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Well, that was hard. The 'fast amateurs' chase group pace was relentless through London and I mirrored my real life self of not being good at riding in a pace line... Stayed with them, though, despite Daz's suicide attacks. 🙂
And then the climb... I'd never ridden that before, so wasn't sure how long/steep it would be. Both, it transpires. I was surprised to pass Daz on the climb (seeing as I can rarely do it in real life) but found it super hard and lost a couple of places on the climb. Suddenly had a second wind in the last 3km and held off my chasers after that.
Finished very sweaty (despite an 'ambient temperature' bike room) and shaky... Cheers Robbo and all! Great fun - once it's over.
I find it really interesting to see the wattage figures quoted... we really are a mixed bunch (with regards to power curves) aren’t we...
There’s no way in hell i could make 1000w on a sprint... my max is, on a good day, prob 750-800w.... and that’s on a sprint practice interval. I wasn’t ANYWHERE near that today... i think my sprint MAY have touched 600w!
Yet I can push out 250W all day long...and I guess peak at 400w on a climb... flat curve boy here!!!
Top stuff on those beastly figures @paino !!! @nixie - what was your sprint wattage?
DrP
@andeh that was the slowest race I have ever done up that hill. It was like two tortoises keep passing each other!
@stumpy01 could be a combination of coming to the end of the training block and the racing - enjoy the rest of the week as recovery!
I felt pretty awful for the majority of that! There was no where to hide. The string looked like it was going to snap so many times in the fairly big group that I was in - once we hit Surrey the string snapped for me and I immediately dropped of the back. My climb sounded similar to w00dster - couldnt get any rhythm at all and was standing up/sitting down etc.
Still enjoyed it in some strange way though!
Just like to echo what everyone has said, cheers robbo for sorting out a great series. Always look forward to a Tuesday evening, especially through the Winter months.
Spot on race today, thought we had a good group around the 35th placing. That was one hell of a lead-in to Keith Hill, sometimes hard to stay with group on flat, but kept in there ready for the climb, which was brutal after being on the limit for 50 mins beforehand.
Cheers everyone for some hard racing, roll on the next series!
Forgot to link to the spreadsheet!
I had to laugh at this from intervals.icu assessment of my data...1hr11mins of recovery and then 20seconds of work...
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Echoing the others - thanks Robbo for organising this. It's been a high point of the week for the last six weeks and a bit of structure when everything else seems to be chaos!
What a horrible race though. I thought there'd be a chance for a cruise on the flat but no way. I was struggling to keep up with the pack and was half dropped a few times. It went on far too long. Then the hill was hideous. I loved every minute of it (well looking back, anyway).
That was bloody hard that hill was a killer at the end good,group all the way round but split on the hill. Well done to all the winners. My best race of the series 3rd in Cat C well chuff roll 23Rd Feb.
thanks to Robbo and the powers at STW for organising and getting Zwift to accept us a proper club.
cheers
Neil
Robbo looking at the result sheets you might have got cat c the wrong way round once the handicaps have been added apologises if I’m wrong.
well done woodster, I thought I had to make up 30 secs tonight didn’t realise it was a minute, likewise for jr thought that was 45 secs for some reason but was much more and edged out by 3 secs. Would have made no difference to the overalls anyway as I needed a max points plus sprint points. Never could have happened. I was thinking chasing savo up the hill, this bugger has 2 minutes in the pocket over me. I guess that’s the feeling Phil and nixie have most weeks.
also congrats to Ben on the GC, consistency personified, well done DrP for 2nd GC and again amazed and overjoyed to somehow have had crept into third GC overall. Probably thanks to the misfortune of Phil and nixie tonight but I’ll take it anyway.
Amazing little contests at all different parts of the group.
Anybody up for for easy flat ride with sprint laps next Tuesday in the gap?
@stumpy01 and @robbo1234biking I wonder if there is something in the fact you're on a recovery week after a fairly heavy 6 weeks or so. I must admit as soon as I turned a pedal tonight I thought it would be a 'jour sans' but the warm up routine sorted me out. I must have been OK as my FTP got an 7w gain. Can I duck the ramp test on Sunday now please?
It's been a pleasure riding with and against you guys. One of the things I love about bike riding is how your partners become adversaries (and vice versa) and you have to think on your feet, knowing the skill set of each rider. The fact is, this is a really well run race series, enjoyed in the right spirit. I think a lot of IRL clubs could learn a thing or two from @robbo1234biking. Kudos to you.
Anybody up for for easy flat ride with sprint laps next Tuesday in the gap?
Still at the “no chance” phase I’m afraid 🤣
Thanks Kirky.
I’m a realist, the points is good but the real race is on the road. I’ll never keep up with a fit healthy Nixie, Ben or Phil, but it’s been great having you, DrP, Adam and JR as my real race. I’m not quite as quick as you guys so it’s a real push for me to improve my fitness.
I’ll probably miss most of the next series as want to do a block of structured training and dieting ready for the summer. May even motivate me to race outdoor again should the season happen....
Anybody up for for easy flat ride with sprint laps next Tuesday in the gap?
@kirky72 subject to timing I think I could be convinced to do Dan flats or the like
Another really amazing series @robbo1234biking - I really enjoy these (even when I've had a bad race) and actually already waiting in eager anticipation for the next series! It has been been truly brilliant and loved the company and the banter.
@DrP Very decent of you. When you look at the graph it is realistic for all but 5m/8km upto the bottom of climb. So still pleased with the bridge :-), and I think that was me an not dodgy data (certainly felt like it was me!). Agree with you on the sprints -if I can crack 800W I am chuffed - don't bother trying to compete any more but just stay in contention so I am not too far behind once the sprint is over. Really went for it in the last race, and it was pathetic 😀
Thanks Robbo. That was a great series! Delighted to get some points too. Dropping my ftp to something more realistic made the difference. Garmin told me it’s dropped again to 295, but I’ll need to try to do a ramp before next series.
Was a rare privilege to ride with nixie and Phil for a bit there, before they stormed off again.
Thanks to my group...you pulled me along. Tried to outsprint paino, which was never going to happen, but wasn’t so far off. Thought I’d managed some sprint points but there must have been some strong sprinters behind.
Watching crazyharry speed off down the road was humbling...I’m going to assume it was all legit, as it’s a better tale that way. Well ridden!
Climb was tough. Loads of guys were closing fast but I knuckled down and limited the losses. Chipps was coming up fast for a bit but I can only assume he ran out of steam. I got passed by 3 or 4 (Rolo, itsonlymelee, and fellow Scot m.howlett included), but managed to keep them in sight, just about.
Roll on series 4!! Hope my fitness comes back a bit. Could do with that extra 15-20w on my ftp that I had way back in series 1!
@DrP 1080W was my max today, although I did have the climbing stem on today. Schoolboy error. Can’t see any data in ZP for the London reverse, and the power graph shows constant 935W for 10 seconds, which is balls. Definitely 1000-1050W for 5 seconds. I put out 11.3w/kg over the 15secs, Nixie walloped that with over 13w/kg! Wattbomb.
It was like two tortoises keep passing each other!
It was painful. I dropped off the back of the group before the bridge and felt fantastic at the bottom of the climb....for like 2mins. Like you I just couldn't get comfy, legs dead, no consistent power at all. Yuk.
@drp I was over 1200W for at least 5s. In fact I think I set all time PBs up to the 35s range. That explains why I crashed so hard after the sprint. My HR had recovered and legs could probably have stayed with you all but my breathing rate was spiking alarmingly every time I tried to get back.
I didn't feel great in the warm up and early part. Had a few digs to try and break things up but really on I was trying to stop people get to comfortable rather than attack properly. It took a while to recover from the sprint effort and I was annoyed that I had let the group behind close the gap. The dig out of the underpass was when my legs switched back in. From then on I felt progressively stronger again. By the hill I was feeling strong so glad a real tilt at it. Was really happy to take 90s out of the two ahead and then put a big gap into them (I forget who). I ramped it back as I closed the last 5s then hit a feather as I passed (sorry small bit of mind games).
Getting to the top I think I had the third best climb time which if right I'm really pleased with. However the thing I am most pleased with is intervals.cc telling me it thinks my eFTP went up (still under the value I submitted for this series). The graph has finally turned a corner upwards 😃. Add that to the best ever sprint power I'm in a happier place tonight dispite loosing the front group.
Thanks again for the series Robbo. It's been brilliant. Looking forward to the next one (hopefully with a returning form).
oopnorth
Sorry to hear that @stumpy01, maybe you just need a rest as you have been pushing it recently with the workouts etc.
@oopnorth - Hey ho! It's just one of those things. I have struggled on a couple of the races & I need to look back & see if I had a similar thing happen then - it was just weird; my legs were battered but my heart rate just wouldn't go up. Every time I really pushed, my HR would climb slowly but I just ruined my legs doing it and had to back off. Like I was hitting a rev limiter.
I'm pleased that you didn't have to drop back to support me!! You'd have been bored silly 🙂
robbo1234biking
@stumpy01 could be a combination of coming to the end of the training block and the racing – enjoy the rest of the week as recovery!
@robbo1234biking - yeah, I did wonder if I was just getting tired but it's not like I've been smashing out 5 rides a week, so I dunno. And with the easy ride yesterday morning, I should have been rested.
Like I say, I'm gonna look back through some of my previous rides because there have been other evenings when I've felt I just haven't been there as I know I should be.
But - enough whinging!!
What another great series - many thanks for organising the whole thing.
I echo the sentiments of many above regarding the race series as a whole - the chat, good hearted nature of the whole thing & it being something to look forward to, in what is otherwise a pretty dull week...
Wicked! Nice One....
Thanks Robbo for organizing. Another great series.
Really enjoyed tonight's race. Managed to keep with a group for the entire race rather than my usual mess up of ending up solo for at least 15km. As a result felt like I had a lot in the tank when we got to the climb so managed to stick with the faster lads from our mid race group. Looking forward to the next series already 🙂
It was painful. I dropped off the back of the group before the bridge and felt fantastic at the bottom of the climb….for like 2mins. Like you I just couldn’t get comfy, legs dead, no consistent power at all. Yuk.
@andeh - I saw that. You disappeared up the climb and I thought I'd not see you again. I was feeling absolutely dead but seeing that gap to you and Robbo creep down was a good incentive to keep pedalling. I feel guilty now, but I enjoyed it.
Enjoyed that tonight, was nice to ride in a bigger group for most of it. I smuggly thought we were going to chase @Crazyharry down before the climb, but he kept pulling away from us. He must have been hiding his light under a bushel (or however the saying goes...)
Thanks for sorting the series Robbo, its been a great variety of races.
Happy with the GC win, as it became apparent early on that I'm not a sprint or points contender 😂
Shout outs to @nixie @phil56 and @drp for some consistently close racing!
Hope you heal quickly @phil56, we need you for Thurs TTT!!
P. Liddington you’re also a bad man for drafting me on the sprint 😜
@Straightliner Ha! It wasn't intentional, apologies. ZwiftPower is however showing my best 15s and 30s ever, so I'll take it 😀 Maybe next series I'll bother with the sprints.
Just had a dig into my Zwiftpower figures to see how doing the series has helped me get my fitness up: (second/last race figures)
FTP: 230w/257w
20min: 248w/263w
5min :258w/288w
1min: 301w/316w
30sec: 361w/349w (sprint came in the middle of a big push last round so didn't go for it)
15sec: 401w/409w
So that's pretty much improvements across the board for me, would look even better except I wasn't on Zwiftpower for race 1. Race 4, the crit, was the one where I made the biggest gains. The heart rate figures show I was basically on the redline the whole way round and it definitely felt like it. So overall it's been a really good boost to my fitness and motivational levels through the dark months. As everyone else has said, massive thanks to @robbo1234biking for organising this.
Now I just need to hold onto it ready for the summer!
I'm happy with 12th overall and Top in class C in GC. Has been a splendid series.
The final race was a tough one, did best part of 25km with @n0b0dy0ftheg0at
, felt like he was trying to drop me all the time, so had to dig deep all over the place.
Then got caught by the group behind, which took the sting out of things for a KM or two, before the final climb. Which was some painful stuff.
Many thanks for sorting it all Rob, oddly looking forward to the next one already 😀
How do you find sprint and climb segments for the race, are they in zwiftpower results somewhere
@karnali at the top of the event results page in zwift power there is a link labelled 'Sprints & KOMs'. Click that.
I came 3rd in CatC GC, after it looks like @HaloricJr didn't race the final.
I was hoping to get a gap ahead of @1timmy1 all the way round, but he did what he needed to do on the flat (stay in the group) and smashed me on the hill.
Aims for next series: get fitter and lighter. Won't help the handicap 😢, but I might be able to walk the next day🤣
Just enjoying your stream from last night Ian but it now appears to have been blocked. It’s a shame I didn’t get as far as the sprint before it was removed. Probably copyright on the tunes.
yeah..jsut seen that..one song causing issue - YT is just muting it, so give it a few minutes and it'll be up again...
DrP
Tempting as that sounds DrP I'm due in the office tomorrow so need to be out of the house before that.
@stumpy01 I was the same - at the back with you but through london couldn't make any time to catch you at all - HR was stuck at about the same too. I did TDZ on Monday night and pushed pretty hard, so maybe that was it
I might join you Ian if I can get the kids and dog sorted by then. which course do you fancy, they are all lame choices for the final stage aren’t they?
all look lame, yeah!! I've been doing all group A, so prob the same here...
Think it's......
drum roll...
LONDON FLAT!!!
Anyway, will do it at a casual pace to actually let legs recover a bit!!
DrP
Thanks Robbo - looking forward to the next one.
at the top of the event results page in zwift power there is a link labelled ‘Sprints & KOMs’. Click that.
For some reason it's only showing Keith Hill for me, not the sprint.
Very odd. The primes tab shows the first across the line for the sprint however not the whole field.
lewisdeacon
@stumpy01 I was the same – at the back with you but through london couldn’t make any time to catch you at all – HR was stuck at about the same too. I did TDZ on Monday night and pushed pretty hard, so maybe that was it
@lewisdeacon - I was gonna comment during the race, but had to use my laptop keyboard which was quite far away from me so more than a couple of words was a struggle.
There was a section through London (perhaps 5km worth) as we were approaching the hill where you started bring the gap down & I kept having to push to maintain/increase the distance again.
I keep looking at the gap to the next cluster of racers & thinking there is still a lot of work to do 🙂
@benman said:
I smuggly thought we were going to chase @Crazyharry down before the climb
Bah, you actually messaged this when he was dangling solo 6 seconds (or so) in front of us, shortly after his huge bridging effort, with a long way still to ride, and it really didn't seem smug in the circumstances. And if it was smug...let's just say you weren't exactly outvoted by the rest of the group! @crazyharry has form for bridging from group to group, so it's risky to let him go, but I really thought the decision not to chase him down made sense.
Although - until you made the smugness comment here - I had wondered if you were really motivated by stopping our group splitting on the flat until you could smash us up the climb rather than making a genuine call about what to do with about @crazyharry (not so much "don't worry, we'll catch him" as "I'll catch him solo later mwah haha")
@stumpy01 yeah i just couldn't close those last 20 seconds and then as soon as i hit the hill my legs said no so I just had to let the gap go - still was fun trying to chase someone down or at least keep the gap about the same where I felt I didn't have the power.
I think I am likely to be into C for the next race series as my weight has come down and power not changed by much - so know what you mean about trying to get to the next cluster (assuming they were the rest of the C group)
dangeourbrain
Full Member
@oopnorth you didn’t make the tdz this morning either then? 😂
@dangeourbrain I decided to give the quads a rest after the pain of last night, it seems okay this morning so that's good news! Plus it was such a lovely morning I decided to walk the dog down the beach.
@DrP I'm going to do the 7am one in the morning, probably Paris cos I like the course, as it's our workout recovery week and we are meant to be taking it easy...except for last night...so I will be doing a simple pootle just to get the TDZ ticked off.
I'm going to miss the race next week. Not sure what to replace it with.
There was mention previously of a flat* social** with sprints. I'll probably put out some invites for that later this afternoon.
*it might not be that flat, something short with sprints though.
**it might not be that sociable 😅
(I'm thinking Queens highway or Dutchy are both short and sprinty)