Sounds harsh dirtyrider. Keep at it though and the it'll get a bit easier.
I (sadly) watched the reply of the live stream from my race last night. Now I know why I hurt so much. Serious power on display at the front.
Yeah man, you had the big guns out in that one. Leandro is an ex pro and an absolute monster, Adam Zimmerman is a CVR winner.
You did well to hang on to them for that long!
It was an eye opener! By lap 2 I was already thinking just one more lap and then drop off. My name did seemed to be picked out quite a lot by zwift in the live feed :). I'm glad I watched it back as there were some real good pointers around tactics from the commentator.
If I'm honest I was hiding in the pack for as much as I could 😀.
Haha it's good fun watching the races back init.
I'm really looking forward to CVR coming back in January.
Surprising good yes. The commentator was pretty engaging. I'm hoping there will be another series or league I can join that is a little more flexible on times (e.g. 3 events a week of which one counts or something like that).
12:15 for me in the Volcano 6 lapper.... I'm 99% sure i'll do OK for 2 laps in B... after that.... it may go horiffically wrong. But if it does, i'll try and latch onto some Cs.... but if i'm honest, i should sit with the Cs early on anyway, i'm just not really a decent B yet... or maybe ever 🙂
From the live timings it looks like you doing well :D.
LOL they lied.... I was rubbish.
I'm simply just not a B lol
Dunno about that, you kept up with clear Bs, and beat all the C's apart from one (who clearly forgot his sandbag and has been upgraded) by several minutes. Yeah your floating around the border between classes but its looking good.
Yeah, what he said!
That's quite a long race as well. You did nearly the same wattage as the A winner as well 😉 God knows how they let a waif like him win on volcano flat 😀
1st 4 Bs in that race were on 3.9 or 4.0 w/kg weeksy - you may not win a B race anytime soon but I'd say you're probably more of a B than they are (I mean "were": 1 upgraded and 1 filtered 😉 - you may win it yet !)
Small races are tough, esp when the As are low end and there are several fast Bs
I'm down for the 5.15 4-lapper. see how much I can hurt myself in under half an hour
That course doesn't give me any recovery time at all. On the Innsbruck ride the other day i was dropping down to 155-160bpm at a time, today i didn't recall seeing the low side of 170 let alone the low 160s.
How do you maintain a HR that high! 170 is pretty much my limit and anything above mid 160s for too long an I'm toast.
On that course I've taken to boosting up the short climb that start in the volcano as it allows a short rest period as the pack catches up.
heart rates very personal, i did 186bpm average for 3 laps of innsbrukring (40 minutes) has tumbled in recent weeks though
I am happy at 160bpm but 170’s is when i am in the hurt locker, my max is 183. I did the chop race on the volcano circuit and i got 4 laps in and thought it was on the easy side and a bit boring with nobody up for any banter at all. Then the last two laps went up in pace at the same time as somebody stealing my legs, i was hanging on a bit in patches but manage to recover slightly. The A group were closing so the last lap was pretty feisty, managed to be the lead B and only a few A riders passed me on the line, volcano last lap i did in 5m1s.
5 min 1 ! Wow mate.
nobody up for any banter at all
you people are weird !
My max since I got a HRM has been 172 and I really know I'm in the shit if I'm in the 160s
5 min 1s, ouch! Nice work. That whole event was fast at 47:35!
Strangely the few laps felt easy, the last lap certainly did not. I guess it was the power of the draft as i think we started with about 46 although we dropped quite a few at the start. I dread to think how quick the A group were going to catch us with a 2 min advantage!
4 lapper was as unpleasant as expected. Big field; you can tell autumn's here. Dropped out of a tiny breakaway bunch (no more than 45 in it !) about half way through and waited 10 seconds for the next group who I rode with to the end (3rd of 6 in the "sprint", which is good for me)
My 4 laps were my 1st, 2nd, 5th and 7th fastest ever on the volcano (best only 5.06 though blader ! - and that was my first so we were all fresh. (Weirdly, there was still no banter going on 🙂 )
I remain resolutely mid pack cannon-fodder though, 21st of 40 Bs
Scaredypants - that is consistantly good lapping, nice one. Do you think all the serious riders have returned so no banter allowed? The fields are getting bigger again but we are likely to lose a lot of aussie riders now so there may be a small dip over the next few weeks. My friends in Canada are about to go in to Winter season training so they will swell the numbers once we are in November.
I'll be honest - I've never bantz'd during a race. Can't imagine typing while riding hard, I'm pretty shit at it in the warmup pen.
My race had lots of Europeans in it, smattering of others, mostly US/Canada and of course some "anon" Zwissfolk.
Is it you that does the early mornings? Maybe that's what changes the demographic for you
no races i wanted to do that fitted in with when i could get on the turbo, so up the alpe it was,
i like what they've done with the segment times and PR's and average power per bend, good motivation,
anyway, a new FTP, added 5w and up to 287w - did 301w for 20 minutes, the benefit of having a power meter for years, means i can look back, and the best i ever did for 20 minutes was in 2015 just before i broke my leg, and i did 319w for 20 minutes, that was outdoors on a flat loop near my house, think i had a Powertap G3 then,
it didn't feel uncomfortable today though, felt controlled, the other day i smashed it for 20 minutes on purpose, then hung on, today i felt good, each section i went through was a PR (i did switch from Zwift Aero & 808's to the Emonda and Lightweights) HR stayed low enough that i didn't even cross over in threshold for me,
did 54:32 v last weeks PR of 58:25
feels good
Good work dirtyrider. I have done 3 of the Zwift Academy sessions now after an enforced 5 day rest. Half term is just over a week away so I want to try and complete that before I head on holiday and hopefully come back fresh and see if I can improve on my races.
anyway, a new FTP, ... up to 287w – did 301w for 20 minutes
spooky ! that's exactly what zwift told me I'd done today
(I, however, was blowing out of my arse and close to toppling off the trainer at the end of my race)
new York is coming to Zwift....
https://zwift.com/events/series/tour-of-new-york/
Wont be able to complete the tour however due to half term!
I raced it this morning... Was OK... 🙂
Actual courses and graphics matter very very little to me personally, it's more about what inclines and when.... Sadly this has a kicker up to the line on the layout i raced... which meant trouble for me. So instead i went early, about 1.4km out... Didn't have the power though sadly....
Until then, it was a good race for me 🙂
is there an updated course schedule anywhere yet?
First time back on zwift this winter - did a couple of race on the new york course - the wbr 1 lap, don't know the course name but it was through the park and short. Enjoyed it and seemed to flow pretty well from a racing perspective.
The other one was 2 laps of the Highline with the finish line under the KOM banner...maybe its because ive been slacking off from training but i found it brutally hard. The run in is very long and the race doesnt actually start properly until already gone up the KOM once. Not much fun at all!
Is there always a lag between pedalling and zwift? Just using a non smart training with ant± or Bluetooth and about a 2 second delay. Just wondered if it's the same if i got a kickr core or tacx neo?
Another newbie to swift. so a couple of questions!
After the ride you get to see the ride stats, prettie zone colours etc. But how the hell do you get to view the zone/power HR zone data again later on?? I can find the ride in ride history but cant seem to find a way to view the data?
Also Power speed HR etc is missing on strava when save and upload, anyone else have that?
Lag: I don't think it's the trainer - there's loads on the web about it but not sure wjat really works (suggestions include; set the power in zwift's settings to 1 second; try changing between bluetooth and ANT+ if you can; make sure you've a decent internet connection speed where you're training (I think this one probably does matter)). In the end, you get used to it, though mine is only a second or so
Power: Link your zwift to strava (or whatever you use) should "just work" but if you need to upload to something else, I think YOUR pc holds a log of each ride
ARRGGGGHHHHHH. Did the 11.30 or so race. LaGuardia loop, 10 laps.
Settled nicely into small group but let the main A/B riders go... Then... Lost everyone.... lost internet...lost broadband !!!! didn't come back for about 20 mins... .i rode on for a lap after dropping to see if it would come back and where i was, but no....
going to see if the legs survived for the 12:30 now.
Weeksy - i had exactly the same problem on Friday. Just before we started somebody had said that New York is glitchy and had created problems already, i just ignored thinking it was user error. Then 6 laps in of ten and everyone disappeared, i carried on and saved the ride but nothing went to strava. I had wifi as within seconds i was on the net plus i share wifi with my neighbour and he was happily working with no interruption. Its still no guarantee but it is a massive coincidence that people predicted problems, no further updates from Zwift so i have to assume its not down to them but lots of issues since NY.
Power: Link your zwift to strava (or whatever you use) should “just work” but if you need to upload to something else, I think YOUR pc holds a log of each ride
Yep, there's a full workout file as per this page. Means you can upload to Strava etc if Zwift crashes on exit, which happens very occasionally. What you can't do, unless things have changed, is re-upload it to Zwift. I think it keeps a record of your overall mileage etc server side, but speaking from bitter experience, if you're doing one of the challenges, like the Everest climbing thing, you're stuffed on the accumulated total. I lost over 1000m of climbing like that, which was a bit galling.
I find the NY course a bit confusingly uniform. I never have the faintest idea where I am at any point unless it's going up the KOM thing. I'll probably have a better idea in six months or so.
Badlywireddog - i know what you mean, i have only being in the park twice but i couldnt tell the difference between either course and i had no idea where i was on the lap. It will take some getting used to.
first foray into the park - 18:10 WBR 3 Lap Perimeter Race - had 3 days off, and mostly a wasted weekend, and its half term, and the mrs is at work all week, great, wasn't feeling like a race but its easy to let days and weeks slide by, so on the turbo and turn the legs which were feeling a bit weary after an impromptu 2/3/4 a side footy with the lads and friends
its a punchy little course, i was expecting everything to be pan flat! out of the gate and in with the front group trying to put time into those behind, got in a small group after everything splintered, that got hoovered up by a bunch including some C's who finished with 3.6w/kg, group of 7/8 mostly stayed together, had to fight hard to stay with the up the hill on the northern end, course finishes on a climb, some got away, some didn't, was still passing people as i finished rather than going backwards - mid pack B
Midday Stage 1 Tour of New York i think tomorrow, should be able to squeeze it in
I have just done stage 1 of Tour of NY and i can hardly believe this but out of a couple of hundred of us, i managed to finish 3rd overall for a Bronze. Tough course with a non-advertised 7 mile lead in lap so actually a 20 mile race and 3 times over the KOM! Best time on kom was 3:48.
very well done!
i did the midday one 700ish in the pen, knew there was going to be a lead in, didn't know it was going to be up the KOM! if you look on zwift power, it always actually has the length of the race inc any leading, so was expecting 20 miles, was in a large group covering 30th to 50th and had a 20-30 second drop out, streams of people passed me settled back into another group back in 90-100th, lost about 15 places the last time up the KOM, finished 116th,
Had one of my best races of all time yesterday. It was on the New York Laguardia circuit, which is event only, so you can't ride it in practice.
Went off hard, hoping to hang onto some of the faster guys... Some escaped but we were right at the pointy end of things. Sitting in a group from 26th-38th overall, out of 80 or so riders...
The course was mostly flat, which suits me, i quickly worked out the compression and kick points with small inclines that needed attacking with a spurt... the HR was doing OK, 3-4 laps in.. Group still holding and me sitting pretty in it... the odd rider dropped, the odd rider got caught.... by lap 6 the efforts were getting to me and over the line there's a small kicker just before it "If i get dropped here, i'm bailing....." my HR was 175 which is over my max work zone.... But i hung in with 4.5w/kg up the hill... which is over 400w for me.... Recovered on the next 2km, which suits me... Sadly the PUs were not coming to me and i was on my limit still... but it's a short lap.... Coming towards the line again for lap 7... "if i get dropped i'm bailing...." but even though 2-3 broke a little gap, we still had 8 or so together and soon pulled them back.... We'd caught a few and dropped a few, so we were now 22nd-29th overall....
So it continued, my HR climbed but i kept in there... From here on in it seems my average HR was 176 ! That's waaaaay over my comfort zone.
By now though I'd worked out which gears, where and when... So i hung in again..... Up to the line, 2 guys kicked harder than me but i left 4-5 others behind me who must have been pushing harder than i was.
I think i got 23rd overall... which was brilliant for me. Zwiftpower has me 'LIVE' at 14th, but i don't believe that was the case, so it must ignore the riders who are not registered etc.
2mins 20 down on the winner.. which i'm more than happy with
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=97333
But overall, was an exciting and fun race
Anyone know the "park perimeter loop" ?
Fancying a bit of a spin at 9 tomorrow but looks short - is it also flat ? Sounds like a nailed-on sprintfest
Edit:
IS THIS A RACE?
No, it's a personal challenge against the distance and the clock. Some Zwifters will ride the event like a race but there is no winner of the Tour of New York
hmmm, may need to think again - fancied a bit of a do at least
Not flat, has an incline mid way, but nothing hard for you.
Cheers weeksy, wondering about "the chop" instead now - never done one of those. Guessing they're shit unless there's a big turn-out, though
(I see the route profiles on ZP now - durrr)
Finally joined zwift as I can't ride properly till the neck brace comes off (7 weeks). Only doing gentle riding but nice to be on a bike even if it is indoors. Running a smart trainer (elite direto). Any tips/suggestions?
Chop is ideal for you in B as the Bs seem to have the most fun and chat. They're invariably quite a decent size group and get a proper move on.
Thanks. Really don't want to be pushing too hard at the moment (also in back brace, T11 3 column fracture and occipital condyl 5 weeks ago). FTP at best was about 305, weight is about 83 ish). Might give it a go in a lower group first and see how I progress.
Stevego,
Just had a wander round really to begin with, get your legs moving, enjoy and grab the odd wheel. It's fun doing events, but if you're half as competitive as most of us, you'll get sucked into it very very quickly.
The going too hard is my worry, it is tempting to push hard but counterproductive to healing properly. Used sufferfest for training, and had been planning on the pioneer race in NZ this year, they have held over our registration till next year as I'll still be in the brace come the race.
stevego, there's loads of stuff on there that's not full-on racing - and then there's just bimbling round on your own which can be any effort you want, obv
Or be like me; join the chop race and have your avatar take a wrong turn after 100 yards
Bah, going to work early instead
Good luck guys, I'll just continue the bimble for the moment, otherwise I'll give in to temptation and I shouldn't really be leaning over and changing gear too much while going hard, extra strain and all that. Look forward to exploring some new tracks on it.
Scaredypants - i cant believe that was you. I was in the race and saw a rider going left instead of right and thought i was imagining that. I then realised that you werent on the rider list but hadnt twigged. Sorry but i did laugh at that poor unfortunate soul who only raced for 10s!
there were 2 of us - that made it slightly worse as I initially thought maybe we were 1 and 2 in the bunch (yeah, riiiight !). Was some cheery bantz coming from the A pen (I think) 😀 - least someone was happy
Scaredypants - you are only as good as your last race and technically you were leading that so thats a result.😀
Also there didnt seem to be any leaders in the B group or people with fingers that could type. Not a single message in the entire race, it was as dull as dull can be.
It was a seriously fast A group, i am glad i wasnt in that.
Midday Tour of New York, big night on the ale Tuesday night watching Glasvegas lead to a write off of a day yesterday, felt leggy at the start, in and out of groups, into the last 6/7km, feeling better, should probably warm up more but i only had a short window to ride, a familiar name pops up in the group of probably no more than 10 of us, assume its a local, wasn't going to let him go so fought to stay with the group, he's a skinny little thing (15kg less) so did me on the final hill, but only by 2 seconds, decent ride
Also there didnt seem to be any leaders in the B group or people with fingers that could type. Not a single message in the entire race, it was as dull as dull can be.
Wouldn't have been me - my keyboard's on a rickety old music stand and pretty hard to reach, too. No way I'd be typing while racing hard. I wonder about voice recognition ...
It was a seriously fast A group, i am glad i wasnt in that
Kim Little (well, "a" Kim Little) took a MTBing KoM off me a few years ago so he must be really fast 😉
Dirtyrider, are the ToNY rides good fun? - I ducked out of this morning's 'cos it sounded like it might turn out to be a processional bimble
its deffo a race at the pointy end
Scaredypants - i did the ToNY straight after the chop race and they are pretty rapid if you want them to be. I was obviously pretty leggy after the chop and only 5 mins between races so no rest but it was still pretty full on and i was way down in 60th. I reckon even with fresh legs it would have been too fast at the front. Equally you can bimble along and still be with a nice big group.
**** me - that was the fastest starting race I've ever done
WBR at 17.05. Apparently it was doubledraft as someone mentiuoned in the start pen. I said (presumably they were all laughing behind their monitors) "so it'll be a bunch finish then ?"
I started at 400ish as I always do - and found myself at the wrong end of a strung out full-on hammer session. "Sprinted" at about 700 for 30 seconds and caught the back of the bunch but that turned out to be at least the 3rd bunch.
Actually was a good bunch of about 4 of us, with another 10 or so just behind. We all snuggled up and that group was there until about 2k to go when we started to drop folk.
Bit of a sprint in and I did about as well as I could expect on that - one guy went a bit early with an aero and 2 of us tailed him. The other guy caught him on the line but I didn't
... err, except that ZP thinks I beat them both. Why's that ?
(there was a v short drop out on my screen early on; everyone else disappeared and I was a bit further back in the bunch when they reappeared. I wonder if ZP has ignored the 2 seconds of my absence and just taken it off my overall time somehow)
I'm in fr the 10:10am with Blader today. The chances of anything coming from Mars are about the same as me hanging in his group 🙂
Well that went about as I expected. Darn them small inclines
Where did we drop you Weeksy? That had some truly brutal attacks on each lap, i think we dropped Bigfoot on lap 2 when it went a bit crazy for far too long. I was about 3 seconds away from giving up trying to hang on when it just came back together but i was bang on the limit. Last lap was just hanging on from well before the sprint and the last hill required a feather and 550w just to hang on to the back end of the bunch. I was in the bunch sprint at the end but had no sprint left so i ended up about 2s behind overall winner i think,havent checked yet.
Looks like the results are messed up as it has me as a non finisher!
Tired legs for the 3 lap hilly, not quite quick enough to hang on up the hill out of the tunnel. Came 4th in the WBR race that finished 15 minutes before the hilly. Good to see some familiar names in the race.
I went on the slightly steeper incline before the village, I stopped and looked at 50w for a minute, then saw 2 C's had been dropped and were only 19s ahead and pushing 2.5, so caught them in the roller coaster, then it was just me and 1 C and tbh I didn't have the spirit for it.
Weeksy, Did you finish the race as it also has you as a non finisher?
Bigfoot, that race was far too fast for a second race of the day, well done you though that was some effort.
No Blader, it was my birthday today and family day out so I decided not to kill myself for a fairly irrelevant final position and bailed on lap2. My legs are glad and I'm not groaning now when getting ready to go out tonight.
Happy Birthday fella, have a great night out. Here are some flowers and birthday cake 💐🎂
rode outdoors today, which was a novelty, 2 laps of pines, both sub 40, and about 90 seconds of my best from about 4 years ago, happy with the progress over the last month
however, everything is a smashfest and not sustainable, not got the time really for any long rides, apart from making time, whats the best option here?
Depends on your aims.
Being strong for Spring is a normal aim for racing or just enjoying daylight and warmer days.
Sweetspot sessions of an hour to hour and a half.
Not looked at the Zwift FTP builders for a while as I use Trainerroad for that but pick and FTP builder should help you.
4 hilly circuit laps - I'm shagged
I'm not that heavy (78 currently) but I climb, comparatively, like a housebrick. Think I need to commit more but the gamble is I totally destroy myself; was bloody close to that on laps 3 and 4.
Well winters here so I’ll be back on the zwift 🙂
I actually went to a zwift/Wahoo evening do in Bristol a few weeks ago and had many a free beer and pizza and got some nice water bottles as well.
if they’re visiting your neck of the woods well worth going.
Jungle loop race today after logging in too late for a STW battle
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=97158
Cracking race, lots of climbing for me but hung in somehow in a group of 11-12 of us on the long incline of the jungle section. Managed to use my aero on the bridge to keep me in the group and recovered on the descent.
Flat section was ok and nearly lost it on the snakey bit up towards volcano flat.
On the 2 kickers leaving volcano I was fine, then hung in up the last bit to Watopia flat. Down to the line one guy blew us away but I sat in, 275 to go I hit the pedals getting a half decent 600w, which got me 5th in group and 55th out of about 145 starters. Dead now
Good work Weeksy.
I did the Jungle circuit yesterday (3 laps). Burned 9/10ths of my matches to stay with a group on the climb up to the circuit and held on until 2 miles from the end but then got dropped. It doesn't always work but I think it is worth putting in a big effort early on with the aim of staying with one of the front groups.
I agree 100% on flat circuits, not the case on hilly ones for big blokes though.
Nah - It's just the same for the hilly circuits. Jungle circuit is a classic - if I can stay with a bunch up that first hilly climb, over the bridge and up to the circuit itself then chances are I'll be fine for a lap or two..................................... and I'm a couple of pounds/stones over my ideal weight.
Did the Danish Bike Riders race today, up the KOM climb and finish up the Alpe. Not enough of a warm up for it, and in a freezing garage, and couldn't stay with the leaders at the top of the KOM hill. Rode with the next group until the foot of the Alpe and then it was just a TT to the summit. Caught some of the lead group, eventually finishing 10th out over 200 starters.
Nice work indeed.
WBR 3 laps of the ‘flat’ course yesterday. First zwift ride after two weeks knocked out with person-flu. Hung on to finish 60/110 or thereabouts (thanks weeksy for the ride-on), but would’ve gladly climbed off after one lap, had it not been for the fact I knew I had to get back into the regime again and shake off the feeling of post-illness lethargy.