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Conti vert(ual) Pro obviously
slow claps....!!
DrP
Not sure how tonight is going to go... Am playing with the bigger (metaphorically) boys in cat C and haven’t Zwifted in anger for a while.
Maybe just the same as last time and hang on for grim death all the way round 🙂
Maybe just the same as last time and hang on for grim death all the way round 🙂
That's everyone's game plan I think.
Except nixie doing his power crunches.
Weirdo.
Hang on, nobody mentioned it was being live streamed! Oh well, at least I'll be able to watch the replay of me riding at the back or even stopping on the bridge to hurl over the side after Ive gone off too hard at the start.
I’m in work later so unable to join in with tonights race.
Well, I'm now physically at home, mentally still at work and I've just eaten so I'm still going to sit out tonight's race.
I look forward to the livestream and the discussion later after everyone has cleaned their bike 🤔😂
I'm wearing what looks like neon vomit in zwift!
Rad to the gnar..
DrP
And now we are live... First Paris, then wattopia....
Finally the event will force you onto a MTB at the start. If you don’t have a MTB in your stable then the Zwift MTB will be assigned to you.
So what happened to this then? For some reason I started on an aero road bike with deep section rims. 🙁
You gits.
That's it. That's the race report.
So that’s how it all works at the pointy end of the racing, cheers for the vids guys.
Sat watching in my hotel room made me very jealous not to be racing this week!
Some top watts output there!
Ow.
I'm scared to get off the bike.. calves REALLY cramping up...
That was very hard..
DrP
By heck that was horrible! The draft seemed tiny on the MTB, as soon as you weren't right behind someone you started to drift back and the gap went out very quickly.
Some very good numbers up there. Well done ian but Adam and kirky, by hell you two have come on, well done.
I felt a bit sick just watching your numbers once I slipped off. I kept waiting for you to blow up and drop back to keep me company but you never did.
I got picked up about half way through lap 2 I think. Good group but I mistimed my drink, missed a kick and just didn't have the oomph left to chase back on.
Great work all and cheers for organising that robbo.
Gutted I had to miss this one with a migraine. First one for ages. 😢
I had loads of technical glitches tonight. Kept losing sight of everyone and riding on my own. Must have happened about 8 times at least.
My avatar was also all over the place as well. He wouldn’t sit down the entire ride!! Doing between 75 and 80rpm and he would still be standing up, going even when pedalling faster downhill he’d be stood up. Was very weird.
That lap one pace was killer. So glad I'd had the foresight to drop right to the back of the lead group before starting lap 1. Think that was the difference that bagged fastest lap. Getting dropped in the lap 2 climb was a rude wake up followed by a second as I was caught and dropped about the same spot on lap 3.
I've done a few MTB races on that route before but was still surprised by the lack of draft. Relax as normal and off you dropped!
God that was awful!
First proper race since getting a proper smart trainer, yikes, I knew I’d lose some watts but oww!
Thanks to the small group that dragged me round - Jenneson & Drysdale
Great introduction to racing, damn hard work, thought I was gonna puke! Loved it thanks
That was tough, the lack of draft was a killer! Was doing well until halfway round the second lap then just couldn't keep up with the small group I was with then spent the rest of the race on my own. Got a boatload of PB's and my legs are like jelly.
Bloody loved it! Roll on the next one.
the MTB will be auto selected for you during this series…and yes, every race! 🙂
Ummmm...no it won't! Realised I was on the wrong bike with 10 sec till start, quickly changed over but was dead last after first 300 odd meters.
Not a great start. That said I wouldn't have held the pace of fast group on first lap regardless, and found my place in the end..mid table mediocrity.
**** me. What a horrible ****ing course. Did it actually have any downhill bits 🤣
Disagree that the draft effect was less (did plenty of wheelsucking lol)... think cos of the lower speed it’s easier to get dropped tho once someone ups the power... so maybe less of a “sticky” draft
Puke barf dead, hit the wall, then another wall then got run over by a truck. Did I say puke and barf.
Bloody hell that hurt, not having raced in ages I couldn't hold my normal place in the scheme of things. Got a reasonable group with Declan and a few others. Went for a big push on the final climb and pulled out quite a gap thought I was well up with 500m to go and 12s gap on them, nearly got caught in the line. Huge sprint guys.
Can't do any more and I'm gutted, it was fun in a nasty way. FTP increase for me too off that one, only 7W but every little helps.
Pretty horrible, managed to catch you Zilog but couldn't go past, same again next week?
Those laps seemed to go on forever, especially the climb up to the bridge.
No biking for 5 weeks has not done me any favours and I feel I should apologize to NeilArnold for shamelessly wheelsucking him for most of the last 2 laps then trying to do him in the sprint. But at least I failed to do him in the sprint so there's that...
I'm glad someone mentioned they weren't on the right bike as that made me realise I wasn't either. Managed to swap it with a few seconds to go!
That was bloody hard but good fun. Well done to S.undarra and Jimdoubleyou for the battles for 46th, nearly killed myself trying to stay ahead of Jim in the last mile.
Also, zwift has updated my FTP to 203 based on that ride, does my handicap need to be reduced to reflect that? I don't want an unfair advantage just because I (apparently) didn't try hard enough on the FTP test!
Realised with 30 seconds to go my bike hadn’t switched and couldn’t swap over using Apple TV. Tried and tried but gave up in the end and exited the race to go off and sulk but thought better of it and did a Sufferfest workout as penance for my incompetence. Oh well, there’s always next time.
I thought I might catch you and Zilog at the end Nick, was closing slowly but I didn't have enough distance and me on my own was going to struggle to pull the pair of you back. It was sitting up on that chase that let the others come back at me. Lesson learnt.
Well that was an eye-opener!!!
Despite knowing from my very limited zwift racing experience and what I've read on here that you need to go off hard, I didn't. Pootled out the gate like an idiot and so ended up pretty far back. Fought my way upto middleish I think by hopping across a couple of small groups a couple of times.
Surprised myself with how well I managed to keep what pace I had for the whole race though, expected to be at the side of the road vom'ing into a bush mid-race, so there's that.
Looking forward to the next one. Thanks again for sorting Robbo and for all those who helped me round!
(Oh and I Zwift stalked/followed pretty much everyone registered cos I need some friends on there lol).
I believe, but am not 100% certain that even though graphically it looked like some people were on the wrong bike the game knows you were supposed to be on a mountain bike and works out drafts etc accordingly.
I watched both of the above live streams simultaneously. At the beginning of the race the rider views seemed to show different views when though both riders were in the same group. It was odd. Maybe just a streaming issue? But it seems to me that we don't exactly see what the other competitors are seeing during the race. Being able to see the rpm was also interesting, DrP stable, around 90rpm 🤔, small variations, Nixie big variation from 50 - 140rpm with some big/fast changes throughout that range.
Maybe watching the live streams is being a bit nosey 🤔
Brilliant.
Having done some of the previous races, I found that the slower overall speed on the mtbs made for close racing!
The bridge with its big dip in the middle is a sod, you can easily drop or be dropped going over it.
Got in a good group of 4 (T Rolo, J Jordan, Copping?) for most of it, on the last lap we merged with some more. It all got a bit twitchy, we caught and swallowed up Chipps right before then end, and J Jordan timed his sprint right and got to the line first before a big rush.
Loved it.
Lol I hit 183bpm on the first time up the hill, that's the 2nd highest hr I've seen in a whole year. It never dropped below 180 for the first half.
yep 👍 Definitely upped the power when you caught me, was very conscious there was a group of 4 or so behind so if I lost your wheel they’d probably catch me too! Always find it easier to push harder when I’m chasing someone/hanging on rather than being chased (nothing more demoralising than seeing the time gap behind you slowly eroding!)Pretty horrible, managed to catch you Zilog but couldn’t go past, same again next week?
Nixie big variation from 50 – 140rpm with some big/fast changes throughout that range.
I don't know what is going on with my cadence numbers. Don't think the turbo is getting it right. Seems worse with the gravel bike. Planning to get a separate cadence sensor asap.
@itsonlymelee you were in a small group with me for a lap or so, then you launched a feather power up and shot off up the hill. Could have cried.
Ouch...got off the back early on and just didn't have the legs to get back. Still enjoyed the race and ended up just getting it finished. See you at the next one
Yes, the traditional relaxed Zwift race start then a small lead group then a breakaway.
It had a bit of the feel of an XC race so I think Zwift have made an effort to get the draft/rolling resistance balance of off-roading (?)
I used to associate mountain bikes with fun...🤣
In time honoured fashion I gunned it to stay with the fast group, blew up on the first climb and sucked wheel until the line. Tonight's wheel sucking was sponsored mostly by Chips. I really wanted to do some work but I was already playing out of my yard and hadn't got owt to give, so sorry about that.
I'd got an idea of what kind of power I wanted to maintain up the climb, and sort of managed to stick to it, but each time just dropped off before the top. I do quite like that course though, the relatively shallow climb makes staying with a group pretty valuable.
Thanks Robbo and all racing, it was horrible as always.
Pleased with that... Good to blow the cobwebs off after a month or so 'off'. Hard race where I seemed to find myself between groups yet again. Caught a good group of four or so for the last lap but used the last of my lives doing it so was left for dead on the final sprint as had nothing left in the tank. Well raced all.
On the drafting, it is definitely different - much easier to get dropped but also easier (although still bloody tough) to catch up / jump between groups. On the road bike you need an extra W/kg to make solo inroads into a group of 5 or more of a similar ability, whereas it's nowhere near that on the MTB - probs 0.5W/kg.
Thank you Snotrag, S Copping and T Rolo for the little group that seemed pretty evenly matched, and joined by 3 others just before the end (AndeH, Manwaring and Hope Disposables - sorry brain wasn't that good at remembering by then). Chipps had remained elusive for almost all three laps so it was good to catch him too.
Well done Crazy Harry and M Howlett for breezing through and on towards the front and thanks to Robbo once again.
Edited to add: Just seen Snotrag's overall result in the handicap, chapeau sir!
Maybe watching the live streams is being a bit nosey
Yeah - watch my video instead ! 🤣
Last race of the series for me guys, so thanks for the fun.
See you lot back in Zwift in about a month.
Thanks everyone for joining in. That was a tough race to start the series.
Onto the results. These are provisional in case I have made any mistakes. Please let me know.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QPxMGqez2VsN-4mD17f90t06NzqSLMMoGe4cUEK1E3U/edit#gid=0
Cat A:
1. seabass
2. benman
3. nixie
Cat B:
1. kirky72
2. J-R
3. W00dster
Cat C:
1. snotrag
2. v7fmp
3. MrHoppy
Cat D:
1. Jmd12
Fastest Lap Top 5
1. nixie
2. seabass
3. paino
4. phil56
5. DrP
And the overall race winner with handicaps applied:
1. snotrag
2. kirky72
3. J-R
With the sprint/fastest lap points added the top 3 for the series is as follows:
1. Snotrag (50)
2. Kirky72 (47)
3. J-R (43)
Green Jersey Race
1. Nixie (10)
2. Seabass (6)
3. Paino (4)
So next week try something new – a TT on MTBs. You will have an individual start time from 19:00 (I think I am the first slot) so take note of your time to head off – I think you have to be in the pen by 19:00 however. Sorry it is a bit earlier but I didn’t know how many would enter and therefore what time the last person would be setting off. It should be a short sharp shock!
For those interested in joining with more STW Zwift fun(?) there is a TTT on a Thursday evening:
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/zwift-team-time-trial-thursday/page/20/#post-11460181
@itsonlymelee you were in a small group with me for a lap or so, then you launched a feather power up and shot off up the hill. Could have cried.
Haha yeah sorry!! I'm a relative noob but thought I might as well unleash it on the massive 3% gradient and give it some.
Being a skinny-ass it was a real eye opener on the downhills. Damn gravity. Had made a break from a group and eased up a tiny bit on the downhill of that wooden bridge rollercoaster bit and everyone from behind came streaming past and ended up about 20m up the road!!
That was utter balls. Left behind at the start despite 400W spin, seemed to take ages to get back to the front then ended up on the lap 2 climb with Phil & Benman who just lit the afterburners as I almost chucked it in. Only just managed to hold onto the next group too, died a horrible death trying to catch Adam then completely ballsed up the sprint. Shocker.