Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

Is Zwift rankings still working? My score hasn't updated for a while but I have completed a few races. At least two of them (WBR and KISS) I thought would have been picked up.

(I had a couple of brief dropouts that dropped me off the ?lead group by a few yards - that was too hard to make up after the 1st couple so I decided to wait & look for you CH)

Scaredypants, spotted you on last nights spin around Richmond 🙂 Assumed it was a race and I did try and help out a little bit but then you dropped back quite a lot and I lost you.

Quite like Richmond for some types of effort. The smaller flat loop is pretty good for doing 8 minute efforts on, and I know roughly where I need to start and finish. Not raced there but can imagine the hills being quite selective.

A nice profile of Tim Cartwright ahead of next weeks Live Zwift race!
I hope Tim and Rachael Elliot smash both the races for Newbury Road Club!!

I think Tim's FTP is a little low and KG a bit high in that profile! From that our w/kg is pretty close but he's a much quicker time trialist that I am. The higher kg doesn't slow him down nearly as much as the extra watts speeds him up! (And TBH he's much better at getting those watts out in position than I am.)

How was the racing? I heard that Rachael just rode away from the field from the gun to get the win!

I missed the first few minutes of the men's race as my car was about to turn into a pumpkin but not sure exactly what the glitch was. Anyway, Kim Little and Tim had a gap up the reverse KOM and then Tim just rode away too- from Shane Millar, Adrian Timmis and Scottie Weiss 😮
Although Scottie ended up taking a wrong turn as they'd had to restart outside of the event module.

The venue was a cock up in my opinion. The riders were in a separate tunnel so we couldn't cheer them on very well. Then the commentators were in one and the big screen in another so it was very disjointed.

There was enough people there that it could have been great in the right setting. Double the numbers and it would be a great fun night out!

Scaredypants, spotted you on last nights spin around Richmond Assumed it was a race and I did try and help out a little bit but then you dropped back quite a lot and I lost you.

You'd have had a very short window to offer meaningful help, TBH. Once I lost the bunch for about the 3rd time I slowed down to look for CH and then pretty much dawdled after that & quit the race after a lap 😳

Cheers - didn't spot you

I was "H Jones WBR(A)", I forgot to swap the WBR back to STW.

After a pretty hard 80 miler on Sunday i took a few days rest and gorged on food so i was up for a zwift session this morning. I dont know if it was the excess calories or the rest but i had a cracking race in the WBR at 10.05. I stuck with the lead group who were all cat A's and contested a sprint finish with them. I ended up 6th in the race and a silver in cat B. This is the first time i have ever finished a race with an average watt of over 300 (306 to be precise) and 3.66w/kg. I seem to be steadily increasing my numbers which i guess is a good sign.

Good job!

WFH today, so was contemplating a session later, but legs feel rubbish, not sure I can be arsed!

Tried the KISS pursuit league this AM. Interesting format. 4x 2km races 15minutes apart. Points from 1-10th. 8week series I think.

I got 16points out of the four races which puts me 11th.

It's certainly the best fun way yet to do intervals 🙂

Crosshair - i looked at that and it sounds good fun. There were some very fast stats on the first couple of races, good work in being in the mix,very impressive.

I averaged 500w for two of them 😮

I found a steady start with full gas up the hill and then hold it until the finish gave a better time than a constant effort.

😐 😐 😐 😐

Crosshair - that sounds like a thigh pain fest. Did you ride or rest between races?

Nathb - what was in the link for us sane people who dont do faceache?

Legs were good until the last one when they felt like jelly in the warmup pen. Hopefully the lack of pain means my strength is good! Pity I weigh half a house 😀

The first one I soft pedalled for the gap but the others I had various 4 year old related tasks to attend to so got off straight away. I did pour water over my legs and then go back in front of the fan though.

I've been tying my travel towel around my head lately which makes a huge difference. Gonna have to go proper '80's and get a sweatband I think 😆

Ah sorry, it's a BRT members last 80 secs of a race.

The numbers he is producing are just bonkers!

Gonna have to go proper '80's and get a sweatband I think

Skip to 40mins where the coverage gets a bit better but Tim Cartwright- WOW! Watching him serenely pumping out 5.5w/kg whilst the others thrash themselves silly is brilliant!

He does make it look quite effortless. What size chainsets are they using?

How would that change anything? 99% of pros use 53/39.

SLightly non-Zwift question here... but i guess related.

As you may have seen, i've been away in Spain and riding last week. Was 7 days straight of 3-6 hours per days riding. Around 1200m climbing average per day... My legs felt OK on the way home, but are still now feeling pretty heavy ! How long should i expect to need to recover after a week like that ? Should i hit Zwift/outdoors now or give it a few more days recovery ?

Weeksy - if you were any kind of a man i would say ten minutes is more than enough rest, get zwifting! 😀

Njee - i was just asking purely from a speed perspective,

🙂

To start with, there's not really anything in the events that's jumping out at me anyway. Possibly the KISS 2nd base at 8pm, but that's all that has any appeal.

I was thinking of taking the Parkwood outside for a fairly gentle one too. But i fixed my leaky fuel tank on the KTM at the weekend so was also considering that for my daily 2 wheel fix.

On a serious note i would give yourself a couple of days of rest and eating. No harm in giving your muscles a rest, you might come back stronger for it.
I am going to do the zwift race at 9.30am or possibly the Teamodz at 13:15 which has a neutral start which i quite like. The weather here in Leeds is awful so no real world riding today.

Njee - i was just asking purely from a speed perspective,

Ah, negligible difference frankly. Unless you're using 22/32 and 12-32 or something!

Weeksy if you're using the turbo then 30-60 mins max per day at 50% FTP and high cadence - should have your legs sorted in a couple of days.

Just done zwift race and finished 3rd and only a bike length behind second,best result so far. It was a good sized field but i think there was a lack of cat A riders.
I deleted my ftp score as that was always skewed by my early days running a dumb trainer. So my new ftp based on the zwift race is 294w, no idea whether that is good,bad or average but it was hard work.

Was 7 days straight of 3-6 hours per days riding. Around 1200m climbing average per day... My legs felt OK on the way home, but are still now feeling pretty heavy ! How long should i expect to need to recover after a week like that ?

Kinda depends on how deep you had to go each day and how well you recover.
Short easy spins as recommended by nathb above, but don't be surprised if it takes 1-2 weeks for legs to feel fresh again.

All days were fairly tough, but it was more the time/elevation rather than massive HRs every minute of every day. There were moments, 15 mins sessions where you'd hit the high HRs/efforts, One day was proper tough with 2 hours up in the high HRs and climbing..

Today i did 35 mins at a max of 110bpm on the HRs and around 1.5w/kg generally. Wasn't terribly exciting, but worked well for me i hope.

Started back on the Horizon 5-2 after a few weeks off it.

blader1611 - Member

Just done zwift race and finished 3rd and only a bike length behind second,best result so far. It was a good sized field but i think there was a lack of cat A riders.
I deleted my ftp score as that was always skewed by my early days running a dumb trainer. So my new ftp based on the zwift race is 294w, no idea whether that is good,bad or average but it was hard work.

The obvious answer based upon your XC results and Zwift results is... pretty damn good 🙂

Funnily, i think mine is 295w. But i'm carrying a chunk more weight than you of course.

Did the KISS aussie crit race this morning and it was a huge field, biggest i have been in for a long while. It was the volcano crit cww course and just dont like it, i can never seem to get a rythym going and its advertised as flat but i find it rather lumpy.
How do people know other racers are using zpower, is there an icon or something?
Also does anyone know where i can get a CHEAP bluetooth hr monitor that is compatible with zwift on ipad?

There is a lightening icon next to your name on the right if you are using a Smart trainer or Power meter.

Was that the East or West one? I think Jesper did ZCL commentary?

Also does anyone know where i can get a CHEAP bluetooth hr monitor that is compatible with zwift on ipad?

How cheap? Loads of cheap ones on Amazon, just search for bluetooth HR monitor (e.g. [url= https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Wireless-Monitor-Fitness-Product/dp/B00UADFP16/ref=pd_sim_200_6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JSFMY7MVMQA5RHPD3726 ]20 quid here[/url]). Decathlon do one that does BLE and ANT+ for 30 quid.

Crosshair - It was the East one and i did see some comments about commentary but i ignored it as i didnt know what they were talking about. I ended up over 4 minutes behind the winner so dont think i would have got a mention anyway.

Did the KISS aussie crit race this morning and it was a huge field

The guy who leads out the start and gets mentioned by Jesper was Drew Ginn who i actually raced with just behind the main group for a large chunk of the race but we dropped him later on. The first 2 minutes of that race i was about 3 seconds behind them, i missed the start by a second or two and i couldnt bridge the gap. I normally can go a bit further at the start at top pace but my legs went and i wasnt really mentally ready to push it, no warm up may have been a factor. If i had known it was being filmed i probably would have gone for it.

Lol! I love watching the TFC stream live and the KISS ones when I do them.
Even though there's a piddling little audience of the same five geeks ( 😉 ) it somehow spurs you on and those fleeting mentions from Nathan are worth at least 10w average 😆

I am sure if my name was mentioned i would be telling everyone what a cycling god i am. How do you find out what races are being streamed? I fancy going in one and sprinting off the front for as long as i can and then dropping off in a ball of flaming thigh burn.

I found out the answer to "How much recovery after a week of tough riding".... The answer is.... "more".. Went out last night at QECP, just for a fairly gentle one but with a bit of effort thrown in....My legs felt garbage and unlike other rides, they didn't improve as time passed, they just felt worse... I even got a stitch trying to climb.

Couple of days off i think !

Weeksy - are you eating properly? Rest/recovery is only fully done when you have the right fuel/nutrients for your body. Any fasting days after tough exercise should not be counted as rest days.

I fasted Monday, but i'm not planning on fasting for the rest of this week now after last nights performance.

Bladder- their schedule is mainly on Facebook but it's generally the same races each week.
The two main KISS races, TFC on Friday, an SZR I think, ODZ (although that's a little separate with a Chris Haskell I think) and of course the E Crits.
Nathan does the peak EU races and Jesper does whichever ones he's told to 😆

http://zwiftcommunitylive.com

I recorded a walk at lunchtime on my Vivoactive HR as I was checking the distance of a potential running loop from the office. When I checked it on Strava later I was surprised just how many flybys there were, until I realised most of them were virtual ones on Zwift, as my office is near the river at Blackfriars so right on the London Zwift course.

Thought I'd drop by to read up on the new London routes. Everyone been out already enjoying the sunshine?

(Sure crosshair will be along in a minute with a lengthy detailed report 😉 )

until I realised most of them were virtual ones on Zwift, as my office is near the river at Blackfriars so right on the London Zwift course.

Surely you don't get virtual flybys mixed in with real life, never seen that before.

Surely you don't get virtual flybys mixed in with real life, never seen that before.

I don't see how you couldn't really. As far as Strava is concerned you rode in a certain geographic location at a certain time. Obviously if you're doing Box Hill in Zwift it won't show up as a flyby for people on the real Box Hill as the Zwift geography doesn't work like that but in central London it's bang on.