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That was hard going. First crit for me and a bit of a learning experience. Lap 1, missed a split, tried to catch the group and just ended up in pain. Then lap 7 missed a burst of speed from the group after the climb (I was just relieved to get to the top). Spent the rest of the lap trying to catch up. Managed to catch up just into lap 8 but I was spent. Sprint finish was pretty tame!
Great (type 2) fun again. Thanks Rob! There was an FTP increase (thanks Zwift), I’ll PM you.
That was bloody hard! Dunno if I was just tired after yesterday's workout, or went off too hard at the start & then fizzled out, but that was.....awful.
Avg power down compared to last week, but HR seemed very high for me. Not sure I could have ridden much harder.
Bleurgh. Awful! Lots of work still to do.
Sorted now! Sorry
robbo1234biking
Sorted now! Sorry
@robbo1234biking - cheers! It was important for me to confirm I did as shit as I thought I had 🙂
1 second off the points ... #$*&!
That went better for me than expected. I struggled to settle into the changing pace for the first few laps, and then started to get into the swing of it.
Attacked on the hill on lap 7 and managed to get a little break with Phil, DrP and someone else. Then went again on the hill on the final lap and managed to stick it until the end.
Not in a rush to race a crit again. FTP increase though, and definitely felt like I was trying!! Felt a little sick by the end
THat was actually pretty hard, but pretty fun... I figured a 20ish min race deserved a good effort, so was determined to redline it the whole time..
The start was much like the others - 450-500 watts for the first few hundred meters...
There was a big old group up front initially, and then the climb split us.. it seemed to do this each time. Being fairly light, and able to kick out 450-500w on the short climb served me well, and I actually used it as a ‘catch up’ section each lap.
There were the usual names up front, and as always I felt right on the edge..resting at 250 watts in the draft, pushing 380 on the rollers...
I had a few useful PUs on the early laps, then picked up an aero helmet on the final lap... I knew to keep this until the very end, so maintained a strong effort to hold onto phil and Kirkby until the last roller, then BOOM... dropped the aero helmet and just gurned it to the finish line!!!
Ben had made an early break right after the climb, so was happy crossing the line in 2nd!
Was fun!
DrP
That was very hard but at least you know exactly when the pain will end. Tried to make sure I got near the front of the group every time we hit the cobbles so I could hit the first part of the climb hard and then just about get caught near the top and hopefully form a mini group to pull clear. I think it worked, once or twice I had to work hard to get back on before the climb after trying to recover after the rollers.
Could have done with more than the one feather and two trucks I got. An aero or feather for the final sprint would have been nice, just to make it harder for DrP, even though that wouldn’t affect the points.
Well done to Ben it looked like you had slowed and myself and Ian was going to fly past as we caught upto you alone towards the end but you latched on and left us for dead after the rollers for the last time.
I knew with the handicaps I would have to over perform final placing wise but expected to finish altogether with the usual suspects in one large group or a chasing group behind Phil, Ben and Nixie. So I really didn’t expect to open the gap I needed over woodster to overturn the handicap so when he finally must of lost a wheel and dropped from our mini lead group I thought it might just open up the required gap but it wasn’t quite enough. Well played woodster.
It’s going to be tight over the last two races and I’ve gone and made it harder for myself by getting a chunk of FTP increase to 317.
Going to be much harder to finish high in the standings but pleased with the improvements and feel a sense of dejavu typing this.
well kind of enjoyed that, but still struggling at 40 watts under FTP, so either not well or need a decent rest.
Quite enjoyed that tonight now the dust has settled, managed to get with a quickish group then cling on for dear life.
Now apologies if it's been explained elsewhere and I've missed it, so repack ridge, where is it and what do we need to do? Thanks in advance, fordo197.
ZWIFTINSIDER.COM And I 'think' you just need the companion app running on your phone, attached to your bars and there's some steering involved. But I've no real clue having not had a look yet, just what I've read on here.
A real deja vu race - worked out for me just like the last one.
Naturally my plan was to hang onto @kirky72 and @w00dster which was just about working out for the first few laps. It wasn't helped by nearly the entire group dropping feather powerups on the climb on I think lap 2, so I had to dig very deep to hold on.
Like last race, they were just a bit too strong for me and eventually I just couldn't redline any more, so on lap 5 they drifted away from me off the top of the climb. I backed off a little for a lap to latch onto the following group of @paino, @munkeymadness and @crazyharry. Hanging onto them was manageable, so I had a little left for the sprint and got over the line just a whisker behind harry - and much to my surprise got in the points after the handicap.
On the downside I incurred another FTP increase of a mighty 1W - now 281W.
That was possibly my best race since the first series and crossed the line with the feeling that I had done the best I could. It was my first ever Crit but had been given a heads up on likely tactics by @straightliner so after a mad start and first lap I settled into a manageable rythym of about 95% FTP in a small group with Wellock and Snook. We seemed well matched and worked well together and although never looked like catching anyone in the lead group swept up @Paino and @j-r who then latched onto our group to share the workload.
Last lap, finally got the sprint at the end just right. Normally I end up going too soon, too late or have nothing left in the tank to do anything at all. This time was greatful that no one really attacked on the climb and then just went for it about 400m out and grimly hung on to narrowly beat Southside Johnny.
Only afterwards did I realise that I was only a couple of seconds behind a 'cruising' @Nixie but I honestly don't think I had those extra few seconds in me.
Anyway... Chuffed with that. Cheers @robbo1234biking for another great series.
That was possibly my best race since the first series and crossed the line with the feeling that I had done the best I could. It was my first ever Crit but had been given a heads up on likely tactics by @straightliner so after a mad start and first lap I settled into a manageable rythym of about 95% FTP in a small group with Wellock and Snook. We seemed well matched and worked well together and although never looked like catching anyone in the lead group swept up @Paino and @j-r who then latched onto our group to share the workload.
Last lap, finally got the sprint at the end just right. Normally I end up going too soon, too late or have nothing left in the tank to do anything at all. This time was greatful that no one really attacked on the climb and then just went for it about 400m out and grimly hung on to narrowly beat Southside Johnny.
Only afterwards did I realise that I was only a couple of seconds behind a 'cruising' @Nixie but I honestly don't think I had those extra few seconds in me.
Anyway... Chuffed with that. Cheers @robbo1234biking for another great series.
Only afterwards did I realise that I was only a couple of seconds behind a ‘cruising’ @Nixie
Let's be honest, I was cruising because I was done and had given up. I'm really struggling with the frustration of the fitness and power drop from last year.
Interesting one last night. As with a lot of these races, the initial group you manage to hang on to usually is the one you end with, so if you dont have a blistering start, the chances of catching the next group are slim.
All good fun tho and another great test of ones stamina and power.
Are we doing the same as last season and dropping our lowest score/worst result?
I am just about clinging on the to lead in the GC Cat C!
Hardest indoor race I’ve done, but I say that every week! I had a good rest period with no ride at the weekend due to the snow so was feeling fresh.
My plan was to try and keep with the front group as long as I could while doing as little effort as possible. Got caught out by Nixie, Nixie is a master at sitting near the back of the front group so I stayed behind him and then a gap formed. Managed to bridge across but knew I didn’t have much left. Kirky and Dr P attacked the climb every lap, was OK for a while but I knew it was only a matter of time before the elastic snapped.
On the last lap was lucky enough to lap a group who were moving fast, had a rest behind them for a bit and then put in a final big kick.
My wife came out to the garage to check on me at the end of the race, she could hear the noises I was making and was worried!!
FTP increase for me to 288. Not sure how realistic that is though. Last night I was stood on the pedals almost as much as I was sat down. Was do-able for a short race but no way could that be maintained for an hour.
Yes we will take the best 5 scores for the final table and results (as it gives everyone a chance to have a bad race, drop out etc).
Let’s be honest, I was cruising because I was done and had given up. I’m really struggling with the frustration of the fitness and power drop from last year.
@nixie Know the feeling. Although I never reached your dizzy heights, I also had a dramatic drop in power and performance through November and December and it was hugely frustrating as the legs just wouldn't respond to the will. Coming back to me now though and FTP gradually creeping back up.
Glad to hear your on the bounce back @crazyharry. I think I'm near the bottom now. Sustainable power over time has recovered somewhat since the end of the last series where I could only manage B power over a race. FTP still dropping according to intervals.cc. I just trying at the moment to not over do it in a rush to get back on form.
Interesting stuff, Nixie what do you feel may have led to the loss in the first place, overtraining, change of training?
@Robbo bad news on the one race strike out as looking at it totally selfishly it might demote me again as it did in the second series, as at the moment my worst is a lot better than the worst from my closest competitors who have also done all races so far. So after the adjustment I would be toppled from the top.🤣
However I totally appreciate the reasoning and I’ve just been lucky that I’ve not had to miss one due to bad health, work or family commitments that others may have had. One day I may need to do so and it might mean I have the back up of losing the worst effort in the very last race if decide to go absolutely kamikaze to try and gap Woodster or JR and it back fires by blowing up on the climb.
@woodster glad you also got a ftp boost like I did otherwise that hc would become just too hard to do anything about. It’s taking an almighty and ftp beating effort every week to contend with you.
Felt a bit under the weather yesterday, first time that's happened in the last series and this. Managed to average a little under FTP which wasn't bad considering but I did lose the wheel of other riders at points which dropped me back. I'm glad it was only a 25min effort so I didn't lose too much time in the cat C GC. Fingers crossed for next week.
@kirky72 combination of things. There had been some drop off after the first lockdown as I spent more time outdoors than trying hard on the turbo. Then got ill which made it difficult to do much other than gentle spins. This resulted in less exercise and the expected fitness drop. Finally Christmas didn't help. I also started using a PT in November so at times have fatigue from that. The current session is hard on the legs and is at 3pm Tuesdays. Means I'm racing with fatigue already. In fact at the moment the DOMS from the PT is probably the biggest factor in ability to produce and sustain TT three higher power.
@crazyharry there wasn’t much sharing of the workload last night. If it wasn’t for you and Wellock I would have been lapped.
@nixie I realise you’re a good chunk faster than me but I put my drop in sustained power down to the type of Zwifting I’m doing. I’m my own worst enemy though. For me it’s a complete lack of structure, and never really consider ‘training’. I just don’t enjoy plans, find them boring and inevitably move on to an event of some sort. Even doing a TDZ event for example I find myself trying to beat/race people. Looking at my ZP most ‘rides’ are 45ish mins and about 300W average. I think it’s not doing me any favours at all. Don’t think it was a coincidence that my best form came after a decent period of riding my real bike! Have to also mention that the STW competition has also improved massively and massive credit to those guys. Overall picture is ok though, I’m 5kg down from this time last year, in part down to Zwift.
The STW competition level has definitely improved loads which is great to see.
@paino I think I have a similar problem with most zwifting involving a race, even if I then do extra afterwards. Your right the repeated high output is not good. Need some more even sustained efforts I think. Problem is the racing is so much more addictive. TTT helps I think as although the effort is still high there are not such massive spikes. It's more like an interval session.
I definitely do better in the races when I've had a light week before. This series, I've also done better when I know it's only going to be a short race.
Whether that's just coincidence, or science I've no idea 🙂
I've NEVER done a proper training programme before.. Pre turbo/zwift I would jsut ride my bike(s) hard and fast, and use that as training!!!
I did do a bit of training with the Zwift Academy stuff. I guess if I were to properly focus on a training programme, I could improve weak spots in my riding profile. But like @Nixie, sometimes it's fun just to ride..even on zwift!
Now.. I'm not saying I'm getting far too into zwifting, but I just picked up my newly framed art today... It's massive! (A1 size)!
DrP
Pft, it doesn't even have a list of badges you can tick off.
That's on a printed scrap on my fridge!!!
DrP
OK, I have video highlights for you all. Quality isn't great but you can just about make people out...8 short videos in total, in chronological order, mainly (but not exclusively) from the very front:
1. Here's the first early split at the front of the race. @nixie and @paino were both caught the wrong side of the gap, as @phil56 pushed the group on. It comes back together, but an early indication of things to come at the front?
2. This made me laugh - nearly the whole front group dropped a feather on the climb. Those without mention it in their race reports above! This is also the moment @paino powers to victory for the sprint points. That strings it out, and it would never fully come back together.
3. The aftermath of that moment - @munkeymadness, @jonno, @crazyharry and @oblongbob were the ones tailed off when the dust settled from @paino's aggression on the cobbles. The lead group getting smaller...
https://youtu.be/Ba3myaFp5L0
4. Further back, @robbo1234biking (and his magnificent beacon, which was visible from everywhere, all race!) takes a massive pull on the front of a big group. It all kicks off at the cobbles when @jimdubleyou surges ahead, leaving it all strung out. @mahowlett counters, and initially only @straightliner and @drew could follow...
https://youtu.be/hIUmqQYqkag
5. ...but some of the others did get back in touch: @nick, @v7fmp, @funkybaj and @snotrag all regained contact and their group eventually ploughed on ... but without @robbo1234biking, @zilog6128 and @bails
https://youtu.be/JVYqwSb8dOw
6. One group further forward, it seems quite cooperative and @dandasbike would like to make clear he isn't a vegan! I'm sorry I didn't get better footage of you guys:
https://youtu.be/68oiPJtPlvE
7. The lead group get towards the business end of the race. This bit starts with @kirky72, @drp, @phil56, @benman, @j-r, @w00dster, @danielcbaron and @nixie still in contention as the group makes relentless progress through lapped riders, with @nixie either chilling or struggling towards the back, before making his big but unsuccessful effort at overhauling @paino's time up the cobbles. The gap that opens comes back together with @phil56, @kirky72 and @drp leading the chase... but @j-r never makes it back across.
https://youtu.be/Fw-s7WGsn1c
8. And finally, with minimal editing, the finish. 2+ laps of constant aggression, mainly from @benman, who goes several times, each time eliciting a response from the others. The number of chasers slowly shrinks until he makes his decisive move by (sneakily? zwiftily?) surging off around @robbo1234biking and @zilog6128 at the top of the final time up the cobbles:
https://youtu.be/4SDMmp2eaZg
Great race you lot. I'm not doing this again, I'm riding next time.
That’s on a printed scrap on my fridge!!!
I hope you have your kid's list of chores next to it and each of you gets a star when you tick something off 🙂
Thats quite entertaining. Also my power numbers weren’t too bad at all just got the start wrong! For the next series I don’t think we have to have a ride leader so I can dump the yellow beacon. It is rather conspicuous.
Also interesting to see @dangeourbrain dying in multiple feeds!
Nice work. Will watch those later. 👍
Don't know about @Paino but that gap in #1 was deliberate on my part. Lap 2 was always going to be the best shot at fastest lap. That gap was about giving myself the advantage. As soon as I was across the line it was time to get back into the group (actually screwed this bit up and started moving forward too early). It worked in the first race of this series as I was the last through the gate of the lead group that time. Almost worked this time except I failed to notice @paino's position.
so I can dump the yellow beacon
No Robbo, you need to keep it so I know exactly how near you are! I could see you at various points on last nights race and it helped 😀
I love Robbo's beacon - I hear a choir of angels every time it comes on screen !
(just did a crit race on there, so I can at least empathise with the pain reported above. Can confirm that FIVE ghosts, 1 burrito, 1 aero and 1 feather is not a happy haul, especially when your whaaats are as low as mine were. I'd have been minced in your race)
@nixie think we had the same agenda. In fact, when I saw you back off before the start of lap 2 I knew it! All I had to do was catch the lead group to eliminate the time gap, as I’m pretty sure you did. The feather PU made my mind up to batter the climb on lap 2. Couldn’t hold the power to the line but just about did enough to hold on over the rollers and finish ahead of, well, you just about.
Thought as much 👍. I was pissed as the times came up and I realised you'd done the same thing. Completely missed you were in a similar place to me at the end of the first lap (was expecting you to be in the lead group).
Must have learnt from the best! You did kind of let the cat out the bag the other day when you said you had a plan! Lap 2 was the obvious time to launch/fall back slightly. The gap made the perfect draft in the lead to accelerate up the climb-didn’t know if you followed or not but kept a close eye on the times!
I think part one of the nice things with this series and the extra chat around it is learning new tricks and sharing ideas/tactics.
I didn't try for the sprint on lap 2 as I wanted to go hard down the hill and try and pull a lead. I did notice the time though and thought it would be difficult to beat.
Next week I think I'm going to try something different to the rest of the series and go back to the London flat tactic.
there wasn’t much sharing of the workload last night. If it wasn’t for you and Wellock I would have been lapped.
@Paino LOL! Whether you led or not it helps when there is a couple of extra bodies in the group so when I have had my stint at the front I have a wall of bodies to hide beind whilst I catch my breath. Makes a big difference. Your support, even if unintended, was greatly appreciated!
Thanks for uploading those Adam. Very interesting and pretty scary numbers being put out by the big guns! I've said it before: those avatars' faces don't give us a clue about how we're feeling. I'm always surprised when someone I'm riding with says they were hanging on/knackered. It's like riding with Quintana. I reckon Zwift should introduce a power-up showing 'health' of your competitors. If anyone's kids play Minecraft you might know what I mean.
I reckon Zwift should introduce a power-up showing ‘health’ of your competitors
DrP is making 3 swears per minute.
Nixie is at two.
Dangeourbrain is no longer able to swear or use gear levers.
Phil is reciting hamlet but his iambic pentameter is beginning to slip
Those videos are excellent @savoyad. Thanks for posting. Although I have to be honest, my avatar seems to be putting a lot less effort into this than I was. Think I need to have a stern word...
I think the MTB animation exacerbates the feeling that everyone else is just cruising along while you are close to death in these races. I felt more tired watching than those avatars made their real life riders seem.