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The addition of the 😆 makes this group ride sound somewhat ominous.
Is that on the calendar?
As I've said before, I see Zwift as a place as much as a thing. A place to ride, a place to race, a place to train, a place to chat to folks.
Even now I'm using Trainerroad, I do the workouts on Zwift so I've 'been' somewhere 😆
I still ride road and trails. But it's a lot easier to find 45min to Zwift than 3 hours to ride out.
I did 6 hours out yesterday and potentially a few hours today too, but it's quite rare I have this much time free.
AHH, mobile link app found.
and done.
The last 2km was a race to the finish for those interested, I was because I'm a child 😆
Stopka went off the front with about 10km to go...
The rest of the group stayed together for 97/99km, couple of folks dropped off the back and a one point I was 90s from the group trying to get them back on until they said they couldn't cycle at pace any further. Fair play for them carrying on though!
https://zwiftpower.com/race.php?id=13001
Nice Nath, no idea how you stay focussed for so long on the trainer. I did 50km while watching Better Call Saul and I was already losing my mind a bit. Good work!
Double post 😯
I do most of it before I’ve even woke up:
Literally get out of bed, missus hands me a pint of black coffee and before I know it I’m on the turbo - the rest of the time is music (fleetwood mac radio) and sweeping people back into the main group (so it’s a good workout for me). Only really start to notice the miles when I hit the wall around 75% in, then it’s a louzy 3-5 mins before I’m full of energy again. 😆
I hit the wall around 75% in, then it’s a [b]louzy 3-5 mins[/b] before I’m full of energy again
You can really go off some people 😐
First group ride today with a wee jaunt up box hill to take my initial week up to 100km.
Roughly 100km more than either of the past two weeks.
No racing for a while yet!
CH says I should be more arrogant, see what it does 😆
Nice work piemonster!
it’s a louzy 3-5 mins before I’m full of energy again.
See, I'm the exact opposite, I'll feel great for a random 3-5 mins, then feel shocking for the rest of the ride.
Nice work piemonster!
It was a solid hanging off the back of the Cat D pack pace effort! 😀
Actually, I’m less fussed about the fact I’m unfit. More fussed about how psychologically easy it was to ride 50km today on a turbo.
I’ll be glad when the electric fan arrives and I need sort some music out.
Since I've been doing the races, both zwift and real life enduros, I've been getting cramp in my hamstrings in the evening. I use the zero hydration tablets in the drinks when riding and it's not something I've generally had a problem with before now. Any tips on how to avoid it as it's making me weep like a baby in front of my children.
Are you stretching after riding? I was shown one by a bike fitter where you put one foot on about the 3rd step of your stairs, one on the floor, raised leg bent as if you are trying to leap up the stairs 3 at a time. Then lean forward and hug the raised leg. Then straighten raised leg while still hugging to get the stretch.
Other hamstring stretches are available.
No, I never stretch after riding 😳
Will give it a whirl. Thanks.
Another good hamstring stretch and one you can do in front of the telly, is to put your leg up on the arm of your sofa and pull that leg's hip back all the while keeping your back straight.
Well my planned real world ride today on the only decent weather day this week has been well and truly scuppered. Child no 3 decided to try and stand on a football but the football thought otherwise and threw her off and broke her arm! 6 hours in A&E last night so keeping her at home with me today, it seems a full time career as a zwift domestique is my destiny. I wonder if i could make a living from being a pacesetter in zwift for people get themselves PB’s and jerseys.
eeeeek. Poor lad... I'm still astounded we've made it to nearly 10 years old without A&E for my lad.
GWS little lass.
I am afraid its in their genetics as i have had many broken bones. Child no 2 only came out of pot last week after breaking his little finger in a door! They are twins aged 4 so i guess it could be a twin thing. They started school in september and i reckon the teacher is going to get quite bored of having to sort my kids out on the toilet.
i think a WBR race is going to get my attention today, may be a strong ride filled with missed outside riding opportunity might create a fast one.
I'm still debating plans.
Theres a KISS 2nd base which is not only a shortish race, but in theory no Bs dragging some people along as it's C/D cats only. It's on a flat course too.... but... My legs are knackered after a tough ride on Sat/Sun, even though Sat was a gentle pace for me, it was still 70km off-road, Sunday was shorter, but pushed hard on a few segments, which sadly only resulted in a couple of PRs outdoors, i wanted more !.
So with that in mind, plus the fact it's day1 of fasting on the 5-2.. Well... Hmmmmm
Interesting riding this morning, was in the EVR race sat nicely in 3rd for cat B and just warming up to a fast pace at 9km in when i had a puncture! So i abandoned that race and went for the WBR an hour or so later. It was a fast pace or felt like it and i was in the leading group of 4 cat B for pretty much the whole way round. So it boiled down to a sprint after we all tried to jump each other on hills leading up to the finish. I went for it with 300m to go and managed to dip in front of someone on the line for GOLD. it was very satisfying to win a bunch sprint and it turns out my time was nearly 2 minutes quicker than the B winner in the abandond evr race earlier so alls well that ends well.
Damn fella... time for an upgrade to the big boys ?
I cant see that happening weeksy, i think anger and frustration fuelled the ride today as i still hadnt eaten anything due to abandoned ever race (possibly the wonders of last nights late chinese takeaway still coursing through my body).
Had to bail on diet day, I was sitting there almost falling asleep at 4pm and got up, nearly fell over as I was feeling dizzy! Did it again 10 min later. I took it as a sign to eat stuff,!
Blader, your race reflects what Weeksy did the other day when he bailed on a race and then went and smashed an outdoor ride afterwards. I wonder if it's a sign 'we' don't warm up thoroughly enough??
Reason I say that is that I've noticed it in my TR interval sessions. They all have a block of around 90% of the first hard work effort during the warm up. And they always feel impossibly hard!
Then you spin lightly for five minutes and BOOM! The first work effort feels easier despite being 10% or more difficult!
I've always shied away from intense warm ups for fear of burning a match but perhaps that's the wrong philosophy?
Well, I had an pleasant surprise tonight.
Firstly, I rage quit on a SZR SUB2.5 group ride. I got dropped after 1 lap and could barely turn out 130w on the flat without busting a bollock out of my forehead. I sacked it off after 20km and slumped on the futon. Then I had a thought.....
Set turbo back up and tried to calibrate it.....fail. Update firmware, recalibrate.......fail. Back off the pressure significantly......top end of the tightness scale. Spend 5 minutes getting it right and in the sweet spot.
I hopped back on and did a lap of the hilly loop. 😈 POWWWWWEEEEER! Muahahaha, I felt like a rocketship! Where I'd barely been able to put out 2w/kg before, I was now easily hitting 3! Over the last couple of weeks all my rides have been averaging about 140w, which wouldn't be a problem, but I'm able to beat my PB on local trails, so why not here. On the 12km loop I was averaging about 230w! Nearly 100w for free.
So from now on I think I need to invest a bit of time doing the calibration after a warm up. This is probably Zwift 101, but thinking about it, I don't think I've calibrated it at all this winter 🙄
There must be science behind the intense warmups before the FTP tests on Zwift?
At the moment I’ll be using my commute home as a warmup and then jumping straight onto the trainer - hopefully for 30s leg spin to get the blood flowing a bit before all hell breaks lose. 😆
Yes Nath, the reason they have those (and Trainerroad do too) is to dent your anaerobic stash and help stop you over-inflating your figure. That's why a surge at the end is a bad sign.
Firstly, I rage quit on a SZR SUB2.5 group ride.
Bit late, but *waves* as I was in the that group ride.
Is the calibration issues you’ve been having specific to wheel on? Is direct drive a much simpler affair? I’ve nothing to compare only having used direct drive. Pretty sure I just paired stuff and started pedalling.
Quite enjoyed this evening, I don’t think the ride leader turned up so ended up hooking into a group and working with them until the end. I’ve now got more Zwift miles in the last 4 days than I’ve had outdoors in the last two months. So this really rather expensive gamble does look like it’ll pay off.
I think it must be a wheel on issue, the pressure of the roller against to tyre. I had it waaaaaay too tight, must have been introducing pretty significant mechanical friction. Oops.
Well hopefully now I know I won't get dropped in the fist 20s, I might get back to some racing.
Oh my word ! Was that a battle in C
Big group..... 1 lap in with 15 of us, including 2 STWers, and we're flying along, 3-4 riders split and we spent 1/2 a lap closing them, i was happy that i managed to do a decent bridging of the gap to close them, then with 2km to go, 3 split again and up the last little kick we started fracturing, i'd used my Aero earlier to close the gap on the 3, so i was running purely on my legs and the draft. But was going OK... .we caught them on the run down to the line and it was Sagan central, all trying to sprint, funnily though i think we were all dying as no one was out of the saddle. It was a 12 man sprint sort of... I think i finished nearer 12th than 1st in the the sprint, and i think an STWer beat me in a photo finish as i died and eased with 50m.
Damn fun and hard efforts though !
Sorry Weeksy, I was all ready to give you a lead out in the final sprint but my daughter turned up at the door of the man cave in tears saying she was about to be sick.....
These are words you do not want to hear from a seven year old when you're in charge for the evening!
Dropped into the Academy C/D race but didn't have the legs to get into the lead group so finished mid pack.
Awww man, that's a shame. Hugs
Did the Academy race tonight. Not done it before and 8:30 works better as I'm always rushing for the 8pm races after sorting the kids! Didn't expect to do well having not ridden much lately and put on a few lb! Started in D, got a flier start and then settled in. Caught a few groups and had a decent race. Ended up 2.8 w/kg so did much better than expected. Felt good. Was nice to be in a bigger field again. Also first race since the upgrade. That little map with the dots is great!
Did a time trial earlier - for me they're a better way of finding out approximately what my threshold is. Lot less boring than a FTP session
Good news is that FTP rocketed up by I think 1watt 😆
Sounds like it was a good evenings racing had by all and the bigger fields do seem to certainly help.
Scaredypants, it might be only 1 watt but i bet you had to work bloody hard to gain it.
Good work all. I wanted to get on last night, but my eldest missed her bus which meant Dad taxis was despatched. Probably just as well as my legs were still quite sore from Saturday morning's zwift race and a pretty tough ride in the woods on Sunday.
I think it's likely I'll be out on the mtb this afternoon after work rather than zwift as the weather looks decent.
weeksy - Member
https://www.zwiftpower.com/race.php?id=13020
That race you did was 100km, but you've all finished in around 40mins?!
Is the distance wrong or are you only timed for the last 20km or something?
Distance was incorrect there... Was 28km or so i think.
I couldn't have done that much more at that speed, let alone another 70km LOL.
Must admit i am wondering how much the 29er is affecting my speed now, i THINK i'm getting pretty close to my best, but i don't enjoy the Isaac road bike to ride, despite it feeling (and if i recall correctly, actually BEING, a fair bit quicker) quicker and ewasier to pedal, it also gave me some knee issues which may have been pedal related, may have been bike related. But i'm sticking with the 29er on the turbo instead of the Isaac.
I may even have to ask my old neighbour what to do with the Isaac as he left it with me when he moved to Canada few months back as a gift, but i just can't see me using it at all.
You could always set the seat/bars etc to the 29ers dimensions and see if you get on better with it?
I bet your cadence is changing between the two as you’re more likely to be grinding on the road bike?
It seems on the road bike i can power harder and a little bit lower in cadence yeah, but that could be slightly clouded by my fitness which hasn't been back to my best after holiday. But when i was regularly swapping between the 2 bikes, the Isaac seemed to regularly end up 10w higher for a Zwift race. To be honest i don't mind only having the 29er, it's my go-to bike for 90% of my riding anyway, so makes just as much sense to use it.
The thoughts of ever going racing again seems to me like a long distant dream, especially seeing CHs efforts and time lately, so there's no real reason to ride/train on the Roadie.
I had a 29er on the turbo until I found a cheapo 2nd boardman road bike on the local classifieds ads. The 29er was a lot more comfortable but the biggest ring I could get for it was a 48t, where the road bike has a 52 or 53. I can certainly crank along better now and go faster on the sprints, but it is quite uncomfortable. I think more of my (considerable) weight is over the front so my arms are taking the strain, and my hands start going numb after around 20mins. I angled the bars up a bit and that has helped a bit but still get it just takes around 10 mins longer to kick in.
I guess the extra speed is worth it 🙂
In a gearing context i just find myself lower down the cassette, i'm in 9th/10th all the time on the 29er, whereas on the Roadie i was 3-4 gear in on the big ring instead.
As long as i've got gears that suit my cadence, i'm not worried in that context.
My tyre on the 29er is only rated to 80psi so i run it about 75 or so, which could also be a minor factor i guess.
Don't get me wrong, i'm not blaming the 29er for my performances, most of them lately have been in my head rather than the bike.
Although i did pull back 14 points on Zwiftrankings for yesterdays ride.