don’t feature.

I think aerodynamics do features in Zwift. As I recall, being shorter gives you a small advantage, but you don’t have to deal with headwinds and Zwift won’t take into account how wide you are, how low your bars and how tucked and aero your riding position I guess.

Right, off to er, Sufferlandria, then I might go add some more metres to the glowing bike total…