Forum menu
Just been out on the 29er on the lanes for an hour, was disappointed in myself for bailing this morning, so a serviing of punishment was in order !
Weird thing this cycling lark... I had no legs this morning. Then i've just taken 40s off my PR on a 4min hill climb out of the village and 1min off the time to the end of the longer 7 min segment. The PR time before was set on the carbon Isaac too ! But i've just trounced it !
you, my old son, are bonkers !
Then i've just taken 40s off my PR on a 4min hill climb out of the village and 1min off the time to the end of the longer 7 min segment. The PR time before was set on the carbon Isaac too ! But i've just trounced it !
For the past few rides I've been recording on my route on iPhone SE via Strava, Garmin Forerunner on my wrist and a Garmin Edge 800 on the handle bars. (3 devices per ride)
Each can record wildly different times on the same segment. I now no longer really put any store on anything Strava says... it's just a guide..
scaredypants - Member
you, my old son, are bonkers !
I was honestly very angry/frustrated/disappointed in myself for not having it this morning. So i had a choice of a blast on the KTM or an hour on the pedals before collecting my lad after his rugby session. So thought "sod it, i'm going to vent the frustrations"...
I've got tomorrow off cycling as i'm doing motorbike stuff instead and have hopefully a long ride on Friday planned.
Time for my own disaster write up.
Fourth day of racing in a row and my legs felt tired just setting the bike up so 42km of watopia flat was going to be hard,even harder when there were only 4 of us in cat B! I was with the lead group of A&B riders but i was dropped after only 8km after i misjudged the climb and my legs just went pop. Thought about bailing as i had no heart or fight for a solo 32km but i stuck with it and kept up a reasonable pace but i was constantly fighting lactic build up even in an easy gear. What then confused me was i was 2nd in my group a long way behind the leader then all of a sudden with about 7km to go 2 riders caught me up who had the WBR tag but nothing showing on my list so i just assumed they were randoms. I tagged along and decided to lead them on and then in the last 1.5km they both shot off like stabbed rats so i let them go thinking nothing of it. It turns out they were fast cat C riders and i had led them to silver and bronze in cat b as they were upgraded leaving me resigned to 4th! School boy error but in all honesty my legs were shot so i think a few days off is in order,4 days of fasted racing is probably my limit. Each day has seen my stats lower which proves my legs are tired plus it shouldnt be so bloody hard to go slower!
yeah, I've had similar but the reverse - was dropped by the front pack but had a guy with me who was almost forcing me to draft him & do some through&off (your honour!). He was strong, too.nothing showing on my list
Felt like I was cheating so I let him go. He turned out to be a cat A rider and just maybe we could've got back in if we'd worked at it properly
Thats the one thing about only seeing your cat in the list now you just have no idea where or who anyone else is on the road.
blader1611 - Member
Thats the one thing about only seeing your cat in the list now you just have no idea where or who anyone else is on the road.
I guess the argument is that it doesn't actually matter... Which is fine if you auto DQ everyone outside the limits, but if you auto upgrade as per that race, then you REALLY want to know who's around you.
I think that they should set up something like flashing rear lights for active racers and in different colours for the various cats (although maybe you can only see other racers anyway now ?? Regardless, coloured lights or some other visual clue on the rider would be good IMO)
the 8 o'clock show has turned into 7 flat laps now (I'm certain it was 4xhilly earlier) ?? 😯
It was always showing as 7laps CCW on the app I think.
I'm torn. Not feeling great either way but the trouble with a 40minute race is that I won't hit my TSS which means I'll end up having to do extra Z2 afterwards.
At least if I just do the 90minute interval session, I'll be done by 20:30.
you can wait for me after the race and tow me round a couple of extra laps, if that helps 🙂
Hardly!!!! 😀
Sorry folks I’m doing the WBR race at 7:20pm - 8pm is just too late for me...
Currently I’m the only person in my Cat lol
Lol its your event at 8pm! You can't bail on them all. They've all been waiting !
😥
Nathb i bet you finish second then!
Haha I set it up on requests on here 😆
Done first race.
Zwift - XRS - ZTR Thursday Night Race, 4 laps hilly. Entered cat B.
Shot off the line with the A's, and about 10 other Bs. Dropped back about 10 mins in with a couple of other and got caught by a few more B's. Two and a half laps in my internet dropped, and by the time it came back I was a minute behind the group I'd been in, but a couple of minutes ahead of the next group of Bs.
Held them off til the end, I think I was about 10/25 in B. Zwift said I was 30th overall.
Sweaty.
EDIT 12th in Bs on Zwift Power at the moment.
Another powerhouse for Bs then once you sort your internet issues
Even your skinny little Avatar looks arrogant Nath 😆
Only joking, that's awesome! Well done mate 😀
Haha you know me, I don't do arrogant - I was provoked 😛
Not going to lie there was some team tactics at play, but the last 4/5 km I was chugging us along to get away from the other A rider.
Cheers for the advice on the settings, felt much better all the way around.
LOL - just finished the 8pm race. Remember that, nath ? 😀
Leeroy was there, riding really strongly up the front. He says he got dropped but I wonder if he's had a wifi failure - every time I was struggling he was strolling along in the front 10 or so
Again, I didn't even see the split in our lead B group - wonder if some of them caught onto the draft of the lead A riders. If they did, fair play, two guys came through like a bloody express train at one point 😯
It was a quick one; my best 7 laps ever of the volcano were all from tonight! Watts. Everywhere.
I'm getting these subtle hints 🙂
Nice ride!!
Is there any races on tomorrow night....??...my man flu has gone...yay!!
Scaredy it was on lap 6, a small gap appeared and I couldn't close it I could see you pulling away!
My legs are in bits from riding everyday since Saturday that's my excuse
Good going mate
All went to shit about then didn't it? 😀 I think that was about the time we "lost" a bunch off the front; I suppose that surge was us trying to keep up
Were you still on when the A team came past?
(great ride on a flat course at your size, dropped or not - wouldn't like to try to hold your wheel in a hilly race)
That FTP test was a wake up call 😐
The ftp test is brutal, i may have to do another one soon but i am more than happy to delay it. How did you do piemonster?
Did the WBR 4 laps flat at 9:05 this morning as a cat C. It was a bit longer than I’d done before so didn’t really know how I’d get on. Held on in the main group for 2.5 laps then just couldn’t stay with the group up the little climbs after the sprint. Within the blink of an eye they were gone and before I knew it were around 30secs ahead. I spent the next 8km sticking around 270w but they were still pulling away. Caught up with a cat D rider and we rode together until the sprint where I went for as I knew he’d be upgraded and thought my only chance would be to drop him on the flat. I got a bit of a gap before the climbs but on the second one he flew past me and I was spent and couldn’t stay with him.
Properly ruined after that. 42km at what felt like my max and finished 8th out of 16 in Cat C. Roll on the next one 🙂
I was also in the 9.05 race, seemed quite easy until I got dropped on the little climb with just a couple of km to go. Finished tired and last of the A's. Not my best finish, not my best week with a few disruptions and travelling. I was the oldest in the race, and I wish there were master's races at the weekend. The points from this and my other race this week have put me back in cat 1 again, now I need to maintain my position there.
I did 70km of trails and byways today with a mate instead of Zwifting. Was a nice pace for me and I felt great all day.
How did you do piemonster?
Badly 🙁
To be expected considering how little riding has happened these last 3 months.
See y’all at 8:30am 😆
I'm conflicted:
I've got a cold, so probably not
The outlaws are here for the weekend, so probably
Well after a really good three laps yesterday around the watopia hilly route, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to do the three sisters today.
Now I have only done the mountain route once which was brutal, I'd only been on zwift a week and I am not a cyclist, but I figured 5 weeks in how bad can it be?
Bad.
I should have known I was in for a long ride when I went over the hilly Kom only a few seconds outside my pb. Laboured my way up the mountain with hardly anyone else around apart from one bloke who flew past me. Probably because so few people wish to flog themselves I managed the 5th fastest time to the epic Kom.
The radio tower just painful but the downhill was great respite. I got to the volcano Kom and one calf muscle seized. Managed to get over it and the other one seized. Got to the finish and of course thought "well I've done 48k so why not just round it up to 50k".
Managed that and both calves seized as I got off the bike. It was the longest I'd ever been on the trainer at 1hour 47min. I have no idea how people manage 100k plus.
Interestingly zwift upped my ftp which I assume was all the hill climbing putting me over my average for long periods of time. I am getting perilously close to B grade level but don't want to go up as I will get smashed.
Now Im not trolling as I've joined Zwift and picking up a smart turbo tomorrow. That said reading the last few pages it seems a lot of you dont actually ride real bikes anymore and are talking some secret language. Please tell me Im wrong .?
course we ride real bikes
just in our garages 😆
Personally I mountain bike on the weekends.
Zwift has let me ride during the week without worrying about the weather, if it's dark, freezing etc. It also takes less time to do as you don't have to wipe your bike down afterwards etc. I find it is also easier to fit into a busy work week and as I use exercise to simply make me feel good, it works for me.
...........
I’m similar to jk. I still ride my mtb 2-3 times a week. I just aim to fit 2 or 3 zwift races in as and when I can.
For example, Saturday morning, the kids were busy doing their thing and I had 1.5 hours before I had to take them and the mrs for flu jabs, then pop over to my parents and then pick up the shopping. That window coincided with enough time to do the 42km WBR 9.05 race. Did that, showered and was ready in plenty of time (even if the legs were a bit wobbly). Today I’ll be riding in the mud with my mates for a few hours.
There’s no doubt that using zwift has made me a lot quicker in the real world and for me that’s exactly what I want from it.
I do like riding real bikes but here in Leeds we have had nothing less than 20mph winds for a week except friday when four days of racing meant i didnt want to go anywhere near a bike. Plus the only trails for me to do locally are swamped and no fun at all plus those pesky kids of mine keep demanding my time. My future lies with zwift but my crystal ball tells me there might be a monday road bike outing as the wind might not be too bad (still 10mph).
That said reading the last few pages it seems a lot of you dont actually ride real bikes anymore and are talking some secret language. Please tell me Im wrong .?
I'm time poor at the minute, so a real bike ride is a rare thing. And waiting for opportunities with no biking in-between has a price in the form of new trousers with a larger waist. If it wasn't for a couple OF Zwift sessions this week I'd be looking at 1 ride in 3 weeks. Things are starting to ease up on that front but it'll be at least another year before regular outdoor rides are normal again.
As for secret languages, yes, that appears to be correct.
Commute on London’s roads Monday to Friday (weather permitting) I’ve lost the confidence to do long weekend cycles at the moment for two reasons;
A) someone used their car as a weapon against me last time.
B) I’m moving to a LCHF diet/nutrition - really don’t want to bonk 25+ miles from home.
Stats wise I’ve done 3,917 out of 6,250 miles outside so far this year.
Group ride in 20 folks 😆