Yes please robbo everything the same as last time
Yes please, nothing else makes me suffer quite like these races.
I'll give it a go please, pretty new to zwift. Ftp 213w 83kg
Paul Thomas on zwift
Looks like I'll miss the first race 😭. Hopefully I'll win a few of the races later in the series 😜
I'm in. New figures too, weight is now 83kg and FTP has jumped a whole 4w to 201! Still be at the back but it's progress.
Right everyone should have the event links now. If I have missed you let me know.
Not long until the first race on Tuesday!
Me too please. Not sure how many I’ll make with one thing and another, but should be able to make some. Cheers
If you don't mind popping the invites over to me when they're up Robbo would be good but don't worry about any handicaps or the like.
I'd like to join in if I can but can't see work easing off and my evenings being any freer this time round than last.
Just started a keto diet on tuesday, currently struggling to hit 280 watts let alone maintain it for the length of a race. Knackered after 40mins of bimbling.
Hoping I break through the lethargic stage by Tuesday if not I might just but poodle along at the back.
On the plus side I’m hoping to be around 76kg by tuesday, would help but not if I can’t muster 60/70 of the usual effort.
Cheers for the links, tortured myself up the Alpe last Tuesday. I kept getting trainer drop outs and at one point it took minutes to reconnect. Any body else had this lately?
I have before but it's been fine for ages (Tacx Flow).
I'll be dischuffed if it happens whilst racing again.
Brilliant, all signed up..
Handicaps are live for tomorrow night! They may change if we get any late entries (not relevant to other people you are racing with but possibly the overall time)
Christ, have we had our time off already!
Edit - @Robbo1234biking access denied, think you've set the sheet to private...?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oxAKc92qCMD5s-Odc4kCjngmxE15jED9erVq0PKq5CY/edit?usp=sharing
Try this now! Hopefully working
Good luck all. Top job Robbo
Nice gentle one to ease us in then from the looks of it!
Great job Robbo.
So I need to beat @slowpuncheur by a minute 🙁
On the plus side I get a minute 20 on @Phil56 so there is some encouragement 🙂
Lots of pushing and no excuses!
Cheers Roobo,
I'm not sure whether to be pleased that I have a low handicap as it will mean I can do well, or upset as its a sign of my comparative fitness 🙁
P.
Join the club Paul S!
I may reset my FTP before the race and see what it brings up after we are done.
I don’t think I raced on Zwift since April-May time!
So I need to beat @slowpuncheur by a minute
Watch out for that @Stumpy01 fella now he's in Cat B 😛
In theory, tonights course suits me, but not been on Zwift since the last race so could be... interesting*.
*painful.
Damnit, just had a call out to Stonehouse, wouldn't be too bad if my first job wasn't in Brighton. I've then got to get back to Reading. Fingers crossed I make the start.
Recovering from a stinking cold, but far from over it. Will see how it goes this evening but I'm not going to go bonkers if it means slipping back into feeling rough again.
I'll take it as a complement I'm a marked man these days @djflexure 😉 Although I think I'd rather be nursing une petite bière in one of those nearby pavement cafes.
jimdubleyou
Watch out for that @Stumpy01 fella now he’s in Cat B
I don't really understand how that has happened! Zwiftpower still has me as a C.
I must have just scraped my way into Cat B!!
I think this course will be a struggle for me. Not enough lumpy bits to make up for my lack of power!
Music choice will be key for me tonight! Perhaps a Jean Michel Jarre/Edith Piaf/Daft Punk mash-up!?
Or perhaps not.....
a week drinking and eating in the Portugal last week - this is going to hurt!
Also Robbo, I have changed my zwift name to .FREERIDENICK
Good luck tonight people. Have fun. Hopefully see you in a couple of weeks when ZRL is done.
My Flow used to overheat when doing more than about 250w for any decent time, particularly at low gear (low cooling fan speed). Pointing a fan at it helps. I bodged an old PC cooling fan onto the outside but it seemed to massively ober-inflate my power output. I never really found a suitable solution tbh, ended up buying a direct mount trainer.
bollards, selling a bed on Facebook market place, buyer was expected at 18:30, has just messaged to apologise and ask to come at 19:30...
robbo a bit last minute and probably of no importance anyway as i will miss the double header next week so two races down and also will miss week 5.
however can i update my stats to a current weight of 76kg. im sure i wont be able to perform at any kind of aneoribic level at the moment so again and have no chance of acheiving it during keto but can you change my FTP to 294. i havent acheive better than 280 for any race even a crit in the last few months.
Going well so far! Wife gone to A&E as the doctors reckon she's broken a bone in her hand from a netball match a few weeks ago.....turbo dragged in from the garage so I can "babysit" while doing the race. Boiling just doing the warm up! 😂😂😂
Good to see the nerves/excuses coming in thick and fast 🙂
Mine is a flat ipad battery, got it plugged in but hoping to juice it enough before the start as zwift flattens it faster than it charges!
Well, I didn't make it. Traffic on the 417 killed my time .
Have 'Fun' all.
My Flow used to overheat when doing more than about 250w for any decent time, particularly at low gear (low cooling fan speed). Pointing a fan at it helps. I bodged an old PC cooling fan onto the outside but it seemed to massively ober-inflate my power output. I never really found a suitable solution tbh, ended up buying a direct mount trainer.
Cheers maybe some of this overtime can go towards a new one.
Holy crap that hurt! Too fast at the start, nearly killed myself trying to cling to the group I was in the rest of the way, barely anything left for the final sprint, couldn't push harder! Then accidently mashed the leave now button as soon as I went over the line and left!! D'oh 🤣🤯🤮
Gah.. 1/4 way round last lap lost connection. At the back anyway. Ftp went up to 221w. Good training 😉
Got beaten up by the bigger boys on the first go round the underpass. Managed to stick with the second (ish?) group on the road, but that last lap was horrible.
Glad to be back 🙂
Does it ever get any easier?
Last 2.5 km solo was a study of self punishment. That will teach me for getting confused and sprinting on the lead in...
@robbo1234biking FTP increase to 312 W and seeing as I have an update weight down 1 to 86 kg. Thanks as ever.
Nice work folks! Enjoyed that in a sick-inducing, leg cramping, eye-ball sweating way.
🤮
Tried to hang with the second group (Robbo's) but lungs and body not in it tonight. Very luckily managed to grab on to the next group with M Pewsey, Jimbubleyou, S Patton, D Riley, M Jenneson, R Kennerley and Paul and recovered a bit.
D Riley seemed to try to make a break of it on lap 3 so I made an effort to help pull the group back for a bit (thanks to whoever took over) and completed the bridging work. Final lap was all a little more sensible(ish).
Thanks Robbo and well done Paino on your sprint and fastest lap efforts!
Enjoyed that again, somewhat surprising given the circumstances.
Firstly the ipad was flat so I quickly got the app running and connected on my phone. Joined up a minute or so before the flag, and on the tiny 4.5" screen failed to notice that I (and one other, Matt something maybe?) started the race going in the wrong bleeding direction!
Honestly, 500w off the line in the complete opposite direction! What on earth causes zwift to do that and please tell me how to stop it again!
Went berserk for a minute to catch back up and stayed in a group for the longest I've done so far, till about half distance. It felt fast! Eventually fell off into 36th on the road and stayed there.
Finally, J Nicol you sod, tagged on during lap 3 and thought it was the start of a beautiful relationship/duo to the finish but actually I just dragged him round to the sprint where he bolted.
Shame on me as I fell for it twice 😀
And finally @robbo1234biking:
Woohoo!
Yuck in hindsight i shouldnt bother with any form of racing for a few weeks. Gone and upset my long run of top 5 STW finishes on the road in dramatic fashion.
I knew my only hope tonight was to grab onto a group and get toe with no efforts of my own for a break away or any of that nonsense.
a minute or two into it my lap top started to run an update and zwift minimised. Think i got caught out under the ramp and had no idea if i had a wheel or my whereabouts in the group
effort was all over the police.
i eventually realised i was behind Neil and then accidentally gapped him up the gradual climb. Decided it was pointless and too painful to try and stay ahead of the small group that had formed behind so eased for them to catch. once i tagged on we put an effort in on one climb and split the group to just myself, Neil and OGG.
My lowest ever watt average of 224, lowest ever finish by a long distance at 30th. not for the lack of effort , i tried to give the usual 100% and my HR average was in line or just above what i expect for a race so the diets definitely having a major effect on big efforts. worth a test but not to be repeated.
was going to miss next weekend anyhow but im sticking to slow steady state plods for now and hopefully the short term loss will result in a longer term gain.
well ridden everybody, enjoy next week and thanks again for your efforts Robbo.
Good race, well for me anyway.
Managed to stay with the front group until the mugging on the underpass, and settled with the 15-21 position group with @Straighliner and the rest. Tried not to do to much, ( well actually was redlining all the way so if I had done something I would have been dropped 20 secs later, ) and I luckily managed to get a useful power-up to stay in contention for the underpass sprint every lap so managed not to get dropped there.
That was until the final lap where I final lost the tow, and did the long cycle of dropped shame 😉
I had 1:15 to the next group so just pushed as hard as I could until the line to finish 21st
I was suprised I didn't get an FTP upgrade, it reckoned it was only 212, so must try harder next time.
Welll done @savoyad for winning, @Jimbubleyou for leading 'our' pack over the line, and @Robbo123biking for organising
P.
Thought that was going pretty well. Hung on with the second group (Robbo’s) and felt I had a little in reserve, for a change. But totally messed up the finish by attacking on the final climb to L’Arc and catching @mahowlett, then realised the first arch downhill wasn’t the finish and there was more than a km to go.
The group soon speed past again and I clung on to be last in the sprint.
