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I can put beach island loop in for the 22nd
Sounds good
Would I be able to join the Spring series? Literally got my smart trainer yesterday! I recognise several user names from the thread I started last week after setup recommendations. (cheers again for the mega advice)
Having to just make do on my phone currently....would I still be able to join in with such a basic setup?
I did my first turbo session in probably 9 years last night.....I'd forgotten how much it hurts! You guys were right about needing a fan even though I was setup outside at 6pm too 😂
Yes you can race on a phone. It's a bit more difficult to see what's going on but it is possible.
Here are the links for Tuesday's race
oh christ - is in Ventop tomorrow! ?
It is 16km of La Reine so the total elevation is 575m and therefore similar to the Epic KOM or half of Alpe du Zwift. La Reine weaves through the countryside a bit including the ballon sprint before hitting the pettit KOM which is a timed segment for the KOM points competition and then continuing up to 16km in distance. The gradient isnt too bad until around the 14km mark and there is a small plateau before that at 13km so it shouldnt be too challenging!
Because of the course profile I suspect there may be a peloton protest at the beginning and therefore a fairly (well for STW anyway) comfortable start as everyone will be saving themselves for the climb with a brief surge for the sprint section. Climb starts at 8.2km in so is 7.8km long.
Sounds hideously fun Robbo!!
Thank goodness not full ventop!
Be aware - there is a zwift update out today - not sure if it is forced upon you or not - took about 30 secs on Apple TV - ymmv.
https://forums.zwift.com/t/game-update-1-22-1-february-14th-2022/576352
anybody else really not looking forwards to this 🤣
I've not done this route before - how much more climbing after the race to get the badge?!
@zilog6128 - i read that you wont get the badge if you continue, as the course differs from the badge requirements. Not 100% sure how true this is. Just a heads up so that you dont flog yourself for another 10kms or so for no rewards (other than the glory of riding to the top).
Edit: scroll to the bottom of this piece and its the first comment.
https://zwiftinsider.com/route/la-reine/
ha, thanks for the heads-up. That would be [I]really[/I] upsetting 😃
You don't get the ventop badge because...that's a different route (!).
There's no La Reine badge because it's an event only route, and they don't have badges (unless that has changed, but I don't think it has).
If you want to push on to the summit for the sake of it, it's 6.8km past the finish line and 610 meters higher.
@savoyad - well that would certainly make sense as to why no badge!
just a U-turn after the finish line for some free KM's back down then 😀
There are two routes being discussed here. We are only doing part of La Reine so you can continue up another 6.8km to Chalet Reynard and you will finish La Reine. There is no badge but if you are trying to tick of all routes this is your chance to do this one. This is an event only route so not selectable. Once the race finishes the status bar at the top should switch to La Reine to tell you how long is left on that course.
Ven Top is even longer and you wouldnt get the badge if you chose to go all the way to top of Ventoux!
Ah, I forgot La Reine only goes to Chalet Reynard. @robbo1234biking is quite right, the extra 6.8km only get you to the finish of La Reine, not the summit. That's quite a lot further.
(I'm still not sure there is a badge for la reine though.)
Its another 6km and 450m of climbing I think (although the gradient is more pleasant).
So if you want to go to the top of Ventoux tonight you basically have to ride alpe du zwift after the race and you wont get a badge!
think I'll pass thanks 😃So if you want to go to the top of Ventoux tonight you basically have to ride alpe du zwift after the race and you wont get a badge!
@robbo1234biking Just messaged you with a request for a link to tonights race. You don't have to add me to results / handicaps etc, I haven't done any other races this series.
I'll be livestreaming from my OH's house tonight!
Also...genuinely having an afternoon of cake and fizz as birthday celebrations (not mine!) so the notion of 'pissed zwifting' may come true!!!
I also MIGHT carry on up the hill, as don't think i've got the route badge...
DrP
lol, might want to read the last few posts 😃I also MIGHT carry on up the hill, as don’t think i’ve got the route badge…
Also…genuinely having an afternoon of cake and fizz as birthday celebrations (not mine!) so the notion of ‘pissed zwifting’ may come true!!!
Might well explain
I also MIGHT carry on up the hill, as don’t think i’ve got the route badge
Ah... I figured ven top badge can't be hot this way.. but there's NO la reine badge... ?
Meh!
DrP
I'm currently undecided about whether to crack on & tick-off the La Reine route once the race finishes.
At the moment it doesn't feel like a big deal to tack on another 6.8km, but it's 6.8km UPHILL & I reckon I won't really feel like that after racing.
I don't feel like riding 6.8" more after racing, sod 6.8k.
Even the effort to turn round and set my av avaty off to coast down the hill sounds a bit much, especially as I seem to recall there's a need to pedal several times on the way down as it flattens off and you loose momentum.
I’m currently undecided about whether to crack on & tick-off the La Reine route once the race finishes.
At the moment it doesn’t feel like a big deal to tack on another 6.8km, but it’s 6.8km UPHILL & I reckon I won’t really feel like that after racing.
Believe me, you won't even consider it, it keeps going at the same gradient up to the end of La Reine, 10 and 12% of misery.
This is one race where I'm glad I'm not able to do the race series currently...good luck everyone!! 😉
How long are we expecting the uphill section to take? Just asking for a friend who will probably ride it about 3.6W/kg.
I don't know a way to gauge it accurately, but I think your friend can plan to be climbing for less than 30 mins @j-r.
(My working: 3.6 w/kg is ~ 80 mins for the 21km of ven top. We're doing 8km of mainly the same climb. 8/21 * 80 is about 30. Our bit is, on average, a little easier than the whole thing. So a little less than 30.)
Have we got handicaps for this week by the way and I'm just being blind? I've yet to figure out who I need to be disheartened to see riding away from me in the first 1k.
Thanks @savoyard, my friend is relieved to hear that.
@dangerourbrain yes the handicaps were out a day or so ago - page 13 on the thread.
Ah yes, so they were!
Can’t say I’m sad to be missing this slog fest!
Good luck to all on the start line.
It’s not a slog fest. Just a quick vo2 max blast up the hill 😳
Looking forward to some punishment soon...
Swim lessons for me tonight followed by some dirty food. If I’m back I’ll tune in to the uphill sprint finish! Good luck all!
DrP... fueled by cake, COVID lung, and prosecco 😷😷🤣🤣🥵
Feeling a bit ropey tonight! But have brought all the riding stuff to the OH's so may as well make use of it!
Tron bike? Or tarmac and Millsteins?
DrP
Good point, with no downhill this is one of the few tarmac routes than the Tron [i]isn’t[/i] the fastest on by default!
Pheweeee!
That's a tough one! No let up after the petit kom...
Bravo sav om the kom and the win...
I MUST get my breakaway legs back!
DrP
Wow, that was tough but my best race yet. Slow start but settled into the climb and somehow managed to pick off our captain Robbo and several other scalps!
That was brutal
deffo a tough one. I enjoyed the relatively gentle intro, which was a saviour as for letting my dinner settle, but then lack of attention at the sprint meant I lost the front group (and Paul). Once on the climb though I settled into just trying to keep my numbers high which went really well until the last 200 metres when cramp kicked in.
Oof, that was tough. After loosing the front 3 up the hill I managed to settle down with @vanilla83 for a long slog, until he slowly edged ahead and it was all I could do to stop him finally taking a well deserved 20 seconds off me.
After cruising back down I stopped the bike and was offered a Zwift workout: "What goes up must come down"
No thanks.
Thanks for some great racing this season everyone, and especially @robbo1234biking
That was, erm, interesting!
Really struggled to get into a rhythm along the first few km and started the climb with not much in the legs. Still putting out a decent 200w though so not shabby by my standards! Kept that up until I saw that I was catching A. Wood slowly over the last 2km and somehow managed to find another bit of energy to overhaul them with =in sight of the finish. Was putting out a steady 300w for the last 200m, no idea where it came from but it felt ok. Guessing all the racing this winter and the beginning of the training programme DrP has got me doing is actually doing some good after all.
The usual thanks to @robbo1234biking for organising everything, even if Zwift HQ torpedoed the first race 🤣 Roll on the next series.
Toughest one yet. I did Stage 2 of TdZ, Fire and Ice up Alpe de Zwift and thought that this was the same 1000m climb, so was not looking forward to it, as like Cinderella when the clock stuck ( 1 hour ) it all went wrong.
@msjhes2
So on the plus side finding that it was shorter was a very very pleasant suprise.
I thought that there might be a split at the Sprint, so contested it just ot make sure that I was on the right side and was pleased to see Arch nemisis @msjhes2 on the wrong side, with the gap growing up to 14 secs. What followed next was not as good, I put some turns on the front to keep momentum going, but mark must have been in a good group because the gap just kept on shrinking.
He finally caught me with about 1km to go and then dropped with 800m to go, I stuggled on until the end trying to limit my losses and hold to a potential 2nd place.
I did the Best but Chappeau to @msjhes2 he rode a better race tonight. 'Grats also to @savoyard for the win.
Cheers again to all esp. @Robbo1234Biking for organising.
I'll now go and watch the replay and see what happened up front. 🙂
P.