MegaSack DRAW - 6pm Christmas Eve - LIVE on our YouTube Channel
Good effort Kirky. I got 110km done today across 4 rides so a decent start for me. First ride this morning crashed so I lost 10k but managed to recover the data using fitfiletools.com. I had to go back this afternoon to tick of the cliff side loop though. On Zwift the festive 500 wouldn’t be too hard to complete doing it that way. It will make it harder doing the PRL full though as part of it.
Merry Christmas all - hope you all have a good one!
it does feel a bit like cheating doing it on zwift when you can average 24mph for 80 miles. could technically bash it out in 13 or 14 hours total riding time. whereas around my local lumy roads im looking at 16/17 miles in an hour at best, especially when cold and windy probably more like 15. so more like 20 to 22 hours riding time and risking hyperthermia at the same time.
I lost Brian mid way up the mini Kom as I guess he was conserving a little for his time trial.
He didn't save enough!
I lost sight of you at the bottom whilst I was faffing with something, pulled a bit back, enough to see you on the list much of the way up but you were sitting at +/- of 4w/kg. If I'd no plans for more I might have tried to chase you down but 400m is a big gap on the hill. I'm getting back to where I was but still not got 5+ for a protracted period in my legs.
Yes, I’ve got my jellied eels ready for the 28th.
Are we still all ok for tomorrow morning ?
I am @neilarn2. I've been conscientiously carbon loading over last few days in preparation! @Robbo1234biking seems to have been going well in his Rapha 500 quest so hopefully he'll be OK but I guess we won't be challenging any leader boards. I'll just be happy to tick it off.
Cheers see you in the morning
Might not make the end tomorrow, done the half and that was 4 times up box hill, 250km on the Rapha 500 having a day of rest today in prep for tomorrow.
Yeh I am good for tomorrow. Have been taking it easy so far on the Festive 500 so hope that doesnt scupper it. Up to 208km with a 173 to go tomorrow so should leave a fairly easy 3 final days.
I am planning 2 rest stops at the top of the hill after 4 ascents and 8 ascents. Will only be 5 minute stops to have a banana and a change of bib shorts. Other than that I will see how it goes. PLanning 180-200w on the flat and 230-250w on the hill.
I think we will split fairly quickly as we cant wait for each other on each ascent as some people will be waiting for ages so not sure how long the companion app will last for as it seems to work on proximity. Might have to switch to discord fairly early on.
Hopefully will be able to do it in 6 hours for me - some of you quicker guys might be done in 5.
Just done 50km to get the legs moving for tomorrow...had too many days off and too much food.
Chris and Robbo were also on the BRT breakfast ride, a large field but we found each other. It was a 100km route but there was no way I was going it all before tomorrow's effort.
50km in 1hr 20 so not a bad pace.
Hopefully see you in the morning if I wake up
Ok robbo1234biking no problem It might be busy any way for a bit of company, did the Micheal Knudsen 500 in one go yesterday and it got really busy by the end. Micheal was going to do the whole ride in one day I did just the 100km. He was talking about trying to do all the Zwift routes in 1 day !! for a challenge.
Neil
I’ll be dropping in around 0830-0900, so who is gonna need a little help and a good pep talk after the 2 hour mark?
If people want to wait that is fine (I will be one of those at the back going slow!) but what I wanted to say was don’t feel like you have to wait for 2 mins every lap. If you are only 20-30 secs ahead you might be ok to wait. Think there might be a slower group and a quicker group!
Might be worth changing your name tag to prl full as well. Might get you the 100 ride ons as well!
Anyone who is dropping in later...do you have a tow strap??? 🤣🤣🤣
I'll be needing help for sure, especially past the 100km mark.
Good point about the TAG Robbo, might do that. Is london open for all tomorrow?
Yeh it is a London day tomorrow - that’s why we changed from the 29th to the 28th so there would be more people in the world. I am going for the Canyon aero road as well as a good compromise between climbing and speed but tron would be a good choice as well.
I'm on tron for sure. The other week l tried the spesh tarmac and lightweight wheels but it really suffered on the flats...tron seems best compromise unless it gets silly steep.
Am I correct in thinking I don’t need to join the Meet up on the Companion App since I’m not coming on until later. Do I just use the ‘Ride with’ feature?
Yes just use the ride with feature and choose someone. We could still be fairly together at that time - just the last 2 to 3 laps where we might start to split up.
Anyone else (hopefully) ticking of all the routes tomorrow?
I am planning on joining for a few laps, already got the PRL full badge so CBA with 11 ascents.
See you all at 6:30.
@robbo1234biking Your strategy looks good. I managed to take a bit of a tumble fell running on Xmas eve so knees and a wrist are bit bashed up. I've had a couple of short rides and feel OK so should be fine but might have to go easy up Box Hill. See u in the morning.
Haven’t decided if I am running or riding tomorrow yet, if I do join be later on and so will use ride with feature to see where your at. Good Luck
I won’t be able to make it tomorrow unfortunately. We have a 2 hour drive to walk about in near freezing temps to meet the in laws for an hour as my wife hasn’t been able to lawfully see them over Xmas. They were supposed to be visiting ours for Boxing Day but my wife being a nurse and FIL a being a stickler for the rules means they are abiding to the letter of the guidelines.
I’ve ticked off 80% now with 85 miles on Xmas eve, day off, then 69 miles Boxing Day and 65 miles today. Jumped on some large group rides to ease the boredom and help with the average speed. 65 miles this morning was 2.5 hours around France.
A couple of steady 45/50 mile rides from completion.
good luck to anybody tackling the full PRL, looks like a war of attrition and one that I may leave for a very long time.
That's a shame you cant make it Kirky but sounds like you are making good progress on the Festive 500. Was it you who was telling us about your FIL watering down coke?!
I have found the festive 500 a bit boring to be honest. Was good doing the group ride this morning but some of the ones on my own have been difficult. Not sure I would bother next year but think I have had one eye on tomorrow so didn't want to do too many hills yet (which makes a route more interesting!). Hopefully get tomorrow out of the way and enjoy the last few days of it!
It’s definitely boring after a while and I’m getting pretty damn sore, I’ve found myself riding out of the saddle earlier and earlier into rides just to relieve some pressure.
I’ve been doing the sprints and hitting the short climbs on the multi lap rides just to stay awake. Makes covering the distance a bit harder but not quite as mind numbing.
Yep, was the FIL with the lemonade, tighter than a ducks arse.
How's about an STW social ride about 4pm on New Year's Eve? Say 2hrs, so couple of laps of Serpentine 8. It might help those doing the Rapha 500 through the last few km's. I propose shots everytime you get a PU. Who's up for it?
@robbo1234biking Is there an updated Discord link the one in earlier is showing expired. Was just sorting as I’ll be a late joiner.
@slowpuncheur I could be up for that. 4pm should work for me.
@forge197 new link below. Should work I hope.
I have the Dilemma of using headphones for music...so discord may be an issue for me. I will have to drop in and out as I can.
...unless anyone has encountered this before and has a solution??
Will only be used for text conversation @oopnorth. I have got some episodes of cobra Kai, a bike documentary and a Dakar documentary lined up! As well as music.
Ah ok...not a problem then...forget I asked 🤣🤣🤣
I think I'm under prepared...no movies, just me, Zwift and music.
I won't give you spoilers for cobra kai then 😜
I'm re watching cobra Kai at the moment. Might give me the inspiration to get back on the bike 🤔😉. Think I might have to 'flip the script' 😲
Anyone else got a feeling of impending doom this morning???
Let's get this done!
6am alarm on a Bank Holiday Monday? We're not messing about are we?
I've completed 2 new routes! I should be in work but was told to work from home so i headed to Zwift.
By pure chance ended up riding the Serpentine 8 with K Allen on the mtbs. Took around an hour inc run in and I was glad it finished when it finally did!
How's it all going? I'm going to pop into London in a bit for the Greater loop, then will try to find you lot!
DrP
Oooooo that was tough! At the end of lap 5 I was in a real dark place and the legs had nothing, was going to stop but forced myself to do another lap and get at least halfway of the overall distance.
It was a big ask for me, I really struggle with long distances, but happy with the 90km.
Zwift not saving the data was the icing on the cake 🤣🤣🤣 that would have been soul destroying if I'd done the full route.
Well done to those still going.
Well done Paul and Robbo...huge effort, you earned those beers!
Well done Paul and Robbo that was a great effort ,enjoy the beers.
Yep, well done guys. Take a well earned rest for a few hours.... 😂
Thanks for chipping in @giggsmaster @forge197 and @savoyad at various points and for @mossimus, @neilarn2 and @oopnorth for getting us off to a good start. It would have been pergatory solo. Luckily London filled up later on so there were plenty wheels to follow. It became a proper grind in last 30km but got there in the end! Now, I've reserved the settee and there's several Belgian blonde beers with my name on them... cheers
Thanks everyone who came along and did a couple of laps to help. It was much appreciated.
That was really tough - the climb came back around so quickly! My last time up the climb I only managed an average of 170w!
I don’t know if the repetitiveness helped or not - sometimes it was good because you knew what you had coming but that worked in reverse as well.
Most entertaining but was when the Amazon man knocked on the door at 170km. He delivered a new felliway plug in refill for the cat - my wife almost unplugged the extension lead with the turbo, laptop and fans attached to plug it in! That would not have been a good day!
That’s all the routes done then (until they release some more). Hasn’t even considered route hunting until lock down and people on here were doing it so thanks anyone who rode a route with me. I certainly didn’t think I could do any of the big ones and have the stamina or fitness to complete them.
I have a choice of two stouts tonight - both 11%. Not sure I will make 10pm haha.
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Well done on getting the job done 👍. It was good to join up for a couple of laps.
@oopnorth info here on recovering the file and if the data is corrupted it points you in the direction of a website that fixes it for you. I had the same problem on Xmas eve and it worked fine. I had to fix the corrupted data and then upload it again and correct the time stamp.
https://zwiftinsider.com/retrieve-lost-ride/
Well done! In the end I couldn't drag myself out of bed in time (I blame the 11% stout I had at about 8pm) and then got dragged into doing stuff.
Well done all of you that put a stint on and hats off to those of you who got it done. I tried to hop on for a bit when you were in the tail end but despite "riding with" I didn't actually seem to do so - I saw robbo in the list but he vanished at the first junction. Possibly I'd joined about 100 yards from the end?
You joined just as I was turning around at the roundabout and praying that it wasn’t going to send me back up the hill. I thought Craig was joking when he said we had to go back over the other side!
That was a shit move BTW Zwift - why send people back over to do another escalator after 172km! That was just sheer torture - I sprinted up it but could hardly breath by the top but I didn’t want to spend a minute grinding up it.
They do like that sort of nonsense don't they?
Amazing guys, well done, had a rest from the bike today visiting the outlaws for a seaside walk.
back at it tomorrow morning jumping on the most appropriate group ride whenever I get up.
Cheers for the info @robbo, I'll look into it.
No bike for me tomorrow but should be back on Wednesday if anyone fancies a ride out early doors? 8am early...not the ridiculous 6-30am on a bank holiday we did this morning 🤣
Weirdly the companion app has recorded some data but says its not accessible, plus only recorder 83km of the 90 I did.
I'll see if I can get it added properly and on strava.
Mine did that the other day and recovery worked. Wonder if there is a new Zwift bug as we both had the same issue in the last few days.
Can’t do Wednesday morning I am afraid as the cat needs to go to the vets. Hopefully we don’t have to have her eye removed but is a possibility.
Will tick of a few more miles tomorrow afternoon and then see what I have left for the festive 500.
I had a delayed save yesterday too. Took ages to shut down zwift after my ride but did eventually and recorded the ride. Today took ages again but didn't save...just the spinning wheel.
Felt like I had a purpose today, so the time flew by riding with you guys, I have not known 2.5 hours go so quick like they did on the ride. Privilege to share the same tarmac with you guys, you did well to eat up them miles, spot on.
Yeh it must have been difficult for you and Savoyad trying to pace me. I felt better on the hill than the flat. Just couldn’t get a comfortable gear/cadence/power output so was all over the pace. When DrP joined I think he was doing 1w/kg and keep pulling away from me.
My average lap time was about 32 mins apart from the ones we stopped on and the last 2 so was fairly consistent. Hill time dropped of as the morning went on. Struggled the last hour again - felt sick so didn’t want to eat/drink but knew if I didn’t I would crash and burn!
It is so different to any big outside rides - a completely different challenge.
Hey, don’t worry about that robbo. You had done 70-80km when I started, so you had expended a lot of energy. There were no way I would put that much watts on the climb like you and Paul did for that long. Hats off to you both.
A few flattish group rides this morning has put me within 55km of the finish line.
@robbo if you are also due to reach it in the next couple of days we should try to arrange a group meet up in the morning to see it out together. Also I’m now finding it so boring.
@kirky72. I was going to schedule something for Thursday and post on the race series group to get a few more along to help you Rapha 500 lads out. Have you or @Robbo1234biking got a preference for time or route? Strictly social pace.
Don’t worry I don’t have anything but a social pace in me! Nothing to early on Thursday morning - say 8.30 or 9am? Maybe do some loops of the cliff side route? There is one small climb but other than that it is pretty much flat and has something new on it. I am free all day though so time doesn’t matter too much (although I have a date with a mixed grill and some coffee ice cream in the evening!).
Serpentine 8 is cool but you don’t cover a lot of ground quickly so might not help if I still need to get some km’s in. But I genuinely don’t mind. I would prob try to be within 20km so I should easily pass the finish line before the group ride starts.
I'm up for a Thursday morning ride to keep you company, I promise I'll try do better than yesterday 🤣🤣
Also going to ride tomorrow morning if anybody is interested?
I did my VO2Max training ride this morning, as sent to me by Robbo...
Holy cow, it was tough.
The efforts were supposed be tapered after a minute (for the remaining 45s), but the initial taper quantity was 1w for 15s 😆 - this didn't seem very generous to my ailing legs!
I did manage the full workout without turning down the effort level, so was quite pleased.
I had to reduce the sweet spot workout yesterday by 5% - I just felt there was no way I could keep going for the full workout, as it was! Half a bottle of red and a couple of beers the night before probably didn't help!
Completed the Serpentine 8 and cliff routes now, which was good.
Recovery ride tomorrow!
I'll prob be around for a thursday am ride too!... will an invite go out?
DrP
Beach loop works okay but thought something like RGV maybe a little more interesting with 3 sprints and the esses are a good part.
Happy either way. 8.30am or 8.00 is good.
Will probably do a steady fasted pre breakfast ride tomorrow as well.
Did another 50km this afternoon. A easy recovery ride and then joined a Rapha group ride. 2000 riders moaning about not being on the front! Anyway 60km left to go now. Will try and tick of 40 tomorrow and then leaves a short ride on NYE.
Zwift crashed on42 mins but I managed to get the data into Strava but hasn't worked in Zwift it looks like.
@stumpy01 - good work getting them done still mate. Not sure why workout creator doesnt do a proper taper but seemed the only way to get it to work!
I think that was @oopnorth passing me in the opposite direction today. Companion App wouldn’t load for me to reply so a belated hello back.
I'm in wattopia now, if anyone interested.. wanted to do London pretzel, but it's not the current map!
Also... I MAY have treated myself to a tacx neo 2t....
Very smooth!
DrP
@piemonster...yes Shaun it was me, I was on the way down from the Epic and sent you a message when I passed you.
Started with up to the cliffside road at the bottom of the epic, then turned up the epic and down and across the cliffside again...finishing with the esses. Was a good loop and avoid the never ending bridge to the epic that I hate.
Anything arranged for tomorrow???
Lets hope that solves your zwift issues DrP!
I’m definitely out, well, in, doing something.
Bit of an ice rink round here at the minute. So bike first then take the dog for a walk.
Out and back again or two laps of Serpentine.
I'll be up for one as I need to clock 61km tomorrow for a yearly goal, I've got 30km or so at 10:30 with mates, but happy for getting the other 30 with you lads. Ideally not on gravel though for me. I'd rather have the easy KM
How's about 8.30 tomorrow for couple of hours? Petit Boucle has a bit of everything including 6 x sprints and 2 x hills. 61km so couple of easy hours inc a few efforts if u want them. I also need the badge;)
I don't have everyone here in my Zwifters list so perhaps @robbo1234biking or @savoyad could sort the meetup??
Arg... would have loved to have joined you for petit boucle, but at the OH's now and didn't being zwift!
Have fun!
DrP
that would be good, whoever’s inviting please ping us one.
I’ll be taking it easy involuntarily as it will be my third day after a couple of longish ones to tick off the 500. Went through 330 miles this morning a couple of days ahead of schedule and including a couple of rest days.
I will sort out an invite for anyone in my list with STW in their name - might get a big group out for the end of the year. Very social pace maybe with some sprints etc.
Just did a race but entered cat d instead of cat c as I thought it would be a good recovery ride to get some more km on my festive 500. Jeez that was fast. I managed 238w for nearly an hour which wasn’t bad on the past few days riding. Got UPG in ZP though as I entered the wrong cat but a lot of other people were faster than me.
I'm in chaps...8-30am good for me.
I’ll be happy to join in for an hour or so tomorrow.
Right invite has gone out to anyone with stw in their name. If you want an invite and I didn’t include you - sorry - let me know and I will add you on!
Cheers Robbo , I had the same experience as you today did a group d ride as I thought it would be a nice pace and a bit of recovery but ended up in a bit of race for an hour.
