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thanks for the suggestions CH
... seems I'm in London while you lot are in the Pacific Ocean somewhere 😳
Turns out my 12 YO has an FTP of 3.4 W/kg. Great for the hilly stuff, but he's not got the raw power for the flat or sprinting. He loves the racing side of it though.
Back onto the 5-2 today, which as we all know isn;t the direct answer for everyone, but seems to have worked ok for me in the past. So after a summer 2 months of slacking on the diet and 4 weeks of slacking on the bike, we're back in full effort on both now.
Planning the lunch hour 12pm race today, C cat which is about where i'm living at the moment, flat course, which suits me best generally. Currently 16 in the C cat, so should with luck find a group to race within it for a decent chunk.
I've been experimenting with the power settings and it's now set to instant instead of 3s. Not sure yet which i prefer, but the instant power does give more of a kick when going for it.
how bothered are people about smart control?
I have a tacx flow smart from halfords, and also a kurt kinetic with the inride power meter. The tacx feels like it might fall apart any minute, the kurt could survive a north korean attack.
wondering whether to sell the tacx and how much I'll miss the resistance on the hills. figuring I can just change up/down a few gears as power is power.
ARRRRGH. Lost my dongle......
found it 5 min after race start. So i'm doing the 12.20 WBR instead
I've been experimenting with the power settings and it's now set to instant instead of 3s. Not sure yet which i prefer, but the instant power does give more of a kick when going for it.
I've been running it as instant since I first started, but Saturday I was riding up the mountain and as I turned right up to the radio mast I kept having problems with the resistance dropping right off for only a second or 2 then ramping back up again. Must've happened 10+ times which was bloody annoying as on screen it meant I kept stopping and got overtaken by a few others and dropped by the rider I was chasing. I wondered if switching to the average setting might avoid that happening in future.
The power smoothing only changes your display, it doesn't change the power to your avatar.
I was just going to give it a try hoping it might stop the fluctuations. Assume it’s actually a bug but after a very brief look I couldn’t find anything online. Only happened a couple of times before and it’s only been the once in the ride unlike this where it kept doing it.
Weeksy - the guy who won the overall race in the 12:20 also won the 11.00 EVR race earlier, either he is a machine or something else is going on.
You had a good result there considering you hadnt been doing much of late.
Thanks Blader. I was pretty happy overall. I had to chase in the first 500m as i went off too slow as was getting Whatsapp messages from the wife. But then settled in.
The 3 guys who beat me had spring figures up around 1000w, so i wouldn't have beaten them anyway in all honesty.
There's a lot of very scary people and power on Zwift, it astounds me at times, but then again, out on the trails, it's the same LOL.
Roads and circuits ain't much friendlier 😆
LOL you're one of them !
Signed back up as the nights are closing in, what have I missed since March? 😀
Turns out riding proper bikes and trails over summer has fattened me up and slowed me down. Starting from the beginning all over again 🙄
Just got the Snap, quick question before I read this whole thread in next couple of days, on Zwift, the rear brake has no function?
I only ask as Im going to get a spare wheel/ tyre just for the Turbo/ Zwift and want to know whether I need a hub I can actually fit a 6 bolt rotor on.... or just a cheap/ rim brake wheel as I wont need the brake??
Thanks guys!
Looking forward to Zwifting!!
No brakes necessary. I took the brakes off of the mtb I was using as there was just a tiny bit of rub on the rear disc, and when you are struggling to keep the power up on a workout or hold on to the group in a race, really messes with your head
Can someone tell me why they bother having categorys on zwift when most of the time nobody seems to be dq'd for exceeding the limit? I am not sure if i have the limits right or i am missing some key info but the link below shows all riders above me in cat B busted the limit yet they remain
[url= http://www.zwiftpower.com/race.php?id=11735 ]Zwift power link[/url]
muggomagic - Member
No brakes necessary. I took the brakes off of the mtb I was using as there was just a tiny bit of rub on the rear disc, and when you are struggling to keep the power up on a workout or hold on to the group in a race, really messes with your head
Thanks bud and what you said makes sense too!
Woo, new PB up Fox Hill!!
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https://www.strava.com/segments/12744396?
On the TT bike ha.
What does that symbol next to the mobile symbol mean??
Chapeau Nath!
Think it means you're fast AF 😉
Have you signed up for Zwift Acadamy? I thought it meant that.
Great time too 🙂
Tonight was my first proper zwift ride in 6 months, I'm 7kg heavier than then and my FTP is certainly not 260 anymore (considering I was aiming for 300 by end of summer it really has gone wrong). Anyway it was horrible but I stuck it out and will be the silver lining us improvements should come quicker from this low point.
Yeah I did sign up, but I'm too old so I lost interest 😆
Can someone tell me why they bother having categorys on zwift when most of the time nobody seems to be dq'd for exceeding the limit? I am not sure if i have the limits right or i am missing some key info but the link below shows all riders above me in cat B busted the limit yet they remain
It is frustrating when you get that one. "Exceeeded catagory limits but the result has been configured to allow it to stand"
ARRGHHHH. FFS, if you're over you're over ! I think it depends who it's with.
ZP still needs some work of course, the 'Zwift' races are often quirky but you'd think they if anyone should be OK.. but then Zwift says they're nothing to do with them.
I worried a bit more about the actual ZP results and Zwiftrankings once upon a time, but at the moment, i am just racing to the best of my ability on a given day, what the result is, i don't much care. I just hope/try to hold onto the fastest Cs i can for as long as i can.
cheers_drive - Member
Tonight was my first proper zwift ride in 6 months, I'm 7kg heavier than then and my FTP is certainly not 260 anymore (considering I was aiming for 300 by end of summer it really has gone wrong). Anyway it was horrible but I stuck it out and will be the silver lining us improvements should come quicker from this low point.
Nice work. Getting back into it is proper tough, even after 3-4 weeks, let alone 6 months.... It's a question of getting your body used to going hard hard hard for that long again, that's the killer bit for me.
SZR Autumn for me tonight at 6pm i think. Course isn't really ideal for me being the UCI Worlds which i think has a decent hill in it ! However, it's about the biggest field of the day, so will at the very least be a decent workout and fairly entertaining at the same time 🙂
Wow, its like the good old days of winter, 130+ in the race with 44 in C! Great stuff.
Weeksy - the numbers have definately gone up of late, i guess the seasonal change in weather over here has helped, lot more brit riders certainly.
The cat limit issue does bug me somewhat particularly as i turned myself inside out in that last race. I dont race for the win anymore i just see it as a nice bonus if i podium, i am generally just racing myself for better times/performance and i look at the screen a lot less these days. The race the other day was one of my best statistically in terms of watts and w/kg and for 3.5 laps out of the 5 i was solo, i didnt once look at the screen for nearly 2 laps,really focused the mind to push hard ( i was a horrible sweaty nausous mess mind you).
going to do the TT at 7.10 I hope - offspring permitting
1st "event" for months. I'm guessing it'll hurt
Eeeew, nearly puked.
Got off bike and legs almost gave way!
Got a new max hr of 182!
Cheesecake time now.
What race were you in weeksy?
I seem to have been DQ for not riding a TT bike - except I bloody did and about 3/4 of the field similarly bumped!!
Is that likely to reset?
Only thing that I did "wrong" was changed bike back again after finishing the race. Is that enough to get me chucked off?
(seem to have kept some decent form though - pretty much matched my best ever 20 min power, if that stays the same on the results)
Szr 6pm race. 2 laps UCI worlds
is that the ded hilly one? I bloody hate that course
I love Richmond! I hate the final climb but it's nostalgic from my early Zwift racing days of two years ago 🙂
The first climb is all about momentum on that steep bend, the second is just a sprint but that last f****r just drags on and on 😆
Reminds me of this too 🙂
They all drag on and on at my weight and power
Was on Parkwood tonight, not sure how much that affects me out there.
Your race was ZCL'd tonight Weeksy too 🙂
I didn't watch it so not sure if you got a mention 😉
When Nathan used to hang around until the bitter end of races watching everyone home, I used to look forward to watching the replay of my finish until I realised how slow I looked compared to the A race 😆
I wasn't really in a position at any stage to be worthy of a mention. Hanging in or hanging on.
6.30pm big race tonight. Flat course and riding the Isaac, so hoping for better than the -10 points I managed last night, not sure how good the zwiftrankings algorithm thinks I am!
Good luck Weeksy, drop a watt bomb on them all.
Was that the pack race weeksy?
I joined you all on the TT bike, don't think you noticed lol
ZTR Nath.
[QUOTE=Crosshair;2754990]Looks to be 4th C at the moment.
My old nemesis from the TFC series is racing. Had some great battles with S.Vatle 🙂
Ended up in what transpired to be the lead C bunch for about 2.3 laps, on the small hill just before village me and 1 other got dropped and had to pin it to get back from 5s gap. I pulled the last 3s back and we hung on for another 1km, then I went pop. Lost the tow and blew out the back.
Overtraining, under energy from fasting day, who knows, but I plodded the last 5km alone, trying to chase a guy down who'd gone pip too, but I was history.
13th out of 33 I think, but as always I gave everything I had. I've stopped caring about results at the moment, its more about training and weight
Well, just got around to being able to ride a few miles on Zwift. The hilly track.
Did about 6 miles then logged off and did another 7.
Erm.... Didn't mean to ride even that far but got confused as the "end" of the 5.7miles or whatever it is never seems to appear.
My video game mentality had me expecting a cheering crowd at the end of the lap or something! lol
Hence Ikept on riding.... all the while trying to figure out why I never got to the "end"!! 😀
Not got the fan in here yet and I dont think I have ever sweated so much in my life. Being spot on 18 stone currently doesnt help.
All in all, an enjoyable experience, trying to learn how to draft and figure out what all the icons etc mean. Certainly gived the legs a good going over, found it hard to get off the bike at the end.lol
My avewrage watts is about 180 I think so if I divide that by my weight in kg I get my power per kg weight I assume?
About 1.57W/kg.... not good I assume. 🙁
Still, only way is up!
You definitely need at least one fan and a sweat towel. It’s hard work at first, but I really noticed the difference even after as little as a week (around 4 x 1 hour long sessions) when I got out on my MTB. I was powering up climbs that I would just drop down a few gears and spin up.
If you look through the workouts you’ll see the ftp test. Worth doing one early as a benchmark to measure your improvement against.
I find the workouts quite enjoyable as you have to push yourself but even when just riding I will try and catch or gap the people around me.
A question for those that are race regulars.
I struggle to do the races as I tend to just jump on it when I have a spare hour. Would you say that the races provide you with a better workout than the set workouts? I’m wondering if it’s worth making a concerted effort to do at least one race a week this winter?
If you're looking for a workout I'd look at the structured plans. The 4 Week FTP Booster has been good for me so far, but it depends on what you're ultimate goal is. Using ERG mode allows it to be controlled. I'm going on in the next 10-15 minutes for a couple of hours whilst the house is asleep and the weather outside is duff! Had enough rain riding to work this week. There's no harm in doing 1 race a week, although like you it's finding the spare hour with a race at the right time, particularly after the littlun has gone to bed.
If you're on shortly look up BMBO STW and join me if you fancy, although I'll likely be in ERG mode!