Just done an Asian MNR (I assume Monday night ride) 2.0-2.5 pace but with 2xKOMs and 2 sprints.. I finished 9th in the village sprint, about 450w for it.

Times like this i miss out on some of your advanced Strava data, but i know i worked bloody hard on the climbs etc.

1hr 5 mins as i carried on after the event to get the calories in and a few extra km 🙂

Just joined the strava group
I can’t ride tonight but planning to ride the kiss 8pm tomorrow

Is there a marker on the road to indicate the start of the sprints? I always seems to miss the start, then it’s too late.

Yep. Normally a white line drawn on the road. On watopia it’s just as you go
Into the tunnel.

Is there a marker on the road to indicate the start of the sprints?

Yes, but it’s subtle! Would be better if there was a massive gate thing like for the end IMO! You can download some PDF maps off the Zwiftblog site which shows where everything is to help memorise it.

13 members so far 😆

I wasn’t always a Cat A. If Zwift was around when I first started properly cycling I bet I was the lower end of D. The first Zwift ride I have is January 2016 on a dumb trainer. Looking at that my FTP was 226W, but I only weighed 65kg back then so 3.48W/KG. If only I was still that weight 🙂

Just joined, but still getting over the dregs of man-flu so not sure I’ll be riding any time soon….might aim for Thurs, perhaps??

nathb, impressive progress in quite a short time there! My first Trainer Road was back at the end of 2012, about a year after the cataclysmic event that was the birth of first child. After a year of no exercise, no sleep, and a diet of mostly chocolate and cake, I was 82kg and tested at 225W. The turbo probably saved my life 😉

I just joined the STW Zwift group but I live in Vancouver so the time zone difference (and me working office hours) means it’s unlikely I’ll be racing with anyone here!

If I were nath’s weight I’d be winning races lol

Thanks @mrblobby – I had a very poor diet. In fact back in May 13 I weighed 95+kg and could FTP at circa 171w (strava), I managed to get down to 77kg by Jan 14, so yeah like you cycling along with a diet change (became a vegetarian too) probably saved my life. I did pick up gastritis along the way though haha. The missus did a before and after pic (strava profile pic) 🙄

Wow good skills Nath! (Although it does look like being a chunky meat eater got you a hot date whilst being a skinny vegetarian left you good only for hugging a cat 😀 😉 😀 )

2016 has taken me from 13st13 to 15st03 and very nearly back again! Fingers crossed I can maintain discipline from here on in and get somewhere handy to 13st07 by this time next year when I’d love to get an upgrade to A on Zwift.

@crosshair Haha my missus is stood on the other side of the bride there.
Keep at it, you’ll be there in no time – plus winning races at Hillingdon!

Just done part of the BRT Training session – a lot more fun than I anticipated. Also did some sweeping too to get folk back into the bunch.

Something I’ve noticed on the iPad is a longer delay between the screen and my feet!? Anyone else notice that? Also had to increase my realism as I was spinning out a little…..

Lol! A long way to go before that happens I think!!

Training sessions seem to be the next big thing on Zwift at the moment- loads of folks offering them. I did a Vision one with Nathan along with Discord comms the other week and 2hrs literally flew by!!

oof. KISS second base. jumping on the turbo with about 3 mins to go before the race wasn’t the best prep…

Just finished my first race! Also did the Kiss second base. Entered as cat D to see how it went and it was the right decision. Looks like I came about top 1/3 in that once you factor out those with the dodgy w/kg. have to say, absolutely loved it. I never would’ve hit the turbo as hard for that long. No question. I’m sure there’s lots about the racing to improve on tactics wise etc but that’s not the point really. I came off a sweaty jelly legged mess which can only be a good thing long term!

Part of the race tactics seem to be sand-bagging your W/KG just below category threshold…

I entered my first race in Cat D as I had no idea how my fitness ranked. Each category set off separately.I was running near the front of my group right up to the final couple of kms when suddenly nearly everyone seemed to go backwards. I was feeling very clever with myself for saving some energy for the last sprint and finished 2nd (only a couple of seconds behind the first guy).
Anyway, I was DQ’d as my average W/KG was over Cat D 🙁
I suspect those behind me were sand-bagging and it wasn’t my awesomeness which got me a great result:-)

Been doing some stalking this evening (went on to see what my profile showed and ended up following some riders)

**** ME !! some of those riders are fast, or else dEPO is already on zwift. 80kg riders running 450-500w for 5-10 minutes at a go and a HR in the 150s. Are any of you jokers doing that ?!

Good idea on the STW Zwift group, also just joined.
Not on it tonight but will probably be on the next couple of nights, maybe try another tt

Scardey,

I do sometimes laugh at some of the figures you see on screen. I was riding yesterday on a 2.0-2.5 with Sprint segments. Watching one of the Asians come past me with his active power showing 12.7w/kg and i’m thnking “no way, it’s just not possible”.
We’ve all seen guys with weights of 30kg racing, we’ve seen guys who are slow sometimes, fast, insanely fast on others..

Not sure there’s a lot any of us can do about it really, it’s one of the issues of riding indoors against randoms.

Clearly, there are some VERY quick people riding on Zwift, but i’m not convinced all of them who appear quick actually are quick 🙂

Tonight, i’m debating between 3 options
1. Rest night
2. BRS TT 7.05pm
3. KISS Europe 8pm

I’m not actually sure i’ve got the legs for any of the rides at the moment, stiff and tired comes to mind. But i need/want to drop 3lb of weight this week and next, so need the calories to be getting burnt really. Timings wise, KISS probably works best, so i can see it being that.

scaredypants
**** ME !! some of those riders are fast, or else dEPO is already on zwift. 80kg riders running 450-500w for 5-10 minutes at a go and a HR in the 150s. Are any of you jokers doing that ?!

If you ignore the HR then that’s pretty standard, however 150bpm is ridiculous! Unless in a group?

On last nights group ride (where I was taking part in the sprints and sweeping) my average BPM was 124 @ 223w weighted average. The drafting effect is very strong on Zwift.

@weeksy – I’m thinking the TT, Zwift being a Doddle to setup now.

**** ME !! some of those riders are fast, or else dEPO is already on zwift. 80kg riders running 450-500w for 5-10 minutes at a go and a HR in the 150s. Are any of you jokers doing that ?!

I did the EVR race last night in ‘B’.

I pushed a lot off the start – just to see what the pace was like at the start. It was mental. I think were pushing 450-475w for the first 5 minutes, with the odd little surge & drop.

The pace was mental – I was deep into the red zone trying to hang on, then I got the respite, as I snapped my chain & had to sack it off after 10 minutes.

Considering i’m a ‘mid pack’ cat B rider (based on my w/kg anyway) there are an awful lot of sandbaggers IMO, which is odd, as it’s just training & a virtual world. I guess some people are just odd 🙂

I struggle to work out the people who do it though, i’m pretty sure that with a bit of effort/thinking i could win a decent chunk of D races now, i can put out 2.49w/kg pretty well for an hour and if you beat me with my aero profile then you’re likely on for a DQ… but WHY would I ? Why would i go out and stop someone who’s a true D from getting a great result ? There’s no glory in the winning, after the initial elation of “oh wow, i won the race”, there’s no prizes for it, no-one from Team Sky is watching the D’s to see if they can pick up a new team-rider. Why why why would someone do it ?
I was really pleased to get DQ’d from a D race and forced to move up into C’s, it was a badge of honour for me to move to C. Even though i’ve not made the top 50% in C yet i’m still proud that i have to race in Cs.

Hob nob- if you watch any of the race streams, you’ll see that these sorts of starts are standard really. Watopia Hilly and London Loop are about the only two courses where a more measured approach can pay off as both have a large climb pretty soon. After about half a lap, the main groups have usually formed and wattages and HR’s come tumbling down for a bit. Until the next climb 😉

I don’t think there’s too much malicious sandbagging going on- I think most of it is people who aren’t ‘in’ to it as much as some of us.

ODZ are one of the few series organisers utilising a neutral roll out for one of their races. The Magnum I think it’s called?

I think there are a lot of badly setup turbo trainers out there. Zwift have tried to make it as accessible for as many trainers as possible, but from experience I know that some trainers they support just don’t produce repeatable accurate power data. My Cyclops fluid trainer was an example of this, the resistance of the trainer varied as the fluid changed temperature.

I don’t take the results from the racing too seriously, it is just good motivation to ride as hard as I can. I am sure there are people that finish ahead of me I could beat in a real life race, and there are bound to be people behind me that would beat me in real life. What I like is that you are racing real people rather than a computer simulation – at the start of the race you never know what tactics are needed, and every race is a bit different. How quick the people I am closely racing are in real life doesn’t really matter

The guys with an ftp over 5w/kg in races do get checked, from what I have seen most of them are known within the cycling community, and have real life results that back up their Zwift performances.

I normally race on Tuesday nights, but will have to give it a miss tonight due to my daughter’s Christmas play.

I’m planning on doing tonight’s 8pm KISS ride, sat low D cat again 🙂 Not aiming to improve on the last one, just looking to get a bit better at holding a steady power for the duration, rather than spiking and knackering myself every 10 minutes.

If I beat another 30kg sub 10 year old I’ll be delighted.

If I beat another 30kg sub 10 year old I’ll be delighted.

Awesome 🙂

I may get my 8 year old on soon just to give you an incentive 😉

I was really pleased to get DQ’d from a D race and forced to move up into C’s, it was a badge of honour for me to move to C

It can’t only be the uk where real-world progression happens by getting results and points. I don’t really see why zwift couldn’t do the same

Also planning to do the Kiss Cat D race at 8pm, hoping to do better now I’m clear of man flu and it’s a flatter course.

Was thinking KISS, but 8pm is a bit late, so thinking the ZTR Tuesday night worlds at 6:30. It’s the mountain 8 course, which I’ve only ridden once in full, so will make a nice change. Cat D for me, so hardly in-it-to-win-it 🙄

Last race I did was a couple of weeks ago, so we’ll see if I’ve improved. I was top end of D, so with any luck it’ll be time to move up soon.

scaredypants
It can’t only be the uk where real-world progression happens by getting results and points. I don’t really see why zwift couldn’t do the same

Riders may be stuck in particularly cats indefinitely losing incentives. Equally someone may attend a random race with minimal people and win, meaning they’re put into a cat that they shouldn’t be in? Just a thought.

I’ve started a discussion on strava for the 28 members to share what rides they’ll be doing today on zwift.
Shall try to remember to do one daily if folk want, or is it annoying? 😆

Got the turbo set up in the work gym rather than my office now so was able to get in a sneaky lunchtime race! (KISS Americas AM) Finished pretty much in the middle of C which I was pleased with!

Something weird happened with the race distance timer though, I don’t know whether it’s the iOS app (my first race & only 2nd ride using it) or something more general… the distance to-go counter never changed – the progress bar did but wasn’t accurate i.e. it still wasn’t full when I sprinted through the finish gate! Thought I might’ve ballsed up as there was no indication the race had ended (and everyone else carried on going!) but looking at Zwiftpower the race did indeed end then & I got the position I had when I passed through the gate. Anyone else had this?

I’m now watching this thread quite avidly, so although I’m not racing (yet), it’ll be nice to meet some of you virtually.

On the FTP test, do you guys usually use the Zwift one and, if so, is it any good? I’ve got tomorrow evening planned as “FTP test night” after the little one’s in bed, and it’ll be my first proper FTP test for years, but I’m debating whether to go for the Zwift one (and, if so, any pointers on making it as accurate as possible?) or whether to watch the Sufferfest “Rubber Glove” like I did last time.

I’m not sure why the FTP test is needed. Zwift will update your FTP based upon your 20 mins average anyway after a ride (assuming you better your previous FTP), so what’s the point of the FTP ?

Sure, you can use it to work out your traninig zones for power… but you can do that anyway after some rides as it’s worked out your FTP anyway.

I had the opposite yesterday, distance was going down, but no blue bar at all.

@weeksy

My FTP only got modified after KISS (D) race the other week. I’m now doing workouts most nights to improve the FTP (I think its working 🙂 ) and there is no FTP adjustment. Perhaps races/group rides and just riding along (> 20 mins) causes it to trigger.

I did the Zwift FTP test before doing a race to make sure I entered the correct cat, I couldn’t be bothered with being DQ’d nor getting dropped.

It’s a good setup and made the 45 mins fly by (all be it with 20 mins of pain).

I tried the FTP test last night, tried to hold 200W but I was being a bit optimistic and blew up after 10 minutes. Back to the drawing board 🙂

I did the Zwift FTP test before doing a race to make sure I entered the correct cat, I couldn’t be bothered with being DQ’d nor getting dropped.

Of course, you could’ve just done a 45 min race & found out that way! Would’ve taken the same length of time! I agree that the FTP test is pointless unless you’re doing workouts rather than racing. (Still did it though as I too suffered from category anxiety 🙂 )

I had the opposite yesterday, distance was going down, but no blue bar at all.

iOS app?

Nopes, on the Laptop as usual.