I might, but not now I've seen your numbers. Ha ha ha.
J/K mate.
ToW Stage 7 yesterday:
I definitely pressed on too hard on the first climb of the Pretzel (around 380w), and was feeling it on the second climb.
Not sure if I was too ambitious to try to stick with the front-most group, but stayed with them most of the way on the way to the radio tower, but being a heavier bloke I was never going to match most of them on the steep section.
I'm definitely a steady state rider, and the kicks on the way down from the Epic KOM in both directions always play havoc with me.
Went into the second accent with slightly heavy legs, but decided to maintain 7th place, so sat at around 340w to keep the 50 second gap in-front and 1 min gap behind. The top couldn't have come quickly enough.
The run into the finish was a struggle, but managed 7th out of a field of 77.
There was one guy who just took off from the start, and was way ahead after the radio climb, but just disappeared off the leaderboard never to be seen again.
2 hrs 14 mins which is 7 mins off my best. Obviously paced it better before.
Stage 6 today:
Went into the ride with the aim of beating an hour. As it was only one accent I figured I could keep a fairly high effort up the reverse epic kom, depending on how my legs felt from yesterday.
Great prep for the ride was wandering around Newby Hall near Ripon, carrying everyone's paraphernalia, and a picnic that weighed a ton (mostly water as it turns out). Didn't really eat or drink much all day, so reserves were a bit low at 6:50pm.
Set off with the front group of about 8 riders. We soon started to split as soon as the climb started. I think I went into it in 7th place. Just switched off concentrating on anything else, apart from maintaining 380w+, which I managed reasonably well. Looked at position after the radio tower, and was in 2nd! How did that happen?
I was pretty spent by then, so just wanted a steady effort down. As yesterday, the kicks before the tunnel were damn awful. Reserves were running low by the time I got to the bottom, and as a result I dropped a couple of places. The first guy to go past put in a massive effort to chase down the leader who was over 30 seconds ahead of me. I was then caught at 3km to go, when I slowed when he dropped a drafting boost. O don't think he was impressed and shot off at 5w/kg. Ta, ta, no way was I able of chasing. With 1km to go I had another rider at closing in, but must have found something in the bottom of the tank, and opened out to over a minutes lead.
4th place: 57 min 54 secs
Jumped off the bike and inhaled a very large portion of risotto. I'm still really hungry and am resisting eating everything in the fridge.
Now waiting to find out what my final position was in the Tour. After stages 1-5 I was in 156th. I reckon that I'm about 200th which I'm very happy with.
Definitely starting more endurance training now.
There is a cycling challenge in the office on Thursday as the Tour de Yorkshire is coming past. Greatest distance achieved in 10 minutes, with the chance to win a £40 Wiggle voucher.
“Nath- amazing how fast your fitness has returned. You should be well pleased”
cheers CH.
Results: https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=56924
Although I must confess I cheated a little bit, no I didn’t reduce my height/weight or even use the vortex instead of the 4iiii power meter. I was fuelled by carbs.... Been in pain all week with my stomach (stress induced) so I decided to have a few days on carbs as it wouldn’t hurt and to reset. Seems to have done wonders for my cycling, but I’ll be back to no carbs tomorrow.
FTP was 284 in Feb/March at 74kg, Thursday night KISS TT took it to 310 and Saturday nights race saw it up to 312, strava is predicting 324 at the moment and it’s normally bang on. I’m currently 70.4kg so looking at circa 4.5-4.6w/kg, well happy with that if it’s right...
Did a tough mudder yesterday was Ok but i never run anywhere so was worried about the legs. Finished OK with headband for the turbo. Used it for two hours of 200W around just over half of mega pretzel. Legs felt great. Different muscles. Glasses stayed on and relatively clean and dry
Back in for the fun and Zwiftracing games 🙂
WBR 2 lap Classique.
Started off REALLY well.... Over the first bumps on the other start finish and all going OK.. Along the river and it was still all good. Onto the first climby bit and i held the bunch, about 35 of us, but then on the run along from there to the hairpin it split, one guy went to bridge and i tried to go with him but nope, no good. Needed more than i had.
So i settled into our small bunch of 7-8 and going over the line it was OK... Onto first lap proper and the pace was high, but not impossible... Up towards the turn for the flat course and down past the monuments i hit the Feather on the kick up horseguards and held my place, sticking in about 420w i was OK and onto the run to the hairpin again... All going OK and over the line, starting the last lap.
We're now in places 27-35 and i'm holding on OK, but as we hit the small 2% my HR is 176 ! Ouch, that's over my limit and into the red zone... but OK, lets see what we can do. Down towards Horseguards and i've got a feather to use, but the pace is high ! hit the kick and climb into the red, more red... .180...181... oooops ! thats me toast.... but over the crest i'm sort of there... we've got a small split of 5-3 and i need to bridge it to stand a chance. Somehow the draft and my big legs kick in and we've got back to 1 group.
800m out, 1 guy Sissins i think kicks at 7+ and i think "nah not for me...." so i sit in the bunch, about 350m from the line we all go a bit... some more than others, some less... I'm one of the less..
But not the least 🙂 The other C in our bunch was behind me and not able to close.
Whether we were the front Cs, i don't know.... but we did well.
Time will tell how well or badly.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=57547
It bumped my FTP to 280 or so as well. 🙂
Looks like a comfortable win in the results Mr Weeksy and bob on 3w/kg
Good ride Weeksy, time wise you was top third of B group so good effort.
No hilly races today that I can see, so looks like a flat race it is 😯
+6 on CVR rankings for it, I'm rarely convinced that the efforts I put in are fully portrayed by the points lol.
I set a new max HR of 183! But it's better than -6 lol
Whoop, 10pm CVR again tonight and it's 3 laps of something flat! Not feeling the freshest but should be good to sit in the bunch and sprint,. Only slight issue might be if ODz, X or Draft turn up mob handed and keep lining up attacks.
I watched the 2pm earlier and ODz just kept throwing bodies off the front, it looked brutal.
Looks like a comfortable win in the results Mr Weeksy and bob on 3w/kg
Maybe time to move to B 🙂
Nah, not really. Whilst I'm getting close to my B power again, riding the 29er I'm still not there. Sure on a 24 min course I can, but not a 40 min course that's for sure.
Just going to enjoy alternate days of racing and resting/recovery for a while and have some fun.
So the no carbs thing didn’t work, it’s really hard to get back on it!!
Lined up for the KISS race at 8pm feeling fairly positive, only had 2 mins warmup due to train delays though. It was London loop reverse so up fox hill, and it’s really not far from the start line. About 2/3s up the hill I was with the lead bunch then bang, my stomach went into cramp spasms. Spent the rest of the lap with two other guys but then going up fox hill again one of them seemed to launch a wattage bazooka and was suddenly 30s ahead before I knew it. Tried to attack the other guy while keeping the pace as high as I could tolerate but he just sat on my wheel and went round me on the sprint.
Highly disappointed, back to Keto diet tomorrow with a really bland diet to see if I can get my stomach back under control, it’s come at a time I was really making cycling progress too 🙁
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=57584
I wrote out a big race report then accidently pressed back 😠.
No hilly option so 2 laps of greater London.
First in B's but bumped up to 5th in A's due to average power. An A got off the front at some point without being noticed. The rest had a bloody close sprint to the line
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=57568
CVR Report from last night (Zone F, A bracket), it's taken me this long to write it as i'm absolutely spent.
In my head these flat courses suit me, I know that i'm heavier than most of the people that i'm racing against thanks to Zwiftpower and that over about 20 seconds I can get away. The plan, such was it was, was to sit in the bunch for 40km then sprint for one 😀
The attacks were constant with the pace not really dropping but I was fairly comfortable as long as I didn't hit the front. I figured I had this right up until the point where eeeeeeeveryone else disappeared. WiFi had dropped out on the laptop, crap. crap. crap.
What to do? PEDAAAAAL, i knew the group would be trapping along still so i'd just have to do what I could to keep up while I was troubleshooting. Reconnecting to the wifi didn't work, tried that twice, laptop track pads dont work when they're wet. Checked my phone and there's 11% battery left, no charger in the garage (and i'm on call for work) sod it, wifi hotspot on, i can't even see zwift onthe screen cos it minimises when i click anywhere and i'm connected to the hotspot. Back into Zwift and there's the group about 40M in front of me and not hanging about, it was like one of those 'stop the music and keep singing' challenges 😀 I managed my second best 1 min power of 8.1w/kg and was suffering badly. I had no matches left so just set fire the the box in the hope of getting back onto the group.
after hitting 190bpm I was back in the group and back to plan A! Long story short flat, fast get to the red carpet and my main rival Greg Leo goes off the front with just a bit too far to go (it helps that i knew he was feeling like crap and had a knee injury) and I did him in the sprint, favorite quote from the commentators "This was a 41KM race and he led for about 2M of it"
1:08 for the sprint 😀
Can’t believe you even got back let alone smash it! Well done
That’s awesome! Well done 👍🏻
Sounds like some great racing guys and really good race reports. Some very scary figures and watt bombs going off, thank god you lot work during the day leaving me to tackle the retirement lot.😀
I had a right battle today which had a “small world” moment at the end. I did a 1 lap of greatest london loop which pretty much covered all the nasty steep ramps and roads and up Leith Hill. I was in the lead group of A’s and 1 other B so i knew i was in for at least silver. I had plans in place to see if i could drop the other B but it seemed we both hatched the same plans as i dont think we were ever more than 2 secs apart. I hit Leith Hill doing over 5w/kg and stayed that way for what felt like forever but that was just too much to maintain so dropped down to about 4.2. This was brutal and never ending and we were stuck together but i was at 176hr and my max is only 183, i just made it to the top (6:25 kom). I needed to get oxygen in and lactic out on the descent but i had to pedal a fair bit to stay in touch. No chance of losing him on the steep ramp in the tunnel so it was going to be a sprint and my hr was too high so i decided i was going to have to leave it late and hope for the best. The other B decided otherwise and went with 0.6miles to go, there was no way i could follow so tried to tempo at 450w to see if i could stay close and hope he gassed out. He was out of sight so i just decided to try a sprint with whatever i had left which was nothing more than 540w! He was slowing down though and i was catching but my legs started to spin in squares and the line was in sight. I tried again but it lasted about 3 secs and he picked up a little and crossed the line and i was just 0.81s behind, another 100metres and i reckon momentum would have had me ahead. Great race and a SILVER and it turns out he is a member of a cycling club just 7 miles away from my house,small world.
After reading the latest reports I almost don't want to post this as it is nothing on that scale (well done to guys!).
WBR 1 lap London Loop. Entered B. 32 at the start and I decided to have a crack at seeing how long I could stay in the lead group. That was 1.5k.
Then I ended up in no mans land (again) so set my self a goal to stay over 200w on the flat to Box Hill. Managed that and then got caught by a group of two at the start of the hill. Stayed with them the whole way up and was just outside my PB at the top. Passed them both on the second wee hill and then decided to flog myself down the hill to see how long I could hold them out. They caught me at the escalator and I managed to get another lead there. Then they passed me again. I was 210-220w to the finish and just a few metres back. I ended up 15/15 in B with a 3.3w/kg average with a time that would have got me 2nd in C.
For some reason I am filtered out of the results for using Zpower and not wearing a HR monitor. I have a smart trainer so I am not sure what is going on there. Overall though pretty happy especially with keeping my pace up (for me) on the flat as I spent most of that on my own.
8:30 London 6 Laps
Went off too fast, still had weekend in my legs and I've not been sleeping and I've been eating crap.
All of the above meant I was very sub par, still burn't a few calories away...
Did a 30 min pootle this morning, i was waiting for the world to wake up, so just cruised round. Legs were heavy as hell but wanted to crack on for a bit. After i'd done some other stuff and a bit of work i jumped on Zwift just before lunch. Saw there was a Tour de Cure... 4 laps Volcano CCW. A course i like so cracked on. It was advertised as 2.0 on lap 1 with 0.5 increase for 2 laps and then a final after party race lap...
Went into last lap sitting just behind the lead, usually with these if you pass the lead before the line it's instant DQ. So went off with the bunch, only 20 or so of us but we were sticking it in ! Pace was high. Had a great battle all the way to the line, but lost a few riders on the climb to the line, but passed a couple of riders in the last 25m which is always nice. Weirdly i can't see any others apart from 1 fella in the results.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=58338
I managed a 5:43 lap for the volcano which was 1s under my best ever lap. Doesn't move me up the STW list much, but was a good bit of work. Average of 305w for that lap according to Zwift, i'd have said it was higher ! The segment for 2nd half is showing 345w average and the climb up into the finish was 340w.... So happy there, some decent numbers 🙂
Good work all, you moved up to the A's yet Blader? 😉
@weeksy 326W 5 min power, nice numbers indeed!
I'm having a serious bout of can't be arsedness and i'm worried that the summer is going to pass me by if I don't give myself a kick up the arse. Baby is due on Saturday, new bike some time next week.
Exciting times ahead scaled (father of 2 headstrong girls here).
Rode into work yesterday 18 miles and then took part in a charity cycle challenge as the Tour De Yorkshire was passing the office. 10 mins on a spin bike to see who could cycle furthest. Basically a challenge to see who could spin the fastest for longest. Zwift must be paying off cos I won. Yippee £40 Wiggle voucher coming my way. Managed to ride 10.48 km, even with having to stop twice due to my foot coming out of the toe straps. Next furthest was 10.15km.
Have a saddle sore now though.
Riding/pootling from York to Scarborough tomorrow morning with a couple of mates to watch the TdY.
well done all of you lot. I feel a bit lazy/guilty
Can't remember the last race I did - well before I had my hernia op in early December though
been a slow process since then but I'm coming back up; best 20 min power has been 275 or so this year, compared to 335 last June and probably a little bit stronger than that when I did the FTP plan just before the op (didn't finish the plan so never did a new FTP), so I'm still a way off
I'm expecting to dump zwift this month and just enjoy the long, hot, dry summer outside instead (!)
See you in September, with my racing pants on 😉
Some great reports and racing, well done all.
Did 3 laps volcano yesterday. Fast out the gate as usual but the first lap was tediously slow with barely 2.5w. Pretty much everyone together so I pushed the second lap to around 3.7 -4w which broke it up quite a bit and made a couple of attacks on third lap which resulted in a group of 7 for the last 4km. Coming through the tunnel I was deciding whether to go long or wait for the sprint and missed an A and B rider jump off the front. By the time we reacted none of the others seemed to want to chase so we settled for the sprint which I managed to take for 2nd in B and 3rd overall.
This morning I had the chance to race after a good night's sleep and legs feeling ok. Turned out to be a bit of a waste really.
3 laps jungle, my favourite loop. Not too fast out the gate for a change, and only 19 in the pen.
On the lead in 4 A's hit the first climb hard and put in 20 seconds to the rest of us (happens every time, I need to be ready one day!) Me and another B were together with the rest already 30 secs behind. We were going well when I guess the other B had a drop out as he was showing 0w. I eased up but he didn't seem to be going again for 30 odd seconds. Now I was in no man's land and still 5km of the lead in still to go. Ahead I could see that 2 A's had been dropped a little and were only pushing 3w, but were 40 secs ahead. I decided to see if I could bridge over. If it failed I could just wait up for the rest of the field. Pushed around 4w for the 5km and caught them as we passed the start finish line. The other A's were 35 secs ahead. I messaged the 2 A's I had caught to say if we worked we had 3 laps to bring them back. I took the front and pushed but each time I eased off or flicked the elbow they eased and sat behind me. They had no interest in chasing. If I slowed to 2.5 they slowed to 2.3 and stayed behind. With 2.5 laps to go I wasn't dragging 2 A riders all that way so as we hit the long climb I ramped up and pulled a gap. I increased this to 20 secs and just matched there watts. After a lap one of them kept surging to catch but I pushed hard over the bridge and increased to 30 secs. This resulted in the surging A to quit and disappear. Over 2 laps to go, slowly increasing gap to the A behind and slowly losing the 2 A's in front. 2 lonely laps later cruised across the line for B win and 3rd overall. Disappointed that I didn't really get a race.
See if tomorrow is any better.
On a side note, does everyone use fans? 6 weeks into zwift and still don't have any.
I only had a small window of time yesterday due to car washing. So jumped on a WBR 4 lap Richmond flat.
Really like this course usually, so was looking forward to it.
Went off with A/B boys and happy in there for the first 3/4 of a lap, but the pace was just too hot for me... So i was dumped out.... I sit and wonder as always "should i have pushed a bit more..." But in honesty there wasn't 'more' left, so i just went with it.
At this stage i was 50s clear of 6 riders behind, so just sat at about 220w and knew they'd catch me. Their lead 2 riders were putting out 3.4w/kg and i knew i wasn't going to hold them off for the best part of 4 lap. As they got to within 20s, the lead guy had pulled out 5s on them and was putting out 4.2w/kg, as he closed i thought "OK, leave him to it...." and waited for the 5... Upped the pace as they closed, it's always REALLY easy to miss the bunch as they come past and if you miss it, you're done.. But i got on and sat..
The rest of the next 3 laps was pretty uneventful, i simply sat in and waited, waited, barely spent a second on the front, but as the lead Chinese fella was sticking out 3.6w/kg for most of it, there was no way i was going to take turns.
Down past the roundabouts i was in absolutely prime position, but it went badly.... As we rounded 400m to go and down to the hairpin, 4 of them just had more than me... they kicked, i kicked but their kick was harder than mine and i struggled in for 4th in the group.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=58584
Decent result overall of 2nd in C which i'm cool with. Sadly, i don't really know how... but it was -8 CVR points... i thought i'd get a couple back for that one, not lose more.... Damn... Ah well... all good training 🙂
On a side note, does everyone use fans? 6 weeks into zwift and still don’t have any.
Yes. It's not just comfort, your performance deteriorates as you overheat, which you will. I use a bloody great floor fan for general cooling, with a smaller, more concentrated directional fan pointed more at my head/shoulders.
Some people also use either fan with a remote control or an electrical socket with the same to allow them to tweak the fan as they warm up / cool down.
So without reading the full 225 pages is there a STW group(s) to join somewhere? Hoping to pick my new turbo up today and have a spin about later on.
Answering my own question, found the STW team on Zwift Power.
Is anybody actually reading these looooong write ups?
I've been reading a few of the more recent ones.
Did 7 x 1000w sprints on the London loop today. You know when Zwift goes blurry at the end of an interval? That x 10.
So I went and got a fan (cheers) and thought it can't be that different but not was I wrong.
Did the 2 laps greater London and settled into the second group of mostly B's. 3 B's up the road. They were 40 seconds up. Pushed on but as per usual no one else wanted to help. Made a break for it and one came with me. I sat on 4.5 for almost a lap and bridged over. Held in the pack until 8k to go and launched an attack, again one went with me and we pulled 15 seconds with 3k to go. Managed to beat him on the sprint. I felt fresh and got an ftp increase to 268 (was 180 7 weeks ago).
My average due to the bridge was 4.2 so Dq'd in results.
Feeling ok I thought I'd do another race so jumped on the world league or something thinking it was another London flat but turned out to be 2 laps of Fox Hill!! Finished 9th in A's with achy legs.
Loving the fan 😂
LOL that's one of the more bonkers write ups... I thought Tiger was a bit nuts, but he now has some competition 🙂
Well done, cracking results and FTP increase.
Is anybody actually reading these looooong write ups?
I do... Honest.... Some days it's the only reason for opening STW forum.
Me too. I enjoy reading what others are doing. I always seem to learn something.
Today I learnt if i buy a fan I can race twice in a day!
Today I learnt if i buy a fan I can race twice in a day!
I've got a fan, but once in a day is plenty for me !
Fair enough - I guess I just used to not reading anything on forums over half a dozen lines or so.
big fan of Zwift though ... and my 20” fan🙏
Did you all do FTP tests? Or do you just use a value calculated from riding around?
Did you all do FTP tests? Or do you just use a value calculated from riding around?
Neither for me. I don't do 'training' via the App in any way, so the FTP figure is of no significance to me.
Of the people who do, 99% from what i've seen on here do FTP tests to get their figure.
I did an FTP test at the start of using zwift because I had no idea but then just used the race figures (I do a time trial every now & then to get rid of drafting and just crack on).
I suppose a proper test would be better (it works you pretty hard before the test to make sure you've not kept any extra anaerobic power up your shorts) but I CBA - hardish warm up and then a TT as said.
Unless you're good at pacing and riding hard I'd bet that your first FTP result will be about 10% down on the real thing.
I just get my FTP from riding around. Zwift actually tells you when you've increased it. Don't ask me how accurate it is however.
I am not a real cyclist though. I'm just in this for the endorphins. Saying that it is nice to see improvement and I do feel stronger when riding outside.
Yes I read most of the reports, team STW seem to be going well in all categories. As I'm not racing or using Zwift that much at the moment it's sporadic and I'm not contributing here much either. Mostly riding outside after 6 months of mostly indoor. Job of turbo to make me stronger/faster has been a success.
FTP test on Trainerroad every 6 to 8 weeks. Since starting that in January I've not managed to get an increase in Zwift automagically, even when racing, which is a good thing as it means I'm doing it mostly right. The TR ramp test is far more pleasurable experience than a 20 minute one.
Also Strava group for whoever was asking.
https://www.strava.com/clubs/STWzwift
Also Strava group for whoever was asking.
That was me, thank you.
Hmm might skip the test then or perhaps do a TR Ramp test to get a baseline. I'm fine at pacing when running but never had to do it on the bike.
Or just ride hard on Zwift and let it calculate for you. Or do a race as that'll make you ride hard. You need at least 20 minutes though.
A test is better as a repeatable check on where you are at but if you just want to know roughly what you are for category placement just ride on Zwift. One advantage of that is you'll get the ego boost of an FTP increase regularly as you ride a bit harder again and again.
One advantage of that is you’ll get the ego boost of an FTP increase regularly as you ride a bit harder again and again
Or the feeling of desolation when you cannot 🙂
Races though as slightly different as tactics play a factor along with number of riders, groups and pace around you at a given time. Some days i'm 20w harder than the others, just depends on both me and the race itself.
I assume the feeling is worse when you do worse on an FTP test as it actually tells you whereas riding around on Zwift only tells you when you do better. I've yet to do an FTP test that went lower than before. It'll happen soon enough but I'm sure I'll come up with a good excuse in my head ;0)
Racing won't always increase it but it's a good way of getting up to your limit as you cling onto the front groups. You know if you went as hard as you could or when you were in a group that realistically you could escape from but can't drop so saved the watts for the finish.
Never done a test, I just go off Zwift. Like others have said I never do any sort of workout, only race, so you only need it to work out which group you should be racing in (FTP/KG) but you will soon figure that out after the first race.
Does anyone get different results for CVR rankings in Mobile and full desktop WWW ?
There was a flat short race starting just after i got my lad from school, we were supposed to head out cycling or football but he felt poorly, so i jumped on the race.
WBR 1 lap London flat. Usual course for me this one, quite commonly raced. 55 entrants in it.
Jumped off the line well, lost a little ground up to the line, but on the kickers before the subway i closed down so was sitting in the top 3-4 over the subway after the line, a group of about 20 of us flying down the side of the Thames. We arrived at the hill and again, prime position. 1/2 way up the hill, all good, then 3 kicked then 4, then about 8-10 went. So we ended up with another guy here or there pulling away and we were a 5. 14th-20th or so in placings overall.
Down the run towards the finish on the warm up we'd lost 11s to the A's, so that was it, all over ! Game set and match. I checked behind and saw the next guys were 35s behnd us, but putting out 4+ compared to when me and an A were taking turns on the front. We were doing 3.5-3.7 each and i sent a message to ask the guys with us to help a bit. The BRT guy Harvey took a couple of turns, which was better... but still mostly me and the Italian A, Fiore were taking turns, it's very unlike me to do turns, but I was hoping we could stay ahead of the closing trio. Sadly that wasn't to be and we were caught about 2/3rd of the lap in by them, but we managed to hold them.
Into the small underpass, one of them kicked out of the way back up and nailed us... gone... He was up around 6w/kg and none of the rest of us were managing that. By now, i was peaking up at the 175-177bpm, on my red line that... So struggling, on the little 2-3% kick i lost a bit of ground but got lucky as BRT had also lost 5-10m and was throwing in a turn to get back... I pushed on to get his wheel and he dragged me into the bunch of now 6 of us. Up towards the line, the A and another went early... but with 300m to go they both died a death and me and the others swallowed them back up... but sadly, the 2 other boys were stronger than me and just pipped me to the line. Damn.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=58965
Results put me 3rd, which is OK 🙂
CVR though confuses me. It was showing as -8 on my phone for Mondays race and +5 today... But when i browse on desktop i get -7 for Monday and +8 for today... So i'll take that LOL. I'm +1 this week. In the last 6 races, i'm +8 points... Which seems like a VERY small figure for such a lot of effort 😀
I'll take it and move onto the next one. Rest tomorrow and a bit of KTM riding at lunchbreak i think. Let the legs recover a bit
Oddly those results put you in sixth now, do they get revised? Very strange how three of you were the same time behind the leader but had different total times!
Did my first short spin out last night after getting everything set up. Just one lap of the Classique loop so nothing to shout about. Leaving jeans on was a big mistake though, so hot! Going to need to tweak the setup a bit though as it was quite hard to see the laptop just off to the side (need to mount an old TV on the wall). The android companion app also lost its link to the race (taking my HRM data with it). Hopefully using the laptop's own BLE for the HRM will solve this.
I did see a few achievements flash up but not sure which, is there anywise outside of the game app to see these?
Going to try my first race either Friday or Saturday evening. Probably only a 1/2 lap effort to start with (The 8.20 WBR 2 Laps Jungle Circuit Hilly Race looks like a good candiate). Based on power output last night going to start in class C.
That's the 'unfiltered' so doesn't have the DQ's or people who have been bumped up in Cat to B.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=58965
If i open in Chrome via above link i still get the Filtered, so still 3rd. The other 3 were way over Cat limits.
Got it, I wasn't logged in so didn't see anything but unfiltered. Thanks.
I did a 50 mile ride yesterday on a truly lumpy route which also had 5 cat4 climbs on it so i wasnt really in a racing mood this morning. I decided to do the ZHR race as it had quite a few racers i recognised who generally always beat me but i thought i might just draft them for a while until i got dropped. As always my brain decided halfway through the first lap that the race was on and i was going to try and stick with them. It wasnt a fast pace but it was enough for my tired legs and with the A group catching us i knew some of the B’s would jump on so i buried myself and jumped on the A group. So now the pace was pretty fast and i had 4 other B riders with me so it was a case of hanging on to attacks and trying to last till the line. The last half lap was pretty full on but i stuck with the A’s and noticed that we had dropped the rest of the B’s by a few seconds so i just had to get to the line for the win. I had no sprint in me so i did the last 0.6 mile at 500w which put me ahead of quite a few A riders and i crossed the line nearly 2 seconds in front of the next B. GOLD was well deserved today and i have no idea where it came from, my legs were shot to ribbons by the end. Rest day tomorrow.
Did my first short spin out last night after getting everything set up. Just one lap of the Classique loop so nothing to shout about. Leaving jeans on was a big mistake though, so hot! Going to need to tweak the setup a bit though as it was quite hard to see the laptop just off to the side (need to mount an old TV on the wall). The android companion app also lost its link to the race (taking my HRM data with it). Hopefully using the laptop’s own BLE for the HRM will solve this.
When I first started using zwift I was using Bluetooth and had lots of drop outs which is frustrating when in a race. Bought an ant+ dongle off eBay for £10. Had a drop out when using that so bought a usb extension to put the dongle right next to the trainer and never had an issue since (Well, the only issue was when the cat decided the cable and dongle was her new favourite toy and dragged it across the room)
Might be my set up/trainer but never got on with Bluetooth connection at all
Going to try my first race either Friday or Saturday evening. Probably only a 1/2 lap effort to start with (The 8.20 WBR 2 Laps Jungle Circuit Hilly Race looks like a good candiate). Based on power output last night going to start in class C.
I'll be racing Friday and Saturday night so will look out for you especially as jungle hilly is my favourite.
Regardless of what cat you go in remember to start fast and stay with it as it will ease off but almost impossible to get back on if you don't go with them. Also any incline will provoke big power so again be ready for these. The jungle lead in is usually about 6+km I think, but lead in is all part of the race so lap one will seem really long, lap 2 will fly by. The wooden rope bridge over the gorge is steeper at the end than people think and a favourite place to drop riders who dont put in 5w up it 👍
Good work Weeky and bladder ☺
When I first started using zwift I was using Bluetooth and had lots of drop outs which is frustrating when in a race.
I bet! I've got both an ant+ dongle and USB extension for the trainer itself so hopefully only the HRM I need to solve. Unfortunately both the HRM's I have are bluetooth only.
Regardless of what cat you go in remember to start fast and stay with it as it will ease off but almost impossible to get back on if you don’t go with them. Also any incline will provoke big power so again be ready for these. The jungle lead in is usually about 6+km I think, but lead in is all part of the race so lap one will seem really long, lap 2 will fly by. The wooden rope bridge over the gorge is steeper at the end than people think and a favourite place to drop riders who dont put in 5w up it
Thanks for the tips. Going to be interesting to see how I can do. According to strava I peaked at 895W last night (avg 228W @ 81KG including the slow start) though that was quite a spike.
All my stuff is bluetooth (smart trainer,cadence and hrm) connecting to my ipad and i dont have any problems. I seem to recall reading somewhere that multiple bluetooth connections were more of a problem for laptop users
I entered the Team Italy Gladiators Race (B cat) London loop ... the group was thinned out to about 15 riders as we started Box Hill ... towards the top it was down to 7 riders; 3 A cats and 4 B cats.
We managed to get a couple seconds gap on one A cat rider and 2 of the B cats ... and 4 of us then worked together to put about 40 seconds on them before we started Box Hill again. The 1 B cat went pop fairly early on the climb, so just me and the other 2 A cats pushed on.
I stayed with the 2 riders till almost the top, and was still feeling quite fresh ... the Sham 69 came on the radio ... I pressed my iphone to turn the volume up ... and paused the race!!!!
About 15-20 seconds of panic then as I tried to put the race back on ... by time I did, I was 30 seconds behind the 2 A cat riders, and only about 30 seconds in front of the B cat riders we`d dropped on the climb earlier.
(Sorry for the poor race report effort)
Oh no... i hate it when you do/press something that screws it all up ! eeeek !
How can i be faster with tired legs? Yesterday my legs felt heavy but i got gold so today on my rest day they were really heavy and a bit tight and i ended up with GOLD again. Not sure if this is a fitness thing or just having the right mindset. I am getting closer to racing with the A group as thats 2 days i have managed to hold on to them for 95% of the race. They only beat me by 40s and that was all in the last 1.5 miles when they were hitting 10-12w/kg. I ended up racing against 1 other B who had managed to hang on as well but i put in a big attack on the last hill (watopia flat) and got a 10s lead and by the line i was 18s ahead. I ended up averaging 280w for the race.
Real life ride for me yesterday. Club ride in prep for our annual week riding around Europe. Only my 3rd outdoor ride this year due to kids and life but the zwifting definitely helped.
Group of 24 last night with a 40 mile route of rolling roads with a few sustained climbs. We have 2 points on this route that are acknowledged as race points. There is a climb of 1.5 miles with gradient average of 6% which runs back down the other side and finishes with a flat dead straight 1 mile to the 30mph sign. When we do this route we alternate between race to the top or steady ride up and race to the sign so it can suit the climbers one week and the sprinters the next time. This week was sprint day. We climbed as a group and as we crested over the top I took the front, pushed the pace and lead out around the hairpin bends until about half way down. A few others took a turn before I took to the front again. As we reached the bottom it has a couple of short rises and the group bunched up with no one wanting to lead out. A few took very short turns and I got boxed in on the inside (Too much zwifting) as we hit the straight, The pace began to rise as some of the less experienced riders thought they could sprint for the mile! we were in a group of 15 and hitting 35mph so faith in the other riders was top priority now. as we neared 1/2 mile to go I needed to get off the gutter. Glancing back I saw a mate coming by and as he passed me I managed to "insist" a gap was behind him. now on the out side I could follow wheels and come around when I wanted. A couple powered forward as we neared 300 and I held their wheel and as each one blew up I moved to the next. with 200 to go I was second wheel as one of the strongest launched. I help until 50 to go and gave it all I had and came around him with 10m to take the W.
The second race is the last 1.5 miles back to HQ which is continuous 4% with the final 50 kicking up to 12%. This time I lead out and kept good power all the way and stomped the pedals for the last kick and the double win by 20 meters.
Without Zwift I wouldn't have had any fitness this year and would have been tail end Charlie for sure. The tactical decisions on sprinting and attacks worked as learned in Zwift as well
Ok first race done. I now have Bambie legs. For some reason I don't show in the results which is annoying ( https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=59382). Seemed to go alright. Was in a group with one A, some Bs and one other C. Managed to stay with them dispite really bad ghost shifting (qr not tight enough). Had to rapidly learn to pedal smooth to reduce the rocking. Managed to bring the power up at the end but faded about 5s out. Was fourth in c in the unfiltered but not there in the results. I did have HRM dropouts again but restarting the phone app got it back. Going to need an ant+ HRM I think. Loads to learn but I did enjoy it.
For some reason I don’t show in the results which is annoying
have you got it linked to strava ?
Yeap. Just checked again and now I am showing (as dead last in B). Guess I need to go up a cat.
Well done, that's me in 3rd. All crossed the line together
Good job. Very tight between you all at the top!
Did a crit sim earlier. Very realistic in terms on how a crit bunch reacts to other riders, ie negatively people are left to hang out to dry.. No one, including myself could make an attack stick so we all just sat watching each other building for the sprint. However a guy got away with 2km to go and we all thought we could bring him back (was only 7s ahead) with less than 750m to go and the guy still 5s ahead I lost my bottle and went for it. Dragged a guy along with me and he pipped me at the line.
3rd place and I rode so lazily that Zwift power recommend I move down a cat haha..
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=59520
Quick question guys!
"CVR World Cup Training Race: Decat" on tomorrow at 6.30pm.
What does the "decat" mean and can I just join in like any other race??
I'm not in the CVR league or anything.... Just want to do the training ride tomorrow based on its length.... and the time of the day is convenient too.Lol
Sorry for dumb questions.
(I am smart trainered and have cadence/HRM as per their rules if relevant?....)
I'm sure it means everyone shows as A cat's regardless of what you would normally choose. It means you work harder staying with a group usually as you can't just sit with the B's or C's
The Cats in CVR stuff was different anyway as it was based upon your CVR league ranking, rather than your W/KG power as per the usual races.
Amgen Tour of California stage 2 mountain 8.
230 started. I settled into the second bunch and actually found the pace ok even though it was up near my threshold and I have had an awful cold for the best part of a week.
Hit the epic Kom in 78th and slowly picked off a few to get to 57th at the top which became 46th at the top of the radio tower. I ended up on my own again on the way down and was passed by three early on. I was still feeling pretty good and had a 30 second lead over the next group of three.
6k to go and the road flattened out and my lead dropped to 20 sec. I thought sod this your going to have to work for it and started to dig in. 3k to go and it was down to 15 sec and one guy left the other two behind. 2k and it was 9 sec. I really started to push and hit the last k with the lead still 9 sec. 400 to go and still 9 sec and I started to wind it up. 100 to go and it 5 sec. I really flogged myself and was almost heaving on the line but beat the guy by 4sec. I then went outside and coughed up a lung.
Ended up 49th overall. I took 40 seconds off my epic Kom pb and 30 seconds off my radio tower pb and set records on a whole lot of strava segments. I need to be sick more often.
Quick question for you all, how many times did you have to ride up Alpe Du Zwift before you got the fancy pants wheelset as a reward? I am getting fed up with gloves.
Erm, I think it's random. From vague memory, I got the helmet first time, then the wheels on the third, I think, then the gloves on the fifth. Or something like that. But I think the idea is that the spinning wheel of fate is a completely random allocation deal.
I quite like the gloves, though a less garish, camo-friendly alternative would be nice...
Someone ages ago asked whether anyone reads the longish race reports. I'm slightly bemused by them - mostly they all seem to read the same, 'it was super fast off the line, I was dropped / hung in with a group of A/B/Cs, we hit a hill and it was hard, coming to the end I was with one or two other people, we all sprinted and I won/lost... then my results didn't appear on Zwiftpower till later and everyone else in the race was disqualified...' Hmmm... I guess I do read them, sort of, after all.
But I suspect I'm not really the intended audience and people clearly enjoy writing them / reading them. Personally I'm more interested in the metaphysical aspects of Zwift along with the weird human behaviour.
I skim race reports, whether real or virtual, if you weren't there then they're just not all that interesting.
I see people are hinting at some news today, potentially relating to the worlds, although the bloke doing the teasing on FB doesn't seem to actually have any professional connection to Zwift, so he's possibly just winding everyone up for funsies.
I'll be back once it starts raining again 🙂
Yeah I can't see me using it for the next 5 months! Just upgraded the computer I use though, so I can look forward to frame rates in double figures!
Did Amgen stage 2, seems I'm not too quick up the hills and slower on the flats.....was fun though.
I still dip in to the thread to read how others are getting on. I cancelled my sub earlier this month as I have so much outdoors riding to do IRL that it didn't make sense. But I will surely be back on later in the year when the weather turns again, flying the flag for Team STW
PS I like to read the race reports 🙂
When I first started with Zwift I though I would cancel the sub in the summer months, now as I seem to use it four or five mornings a week as a training tool I am thinking otherwise. I just find it easier to get more done in the 1 - 1.5 hours that I have when compared with going outside. The nice benefit is riding outdoors has become all about the ride with no real training thrown in.
I did stage 3 earlier today but i was right at the back of 300 riders as i only got logged in with 33s to spare. I thought we were doing the mountain course so rather than full gas at the start to get to the front i did a 380w tempo for a couple of mins to try and save my legs. I actually ended up getting in to 58th with that so i settled in to a group which had a nice pace but not overly taxing. I suddenly realised after about 8 miles that i was still not on a mountain so fired a text out and was told this is figure 8 course. So stupid me had let the front go so from that point i gunned it to see where i would end up. I managed to get 24th overall which was good considering i spent half the race just pootling. I managed a 1 min power of 450w and a 5 min power of 350w in the second half of the race so that is now something to aim for in future races as i wasnt really trying for it. Also i managed to do this with my saddle far too nose down as i hadnt put it on properly, more stupidity from me.