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Official STW Zwift Club

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So bit of a change of plan for Sunday hills – I’m going to pull the club ride this week as stage 4a of the tdz is Surrey Hills anyway and jump on there Sunday morning instead.

I was going to suggest the same, seems daft doing it twice!


 
Posted : 20/01/2023 11:29 am
 DrP
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I'll LITERALLY be riding my REAL bike back home through the surrey hills area on sunday Am..
Might see your avatars at some point I guess...??!

DrP


 
Posted : 20/01/2023 11:31 am
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Just did the B route of Stage 4, pipped in under 45 mins.


 
Posted : 20/01/2023 12:13 pm
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How long do we think the A ride would take?
I need to have Jnr at the swimming pool by 0950 so would need to leave home by 0930
If I could do the ride in around an hour/hour & 10m I'd love to join

If anyone is interested I was also planning on riding the B course tomorrow morning probably 9am version


 
Posted : 20/01/2023 9:43 pm
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Best bike split recons an average of 1.34, it'll be quicker in a bunch but 1.10 might be a push - I could possibly be convinced to do the 7am instead but I will probably hate you for making me get up before 7 on a Sunday 😉


 
Posted : 20/01/2023 10:16 pm
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I don't think I could convince myself to be out in the garage at 7am so you can rest easy!!

I'll do the Saturday edition of the B and then see how plans go for Sunday AM, could join for a bit of the ride if time allows.


 
Posted : 20/01/2023 11:54 pm
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I’ve just plodded round in about 1:30 and in the top third of the riders for that session. You may find yourself tight for time. Don’t forget you have Fox Hill first as a lead in before the official “start” of the recognised route/badge, which is means a slow first few km 😉


 
Posted : 21/01/2023 12:02 am
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Well, as long as I get out of bed I'll be jumping on the A ride tomorrow at 7am.

It looks very, erm.....uppy-downy 🤮


 
Posted : 21/01/2023 12:13 am
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Are you nearly there yet?


 
Posted : 21/01/2023 9:11 am
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Just up the next hill and round the corner! 🙂


 
Posted : 21/01/2023 9:40 am
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Plodded round the Stage 4 B ride yesterday in an hour and fifteen. Psyching myself up for the A ride at 7am, another plod so expect a couple of hours at least, which is fine for a steady Sunday morning.

Gonna need the heater in the garage, and unlikely to need the fan today!


 
Posted : 22/01/2023 7:18 am
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Well as I had no known company I treated myself to an extra hour in bed and picking up the a route a bit later this morning


 
Posted : 22/01/2023 9:44 am
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I did the A course yesterday morning for the TdZ4 ride.
Apparently it was the first time I'd done Surrey Hills as I got the route complete banner at the end.

It was a good route but bloody hard!

That, coupled with up and down a ladder to finally take down the Christmas lights from the roof and then an hour of tobogganing with my daughter at a birthday party she was invited to has left me with very achy legs so having a rest day today.


 
Posted : 22/01/2023 10:08 am
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Bloody hell. 2:55. That was definitely Type 2 fun and not a route I’m likely to repeat in a hurry.

Wasn’t last mind, there were two behind me 😀


 
Posted : 22/01/2023 11:10 am
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I thought I liked that route. I was wrong.

I got a PB on leith hill descent but was way down on the climbs - 20 seconds off up fox first time round, 2 minutes slow up the second time. A minute down on Keith.

Still, got the blood going for the day and accounted for some of yesterday's cake with a bit of luck.


 
Posted : 22/01/2023 11:37 am
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I did the Stage 4 C ride on Friday, just to get that task ticked but found myself with some free time today so jumped onto the A ride in order to grab the Surrey Hills route badge. Again, I found myself midway between the Maria and Miguel bots and with no group of riders around. Loads of PRs (up and down), though they aren't routes I've ridden much anyway. Completed the Stage in 2:02 and then freewheeled down/cycled across the other side of the river to ensure I got over 1,000m of ascent.

Oh - I also got my Garmin Year of the Rabbit badge.


 
Posted : 22/01/2023 3:47 pm
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Well I'm ready to move on from London now! Did Surrey Hills as a high Z2 session in 1.48 and rolled over Fox Hill to make it up to 2 hours. Wasn't sure whether to get more base miles in today or give it a bit if a nudge. Did the latter. B ride went well. Started in the front group, slid to 66th by the top of Keith Hill but found a good group and rolled in about 60th. Not full on race pace but a nice 'spirited' effort. It's a brutal start having the hill so early on that route.


 
Posted : 22/01/2023 6:30 pm
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Ended up doing the B twice. Once on Saturday and again yesterday evening.
1.30 quicker up the hill on the second attempt and about the same quicker over the whole course.

Let's see what R5 has to offer this week!


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 9:06 am
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Let’s see what R5 has to offer this week!

A high intensity 30 minute sprint session around Gotham Grind (C route) for me tomorrow morning.

Easy hour on the B route in Wednesday and then another high intensity session on the C route on Thursday.


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 9:59 am
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I see there are a few of you signed up for the 18.00 tonight.

If I'm home in time I might join one or other of you, though as empty as my legs were this morning I think it'll be a push to make it home for 6 and if I do, likely just the short one for me!


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 10:15 am
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B for me yesterday, whinced when I realised it was going to be hill first followed by the flat portions. Skinny me would rather the other way round but worked out fine in the end. A looked good, but made the mistake of continuing to the top of Ventoux the other day so just couldn't be arsed with that much climbing (and time).

Anyone else very "meh" about NY? Never really enjoyed it


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 10:51 am
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Wow, @phil56 .
I hope everything is going OK (for both of you). Looking forward to seeing you back in zwift when you are ready.


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 11:15 am
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@mashr I'm with you. The whole "skyway" thing feels awful and the KOM is unpleasant as a result.

I've not done the A route so will be on that, probably tomorrow. I guess it's slowly getting me nearer my Tron.


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 11:22 am
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Yeah, the new York map is an odd one, the park is actually pretty good and makes for some nice flat ish short loops. The great glass elevator on the other hand is bloody awful.

Given they put box hill a hundred yards from tower bridge I'm not sure why they didn't have it loop out to the catskills or something.

Heck, Scotland is likely to put the whole of Edinburgh in Glasgow.


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 11:28 am
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Heck, Scotland is likely to put the whole of Edinburgh in Glasgow

Stage 8 is "Rolling Highlands", given that the map is meant to be based around the World Champs course (ie Edinburgh to Glasgow via the Campsies) I'm fully expecting Nessie to make an appearance


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 11:38 am
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TBF Zwift have said that the scenery is "inspired by" Scotland. I'm not expecting any of it to be geographically accurate. It wouldn't surprise me if the reported GPS coordinates are all in the South Pacific.

What I do expect...

Loch Ness monster

Kelpies

Castles

Forth Bridge

Ballieston Crane

Roaming haggis

Any other suggestions?


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 11:52 am
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I’m fully expecting Nessie to make an appearance

I'm fully expecting to see the blarney stone and stormont Castle.

Any other suggestions?

Fish shops. Lots of fish shops. And flat roofed pubs.


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 11:55 am
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I'll be disappointed if the Dunmore Pineapple doesn't make an appearance. Purely to confuse non-Brits 🙂


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 1:00 pm
 DrP
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RE Ride 5....
I've put myself down for A (Everything bagel) tomorrow for 8am... It should be about an hour I guess...
Ideally they'd do a half 8 start, but hey ho!!!

DrP


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 5:44 pm
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Half hour starts would be great but for whatever reason they don't. I guess it's so the pace partners aren't double booked or having to finish in 29 minutes, you'd have been upset following the D pacer up ventoux at that!


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 5:59 pm
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The last Tour (Makuri?) could be done ad hoc. That obviously had no RoboPartners and no large groups but did mean there was less scheduling necessary.


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 6:04 pm
 DrP
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I guess it’s so the pace partners aren’t double booked or having to finish in 29 minutes, you’d have been upset following the D pacer up ventoux at that!

Must be a tough job..imagine the saddle sores they get at the end of a shift...

DrP


 
Posted : 23/01/2023 6:14 pm
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7am TdZ C ride was basically a Crit. Good fun, even if I couldn’t quite get into the top half of the field.


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 8:55 am
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7am TdZ C ride was basically a Crit

Yeah, a course that short and flat is pretty much one long sprint. Good for the legs I guess if not the soul.


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 9:00 am
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For those who want rides every half hour, I just spotted this in the description of today’s stage…

MAKE UP RIDES
Missed a stage? No worries! There’s a makeup week from February 6 - 12, which will include group rides for all stages starting every 30 minutes.


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 10:04 am
 DrP
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Well the A ride just now was FAB!
340 ISH riders..I got with the second blood around the 3 mark and we just kept a great pace all the way round... Decent power on the climbs, good pace on the descents....
I had an aero PU which I kept till the end... At 900m I upped the power to pull a few M away from the bunch (before the mad sprint as I'm no good at that) and THEN played the aero whilst keeping 450-500watts.... That early break and then PU combo meant I kept a good few seconds ahead, with the gap climbing....
Finished something like 24th...

DrP


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 10:05 am
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Well done Dr P, that's a great performance. I rode it last night with about 650 others and sadly it fragmented quite a lot, particularly on the second "lap". Not a bad course for an event, it has a bit of everything but I also understand why I don't ride New York that much in that I struggle for real landmarks to know where I am.


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 10:46 am
 DrP
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Thanks..

That should have said "second blob around the 30th position mark"...

I agree - NY is really hard to figure out where you are!

DrP


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 11:36 am
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THEN played the aero whilst keeping 450-500watts…. That early break and then PU combo meant I kept a good few seconds ahead, with the gap climbing….
Finished something like 24th…

Nice one DrP, impressive result, did the A route at 8pm last night, finished 298th of 660 which I was satisfied with 🙂


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 11:40 am
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nice ride @drp.
(I saw you anticipating an hour beforehand and wondered if you might go quite a bit quicker than that...)


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 11:45 am
 DrP
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Cheers... Zwift insider reckoned an hour so planned that morning around that! But yeah, 54ish minutes in the end..

DrP


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 11:48 am
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Well done lads, some good results there!

I missed London Stage 4 due to family commitments over the weekend, so already need to do that in the catchup week. I hope to get New York ticked off today or tomorrow, when time allows, I'm not sure which Cat to do, an evening would ideally be the long Cat A, but if I have to do it in the morning I am time crunched so will be one of the shorter ones.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Scotland routes.


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 11:50 am
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Well I for one, like New York. Maybe not after tomorrow when I have planned a Zone 2 ride around Everything Bagel. It's sooo tempting to open the (very small) tank up the hills rather than ride at snails pace.


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 12:21 pm
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Well I for one, like New York. Maybe not after tomorrow when I have planned a Zone 2 ride around Everything Bagel. It’s sooo tempting to open the (very small) tank up the hills rather than ride at snails pace.

I always have "Must Resist!" in my head when it all goes off. I always fail hahaha


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 12:28 pm
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My legs often do a good job of resisting for me.


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 12:30 pm
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