Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

The speed sensor doesn't learn anything, it just counts/transmits how often the magnet passes by. The garmin head unit calculates a wheel size from this by comparing it to gps data, zwift (as above) calculates it from what it expects to be the diameter of a 700c 23mm tyre.

Okies, well that rules out the sensor thinking the wheel is a different size.

Think I'll have a play and make sure its all lined up correctly as looks like the wrong spacing between the Sensor and the magnet can give rogue readings, although last nights performance seemed to be a constant output rather than spikes.

crosshair
Ahem. I'm not EXPECTING to be dropped out of the pack thanks I'm expecting to ride off the front after lap three and lap everyone!!!!!

I'll keep an eye out! 8)

I need to man up and join you...

In terms of zwift I'm pretty much set to join the KISS race tonight, anyone joining?

Maybe you're just really fast Harry.

As a point of refrence I'm a middle age middle weight bloke but did a load of miles last year and frequently had 50 plus miles ride at or just above 20mph average and managed the PRL in 5h 11m (I was hoping for sub 5h).

I'm usually low cat c 2.6/7 w/kg which I think is about correct.

My PRL time was 5h13 and I was about 2.7 then so that's a good reference I think 🙂

Well p%*{*} off. At 7:50 I plugged my turbo trainer into the wall in the garage and somehow it blew the fuse in the routers wall socket on the other side of the wall. By the time I'd found an extension cord and the router had booted up I'd missed the start by 2 mins. Was really looking forward it too!!!! Next time I'm giving myself 20 mins+ to get ready.

I'll keep an eye out!

I need to man up and join you...

😉 I'll probably be the rolling roadblock being asked to leave the track but am ignorant enough to hope not 😀

I start races an hour before. Just in case there's a Zwift update or Windows goes haywire. Then I double check my name tag on the app before logging in and warm up for 30 mins. I join the race as soon as it's offered to secure a front row spot and then faff around with water, fan speed and winding mates up on group chat. With ten to go I either set Nathan Guerra's Beam feed going or my race playlist on iTunes or occasionally Discord for team chat.
Then it's another quick spin of the legs. With one min to go, I try and hit race pace then with ten seconds left, ramp up to a full on sprint so I'm at 700-900w when the race starts.

Well that seems to have sorted it......

Had a play with the resistance, gave it a few cycles, tightened the roller, lined up the magnet correctly and tight to the sensor arm.

Noticed the difference as soon as I started and fell off the back of the KISS (D) ride tonight when last night I was in the front from the start.

Tried to get back up the start and blew up, best 60 seconds was the more realistic 235w (<2.9 w/kg) rather than nearly 400 (5w/kg) yesterday.

Certainly closer to the mark!

crosshair -
I'll probably be the rolling roadblock being asked to leave the track but am ignorant enough to hope not

Haha you'll be fine!

I start races an hour before. Just in case there's a Zwift update or Windows goes haywire. Then I double check my name tag on the app before logging in and warm up for 30 mins. I join the race as soon as it's offered to secure a front row spot and then faff around with water, fan speed and winding mates up on group chat. With ten to go I either set Nathan Guerra's Beam feed going or my race playlist on iTunes or occasionally Discord for team chat.
Then it's another quick spin of the legs. With one min to go, I try and hit race pace then with ten seconds left, ramp up to a full on sprint so I'm at 700-900w when the race starts.

Okay lesson learned! I'll try again tomorrow night for the KISS TT event.
I did an angry 15 miler 😛

I'm at 700-900w when the race starts

crosshair - Member
I start races an hour before. Just in case there's a Zwift update or Windows goes haywire. Then I double check my name tag on the app before logging in and warm up for 30 mins. I join the race as soon as it's offered to secure a front row spot and then faff around with water, fan speed and winding mates up on group chat. With ten to go I either set Nathan Guerra's Beam feed going or my race playlist on iTunes or occasionally Discord for team chat.
Then it's another quick spin of the legs. With one min to go, I try and hit race pace then with ten seconds left, ramp up to a full on sprint so I'm at 700-900w when the race starts.

That's almost exactly what I do other than with about 10 seconds to go I start wondering if my other headphones might be better, with 5 seconds to go I decide to change... then I miss the start and the 900watt sprint is to try and catch the 2nd to last rider. 🙁

Does anyone have some sort of cheap out front mount for an iphone that doesn't need a case that is meant to be permanent.

scaredypants -
I'm at 700-900w when the race starts
what, really or are you taking the piss ? That'd be a full-on sprint for me and even then 900 isn't coming to a screen near me any time soon. No way I could finish a ride that started like that. What category are you ?

I don't think there is any resistance until the countdown hits 0?
Have a look at your best 5 seconds, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised.

My best 5s ever is 570w.... i can't sprint... either i can't or my turbo doesn't suit sprinting, either way, 570w is as good as it gets for me.

I don't think there is any resistance until the countdown hits 0?
Have a look at your best 5 seconds, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised.

No not taking the piss.

From last week's Friday Criterium measured with a Stages:

[img] https://flic.kr/p/Nvgq8v [/img]

I'm a C 🙂

(Edit- pic to follow! What's happened to photobucket!!!!)

What's happened to photobucket

It's tuned into a bloody slow advert ridden spunkfest of nightmare proportions... Takes forever these days to do anything useful !

I tried on my 34" jeans last night, they're my incentive jeans and my target... They also showed i've got a fair bit to go yet. I don't think even at my best ever recent weight they were particularly a decent fit on the waitline, but then again, they were an incentive back then too.. I rekon i'm about 1" from getting on without holding my breath and 2" from actually fitting.

My longer term weight goal is 14st 0, where i think they'll fit perfectly... but that goal i think will be pretty hard to reach.

However, if i can actually maintain my power, my speed/performance will be brilliant with that weight !

Grrr. Ran out of editing time.

[img] [/img]

Your sprinting power will be much higher with a real PM than with virtual power. Virtual power is just based on steady state wheel speed and doesn't take into account the power you're putting down to accelerate.

Before the power spikes problem started with it I could get in the same ballpark with the Snap but as you say, it took a few seconds to respond. I used to start sprinting with 15seconds to go and then die 100m after the start line 😀

This 8pm TT should be interesting for me then... Watopia flat.. So suiting me about as well as it can.

Being only a 10 miler i should be done in <30 mins i guess. So i'm going to attempt to sit at 2.8/2.9w/kg for the race distance and just bury myself.

Weeksy- good luck on your goal. I'm still not down to 14stone lol.
I do think you will struggle to maintain your power alongside such extreme weight loss though- I think just being fat(ter) puts down free watts. (And I say that based on my own descent from 15st7 this year)

I know you are excited to have access to power and w/kg and all the other data but you should chill a little and work on all aspects of your fitness. Your turbo makes it hard to vary pace I know but if you ride at a steady output all the time, then you won't develop the short duration power for blipping up small climbs etc.

Train your weaknesses- race your (turbo's) strengths 😉

@crosshair according to Zwift/Tacx Vortex (I don't have a fancy power meter) my 5s is 1217w and I'm apparently an A (still not convinced this is correct).

Tonight, if all goes well, I'm planning on sitting at 90% which will hopefully leave me enough juice for a sprint finish. 😆

I know you are excited to have access to power and w/kg and all the other data but you should chill a little and work on all aspects of your fitness. Your turbo makes it hard to vary pace I know but if you ride at a steady output all the time, then you won't develop the short duration power for blipping up small climbs etc.

Train your weaknesses- race your (turbo's) strengths

The thing is, i do that. Just not indoors in Zwift land. I do that outside. Outside is where my true variable resistance and power surge rides come into effect, where i get the up/down spikes in HR and effort.

You're correct though in the context of Zwift land that i very rarely do th altering of power and it's something i should work on.

As to maintaining power, this riding never really set out in that context anyway, it started off as a journey for dropping the weight, not actually for making some sort of cat rider... Although the side benefits of it are that of course as i get lighter and train more, i am of course getting fitter and faster within there. But if i drop 10% of power, that's fine, i can live with that. As long as by June i can be at or around 14st 0, then i'm all good with it.

NathB KISS TT is that? It's on the TT bike (you have to select it pre race) so no drafting of course. My biggest tip would be to NOT pace it like a real TT. Watopia flat has those few little kickers that really pay back a hard effort so save a little all the way and then attack the ramps like your life depends on it.
My FTHR is 177bpm but I generally ride Zwift TT's at 165ish on the flats in order to hit 190bpm up the few small climbs then recover on the next flat.
(But then I'm 90kg so a steadier effort may suit you better?)

The joy of being young eh CH !

It depends Weeksy what percentage of your mileage is outside. If 6 out of 7 weekly hours are spent at one rpm and one power output, it will affect your outdoor riding too.

I think you should ask Father Xmas for a Smart trainer 😉 😀

Um- no! I get trounced by more 40 somethings than 30 something's when I go racing 😀

[quote=MSP ]Does anyone have some sort of cheap out front mount for an iphone that doesn't need a case that is meant to be permanent.

i glued a garmin fitting onto the back of an iphone case.

I think you should ask Father Xmas for a Smart trainer

I think the 1098S trumps the smart trainer mate. I don't ask the wife for anything more than £50, so that's not going to be getting me a smart trainer by any stretch of the imagination.

I could of course buy the cheap Tacx from Halfords, but TBH at the moment with needing some bits for the Ducati, i really ought not to.

At the moment i'm going 5 out of 7.5 indoors, the other 2.5 is outdoors.

I know it comes over as completely single power/consistency, but of course it's not exactly, yesterdays race i had times at 300w when feeling good, 200w when feeling bad and struggling... so it's up and down, but not in the same extent as an outdoors blast of course.

crosshair
NathB KISS TT is that? It's on the TT bike (you have to select it pre race) so no drafting of course. My biggest tip would be to NOT pace it like a real TT. Watopia flat has those few little kickers that really pay back a hard effort so save a little all the way and then attack the ramps like your life depends on it.
My FTHR is 177bpm but I generally ride Zwift TT's at 165ish on the flats in order to hit 190bpm up the few small climbs then recover on the next flat.
(But then I'm 90kg so a steadier effort may suit you better?)

Yeah the KISS TT, ah good shout about the TT bike!

Thanks, to get the FTHR is it FTP HR x.95? So mine would be 184x.95? [url= ](From the FTP test)[/url] I'm 70kg at the moment, used to be 95kg then went too extreme at 65kg and then food happened ha. 😆 *

[i]*Apologies if it comes across as a humble brag, it's just the first time I've had these kind of numbers to look at.[/i]

No I think 20minute FTP test HR = FTHR

... middle weight bloke ... frequently had 50 plus miles ride at or just above 20mph average ....
I'm usually low cat c 2.6/7 w/kg which I think is about correct.

There's some element of that that totally doesn't compute.
An average size bloke will need to put out near enough 200W to maintain 20mph on the flat, so some part of middle weight or a 2.6W FTP is quite badly out.

Thanks, to get the FTHR is it FTP HR x.95? So mine would be 184x.95?

Meh, who needs to spend £200 on a Wahoo station when you can knock one up out of a few cut-offs and half a dozen screws

[URL= http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/IMG_20161130_124257_zpscrr7m489.jp g" target="_blank">http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/IMG_20161130_124257_zpscrr7m489.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

No I think 20minute FTP test HR = FTHR

I'd say if you take the average of the 10 to 15 minute section you'll be about right.

Meh, who needs to spend £200 on a Wahoo station when you can knock one up out of a few cut-offs and half a dozen screws

🙂 Had something very similar in mind! (That is pretty high up, though probably fairly typical given how people usually sit on the bike while on the turbo. Something to keep in mind when considering specificity of training.)

You'll need to be clearer in your challenge caller but I think you may be calling me fat and in comparison to most cycling types you could be correct 89kg/183cm.

My average power for the 5 hours of PRL was 200, I think we even had a discussion on here about the requirement before that event and concluded it needed to be 210 to go sub 5 hours.

The 2.7 w/kg calculation for zwift will be something like 260w x 0.95 / 89kg which seems to be correct and not at odds with 210 needed for the few hours of a 50 miler?

I'll test it later tonight, but i'm thinking it's not a million miles away. I won't use it for water/drinks/towels etc, that will just go on the workbench next to it, it's purely so i can watch the ride as i'm going without having my head turned half way to the right.

Meh, who needs to spend £200 on a Wahoo station when you can knock one up out of a few cut-offs and half a dozen screws

my laptop sits on top of a toolbox on top of the tumbledryer...

That garage is way too tidy, if I could find a decent photo hosting site I would show what it should look like 🙂

I could have positioned bike so the laptop was on the workbench straight on, but i thought it may be a little far away from the front end as the wheel gets in the way then, using this plan i can get the bars right up to the front if i want to.

That garage is way too tidy, if I could find a decent photo hosting site I would show what it should look like

Well no... as i've been cleaning the Ducati, the polish containers are not aligned, the drill bag wouldn't be there, the GT-85 is not straight and the labels on the grease are incorrectly rotated.

Lastly, the wifes shoes should not be on the open tool box.

You'll need to be clearer in your challenge caller but I think you may be calling me fat and in comparison to most cycling types you could be correct 89kg/183cm.

Lol, no, I wasn't trying to call you fat - I was merely pointing out something of a discrepancy - could have been a faulty FTP test for all I knew.

Anyway, mystery solved at 89kg i'd definitely not describe you as 'middle weight bloke' (which i'd describe as 70-80kg). Clearly being quite tall will make you heavier than average even with an average build.

Well recovered, this is November so bread and potato eating season 😉