In theory, your calculated FTP ‘should’ be higher from a stand alone effort than from a >20minute Zwift race. Basically, you are aiming to finish the 20minute effort exhausted- like literally not able to stand up. If your best 20minute effort in a Zwift race is anything other than the last 20 then chances are you had more to give.
In practice of course, it takes a lot of motivation to do a good crisp test so the race may give you a higher figure anyway (even if it’s still a little lower than you could do).

I hate the Zwift test- the warm up doesn’t suit me. I generally get the best stand-alone test from Rubber Glove too.

Was thinking KISS, but 8pm is a bit late

See thread about managing to ride when you have kids. 8pm is good, 6.30pm is in the horror hour as they tire before bed.

Been lurking on this thread for a while having got Zwift and my ‘dumb’ trainer now setup with a speed/cadence sensor.

Joined the Strava group and think I’ll have a go at the ZTR race at 6.30pm. Only done one race so far which was a four lap ride with only the last lap being a race (SZR Joy Ride I think). Basically watched everyone disappear into the distance at the start and spent the lap burying myself trying to catch anybody! Must start faster it seems!!

Ooof that was some hilly stuff going on today. Almost threw up a kidney at one stage. Then as I was flagging not too far from the top, my turbo threw a hissy fit and was stuck on 77w. I had to get off the bike, power it off and back on. Of course I’d lost all rhythm then and was just rubbish after that, but still it was a good hard climb and plenty of effort.

Of course this means no race tonight as I’m totally knackered now. Along with needing a rest day tomorrow. Phew.

Get the power on hard as the clock ticks down, don’t start from 0 pedalling

Do any of you follow a scheduled training plan (from a coach)???

If so, how do you tie it in to zwift?

I have a turbo session scheduled by my coach this evening but it doesn’t really match any of the zwift event rides.

What intensity/duration/spec are you looking for Gazhurst?

So basically…5min Z1 WU, 10min Z2 then 3 x 10min at sweetspot with 5min recoveries taking me to the hour

[video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4MmvpMiKAnI[/video]

If I didn’t want to use Workout mode, I would probably select Fig8 course, use ocean boulevard as a warm up and then do Reverse KOM hill repeats as the intervals. Should be about ten minutes each.

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

Yeah, I did very similar. The second it hits the big 20 minute block I exploded. I tried to sneak down through the gears, it raised the braking on the turbo to compensate.

I then stuck it down to a slightly more sensible 164 or something (doing the short test), which was much more doable. Not sure why I bothered as it was pulled to 194 after the first race. I doubt I’d do the FTP test again, it really doesn’t motivate you at all.

In real world terms, my current fitness equates to not really having done any riding in the last year. Last time I went to Cannock Chase I pushed up the big hill 🙁

I dont mind using the workout mode…I just wondered if people substituted anything in their schedules for events/organised rides in zwift

I personally find I test better if I can’t see a live wattage or HR.

I find racing so dynamic that I use it instead of pretty much any interval work. Sometimes I’ll set myself a HR limit and end up sitting in with the groups from the back of a race Cat then attacking climbs or sprints etc.

Attacking, there’s a concept. I just try and hang on mostly!

Inspired by this thread I treated myself to a T2240, joined the STW Zwift group and had my first proper ride last night.

I have been ill and have barely been on a bike for 4 months. My heart rate is too high, so I was really attracted to having a fun way to get on my bike and stay at home. It’s reassuring that if things start going wrong I can just stop and lie on the sofa. There is no way in the world I would have risked going for an outside ride.

I managed an hour and three quarters. Not racing, just pedalling around. Rode just over 50k which I was quite happy with. Sadly my heart still got too high (Strava has me at nearly 18 mins in Z5) so I am going to need to slow down more and I will have to avoid the races for the time being. However I felt great this morning for having had some enjoyable exercise and am going to be riding regularly.

For those reporting the race progress bar not updating in real-time, I too noticed that last night race whereas it definitely was working a few nights ago, so I’m guessing they (Zwift) have introduced a bug…
Fortunately, the total race distance is still displayed so I just tracked my personal distance using the rider nearby panel on the right had side of the screen.
Personally, when racing, it’s very useful to keep a close key on that part of the screen as you can see whether you are closing in or falling back from the rider in front (and same with the riders behind), and as you can see their W/Kg, you can see when they are weakening or putting on a spurt…
As regards the starts, some racers all categories start at the same time and some are staggered. If it’s a mass start the really isn’t much point trying to keep up with the A’s and B’s if you’re a D and I think Zwift needs to flag up which category each rider has entered rather than relying on them manually appending both a race series and a category to their last name.

(Oh and congratulations to timid wheeler! You’ve made a start!)

Back from my daughters nativity play in time. Planning to enter the KISS race in 25 mins.

gazhurst – Member
I dont mind using the workout mode…I just wondered if people substituted anything in their schedules for events/organised rides in zwift

I’ve switched out my long aerobic TrainerRoad sessions for potting around Zwift. 3 hours of TR watching a movie is painfully boring, but I can potter around Watopia in Zone 2 quite happily. And it’s more convenient than going out in the real world at this time of year. There is coffee.

Had a bit of a sore knee last week so gave the cleats a rest and did more mtbing and climbing but back on it tonight with a proper cadence meter.

Couple of q’s…

1, does anyone elses tacx flow make weird creaky noises at very very low speed? I only noticed when calibrating it when it failed a couple of times and I noticed the noise … finally got it calibrated and riding normally was fine

2, Is there anywhere I can read into my ride data to work out how tragically unfit I am and what to expect in 2 months if I do around 30 – 50 miles a week on zwift? I obviously know it depends if I’m doing intervals ect but I’m following their 6 week ftp plan and want a rough idea of where I’ll be going by the time it’s done. (being impatience and not waiting for actual results basically)

https://www.strava.com/activities/801577627/analysis

Just finished the KISS race. That was painful, was feeling fine until the last 3 miles, the sprint finish between 7 of us was brutal! I didn’t have the legs for it…and lost out.

Excuse: Not too bothered as I wasn’t going to bother this evening. 😆
And my sports drink didn’t work….

3 mile sprint … on a bottle of red ? Impressed !

the distance to-go counter never changed

I had this on a ride a week ago. Raised a support ticket with Zwift, and they said to raise another one if it happens again. I know some others who have had the same issue so I’d suggest opening a support ticket with Zwift so they have more info on this glitch.

scaredypants
3 mile sprint … on a bottle of red ? Impressed !

No no, I bonked with 3 miles to go… and there was only 1/4 bottle left..

My distance to go didn’t update either, it said the race was 18 miles when in fact it was more like 19?

Zwift feels different on iOS, in fact it feels easier.. anyone else noticed that? I’ve played around with the settings to no avail…

Yep I noticed the distance to go was bust and then when I reached the 28.9km mark which I guess was the end there was still some left on the bar?
Only my second race, flatter than last time so more tactics needed, I went out far to fast with the first couple of riders, only hung on for a few kms then dropped back in to no mans lands. most of the time there was a group 30s up and one 30s down, apart from a strange bit where one rider (Jennings) jumped from the group behind to in front within a few kms.

It’s amazing how much time you can make up on the hill after bridge/sprint and the roller coaster , 30s is only say a 50w increase for 2-3 min.

I pulled back 30s on some riders on the final sprint last night. Made up about 5-6 places in the last 300m

Ah, sounds like the distance thing was for everyone. Frustratingly it did start going down as I started a second lap.

Botched it up, zoomed off the start, hung with the front groups for 15 minutes or so. Totally ran out of steam and zoomed backwards. Still finding my pace a bit, my first race was smoother, although this one supposedly took my ftp up to 219 (from 194). It seems like such a ridiculous metric, when you die straight after the 20 minutes.

well Cat c was much harder than D,my legs pretty much gave up after 30 mins

It’s amazing how much time you can make up on the hill after bridge/sprint and the roller coaster

TBF I did balls up a the roller coaster section by day dreaming and not paying attention to the profile and sprinting into the rises and over the top

Chuffing hell Nath!! Just watched some race highlights on Twitch. You were amazing!! You beat a group of well established Zwift racing names too.

I’m going to show my hand now and say you will win a Zwift race before very long- probably by the new year if you do a few 🙂

The distance countdown didn’t work for me in the KISS race, it also didn’t work for my wife in the earlier ZTR race.

At the start of the KISS C race I found myself in the strange position of being at the front of the lead group as we went into the first tunnel. We formed a fairly big of 20 or so riders and kept a steady pace up on the flat. Tactics seemed to be a big part here as no chance of going off the front, and best to let others sit on the front. The pace picked up a fair bit on the reverse KOM climb and I went over the top with a lead group of 10 riders. For the next flat section we all stuck together and increased the gap on the riders behind. The KOM climb split us further and I ended up in a group of 4 riders, chasing 2 riders who had opened a gap on the climb. We split further on the final small climb, I think I finished 4th on the road, out sprinted by someone who timely used an aero power up. All in all a good race.

Sounds great Jason, well done 🙂

You may pick up some places in the sift??

My progress bar broke about 4km into the ZTR mountain 8 race. Also, everyone else disappeared! I was on my own for the remaining 28km, which pretty much turned it into a mountain TT.

Judging by Strava results, average power seemed to be pretty bang on 2.5, so I’ll wait for the results to see what the actual deal was.

You may pick up some places in the sift??

Looking at Zwiftpower probably 2nd overall. Out of the top 9 it was only Skyler and me who were under the 3.2w/kg limit. I think we both spent most of the ride sat in the group…

It’s practically always a problem with your internet when everyone disappears. I run an Ethernet cable all the time now and it cured it completely. It used to be ok for solo riding and bad during races but as it got busier, it ended up being a problem that might occur at any time.

crosshair
Chuffing hell Nath!! Just watched some race highlights on Twitch. You were amazing!! You beat a group of well established Zwift racing names too.

I’m going to show my hand now and say you will win a Zwift race before very long- probably by the new year if you do a few

Thanks!

On twitch, what’s that?

I concentrated this evening, attacked when everyone else did so I didn’t have to TT it. Very nearly lost them at one point and worked hard to get back on their wheels, I got dropped in the sprint though.

Nathan Guerra mentioned me a couple of times, does that make me famous? 😆

One of the places that Nathan streams 🙂

https://www.twitch.tv/nathanguerra/v/107245066

I find it better for watching past broadcasts but use Beam to watch the live ones.

Could well be the Internet, I was upstairs tonight and streaming Radio 6. Exercise Man by Dean Ween came on about 500m from the very top of the mountain, spurred me on a little 🙄

crosshair –
One of the places that Nathan streams

https://www.twitch.tv/nathanguerra/v/107245066

I find it better for watching past broadcasts but use Beam to watch the live ones.

Ah cheers, yeah I watched that while eating my dinner earlier.

Will set up a strava discussion about tomorrow evening in the morning, probably not going to do a race though as my legs are shot now.