Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

Ah, cheers weeksy- I'm 73kgs right now, so thats encouraging- thanks! I'll confirm that its definitely 240 a bit later when I'm logged in again, I may be misremembering...

Might do that 4 week FTP builder.

Nice work beej. There should definitely be an end of level boss to do battle with

Isn't that racing Rachael Elliot?

Rachael or Tim, take your pick 🙂

oooh, hello Mr B - might I ask you a favour, please ?
(will send as a pm, so your reply is not public)

(no, it's nothing obscene !)

Wasn't intending to race but you know. Most interesting and fun one I've done. Tiny warm up then 3 laps hilly.
Sensible start and in a group of mostly Cs and a B. Split up a bit second time up the main climb but all back together. Up the last climb before the Esses and I pushed on a bit to bring back a couple from a group in front and see what happens. We dropped a few of the strugglers and gained a dodgy D and another B. Split up a lot more up the final time up the main climb and I'm further back than I'd have liked and the Dodgy D has disappeared up the road again with another B. The B I'd been with dropped off the back and had to work very hard to catch back on. A general regrouping and I hit it hard up the hill again before the Esses and only dodgy D can follow and 2 others catch up in the Esses. The B I've been with most of the race is 30m back. Hold him off before the sprint and start the sprint later than normal and bit late really. Just pipped the dodgy D on the line for the victory from our group. 6th B out of 8 and would have won C on 2.9w/kg so happy to have moved up. I did see the wind in my group sometimes too honest.

Oh and no powerups used now or in the future. You up for that Weeksy ;0)

Also nice as I wasn't just on my redline the whole race and was able to recover inbetween efforts a bit.

Well done TL

I like races without power-ups, though I'll merrily use one when I'm desperate (and lots of the bigger races do have them so you shouldn't hamper your chances if the rest are all on the juice - oops, wrong thread 😉 ).

I REALLY miss them if I'm pleading for one through a banner and then get a shit one, or 10 points; cheers zwift 🙄

You up for that Weeksy ;0)

I've not shirked away from a challenge yet buddy. Bring on the fun.

So whens the big challenge taking part? When are us "C's" making the step up?

My one quick 1 lap tonight was good fun, couldn't hang onto the lead group of A/B's, dropped back to the group of B/C's and hung on to the last climb, went hard from there, group split, I ended up 20/75 or 6th in C, which translated to 3rd once a load of people had been bumped.

Must say, that all out one lapper is a whole lot more committing than a three / four lap race, I was out on the floor at the end for a couple of minutes.

I think the 8.05pm is my only option tomorrow as we've got football at lunchtime then Star wars at cinema. Depends though. If not then, I'd expect Monday ARVO/evening.

Never got back in time. So, 17.05 for Richmond flat 4 lap tomorrow?

I might make an appearance in that race but I have just started the Everest challenge so it is not going to help me much climbing wise!

I won't be able to keep up with the B's either 😀

If there's any course me and Muggo for example are going to do half decent in Bs on, this is it... Of course it depeneds on making the right splits at the right times and covering the right moves, but i'm of the impression that a lot of that comes down to luck and just being on the right wheel at the right time. My tactics certainly won't change much, but "Trust the Blob" is the phrase for the day... If you can sit with a decent enough bunch of riders you can be dragged way harder and further than you imagine just by being in their bunch. My toughest bit will be holding the wheel 3-4 mins into the race which is where I usually sit in and recover after the hard start.

Hope to see several of you out there 🙂

I'll probably be home in time to have a go, but given the legs are feeling a little shaky I am going to stick with my C's. Flat course for 30 minutes, should be alright!

well, we're all off at the same time anyway, although likely different pens. But should all meet up quickly.

Finally back to lifetime 1000 !

[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4593/24270079277_3744d06328_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4593/24270079277_3744d06328_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/CYEv1H ]1000[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

anyone playing?

Warming up now!!

me too. see you there

Oh my ! what a battle.

Me, Zilog and Sram in a group with mostly B/Cs, on warm up and lap 1.... Next thing, there's a split.... no-one chased it... So i had a go... Well, i had 5 goes, i was SOOOO close to bridging the gap, 20m... TOW TOW !!!!! No tow... DAMN...
So i came back to the group with Zilog and Sram again... .watching behind they had a B doing 3.7-3.8 and were 30s back... then 25, 20, 17.. Damn.... Into the last lap, we had 14s on the group behind but i could feel they'd catch us... I got an Aero PU over the line on final lap... with 1.1km the group behind came by.... I dug deep to stay with them, threw in the Aero at 1km to hold wheels, i wanted to save for the sprint but i'd have lost them by then if i never used it... 400m to go, Zilog grabs an Aero, i try to hang on his wheel, but he pulled on me and left me by 20m or so... I pushed on but not a lot left...

All in all, i'm still a strong C, a weak B lol.

Ouch... it all hurts !

well done lads ! I did a bit of spectating on that one as I'd been on the turbo just before you started. Quite some power going in from about 1km to go, with some good hanging on for dear life, too

I had nothing to give when the other group came through..... I will remain in mid c's for a while.

Did I dream the "real" Ian Bibby coming through on lap 1?

Yeah well done STW! I watched about 10 miles of it on and off.

Really enjoyed that race, tough though! Literally no let up at all cos it’s so flat.

I was actually in the group ahead of you at the start Weeksy (lead Bs I think). Waste of effort really as I couldn’t hack the pace for long and ended up dropping back shortly after the 1st proper lap started. Ballsed up the power surge as your group came through and had to sprint to get on the back of it lol! Spent the rest of the race just keeping up with the group, was an effort but comfortable (just). Always get a boost from seeing the other STWers & imagining them sharing the pain!

Wasn’t planning on sprinting as my HR had crept up to about where things start getting uncomfortable in the last half of the final lap cos the pace was increasing. Had jammily picked up an aero though so thought, sod it!! Saved it until 0.2 miles to go, then used it & gave it all I had (which was a surprising amount actually... maybe my 3 weeks of ftp training did some good 🙂 ) Managed to blast past everyone except one guy who was too far ahead so just cruised over the line for the last few meters. HR hit 192 😯

Looking at the results on ZP would’ve won C had I raced in it as I usually do... reckon I’ll stick in B now though as I didn’t die, and wasn’t last lol

The only downside to Bs is seeing the massive chasm in speed difference to the fast Bs. They were 4 minutes ahead at the end. Which is just bonkers.
Couldn't really have played this one out any differently myself, looking at my HR on Strava, like yourself, my HR crept up and up and up over the last 3km or so as the behind bunch closed.
In the ideal world I'd have come up with something to stay with you at the end, but it wasn't to be. I was done good and proper.
Top racing lads, was great having friendly faces about.

Question: How do you know you have gone out too fast?
Answer: When Weeksy passes you after the first kilometre.

Despite nearly killing myself in the first k I managed to get into a group which only dropped me after two laps. Then rode with one other guy until another group caught us. I managed to stay with them to the finish. I did discover it is really hard to try and sprint when your trying not to throw up over the handle bars!

22nd in C which I'll take especially as everyone ahead of me averaged 25 to 60 watts more than me. I could not have done anymore and I am still feeling shattered.

Just started Zwifting, good fun!

You lads in a group or something? Will have to try a race, done a fondo event which was pretty much like a race and not pushed myself that hard in ages.

Well done buddy. All we can is give our best and hopefully enjoy it a bit too! Sounds like you did both.

Was going to get back on the zwift horse tonight after a couple of weeks off but
A) don’t like Richmond
B) can’t seem to get off the sofa.

Cheers Weeksy. It always fun after you have finished 🙂

Great result in Bs by the way. I am (as I am sure are many others) waiting to see what ranking points you got 😀

You lads in a group or something

Within https://www.zwiftpower.com some of us have added Stw as a tag for 'team' so we know who eachother are. It just so happened that 3 of us today were around the same pace and in a bunch of riders together. The theory can be that multiple racers can help one another out and have tactics etc, but today I think we were all on our limit and hanging in there near the end

Zwift via https://www.zwiftpower.com has race events you can join and race against people all over the world on various courses etc.

I'm really enjoying reading about everyone's efforts while I'm dying with this lurgy.

13moh commute home today, I think it's probably best that I keep away from the turbo.

Thanks JK, today didn't give me any advantage being a B as we all went off together at same times, arguably slight disadvantage as CD came out ahead of AB when we all met on the road. I'd have got 10th if I'd raced as C. If I come out on cvr with a 0 for today I won't be too unhappy. I think it's about what I deserve.

JK & Larry - as weeksy says, put a "stw" on your zwiftpower team section

I have STW in my username as well (you can just edit that to read what you like; remember that swift shortens the first name to just an initial)

That gives us all a chance of spotting you. You could also put your usernames on here and we might be able to follow you on zwift as well (then out phones will tell us that you're riding and we can randomly "ride on" when you think you're all alone 😀 )

I’ve also just started sporting Weeksy’s (un)official STW fluoro pink team kit 🙂 only unlocked it the other week as it’s level 16!

I did notice that and laugh actually!

-3 points on cvr. Meh, it's mostly a fair result I guess

Ive noticed that halfords have the T2240 at £190 - is it still the right trainer to go for to get off zpower?

zilog, you're the only lumberjack on all of zwift - you should be looking for something with more of a check in it 😀

JK & Larry - as weeksy says, put a "stw" on your zwiftpower team section

I have STW in my username as well (you can just edit that to read what you like; remember that swift shortens the first name to just an initial)

That gives us all a chance of spotting you. You could also put your usernames on here and we might be able to follow you on zwift as well (then out phones will tell us that you're riding and we can randomly "ride on" when you think you're all alone )

Thanks for the invite Scaredy. I have added stw on zwift power. User name is Mark Sullivan (the Kiwi one).

Invite? - you mean to "team" stw?

Don't get your hopes up, it's not an actual team - we don't even have any decent drugs 😀

And here I was assuming I'd have to start taking some...

Can't see me getting on before 9pm today... Mrs Weeksy is out at works-party so i've got to sort the boy out and put him to bed etc.

Tonight is likely to be more of a cruise than a race though, i need 245km by the 31st... So i need to get in 45-50 tonight really to give me any chance of not spending the whole of NYE on the turbo. Normally the 245km wouldn't be that tough with 11 days left.. But i'm away for 5-6 of them on Xmas family duty, so it could come down to the wire... Which means even 30km tonight would help me out a lot.

The closer i'm getting to my target miles for the year, the tougher it seems to be getting.

7801.5km for the year now and target is 8000.... 45km today seemed tough !

Rmgvtec - that trainer from Halfords is perfectly fine for zwift and that is as good a price as you’re likely to see. I have one myself and no complaints from me.

Well done STW team, great reading the ride reports and even better that you are all challenging yourselves by going in to B cat, all the best riders are in that group 😉

Dont forget all new stw team members must have asthma before they are allowed to join in!

zilog, you're the only lumberjack on all of zwift - you should be looking for something with more of a check in it

Anyone ridden one of the CVR World Cup races yet?! Another 30 miler today; probably give it a miss!!