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@paino I wasn't expecting such a gap after the sprint. I tried to stretch it out for a bit but it wasn't working as I couldn't maintain enough power to open the gap. Kind of just let it close after a while. It did look like Phil was trying to bridge at one point.
Thanks all for the first race. Was a evil course tonight I have to admit. The little punchy climbs are really tough and you go into the red 4-5 times a lap which adds up!
Anyone who is new to series thanks for coming along. There are a few quirks. For the finish keep an eye out for the blue banner or your distance countdown bar under the drops bar as this is correct. It is normally a little past the official start finish lines.
And remember this series is the best 5 results so if you miss a race due to family commitments, zwift drop outs etc it isnt all over.
So onto the results:
Cat A:
1. Nixie
2. Phil56
3. Tlr
Cat B:
1. Paino
2. Garry Lager
3. J-R
Cat C:
1. Andeh
2. Robbo1234biking
3. V7mfp
Cat D:
1. Jimdoubleyou
2. Whirld
3. Poopscoop
Sprint Top 5 (and therefore green jersey holder)
1. Nixie
2. Paino
3. Oblongbob
4. Garry Lager
5. Mahowlett
And the overall race winner with handicaps applied:
1. Andeh
2. V7mfp
3. Giggsmaster
With the sprint points added the top 3 for the series is as follows:
1. Andeh
2. V7mfp & Paino
3. Giggsmaster
Link to the full results: These are provisional in case I cocked anything up. Let me know if I did!
Next week we head to France for a whole different world of pain!
For those interested there is a TTT on a Thursday evening:
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/zwift-team-time-trial-thursday/page/20/#post-11460181
And for those stupid enough to join us a group of us are attempting the four horsemen route on Saturday morning at 7.30 (google the route :-S)
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/zwift-meetups-and-social-rides/page/82/
@oopnorth - Zilog has this amazing ability to hang on a couple of metres back and just hang on. It is great in the TTT less so when you are racing with him!
@savoyad - I dont have you on the results but I am sure you were ahead of me on the road at some point. Did you have a drop out or something?
I really enjoyed that after my initial frustration at the start. I don't know if it's my turbo, or inability to hold a steady position, but I was doing >200w and struggling to catch the swarm. I put a short effort in and seemed to overshoot so backed off, fell out the back just as Robbo announced Go Go Go...
Must try harder next time to get in amongst the group.
Race was great though....I had a few people to chase and managed to overhaul 3 people I think.
Next up the road was TM who I'm guessing is retrorick based on the comment above. We seemed to hold station and I couldn't make a dent on the gap to him.
I liked the course. I think my brain copes better when there are frequent changes of terrain.
That was tough as usual. Made more so by yo yo ing before the start only to leave a gap to close to the lead group, and to hammer 350/400w to catch up. Just in time for the climb!
Decided to go hard as I could for the climb rather than get split and have to chase the lead down again, worked okay but left me in dire need of recovery which just didn’t come.
I kept closing the gap for myself but seemingly doing the hard work for a small number of us that were struggling to cling on. Got to the point once Andeh was behind me and there was a gap in front I just let it go and didn’t close it down. Thinking we could make a small group and finish just behind without the same risk of burning out. Turned out the small group was just two, me and
Andeh. Tried to maintain a small gap to the lead and a clear gap to the chasing group behind but we didn’t seem to maintaining good pace.
I could see Parkinson was closing on us gradually so worked out he may just catch us at the climb, so I went for it to try and open a gap between me and Andeh and jump on the back of Parky which world a treat and we started to gain ground on south side Jonny and his small group. On trouble is he was really laying down the power and I put too much into the climb again so got dropped with around 30 seconds to Andeh and a minute 10 to Zilog, up north, Robbo.
Had to TT a lap and half on my own to try and keep a gap behind me and impossibly close on those in front. Managed to finish within a minute of 3 or 4 in front, and a minute in front of Andeh which may be enough as I think he normally as 30 secs on me, but not sure on the latest handicap diffs if that’s enough or not.
Tough course for a race that one.
Yeah Robbo...I found myself thinking many times "stop leading the group, stop pushing the pace, they are just using your energy!" Haha I need to learn to sit on.
Cheers Robbo, ace fun as always!
Seems weird but could you just check my handicap is correct, generally seems a lot lower than last series. I don't want to take a win if it's all squiffy 😉 I should be about 76kg and 265w.
Thanks for arranging as always robbo!
I did as planned and bimbled around. Spent a fair amount of time watching you guys in the front blobs, thinking "oooh, those watts,that looks painful"..... whilst pooling along at around 150w myself.😄
Broke a mental rule and did a little out the saddle sprint to the banner. Still only around 500w though.
Hip feels ok so far but the test will be tonight in bed/tomorrow to see if it aches like a bugger.😁
Great ride all, see you all next week!
@andeh - I have you at 250W and 77kg. Thats puts you up a cat and prob reduces your handicap...
I will prob need to rejog the results in that case
I enjoyed that. Kind of. My laptop battery went about 35 mins in, so my absence from the results is correct @robbo1234biking - I was a DNF. I assume I just vanished into thin air (@j-r, @tpbiker, @garry_lager?).
I was dropped twice in the first half of the race - once (while the lead group was still quite big) @mahowlett pulled me back on - thank you! And a bit later I worked with @garry_lager to get back in the group. That course is really brutal.
I went to my desk and watched the lead group finish on @nixie's youtube stream. It was great - @nixie put in two huge efforts to win, one 1.5km out (which wasn't quite enough, it came back together) and another at the finish (which was enough). And I can vouch that @tlr was totally caught out by the gap between the arch and the blue finish. I was shouting at the screen for him to keep pedalling!
savoyad – I dont have you on the results but I am sure you were ahead of me on the road at some point. Did you have a drop out or something?
Thks Rob, great race - find that track v hard.
I was in a small group with Savoyad on the road, and he disappeared sometime round the start of lap 3, so I guess a dropped connection?
Well done Poop! Remember little steps...best to take it easy and still enjoy it, the results will come in time. You don't want to take 1 step forward and 2 back...
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This was the sprint results time. Kind of hard to do a screen shot with 1.5km to go and your doing 280W. I then had to keep an eye on it in case anyone put in a later burst after I had crossed the line!
'Next up the road was TM who I’m guessing is retrorick based on the comment above. We seemed to hold station and I couldn’t make a dent on the gap to him.'
Yeah that was me ahead of you. I knew we were close on the handicap so when you appeared behind me on the ranking screen I tried my best to keep it that way 😂😉
I wasn't even thinking about the sprint as it would have cost me a place, especially on the last lap. By that time it was hard enough keeping energy to get to the line and hold off the following hounds, sprinting would have taken everything I had for little reward.
Thanks for the invite, I think.
That was damn hard work and all to miss a point by one place 🙁
And yet, I'm looking forward to the next one.
Nice one, Robbo, cracking series.
Ye fair play robbo top work 👏
Was good to be racing again, well plodding along at the back. Tried to take it easy near the sprints to target them and hope to get some points but non this time. Good racing everyone, and cheers Robbo once again.
I decided to see what lap 3 would bring before having a crack at the sprint. When I got there it seemed worth a punt and then maybe I could try and stay clear from f.stw and D.Fee and go for the finish but when I actually started sprinting it seemed to take forever for my on-screen watts to register.
They did kick in eventually just as I eased off so I had a brief spike at about 600w but not a full sprint by any means. Just as well really because any break for glory would have been an abject failure!
Thanks Andeh for letting me know. I have updated the results:
Overall Race Top 3 with handicaps applied was:
1. v7mfp
2. giggsmaster
3. tpbiker
And the top 3 for the combined points total:
1. v7mfp
2. paino
3. Giggsmaster
I liked the extra dynamic of the sprint. Lap 1 everyone seemed really cagey around it trying not to lead out. By the time someone went for it the speeds were a bit low for a fast time. Lap two I went all in going uphill. Had a nice aero to pop over the crest then hung on for as long as I could. I was expecting that someone would grab my wheel so was surprised to have the fastest time and a big gap. Lap 3 was a non event given the proximity to the end.
Thanks Robbo, sorry for the faff
Actually thought I’d done ok in the sprint but by the time I got there on the third lap some of the top times must have dropped off. Looking at the screen shot above I’d have been 8th, even though at the time I was third! Ho hum 🙂
Great racing. Got dropped at the 1st big incline and then stuck out on my own. Then came the group behind, swept me along in the draft for a while, what a relief! Nice little group we had there.
Cheers for setting up Robbo, looking forward to Saturday, not....
Without the sprint bonuses added I came 3rd on handicap, despite giving up half way through the race!😂
That surely can't be right?
Last series I absolutely broke myself every race and would be happy with 3rd in handicap! As much as I'm delighted to get the points, are you sure your maths is correct robbo?
@oopnorth you have a few watts on me but also a few kg, we often finished in the same group in the 1st series. But I also have a weirdly big sprint that far exceeds what you’d expect from my feeble FTP, so I can dig pretty deep for a few seconds to avoid getting dropped or to power up a short hill! As a trade-off my endurance is shite though so as Robbo says I tend to lurk at the back a lot, pretty much mastered the art of wheelsucking now 😂
@andeh no problem - apologies I got it wrong!
@tpbiker - you still average 242w and your super lightweight! The hills on this course pay to your strength. You should have seen us big guys trying to get up the hills. I was doing about 350-400w to get up most of them. I think you are the lightest person in the series! You only dropped 90 seconds to nixie and having a look at your zwift data you were still averaging pretty high wattage and HR! I know our group was fast on the first lasp but the second lap was about 2 mins slower so might have been everyone backed off a bit.
Edit: And dont worry on the really hilly rides you will have a much bigger handicap!
@@Zilog6128 that explains it! 🤣 These races are great to really push myself as the handicap makes me try to stick as long as possible with those in my similar handicap group. Tonight shows that I really need to work on my hill endurance but I think my weight will always be a deciding factor. 😜 Next weeks hill start and finish will be a killer.
My ramp test yesterday was clearly rubbish - good job I didnt adjust my handicap. 256w average for 45mins and a 280w NP for an intensity factor of 1.1. Shows my FTP is about 270 ish still. Felt much better tonight.
Next weeks hill start and finish will be a killer
err, what's the course next week ? ( 😟 )
Well done all - sounds like a great start !
I think you are the lightest person in the series!
I do forget how much heavier everyone else is than me tbf. Thing is I don't see myself as all that skinny. 3 years ago I was 86kg and I was a fat bastard.
Now I'm 66, but don't look malnurashed or anything. At 5.9 maybe I've just got really light bones.
I dread to think how slow I'd be if I was still 86kg though!
err, what’s the course next week ?
Roule ma Poule in France.
My ramp test yesterday was clearly rubbish – good job I didnt adjust my handicap. 256w average for 45mins and a 280w NP for an intensity factor of 1.1. Shows my FTP is about 270 ish still. Felt much better tonight.
I literally have no idea how you worked that out?
I averaged 266 over an hour apparently so that includes the start and cool down I assume.
I just go by what Zwift says. It did have me at 305, just looked at it again and it's at 290, probably from the ramp test a few weeks back and zpower says 260
Really enjoyed tonight's race. Good tight racing. 17 points, more than my total for all 6 races in the last series 🙂
Thanks again robbo for organising
I assume I just vanished into thin air (@j-r, @tpbiker, @garry_lager?).
That's exactly what I saw @savoyad, I thought at first you had somehow got the Cloaking powerup and were going to appear 100m up the road in 30 seconds.
It was the usual "enjoyable" pain that I expect from these races. I just held onto the lead group until I think the second sprint, when I just couldn't make it with the fast boys and settled into a group with Garry Larger, Savoyad and TPbiker. As we got to the final climb the others accelerated so I did too and passed them feeling quite smug, until I got near the finish arch I realised Robbo's race finish was another couple of hundred meters further. Despite that, from my view I stayed in the lead and got over the line before Gary and tpbiker but on the Zwift results they had beaten me by a few seconds - which is very weird. @Gary_Larger and @tpbiker - what did you see happening at the end?
I wonder if Zwift has different start times for everyone based on something like when you first pass the start finish or start moving at the beginning of the event. Does anybody else experience this?
But despite that it's great racing and I am glad I managed to get in with a decent group and keep up with them.
No idea what happened at the end tbh, wasn't paying attention! I was in a group of 3 as we came over top of hill, I thought I was second out of the 3 but thought lager was the guy who beat me. If you came past me also then wouldn't surprise me, I'd given up pedaling just past the finish arch!
Tbh I've had similar where I've thought I'd beaten someone and not and vice versa. I don't pay much attention when I'm rolling for the minor places as it's the time not the placing that counts, but that said I'd be riled if I was first over the line and didn't get the win !
I literally have no idea how you worked that out?
My Zwift data imports into TrainerRoad which gives me better metrics than you get out of Zwift. Zwift gives you TSS on the summary screen but I don't know how you get it post ride. It is all against what it believes my FTP is - I did a ramp test yesterday and it gave it as 256w but I didn't feel great. Today I achieved a 1.1 IF against that FTP which isn't really possible so suggests my FTP is 5-10% low. I didn't adjust my handicap based on my ramp test yesterday and kept it at 275.
With regards to the gaps how I think it works is as follows:
1. When you spawn Rider A starts 500m from the start finish line. Rider B spawns 400m from the start finish line so there is a 100m gap between them.
2. When the meet-up starts Zwift gives a time gap between Rider A and Rider B equivalent to the time to travel the 100m between them (1-3 seconds).
3. All riders ride the same distance - say 30km - so the finish line for Rider A will be 100m before the finish line for Rider B and at this point the gap will even itself out. So essentially you have travelled the full 30km a few seconds slower even though you were racing with them in race.
It is a quirk that only got introduced a few months ago.
All riders ride the same distance – say 30km – so the finish line for Rider A will be 100m before the finish line for Rider B
Robbo, that makes sense and also explains why the other two accelerated for the finish what appeared to me to be a bit early - my finish line must have been a bit further than theirs. Anyway, what counts is the time captured on Zwift and by that they clearly beat me by a few seconds.
Its a bit of a bummer but Zwift wont let the meet-ups ride from the pens which would make more sense. Zwift aren't known for fixing bugs and listening to their customers though...
It's a bit at odds with letting meet ups have race results. But then a lot of zwift's decisions are odd.
I think as long as we're all prepared to accept it's rarely as precise as just beating person XYZ over the line, then it doesn't really matter. We're all grown ups and accept it's not Robbos fault, just the system we have and go on happily be it for lots of points or for 1 point, it's all good
It is a bit of a bugger, especially as once again I bust a gut in the sprint at the end to 'beat' someone (Crazy Harry) for the line only to have him finish 4 seconds ahead, to be fair he'd bridged a 15 second gap on the last lap to catch me by putting out serious watts on the hills time after time that I couldn't match, then have me sit on for the last mile :). So he definitely deserved it, but it's frstrating as hell anyway 🙂
@J-R the order we finished was you, me, TP which was the reverse of the actual result.
Riding round in our group it was apparent in the rider list that you were carrying something like 4 sec deficit and TP had a 1 sec advantage, relative to me - created by the start anomaly that Rob has explained. So I guess if you see that you have to think there's no way you can overhaul that in a final sprint and plan accordingly.
Exactly the reverse happened in the last series on Innsbruck, where I beat you in the sprint but you beat me in the results, because I was carrying the deficit - so Zwift giveth and Zwift taketh away 🙂
So I guess we all just have to sprint our balloches off for the line, and let the chips fall where they may - but the rider list will tip you off to how you're placed so there is the opportunity to act.
Am I wrong in thinking that times of the people you are riding with give you an indication that although you’re together on the road there can be a time gap between you. For instance yesterday I was riding a lot of the time with J Osborn and T Ward (thanks guys and sorry I was a sleeping partner) and when I was with T Ward he was at - 2 secs to me although we were together so it was apparent that even if I had managed to stay with him I was never going to win the sprint.
Not if you're using a phone it won't as you can't actually see the numbers 😀