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Lost my connection with my turbo trainer roughly 18 minutes in and it would only come back for a second at a time, showing me doing 200w and 300rpm but not moving. Had to close Zwift down and restart it so didn't finish. Worked fine after that so I'm guessing something went wrong in the update I did before joining the pre-race pen.
Not the best way to end a pretty crap day but ho-hum.
Well done all, great race tonight - I really enjoyed that course!
Thanks for everyone for taking part in the series!
The results are provisional in case I have made any mistakes. Please let me know. I havent done indiviudal cat results tonight - I am too tired!
Race 5 - Chain Chomper
Overall Race Winner
1. savoyad
2. scaled
3. kirky72
Overall Race Winner (with handicaps)
1. retrorick
2. yanboss
3. stumpy01
Sprint Points (Country Sprint Reverse)
1. scaled
2. robbo1234biking
3. slowpuncheur
4. andeh
5. straightliner
KOM Points (Temple KOM)
1. savoyad
2. paino
3. scaled
4. kirky72
5. daveriley
KOM Points (Castle KOM)
1. savoyad
2. paino
3. scaled
4. yanboss
5. kirky72
Green Jersey Standings
1. straightliner
2. savoyad, andeh
3. scaled
KOM Standings
1. savoyad
2. paino
3. scaled
Series Top 3 (including sprint/fastest lap points) Best 6 race points counts
1. mahowlett
2. scaled
3. stumpy01
I have set up a GoFundMe for people who have enjoyed the series. This time around we are raising money for The Firefighters Charity which provides support to Firefighters and their families during tough times. This is a cause close ot my heart as my Dad has been a Firefighter for coming up to 50 years. My Dad was ill a number of years ago when I was pretty young and the charity helped by giving us a few days away as a family after spending a lot of time in hospital. They do a lot of good work for Firefighters and families supporting them through tough times.
https://www.firefighterscharity.org.uk/
@Straightliner I know what you mean about that climb, I felt like I couldn't fall into a rhythm at all, spent ages fannying with the gears and never got comfy. Eventually Southside Johnny got sick of towing me along and shot off when Dave(?) came hooning past on the gravel climb to the tree.
Out of interest, who ended up using a gravel bike?
Cheers Robbo1234biking thanks for organising, that was hard going, it took my mind of the crap football score.
Donation made, as part of my job I maintain the grounds for Royal Berkshire Fire Service.
cheers
That was dreadful for me first 15 min was OK but then my legs refused to cooperate 🙄
I did the 2nd climb on gravel bike, it was 1.5% slower but with 7% less power... (I was totally on my own by that point) bike swap lost me about 20 seconds though 😆 not an easy job on Apple TV!
I've donated my race winnings to the charity 👍
Not surprisingly I got spat out of the fast group as soon as they hit the first hill, and was happy to fall into the mini-group with @Andeh and @Straightliner rather than last week's solo effort in no-mans land.
We all seemed well matched until @Straightliner unexpectedly dropped off half way up the second climb. Soon after I saw @driley catching us like an incoming Exocet and as he shot past I tried to keep pace with him, but within a few minutes I could see that was futile. I can't imagine how he could be so quick on the second lap, after being relatively slow on the first.
That effort had dropped @Andeh and although I backed off for a while to see if he would catch up again, I eventually found myself doing the last quarter of the race solo.
As usual a painfully enjoyable experience - thanks @robbo1234biking
Thanks for the donations! Very generous and truly appreciated.
I really enjoyed that tonight. Well when I say really enjoyed it it was horrendous and I had to push super hard on the climbs but got a good result. Really enjoyed the battle with slowpuncheur and djflexure. It really ebbed and flowed and was really on the limit especially on the short sharp bits. Managed to pull out a good gap on those behind on the first climb and then slowly pulled it out as the race went on. The three of us were left for a sprint. Slowpuncheur got the better of me on the road but looks like my time was marginally faster over the timed segment and some decent sprint points.
Got and ftp increase to 306w for my efforts tonight.
Jesus Wept! That was tough.
Great group again with retrorick, v7fmp, M Jenneson, Rick M, B Clark I think and perhaps some others?! Sorry if I've forgotten anyone.
Oooh, JimW was in the blob too until we hit the climb and maybe Ant Mitchell...
Anyway. It was brutal. Even on the descent it didn't feel like there was any opportunity to rest. Every time I eased I dropped out the back and I did my usual yoyoing. Had to put some hard efforts in to stay in the blob several times, particularly on the climbs.
We caught J Jordan and then I got smashed on the final sprint by virtually the whole blob 😁.
As always thanks for sorting, Rob.
Yeh sorry scaled on the steeper or in this case sticky and steep in places climb surging is my go to once I’m already pushing my limits. Surge on and boost up the steepest bits and then a mini recovery again.
Struggled a bit after my effort to stir things up the first time up the castle.
Huge props to savo to break away and stay in front on his own, although at times it was a bit cagey in our mini group, trying to recover and get third wheel ready for the sprint. Nearly got caught out by T baker who put in a big effort and nearly caught us the second time up the castle. I’m guessing he paid the price for the effort chasing the three of us and dropped back a bit once we hit the gravel climb.
I lost patience and tried to jump scaled and paino ahead of the sprint but failed and presented a nice lead in for Scaled to pass me for second before the finish.
I'm still not entirely sure what happened in the early stages of that race. Piecing it together from reports here, I think @kirky72 started the aggression with a pretty harsh attack onto the first climb, @paino responded and then we somehow got onto the dirt climb with me, @paino and @scaled at the front (but @scaled was slowly boiling himself in his house) and not far behind were @tomnavman, @yanboss and @kirky72. Something like that anyway.
Me and @paino went over the top together, and then we spent the next half lap working pretty well to open a gap and win back some handicap. Thanks @paino. I don't know if that update beforehand changed the draft dynamics but there were times when it felt very sticky - each of us occasionally seemed to struggle to get back to the front. I really enjoyed that bit of the race, anyway, and I was disappointed when...
...@paino fell off the back the second time up the road climb, leaving me to do my longest ever solo. it hurt. I'd never have tried to keep opening that gap without @robbo1234biking and his stupid rules. Also I confused myself by somehow riding the dirt climb in exactly the same time each lap (so the sidebar didn't seem to register the 2nd time up). Then the sneaky fast guys gobbled up all the sprint points in the finale - well done @scaled, @robbo1234biking, @slowpuncheur, @andeh and @straightliner (I kind of expected that, in hindsight I shouldn't have disrupted our progress on lap 2 by trying for points there). Overall, the strategy worked today: got a gap to cover some of my handicap and there were enough KOM points on offer to cover the rest of the points gap. My favourite race so far.
Best laid plans etc etc….note to self, don’t try to keep up with @Savoyad…it’ll end in tears….and cramp.
Like that route, but with the time gaps I really needed to get some splits going early on and use the Tron to get the time up on the road. Gave it a good crack up the castle KOM to get some points and to my surprise only Savoyad came with me. And unfortunately he kept going up the next KOM where I’d intended to ease off for the next road section. The bugger never let up and by the time we got to the top of the Castle KOM on lap 2 he destroyed me. Realised I was going backwards quickly and met the motoring pair of @kirky72 and @scaled at the summit of the next climb so I could draft them on the down and hopefully not lose more time. Had zero to offer for the last 5k’s so didn’t even try to contend the sprint. Savo was an absolute beast today. Massive effort, well played!
@Robbo1234biking FTP now 308W & FWIW although me and Kirky finished at the same time, he was ahead so should move up a place on the spreadsheet
Does this mean I should like hills now?
@kirky72 those surges were brutal.
I just went for it up the hill the first lap and then hung on as long as I could. Just as the wheels were falling off @kirky72 and @scaled spotted @paino near the top of the gravel climb and suddenly I was 25 seconds back. Thanks @tomnavman for the tow to the line, sorry for wheel sucking my left calf was twinging on the verge of cramp and I was just hoping I was going to make it to the line.
@robbo1234biking FTP increase to 300W
hard work, but an enjoyable romp last night! Was counting down the hills. Fell into the trap of thinking the downhill would give some rest bite..... but not with you savages! 😀
Was a good run with Stumpy, R.M, J.Jordan, Jenneson and anyone else i forgot. Managed to bridge small gaps twice on the final climb, which hurt! Cheers all!
Best laid plans etc etc….note to self, don’t try to keep up with @Savoyad…it’ll end in tears….and cramp.
@paino I was holding and holding my sprint waiting for you to light it up after you stuck it to me the other week when I went early, and then @Kirky72 went off the front and I had oto give it everything to go with him.
Not sure if racing yesterday was the right thing to do, but i'm breathing easier today, even if i am coughing up the rainbow. Time for antoher lateral flow test i suppose!
That was hard, managed to stay with the front until it all exploded on the climb then sat in a group @ about 15th until the climb on the 2nd lap, where I slowly went backwards.
Most notible thing was afte the race, walked upstairs absolutly jibbered, and felt like I was about to faint, Jennie told me I was white as a sheet.
Not pushed myself that hard for a while. Been ordered not to next week, so obviously I'll pay no attention to that whatsoever 😉
P
Is there a race next week?
Is there a race next week?
Yeh it the Grand Finale for this series - Legends and Lava (summit finish on the volcano!).
Best 6 points finishes count so I need to work out the lowest points finishes so I can get the final results out.
Uphill finishes are my speciality 😉🤣🔥
Yeh it the Grand Finale for this series – Legends and Lava (summit finish on the volcano!).
Another damage limitation exercise for me...
Need to score 2 points or above to drop race 4.
I love a volcano finish but sadly I cant make the finale as working until 10pm.
Good luck guys.
Handicaps are live for Tuesday. I have also highlighted the lowest scoring points where people have scored in all 6 races. If those people score again this week the lowest points will be removed from final total!
Tuesday was an horrific night. I’m only just feeling human again, got a good start, was riding in a decent group around 15th/17th and then completely cracked. Not a clue what happened but I just couldn’t do anything over 180w. Hoping for better on Tuesday!
Still enjoyed it though
Sorry to be a pain @robbo1234biking, I know this series ain’t finished yet. Not been able to catch this one due to work commitments, so I was wondering when you are thinking of starting the Winter Series?
Always looked forward to taking part every week, I’ve been a bit peeved to have missed it and my fitness has taken a right hit!
I may try and join the last race if I can find a Wattbike in Newcastle.
Yep. The next series is labelled as the Xmas series 🎅 and starts the 2nd of Nov. Already planned, courses provided to Zwift and I will start the thread probably on Thursday this week once the dust has settled from Tuesday. I have consulted with a couple of people who think it might just be the hardest series to date!
Noooo! It's hard enough for me as it is 🤣
Beautiful, the hardest series when I’m at my lowest fitness, just what I need…… 😂
Nah, keep up the good work robbo, though I think I will be doing an updated ramp test for that one!
Looking forward to it already.
Hopefully be able to do a few more of next series. Still some overlap with ZRL for the first few weeks but hopefully be out to play mid series.
Think I’ve only made two races this series, and will miss again this week as I’m away.
Hoping to make every race in the next series though! Clocks back, Zwift out.
So race day is upon us once more and a new course on familiar roads - Legends and Lava.
Starting from the desert pens this takes in the Titans Grove Reverse KOM and the Volcano KOM as well as the Watopia Forward Sprint in the middle.
The finish is on the summit of the volcano about 300m past the KOM finish line so bear that in mind when you attack the finish.
Also the points tonight will include the points from the best 6 races for those who have been lucky enough to score in every race so far.
Good luck all!
Starting my warm up now! I have an option of an outdoor ride this evening so I'm 50/50 to being on the start line later.
whoop whoop!
looking forward to it. see you folks at the start line (and one or two at the finish)
I’m going to attempt to connect up to a Wattbike in gym this evening, so I best get there pretty early.
I may or may not see you all on the start line!
Looking forward to the race and the post-event banter. As for the hills, probably not so much!
Right...because Rob is far too modest to do it, I thought I would remind all you Zwifters that there is a Singletrack Awards going on at the moment and Rob has been nominated in the "best use of Lockdown" category. He is up against some stiff competition and every vote counts, he needs the win and a trophy / STW tea towel!!
I think a good thank you from all of us for the hard work he has put in over the last year or two, working out handicaps, courses, posting results and being in contact with Zwift itself, is well deserved. So please, get your votes in and say a big "thank you Rob!!"
See front page news for details.
Done. A well deserved nomination and hopefully a win. I really missed the Race Series over the summer. That says it all for me. Always impeccably organised and results calculated quicker than the UCI manage...Thanks for making at least one day a week during lockdown a bit less of a groundhog day.
Well deserved vote from me!
Interesting route tonight, good mix of stuff.
Anyone else found the sticky draft is back? Didn't think at the time but last week I recall trying to pull through and do a pull at significantly higher w/kg than the leader and nothing happening. Noticed again last night on a pootle.
Yeah, a good mix of stuff this evening. I am looking forward to it.
I tend to yo-yo around all over the place in a bunch, so can't say I really noticed the change in drafting physics......hmmmmmmm, although now you say it I did a ride on Sunday & did think at the time that other riders seemed very 'clingy' or vice versa....
Racing tonight, not expecting much as have a run session prior to it with my son so either super warmed up or more likely finished before I start 🤦♂️
I’m 50/50
Looks like I'm heading out into the wild tonight. Weather is mixed but otherwise warm so i'm going to make the most of it.
I look forward to reading the post race reports.
Another vote for Rob
see you in a bit.
Voted for Rob - thought I'd be in bed for 8:30 but slowly rallying and hope to make it.
Won't bother you for a handicap - just doing it for the 'fun'
Ten minute power outage here! Back on now but not in the race