Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

Zwiftpower seems to have all gone to crap. All the previous races no longer have DQ'd riders as DQ's now. People are still showing as moved from C>B for exmaple, but all around are riders that were previously DQ'd.

Yeah, I had that with a race last week while ZP was down. When it came back up the guy who finished nearly a minute in front of me was given 2.5 W/kg even though he must have been pushing out way more than that because I probably was over that too but was also given 2.5 W/kg.

No-one in the whole race was DQ'd or bumped up a group either.

I assumed as service was now resumed it was back to all systems normal.

I guess in that case, it's just racing for pride then for now.

Dazh - i guess it probably was like a real race but it kinda all just felt wrong. I am sure one guy was just taunting us for a laugh as i had to dig deep to haul him back in. The lag in efforts is quite annoying in both trying to attack and covering them, as i found today this is increased when its a very small bunch.

As with most software systems they need to concentrate on getting the basics right and not fudge it up by trying to incorporate fancy bells and whistles.

i guess it probably was like a real race but it kinda all just felt wrong

I don't really mind chaotic ones as I'm using these as training for MTB races so the unpredictable nature of how long you need to keep pushing for is quite realistic. What is annoying though is that when you chase you go too hard and end up overtaking the group rather than just tagging on the end, as a result the rest of the group speeds up and you go straight out of the back again.

I am sure one guy was just taunting us for a laugh as i had to dig deep to haul him back in.

Or maybe he was attacking repeatedly to try and soften you up? I guess it's harder to tell whether someone's taking it seriously on just playing on Zwift than in real life. But essentially the effect's the same anyway.

I had a brilliant race once which was really chatty with about 6 of us... The other lads were complaining as this guy kept hammering off the front.

"If you want to sit on my wheel then i'll keep attacking you"
"But that's not racing" was their reply
"That's exactly what racing is, get on with it"

They whinged and moaned lots... he kept attacking them and eventually won the race.. i'd been binned by then but i was laughing lots watching how it all played out.

The guy in my race would shoot off and hold us off for 5 mins then drop off the group and then come back and sit there and do the same again later, there was no way this was just an ordinary race attack. I guess its hard to describe but it just seemed odd almost like he was having connection issues. I have seen/been in plenty of races and todays was just a very strange one of fast pace mixed in with almost stationary riding,it was like a track race on the road.

The guy in my race would shoot off and hold us off for 5 mins then drop off the group and then come back and sit there and do the same again later,

Probably using a race to do some 5 minute intervals.

I think a lot of people use the races as training, so they'll put in efforts when not necessary then have a rest. On the 100km race I did yesterday I was caught by a couple of germans. They were putting out 5w/kg to catch me, then proceeded to ride at 180-200w for ages which was disrupting my 250w time trial so I cracked on and gained 40s, then they streaked past me about 30 minutes later and I never saw them again.
Although if you're not trying to be competitive then it's quite good fun being a disruptor 🙂

Stoopid sodding people. My WBR race isn't showing Cats. All the others from today are showing Cat results.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=29319 like that. My one is still showing all of us as U.

I've just emailed the WBR guys out of curiosity.

🙂

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=29357

Working for me?

[img] [/img]

Perfect. 🙂

Wasn't before. I'm guessing my email and his reply "we'll look into it" worked 🙂

Lets hope it updates more later as i may end up winning when they kick out all the >3.2 🙂

Well my new zwift pc +monitor on a articulated arm worked a treat, tho it is still somewhat ridiculous that a game with graphics that wouldn't look out of place on an N64 even on ultra needs a powerful graphics card!

I did a cat D this time and came 4th, had a good battle with a chap up box hill - he tried to drop me going up an underground escalator (?!) but apparently his belt snapped! Was good fun, but i swear box hill is less hard in real life 😀

Potential zwift newbie here..

I'm looking at a smart trainer and wondering how critical the two way connectivity (eg automatic effort adjustment) is as that function costs a fair bit more.

Halfords have an Elite Nuvo smart on offer at the mo which is supposedly two way at £180 or the tacx flow at £220.

Planning to use my iPhone and the app initially. Might go for an apple tv or cheap laptop if I like it.

Thoughts? Alternatives?

TIA

did a cat D this time and came 4th

Great work mate. Its very rewarding for a computer game. Ha ha.

Battles can really make or break a race that's for sure. It turns a dull spin into a battle of wills!

nemesis - if you have access to any compatible trainer zwift is fairly enjoyable but I do think the controllable resistance adds quite a lot. No massive deal, just a bit more intuitive to chnge to a lower gear for a hill rather than taking a higher one or even just spinning on and ignoring the terrain

Also, if you ride in a group/race you'll find that people sometimes really ramp up the power on the hills - as I'm sure we probably all do in real life. On a dumb trainer you'll need to have your wits about you so as not to get dropped

Thanks for that

I rode the first 4-5 months with a dumb trainer, there's nothing wrong with it as such, it still works, you still race, you still go up and down... Just in 1 gear 🙂 I'd say from a fun perspective, dumb is 7/10 and smart is 9/10

I'm still needing to find a plan... Well.... maybe need a plan.

I'm still getting killed on that kick (or any other kick) on Horseguards hill coming to the end of the lap. The others seem to have the ability to stick in 5+ in the later stages of a race, i don't have 5+ in me, it's just not there. Is that power ? Is it technique ? is it just bloody determination ? I don't really know. Is it the fact that each and every person who beat me wasn't actually a C and their overall power put them as a B... possibly.

I'm not sure where the questions leave me, in the past 4-5 weeks i've upped my race performances from a little slump, i'm now able to put out about 10w average for the distance of a 4 lapper more than i was 4-5 weeks back, so i'm happy that i'm getting some form again. But that doesn't change the fact that when we hit that hill on laps 3-4 i'm weak and lacking compared to the other guys i'm racing, it's not a question of IF i'll get dumped on that section, but which lap i will.

I still sit for the hills, i don't know why but on the Snap i don't seem to generate more power or better power up out of the saddle, is that a a quirk of turbos ? Or is it my perception that outdoors i make more power standing but in reality i maybe don't actually make more ?

The clear and obvious answer for me is to drop weight, but as we're all aware that's not necessarily as easy as just saying it. If i were to race at 80kg, i'd be faster, of course i would, but we'd just end up with the same discussions then as today, but in B not C

I'm looking forward to Crosshair response 😀

I guess i want a short term answer to a long term issue. 🙂

I can't train in the way he does, or others do, i just don't 'get' it... I struggle with recovery rides on the turbo, if i do a gentle one it's outdoors.
The trainer for me is an all or nothing thing really. There's no middle ground.

I know what you mean. My Zwift time can be quite sporadic, I can be on it every other day or might not get on all week so it's difficult for me trying to commit to a 8-12 week workout plan. I guess that's the difference though if you want to get better you have to make that commitment.

we'd just end up with the same discussions then as today, but in B not C

(I watched one of the vids that blader mentioned, of the world team B race - front group. Those jokers were obviously potential A's up front, shitting out watts like they were going into orbit. Sure, they had a lull in the middle but they were chatting and joking on their radios and still well over 3w/kg doing that. As a mid-pack B, I can't ride with them)

Planning to use my iPhone and the app initially. Might go for an apple tv or cheap laptop if I like it.

(I watched one of the vids that blader mentioned, of the world team B race - front group. Those jokers were obviously potential A's up front, shitting out watts like they were going into orbit. Sure, they had a lull in the middle but they were chatting and joking on their radios and still well over 3w/kg doing that. As a mid-pack B, I can't ride with them)

In all races i enter now i generally see the best part of 50% of riders either being a DQ or an auto-upgrade. Which seems a bit daft sometimes to me. I don't get why they ride time after time in the wrong catagories. You even see there and see Josh Hayes EVB B in their name, but they're racing in C... Invariably they do very well in C too LOL, which tells me that they're actually B's... If i look at their profiles, i then see them having done a dozen races in B... LOL. It's kind of irritating as i'm turning myself inside out to stay in their bunch because i think "Well, they're Cs, i should be able to hold a C group"... but in the full results i find that none of them were 'real' Cs as they're all putting out 3.5w/kg LOL. So how was i ever going to hold onto them.

I understand the desire for glory as much as the next man, i'm competitive but if i was a B rider, dropping to C to win the cat, wouldn't give me a lot of pleasure. It's not even like some of these guys are 45th in a B race, they're top 5s... LOL

I tried the WBR Flat race last night on my ancient Macbook, with what can only be described as 'variable' results. The graphics and lag are so wonky that I have to time sprints about 10 seconds ahead and then remember to back off before anything actually starts showing on the screen.

The end result was that I lost the lead group within about 10 seconds and had a few yo-yo battles after that, which were all good fun. Oh, and just after the finish my Mac crashed, so didn't save anything to Strava. 😥

That's not sounding ideal Gavin, on the PC you can export from Zwift and import into Strava, i assume the process is similar on MAC, go to Zwift.com and login, see your event and export it.

Thanks for the heads up on that - I didn't know you could do that. I tried to upload it, but got an error saying 'the .fit file was malformed' or somesuch! Doesn't matter really, just encourages me to look out for a cheap new PC as a dedicated Zwift machine.

You can add in a manual entry in Strava too

"rode XYZ race, ZXY distance"

It doesn't give you records, segments etc, but it still counts if you care about overall miles ridden for the year.

Thanks for the heads up on that - I didn't know you could do that. I tried to upload it, but got an error saying 'the .fit file was malformed' or somesuch! Doesn't matter really, just encourages me to look out for a cheap new PC as a dedicated Zwift machine.

Don't get a new one - see this thread - the one i've built is working a treat.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/building-a-pc-from-second-hand-parts-zwift

Gavin that’s exactly my experience with the lag and I’ve got a decent computer so must be the connection? Or is that normal? I’m on anywhere between 4-8Mb/s and it it can’t uploading and downloading that much data so it should be fine I think. It’s bloody frustrating though when you know you have the legs but get dropped because you mis-time the effort.

Normal, no. There is a fraction of a second/second when i hit a hill as the resistance auto adjust etc.

no worse than that though

Things I learnt today.

1) I'm not a morning person
2) 4 laps of volcano is a bloody long way
3) If you're going to go, GO!
4) 7km is a long, long way solo.

That was my first race that's not gone down to a sprint finish, or at least where i've been sprinting trying to catch the guy in front. No way was I making up 25+ seconds in 6km when he's knocking out 4+ W/KG. I managed to hold the two riders behind at ~20 after dropping them with 7km to go.

Dunno what it was but I didn't feel great today, sounds weird but after talking to Daz about bad knees I'm considering wearing knee warmers on the turbo. I don't think how fast i cool down in the cold is doing my joints any favours.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1293695843/overview

Hi Dazh, yes a slow connection AND a really old Macbook is not a great combo. Luckily I can use a good Windows laptop on a few nights a week, and the difference is massive. I'm running nothing on the Macbook other than Zwift, but the graphics card is obsolete, so despite having upped the RAM it can't cope.

I'll take a look at some secondhand options. At the moment, I'm looking at a reconditioned all-in-one PC for under £400 which has an Intel i5 with 16GB RAM.

[quote=GavinB ]Hi Dazh, yes a slow connection AND a really old Macbook is not a great combo. Luckily I can use a good Windows laptop on a few nights a week, and the difference is massive. I'm running nothing on the Macbook other than Zwift, but the graphics card is obsolete, so despite having upped the RAM it can't cope.
I'll take a look at some secondhand options. At the moment, I'm looking at a reconditioned all-in-one PC for under £400 which has an Intel i5 with 16GB RAM.

apple tv + cheap tv?

apple tv + cheap tv?

I thought of that, but I've got a Bkool Smart Pro trainer, which doesn't work on iOS fully (the ERG mode doesn't work over Bluetooth with Zwift), so I have to use Ant+,hence why I'm leaning towards a cheap PC. Unless anyone knows of another way with iPhone/iPad?

i think you can get a ANT+/BLE bridge devices.

on a side note, anyone using mobile link noticed that the map view absolutely hammers the battery. I could see the battery % ticking down last night, changed to the data view and it slowed right down

under £400 which has an Intel i5 with 16GB RAM

Focus on the graphics card, much more important than the processor which doesn't make much odds. Type the numbers in the name of the graphics card into the search bar here: https://zwiftalizer.com/benchmarks (e.g to find the GTX 1050Ti, type in 1050)

That'll give you a good idea of frame rate - you want 30+

Weeksy, how many fresh 30 second efforts do you do a week? None.
If you only ever ride horseguards hill half-fu**ed then your body is never going to adapt to riding up it faster.

You know the answer you just don't like it. It's pure and simply about applying yourself.

You said ages ago that one session short hard hill repeats a week wouldn't be a chore and you haven't bothered doing any.

Your body adapts quickly to these efforts- you just need to make an effort first 😆

You said ages ago that one session short hard hill repeats a week wouldn't be a chore and you haven't bothered doing any.

In my defence, i have been outdoors more than usual this month, so less Zwifting than usual. 🙂

Question though. How will hitting HG Hill fresh help when i'm not fresh during the race ?

Question though. How will hitting HG Hill fresh help when i'm not fresh during the race ?

Come on Weeksy, CH has gone to great lengths to explain this (many many times). I have a feeling you are just winding him up now 🙂

One lap race at 5:15. It'll be interesting to see how the staggered start affects the race. I can normally hang with the mid pack Bs on a 1 lap flat.

Come on Weeksy, CH has gone to great lengths to explain this (many many times). I have a feeling you are just winding him up now

I know but i'm still not convinced in many ways. Even at hitting HG Hill 100% at low HR, i'm not convinced i can get the sort of power figures needed. So am i simply trying to get something that's never going to be possible for me anyway.

Anyway... lets move on....

1 lap flat.... you should be running pretty well based upon your power/performance we usually see from you. Being Watopia though it's going to be a long slog up that final hill with them putting out 5w/kg+ i rekon, so you'll need to be hitting it hard.

For you, i'd do a warm up and hope to snag an aero to use just before the sprint, maybe on the way up out of the tunnel, then pray you get a feather on the sprint banner just before the climb.

Because to get your body to adapt to riding at say 500w for 30 seconds 5 times in a race, you need to expose it to riding at 500w for 30 seconds at all first and that requires you to be fresh.

It's the exposure that creates the adaptation.