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Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

 eemy
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Extracated myself from the wreckage, put the bike back on the turbo and finished the race.
That is very admirable. I'd like to think I would have done the same, but 99% sure I would have sat on the floor and sulked instead.


 
Posted : 01/12/2017 6:31 pm
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Eemy i would have done the same but rightly claimed that i had the race in the bag before the crash happened.


 
Posted : 01/12/2017 6:36 pm
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I'd already covered just over three laps at the point of the crash and was toast anyway. I figured I'd put all that effort in I might as well finish (last in group C). Zwift is getting a little too realistic for my liking!

The worst thing was finishing the last lap without a fan. I've got a nice, new, high-powered, gym fan now though. 8)


 
Posted : 01/12/2017 6:57 pm
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You know those idiots that turn up on a group ride then blast of miles ahead of the beacon.

I just did that, on the plus side I gained an extra 4 watts on my FTP trying to stay with faster riders.


 
Posted : 01/12/2017 8:46 pm
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It's nowhere near as bad as the condescending patronising dribble the ride leaders come out with whilst trying not to blow their tops ๐Ÿ˜†

If you fancy it, crack on I say ๐Ÿ™‚


 
Posted : 01/12/2017 9:04 pm
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All signed up for the 5 / C's (I think) in the CVR 7.00 slot, ideal as the little one is at Cubs.

Will be interesting to see a proper competitive league. Would love to do the Thursday night Kiss one as well but thats night-ride night.

Assume that rankings are taken at the time of registration? or am I able to register a load of DNF's and get me back down into D?


 
Posted : 01/12/2017 9:24 pm
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Winter is very much upon us though that's for sure. Cold, damp, rainy, muddy and chalky! Sounds about right for winter in West Berks.
It was nice to be out and its nice when its all leafy etc, but I can't say most of the trails are great right now.
We cut the ride a little short as it was just getting too wet. The fine misty stuff that drowns you but doesn't feel it at first.

[img] [/img]
[url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/38755286692/ ]2017-12-02_02-55-07[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url] - [url= https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dariogf.flickr2BBcode_lite ]Flickr2BBcode LITE[/url]

[img] [/img]
[url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/27010522479/ ]2017-12-02_02-55-17[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url] - [url= https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dariogf.flickr2BBcode_lite ]Flickr2BBcode LITE[/url]


 
Posted : 02/12/2017 3:56 pm
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100km ride tomorrow....

...outside...on actual roads!

Wonder how well those 100km Zwift rides have prepared me for the Moray roads?


 
Posted : 02/12/2017 5:05 pm
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Anyone fancy the 20:05 KISS race tonight? I'm all signed up but currently drinking a nice Belgian beer while I cook a roast dinner.

Might need a pre race nap


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 5:33 pm
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Maybe scaled, although it off by the layout which suits me 0%

Depend what times I get home from keeper coaching in Ascot.


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 5:46 pm
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Sod it, I'm in. Will be a disaster on this course. But wanted a session


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 9:03 pm
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Well i'm not sure what happened there on several levels !

I thought it was the full ruins lap back down to the bottom, I went off steady, sitting in a decent bunch and letting them work mostly.... We hit the hill and they disappeared ! oh... hold on.... No they never ! WTF, i was climbing like a BEAST ! Well, a beast in comparitive terms for ME ! I was sitting in a hard gear on a 4%-5% incline and pushing 3.5-3.8-4.0w/kg ! Which for me is unheard of. The HR was sitting at 169/170, which i'm happy with.

We're then picking guys off and i'm powering the straights ! powering, 3.5 again, then resting at 1.9.. then 3.5 to power on.... I'm telling the bunch of 6 of us what the gaps are... 10s, 6s, we got him too....

Then i looked at the distance bar... 2.8km.. Errrrrrm HELLO !

It showed 0.3 then and i pinned it... overtook 3.... then noticed the line was another 300m ! So rested for a few secs and pinned it again.

God knows if that was the actual end, but i don't care... That was the most involving and fun race in over 6 months for me.... I was happy, comfortable and reasonably powerful ! Where has that been !

Strava shows me as 282w weighted average, which i don't see in anything other than a 20mins sprint race.. So to hit that for a longer race is astounding for me !

BOOM ! !


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 9:54 pm
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The Hilltervals worked ๐Ÿ˜†


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 9:57 pm
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you've turned into a monster !

[s]must be those hill intervals the other day :D[/s]

Bah, would've gotten away with it, if it wasn't for that pesky crosshair


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 9:59 pm
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Slightly more serious answer- obviously it's too soon physiologically to be seeing the effects of the intervals but the other aspect is confidence. In a race, you know you have to pace to the finish so you hold a little back. In a training session you can actually go harder in a funny way as there's no consequences for having to ease off.
By exposing yourself to those harder efforts, you have more faith in doing one without bonking.

That said- the power trace is still crazily flat for such a hilly race!!! You must have the slider set pretty low?


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 10:09 pm
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https://www.strava.com/segments/16361124?filter=club&club_id=244094

Hold on a second. Lol

I'll have to check CH but slider is about 50% I think.

Edit: couldn't check as it all turned off.


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 10:11 pm
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you must've ridden it CH, surely? (or the "ruins loop" anyway) - fairly constant gradient of 3%ish up or down IIRR.


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 10:22 pm
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Nope. Only went there once to see what it was like but must have gone the other way. The hill puts me off when I'm training, I'd rather rack up miles on Volcano Flat ๐Ÿ˜†


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 10:25 pm
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In other news, CVR have redrawn the race 'Brackets'. I might have a chance in C......

[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 10:26 pm
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That was a horrible race, two A lads went off the front before the first hill and hit about 185bpm chasing them down and dragged the entire group back to them on my own, then there was that hill.

I've not done a hilly race in zwift before. With no time to recover I was toast on the hill and just tried to hang with the mixed AB group I was in.

Good fun though, even with the weird no finishing line bug that seemed to hit everyone.


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 10:28 pm
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Scaled- nice work. Join the STW Strava club please ๐Ÿ˜†


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 10:30 pm
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I'd rather rack up miles on Volcano Flat
I'm doing lots of climbing (mostly on my "workout plan") to see if I can get one o'dem fancy bikes like yours before I have an operation next week

well done scaled - that first short, steep climb is a killer, with a nice loooong drag after it


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 10:38 pm
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Singletrack world forumites? I'm there: Kai B


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 10:46 pm
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Sounds an awesome effort weeksy.

After a couple of weeks of doing structured workouts tonight I decided do just freeride just to up the mileage as I stacked it on the clubride today and broke the bike. Im amazed how much more stimulated I felt just randomly attacking people and the volcano climb. I almost hit pb stats that I prevoiously set in a race. Any tips for keeping your head in the game doing intervals as I being told they are the most beneficial way of training?


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 11:00 pm
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Awesome in my world but not compared to Scaled! Them fast lads are a plane of existence over me. I'm just playing compared to them.


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 11:02 pm
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Scaled- Nah 'STW Zwifters' too. Although, the other one looks better Weeksy ๐Ÿ˜† ๐Ÿ˜‰

https://www.strava.com/segments/16361124?filter=club&club_id=244094 <


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 11:09 pm
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Well done Weeksy!


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 11:11 pm
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crosshair - Member
In other news, CVR have redrawn the race 'Brackets'. I might have a chance in C......
[img] [/img]

Yay ๐Ÿ˜ฅ


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 11:11 pm
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Rmgvtec- my personal technique is to think of intervals in terms of a goal I really care about. So 2 minutes = flying lap of Hillingdon , 5 minutes = Streatley Hill etc etc.
Other than that, just get high on sugar and caffeine and listen to loud dance music ๐Ÿ˜†


 
Posted : 03/12/2017 11:21 pm
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What's the new bit on Zwiftpower then ?

Left hand side, i've got ^14 for yesterday ? Doesn't seem to be CVR points as i got +3 for yesterdays race. So maybe it's some other form of rankings system ?

Races also seem to have gone back to all starting at the same time again now. In some ways i preferred the new split format. Although it meant i didn't get to mix it with the Bs, i felt it was a little fairer.

I do feel ZP need to sort their stuff out now though anyway. You now have no concept of who's actually racing in their correct Cats. Put it this way, i find it VERY hard to believe the guy in C yesterday who finished at the same time as 7th A rider and 4th in B, was actually <3.2w/kg for the overall race... How many of the others were blowing away Cat limits ? Hmmmm.

IT does mean that at the moment, the Cat boundaries are utterly pointless ?


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 8:07 am
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so they don't show "full" results any more (power spreads 'n'shit) ?

Must be some sort of turf war, looking to stop other people using data that ZP has collated. Is there a sale in the offing ?


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 8:33 am
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scaredypants - Member
so they don't show "full" results any more (power spreads 'n'shit) ?

Must be some sort of turf war, looking to stop other people using data that ZP has collated. Is there a sale in the offing ?

I think that's to do with the public information stuff from a few pages ago, so i kinda get that...
But that sort of stuff was really good to have in there... Even just to see peoples power/weight etc and get a sense of who's playing by the rules and who's not.

Essentially it doesn't matter as we know, it's all just training. But it's nice to think you're earning your place in the grand scheme of things. Because we know eachother in the real world, STW is a real leveller, if for example i stuck my weight at 65kg, then i'm going to be ripped apart by the forum as you guys all know i'm closer to double that ๐Ÿ™‚ But others in ZP/CVR world, i'm not quite as convinced about.


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 8:51 am
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Who's playing today then ?

I'm torn between the 17:05 WBR 1 lapper that Muggo is entered in.. Along with the 8pm KISS 2nd base race. I must admit i do like the 2nd base.... but a short one may suit this evening more early on.

Decisions decisions.


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 9:47 am
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Basically, in their new campaign against cheating that they launched, a lot more data was readily available. (Graphs showing your weight trend for example).

Somebody took offence to this (an outed cheater perhaps?) and basically threatened ZP with legal action.

So they've had to take legal advice and remove everything that isn't common knowledge already.

Once they've got their t+c's sorted, we will all have to re-register with our consent.

It's tricky now- before, Glen Knight maintained it was all
done for love and that they weren't getting anything out of it. And I know they did invest a lot of their own money in kit and stuff.
However, now Zwift are openly funding the hosting costs and have bought them kit, that line between 'fun, interesting 3rd party community website' and part of your subscription is getting blurry.

I'm not sure what Glen and the others long game is with this- I know they've already declined an offer from Frank at CVR to buy them out.

Glen ( after reading my earlier comments in this thread) spent a whole day harassing me on FB messenger pleading his case that he doesn't make anything out of it. I think one of his partners had assumed he was doing the dirty on them as they genuinely were getting naff all ๐Ÿ˜€

Between KISS, Zwiftpower and his other work he does for Zwift, Glen is pretty much the king of Zwift Racing as it stands. However, he uses it to his advantage- he's a member of our private TFC Club page example so there's no point even discussing anything on there about tactics for example as he can read the lot.

Because there's no competition for Zwift Power- he's the go-to man for all the race organisers too. They have to speak to him to get a race listed. So the KISS race series can always stay one step ahead of the competition because any good idea has to go through him!!!! Cunning huh ๐Ÿ˜‰

Still- credit where it's due, it's an awesome piece of work and our entire Zwift experience would be rubbish without it.


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 9:59 am
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[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4554/38795223382_feb4764d3e_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4554/38795223382_feb4764d3e_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/227cEiL ]what[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Thoughts ?


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 10:07 am
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Well it's clearly points rather than ranking as the higher Cat riders have a higher number. Haven't read anything about it though....


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 10:24 am
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In other news, CVR have redrawn the race 'Brackets'
makes a lot more sense I think!


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 1:04 pm
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weeksy - Member
https://www.strava.com/segments/16361124?filter=club&club_id=244094

Damn, my 15 minutes of fame is over ๐Ÿ™


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 1:09 pm
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Haha sorry fella ๐Ÿ˜€

With the CVR rankings, i'm apparently a C now, looking forward to that ๐Ÿ˜€


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 1:43 pm
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No worries at all ๐Ÿ™‚ looking at your time, you damn well deserve it !


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 1:50 pm
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I'm taking on the STW resident power monster then at 17:05. Muggo is a bit of a beast ! i'm hoping to spend most of the ride sitting in his draft ๐Ÿ™‚


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 2:16 pm
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I'll just copy/paste in one of the other 40 WBR 4 lap races and you'll know how it went.

Went off in lead C group, got dropped on the usual hill at lap 2...(after warm up 3/4), then saw the next group of Cs about 11s back... so soft pedalled and got some HR in me and some breathing going.... Next thing you know, they're on me and pinning it.... jump on the group, caught a feather ! Yay.... So onto lap 3... i'm holding this group, quite big, but it's HARD... feather on the hill saw me mid-group on the run to the hairpin, but pushing the HR hard.... Over the banner to start last lap... Oh crap, no power up... i needed one of them.
Usual form of being OK in the grou for 3/4 of a lap, we hit Horseguards hill.... yup, the usual, nothing in the tank and pushing about 4.0w/g at 380-390w, getting left... as we crested i was 2s down on the back 3-4 riders, but the main few were gone... I'd dropped 2 guys which was nice... 1.5km to go and the 3 guys in front have 6s on me now.... right, time to hold them.... still 6... then 4.. Ooooh here goes, 325w @ 3.4w/kg and closing passing the roundabout on the straight, 2, 1 .... pass and leave them, putting 400w now and trying to hang one with 400m to go... but it's OK, i've gapped them and they're not coming back with a sprint so i cruise over the line...

Took a screenshot but it will have to wait, out of the guys ahead of me, only 2 were less than 3.2w/kg... Bring back the DQs please ! This is ridiculous. The lead C guy was over 5w/kg FFS ! Come on.. seriously !

Dead now.... bbye ๐Ÿ™‚


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 6:54 pm
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Oh cool, the over the limit Cs got bumped today. That's better lol. 7th. Not bad.
Tough race though, my legs are not happy with me


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 7:08 pm
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I was in the 17.05 as well. Flicked you a ride on at the start Weeksy. Just as well as that was the only time I saw you. More later when I can think straight.


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 7:08 pm
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Yeh, all seems a bit daft at the moment

Basically, in their new campaign against cheating that they launched, a lot more data was readily available. (Graphs showing your weight trend for example).
Somebody took offence to this (an outed cheater perhaps?) and basically threatened ZP with legal action

Must say, they seemed to have plotted weight changes (and height changes?) for me that I'd never made on the system so unless they had a webcam running and were estimating my weight from that, ...


 
Posted : 04/12/2017 7:09 pm
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