Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

well done eemy - not just the win, but getting up in timne for 8am racing 😯

I watched a little bit of your (and Leeroy's) race yesterday nath. Actually looked like the other guy who was away with Tim Cartwright was really comfortable just following all his moves. Didn't see the end but clearly he broke him down eventually (in fact he didn't finish second either and I don't recocgnise anyone in the list as having been him, though not absolutely sure what the name was. Wonder if he DNF'd)

Not me racing yesterday 'Scaredy'. Although I was trying to do 30 races in November and all was going to plan....until yesterday, when I had some beer and crisps instead. Might try and do two races in one day later in the month to catch up.

BOOM ! Good work EEMY !

WKG 3 sisters league race last night.

Strategy of not going out too fast and a freebie bag of Haribo on the epic decent seemed to pay off. 6th!

[img] [/img]

84 mins at race pace.... ouch !

Not me racing yesterday 'Scaredy'

Hmmm, lovely crisps

Well done Eemy,cracking result.

Another gold and silver to tell you about.

Had an interesting race this morning, the WBR 4 lap of watopia flat (its not flat). I was in such a rush to make it i had 33 seconds to change socks and get my shoes and get on the bike. I made it to the bike with 3 seconds to spare and went in to full sprint mode, sadly i still hadnt done my shoes up,aaargh! It took me all the way to the tunnel to buckle them up right and then i had to sort the fan out which was oscillating in the wrong direction. Eventually i felt all sorted and realised i was still in the lead group of mainly A riders and stw Bigfoot. I knew i wouldnt stay with them so thought i would see how long i could domestique for Bigfoot, i was a terrible domestique as i was hanging on for a while. I made it to lap 3 but then dropped off on the flats and very slowly went backwards, meanwhile bigfoot looked like he was still on the pointy end and going very well. I pushed really hard to see if i could finish in under an hour and managed by nearly a minute and bagged cat B SILVER! looking at the results Bigfoot took the win and GOLD, i am sure he will come on here and thank me for my services and what a fine team member i am for sacrificing myself for the cause. Well done bigfoot,great race.

Heheehehee, nice report and cracking result 🙂

well done to you both - I'm sure he couldn't have done it without you, blader

Today, I will mostly be doing
... day 2 of a zwift workout programme

DAMN YOU, CROSSHAIR !! 😆

Yep Crosshair has got me looking at the FTP builder workout or a variation of it. Most of my zwifting once my leg is better will be based around that. I don't know why but I feel like I'm letting Weeksy down by typing that 😀

Was thinking about the difference between cat A and B now i had a taster of life with the A’s. The pace isnt actually much different to the lead B’s but the big difference to me was that it was always a high pace in A. There is no let up where you can rest a bit, you always seem to get a lull in cat B where you can recover but in A its really hard to recover from the big efforts up the hill. I think i could have lasted longer today but the rush to the start and having to do it indoors when it was 21c made it hard to maintain the high tempo. I dont think for one minute i would have lasted to the end but i reckon at least i could have made it to the end of lap 3. Obviously this was only based on todays race, i would guess it could be massively different on any other day.

Aye, I'm "doing" the 4wk one as an experiment; I mean, you can't dismiss it 'til you try it, right?

FWIW day 1 was a doddle; I'm sure it's all part of the science an' that but felt like I could've done it all day

(they "demand" specific outputs at certain revs - I normally hate erg mode but I think I may have to use it next time as I'm forever buggering about withthe gears to get "180W at 85 rpm")

ha ha dont worry about me Muggo, the training thing clearly works.

Just because i dont do it, i dont care what others do. This thread inspires me too, on many levels. Even if you all went training, id still enjoy the updates and improvements 🙂

I'm resting today. 3 hour+ outdoor ride tomorrow so saving some legs for it

blader, I think you're wrong ! 😛

Perhaps you don't see it as you're a strong climber but IME the As (and ded strong Bs, possibly including you) just ride away up the hills. You may be right about them not needing to recover so much afterwards as well but it's those "max" efforts over 5 minutes that defeat me every time

I'm tempted to enter a C sometime at say 80 kg to see how id do if i could drop the weight. I could use my sons login for it to save screwing my own data

Well I have good intentions Weeksy, but the reality might be somewhat different. Hope to do at least one or 2 races per week as opportunity to ride outdoors during the week gets less during the winter months, so I'll be spending more time on Zwift.

I'm tempted to enter a C sometime at say 80 kg to see how id do if i could drop the weight. I could use my sons login for it to save screwing my own data

If you were 80kg at the same ftp though Weeksy- you'd be a B.....

Cheers guys, crosshair what's your name on zwift I'll look out for you

Scaredy , it's true I've joined team btr but I'm still rocking the Stw tag
I guessed I could do with the help

"A.Shutler (TFC) TFC B" mate.

Welcome to BRT leeroybrown - missed the FB announcement it seems! I still have STW in my name on Zwift too!

I think the cats are overexaggerated a bit, maybe built up in peoples heads?

For instance:
-In last nights race coming down the hill towards the start/finish we picked up 4/5 cat C riders and they happily kept up with us right up to the hill. Maybe a flatter route could have seen them stay with us a lot longer?
- I've been in races were there is only 3/4 A's and a lot of B's - we've always struggled to lose all the B's, in fact I've almost lost out to a B cat a couple of times.

Nice to see coach Shutler's words of wisdom are being heard 😆

I don't think the pointy ends of each Cat are exaggerated Nath. I may have been able to hang with the A's on the flat on Tuesday but I wouldn't have stayed with many attacks.

so you join a team and then what - you actually have a tactical plan for the races 'n'shit ?
Do you communicate during races too ?
Do you just ask to join or is there somebody at these teams talent-spotting on zwiftpower/that other site ?

(and no, I ain't getting on no team, fool !)

I'm still wondering if the teams have my correct contact details.

Saddens me I've not been head hunted

I've only done 1 race as a team member and I had no team members with me at the front
So i haven't seen any advantage yet

I think some teams use discord during races

Anyone can join I guess ??
http://www.brteam.co.uk/join

I was only kidding. I wouldn't leave the StW gang!

Innovation seem to be the best team at the moment for pulling off team tactics. I joined TFC after witnessing one of them drop back and tow another member away from me!! About the last time they bothered using tactics sadly 😆

Unless you took it in turns to waste a race for someone, it's hard to do much that amounts to being useful.

Eric Minn (Zwift founder) was on the podcast this week and stated that there has been no change to the draft in over a year. Yet every one of the big hitters and many others besides has noticed the change in the racing so something else they updated has altered it.

Crosshair - what change have they noticed?

I'd say it's the much bigger packs that form now and their relative speeds compared to small groups

Faster bunches with nobody really having to do the necessary wattage. So fifteen guys doing 320w ish will reel in a 550-650w sustained breakaway that would have previously gone well clear.

Personally, I think it's more realistic in a way- breakaways in real life are brutal so outrunning a 27mph bunch should be very tough.

I suppose it might just be coincidence that grops are much bigger now but I think even I've noticed a small change - after losing the front of a race I'm definitely waiting for the next bunch now, rather than going solo TT as that seems not to work for me any more

Tonights thought until the results are up is do people normally switch off the ERG function on smart trainers when racing?
It would probably account for me shooting past at the bottom of the climb and struggling to stay on over the tops. Well account for some of that :0)

Did the ZHR Up and Down Race. 18th out of 31 starters. Solid mid-table obscurity.

Kept with the front group until the start of the epic KOM, then just settled into a rhythm. Overtook a couple, got over taken by one or two. Managed to finish a minute ahead of the next person and 45 seconds behind the one in front.

I quite liked it, more a test of sustained power than any tactics or drafting being involved (apart from the first 5 mins). Very different to the other races I've done that tend to be more bursty.

I didn't know that erg function worked during races - I think you've probably effectively been riding a dumb trainer with a power meter. Those folk normally get dropped on the climbs and go faster on downhills though, so who knows !

(as an aside, I can't get on with erg mode for workouts - today it kept telling me to simultaneously increase cadence but decrease power. Surely the point of erg mode is that I take care of the cadence and it sorts out the power ? Otherwise I'm using gears just like on a dumb trainer)

yeah, I've had a few of those beej - esp when the race fields were smaller. I reckon pretty much all lone riders get mopped up by groups when it's a big field

It's bad but I can't even imagine racing the mountain lately!

Last time I did was the day after I had met Timothy Tiermont in real life at the CVR London thing. Having seen the guy in real life, it made me feel like he shouldn't be dropping me (he's actually a great cyclist but my arrogant side took over 😆 ). So I hung with him at a few too many Watts and despite being determined to stay with him, got cramp which I NEVER get 😆
So I stopped, calmed down, let the cramp subside and then finished mid pack I think.

I found out afterwards that he was thinking the same so it was proper Mano v Mano stuff with both of us chucking pacing out of the window and letting rip! Sadly I popped first.

Actually, it sounds good quite fun now 😀

Ref ERG mode- it's not relevant for bunch races as you'd miss out on recovery in the pack if nothing else. It could be useful for TT's though but I'm not convinced it would be quicker than riding against the course- i.e. overpowering the climbs and recovering on the descents.

It definstely works. Uphills get harder and I'm downshifting a lot. Downhills get easier. Not looking for an advantage but think it's making it harder to race in a pack.

That’s not ERG mode. ERG mode holds a constant power.

Terrain difficulty slider in settings will determine how much a smart turbo will simulate slope.

Ah, that's not ERG mode. That's sim mode.
ERG mode is when you set your output to a fixed wattage and the trainer keeps you there regardless of your cadence.

There is a slider to adjust the level of response you get up the hills.

Sorry yes I see. Yes seen the slider left it in the middle. I'll try it off next time I race and see how that affects it.

Dying with a cold, quite enjoying have I got news for you and yet still I'm now heading out to the garage. Addict.

Uphills get harder and I'm downshifting a lot. Downhills get easier. Not looking for an advantage but think it's making it harder to race in a pack

Setting the slider right off doesn't fully remove the effect but definitely reduces it. Setting to fully on is a bastard when on a steep hill (worse than real life I think, somehow)

@scaled - go steady; your avatar won't get sick on your behalf if you overdo it. That bit's for real 😀

Wow you learn a lot on this thread.

I've had a poor week due to feeling incredibly tired for most of it. Although yesterday I did the road to ruins ride not expecting much and had a really good ride - go figure.

I have tossed up about doing something structured but at the moment still being relatively new to all of this, I am still seeing small incremental improvements anyway no matter what I do.

BTW scaredy I am a very similar vintage to you and my heart rate is almost identical to yours. My max is 170ish and the highest I've managed on zwift is 168. The difference though is if I go over 160 I am generally toast. My sweet spot seems to be around 150.

I really enjoyed reading what everyone has been up to lately. Some great results!