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Well done guys, it’s remarkably hard for 8km isn’t it? Some good times there on MTBs.
Rode that pretty hard for 21.32, 3.6Wkg which is similar power to my best effort on a TT bike. Good negative split and control on the climb but was bouncing around on the lead in. Don't know if it was the MTB or I've just not done that course for a while but didn't feel very settled.
Saw a few of you pass me on the MTBs then looked at my avatar and realised I hadn't switched to mine!
I know my pacing now and where to start to go flat out for the finish line so nicely prepped for Tuesday.
I actually quite enjoyed that, but that clearly means I didn't go hard enough.
Did manage a decent warm up for a change which I think really helped.
I just did it on my normal road bike as I'm still getting used to what numbers/duration etc. I can do and was following the advice I read above about just under FTP on the flat and over FTP on the climb, which being a skinny ass I think helped. Folk were streaming past me on the flat on TT bikes but passed quite a few on the climb.
19:47 3.6w/kg 236w.
Great timing as well to bash out a few of the stresses of the week gone by before collapsing on the sofa for a well earned Friday beer.
Phil I didn’t know a e-mtb was available yet.
18.3 on mtb, that’s impressive, Chapeau.
Well that was hard work after last night's TTT 😖
16.41 on the road bike, so no idea what an MTB will add to that. Glad I did a recce though, that last 2km was like slow motion
I couldn't change to the MTB. I think I left it too late.
Ended up 22:29, 220w avg. Position was 132/177.
I guess I'll be a bit slower on the MTB...
@robbo1234biking FTP up to 270W after that, doubt I'll be getting such a favourable handicap from now on if I can race any more of them.
I'm not sure going full TT bike was optimal but what the hell.
Robbo - next week is my "definitely can't make it" week (thank God !) but for the week after I think you might need to swap over my weight and FTP numbers; all I'm doing this week is getting home late and knackered and then seeing the turbo only in passing as I go to the beer fridge
... or is that tapering ? 🤣
370 watts
🥺🥺🥺🥺
🤬
@nixie - I'm afraid I'm too old to understand them face things!!
Ben averaged 4.7 W/KG - that's going to take some effort to match up that hill!!
@phil56 he did yes and he'll be damn hard to catch (impossible I'd wager, he came past me
uphill on Tuesday like I was stood still) but 370W is damn, damn impressive.
Right handicaps are live on this one. This is so difficult to predict. Because it is such a short race it is going to come down to how much everyone can suffer and those that are better at suffering will perform better!
A small mistake could cost you a lot of time as well such as a wrong gear change or grinding to a halt!
🥺 was expecting Phil and Ben to 'worse' off this time. This one is going to hurt!
A small mistake could cost you a lot of time as well such as a wrong gear change or grinding to a halt!
Yep, I lost a huge chunk on the hill when I ran out of rear block last night. There's 30 seconds where I'm barely moving but even once I got going my power never really recovered and tapered down from there.
From the moment my cadence drops from reasonable (to zero) its 2.5minutes @ about 35rpm trying to drag my self up the hill to a point I can shift rings and then my legs were done.
Hopefully lesson learnt, though if nothing else I know to check my front mech works before I set off on Tuesday!
15s/20s to Phil & Ben. Not a friggin’ chance. 🤣
My ftp has gone up to 292 after tuesdays race and a Thursday night session 😬 looking forward to the TT.... I think 🤔
@danielcbaron I will update your handicap before Tuesday. Cheers for letting me know.
This course is such an unknown - when it flattens out you can also lose seconds by not changing through the gears and spinning at 120rpm but not producing much power!
Seems like I’d better check my gears are working 🙂
Anybody doing repack? I've had 9.5-10 stars before but best I could do today was 7. Using an iPhone on the bars.
Would be nice if you could calibrate before the start, at ten sec penalties per star it's probably worth stopping to calibrate it
I'm on a different bike currently that doesn't work so well due to the phone mount position. Hopefully have the normal bike back in action soon and I'll give it a go.
I found it stupidly twitchy today. In the past I stopped to turn the sensitivity down. Maybe I need a slackerizer headset 😂.
I knew I was going to regret all this racing. Zwift has gifted me a rather substantial ftp increase this weekend, which takes me well and truly into category A! Feeling like I might be a bit out of my depth.
Have sent details of the numbers via pm.
Now I'm off to see what I can find to eat to gain 8kg and get my w/kg back down to category B 😂
15s/20s to Phil & Ben. Not a friggin’ chance. 🤣
Finish 25 seconds AHEAD of Kirky. Not a friggin' chance. 🤣
This should be an interesting race: in all the others there is a large element of which group can you hold onto to tow you round and that's disadvantaged the fast guys who had to do the towing. In this one with no drafting it's all down to our individual W and W/kg vs Robbo's handicaps; our ability to suffer longer above FTP. So that's me out of the points this week.
J-R, we’re in the same boat. I’m pretty good at suffering slightly above my ftp for 45 mins, but not so good at shorter 20 minute efforts that would need to be a good % above my ftp to get a top 10 place.
Works well for the series though so think it’s a good inclusion. Gives a real opportunity to the fast lads whose tails I’m normally clinging to as they tow me around.
My legs are dead today though, did a long zwift session yesterday, 2 hours 20 (60 miles), at 226 watts (ftp is 260) and 3.3 W/kg. Wasn’t a hard ride at the time but it’s completely killed the legs 😭 (getting my excuses in early!!!)
Having scouted some of the fast lads on the Sunday Hills ride I think there's going to be some biiig time gaps tomorrow.
I'm not looking forward to the TT. 😭
Just had a go on Repack, two laps, 2nd much better than first, Zwift said 10:46, Strava says 11:07, managed 7.5 stars with very twitchy bars on a notchy lazy Susan.
I’m sure you’ll be reet JR you tend to have quite a bit lower average HR than me so I might be working to max most of the time with not much more to give. I think you’ve a decent weight advantage which should come into play more on this route as although the climb is only 2km out of the 7 it should take more than 50% of the total time.
I’m thinking a winner from somebody with 3 to 4 plus minutes HC from the Cs this week who can muster a massive effort on the climb.
I think this one is making everyone a bit nervous...
I'm strangely looking forward to it! Won't be anywhere near good enough to trouble the leader board but the idea of 20 minutes nearly flat-out pedalling up a virtual hill kind of appeals.
@nick go off the Zwift time not the Strava time. Will add your time onto the spreadsheet - first official entry!
Could have sworn there was a sensitivity setting on repack.
Twitchy as hell.
Just did a 9.00.1 wth 8 stars. No pic as it quit out.
Got a 9.01 yesterday with 7 stars, managed to get a pic of that one.
Don’t worry if you don’t get a screenshot. I can see on the activity record that you got 8.59.9!
That's a relief! It's like riding skinnies trying to get across the wooden bits. Had a few jaunts into the scenery even on the non starred bits!
is there a short idiots guide as to what i need to do to race tomorrow, I have the links but never raced in the series. Do i need to change to a MTB or will it do it automatically
is there a short idiots guide
It's the internet. No one knows you're short...
Generally pretty much:
Do your prerace rituals (warm up, eat dinner, tiger balm your legs, stash your sausages, what ever)
Be in zwift at least a couple of minutes before 7pm (or 7.30 for the later one), you should get a blue join button.
Click join.
Zwift should automatically put you on a mtb but check. (it didn't work last week but should be fixed)
Pedal gently whilst you wait for the timer to approach 0...
Specific to this week:
It's a TT start so unless your first off you'll see riders in front of you being "racked forward" then going at intervals (left to right) across the rack.
You won't go until your turn.
Start pedaling at your target pace as the rack in front of you moves to the line or if you're on the front row, about 10seconds before the timer reaches 0 (this will ensure you move off properly rather than missing your start time).
Pedal at a pace you're not 100% sure won't kill you after 15 minutes.
Keep that up for 20*.
Vomit.
Climb off turbo somehow leaving your legs behind.
Crawl somewhere dark quiet.
*it might be more or might be less depending on how hard that is.
@dangeourbrain Ha Ha, that’s sounds about right! 😂
On another note, is there any way I could compete on this one at a later date, maybe at the weekend when I get back home??
Or I suppose I could just join a Bologna TT and compare my times with your lot and jot it down on my own spreadsheet.... 😀
Defo peeved to be missing this one!
On another note, is there any way I could compete on this one at a later date, maybe at the weekend when I get back home??
You realise your time will still be taken from 7pm tomorrow though yeah..?
On another note, is there any way I could compete on this one at a later date, maybe at the weekend when I get back home??
Thinly veiled attempt to wait for the tailwind.... we're on to you!
Had a go at Repack for the first time earlier, bit twitchy innit! I managed a modest 2.5 stars. No idea how it calculates them, like.
Had a go at Repack for the first time earlier, bit twitchy innit! I managed a modest 2.5 stars. No idea how it calculates them, like.
I think I saw you on repack while I was fruitlessly trying to get a better phone position.
You have to try and aim for the blue lines and avoid the red crosses at ten points on the trail.
A bit rough, no star, seems to be if you hit something or fall off the side.
Ok, half a star seems to be no collisions but not following the line
Nice line, full star close to the suggested line.
Makes a difference to speed as well.
Trying to follow the blue line on the boardwalk is challenging at best with the twitchyness.
As I said before, there used to be a sensitivity adjustment as well as centering. I'm sure of it.
@giggsmaster if you want to do the TT at a later date it is normally on every Friday at 5pm. You should be able to select MTB as well. I can add your time to the spreadsheet along with your handicap so you can see how you placed against everyone but it will be too later to award points at that stage.
@jamesoz it definitely had steering sensitivity when I did it just before xmas. The screenshot on this article shows what it should like. I think I had mine on about 25-30%
https://zwiftinsider.com/sterzo-repack/
No worries robbo, I thought that would be the case that points wouldn’t be awarded.
I’ve found a race on Saturday at 10am, so I will probably go for that one 👍🏼
Urgh.... feeling rough today...
72 hours after my covid Jab too....
Hopefully it's just a bad night sleep, and I perk up later!
FYI.... it's probably best to change to a MTB during your warm up, just to avoid any stress on the line if it doesn't change for you..
DrP
Repack Ridge is quite good fun, think I'll have another go as a warm-up for the TT later