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Plan today is either the 16:30 WBR 4 lap classique or maybe just a bimble round the Greater London Flat.... There's a race at 16:00 for the CVR cup... but i just see that as ending up as a solo TT due to the speeds of the previous races etc.. At least with the 4 lap Classique i should be in with the lead Cs/slower Bs until the end.
Depends how the legs feel later on really...
Another 2 laps of boxhill for the mgcc race and another GOLD medal winning race, thats 2 weeks on the trot. It was a barnstormer of a win as well as i came from such a long way back. I had every intention of taking it easy and riding with the race organiser who i was chatting with on discord but a few familiar names had other ideas and sadly i couldnt resist. First lap was fast paced and box hill was done in 7:23 and i was in the lead surrounded by lightweight japanese riders but only 2 of them and one did a pr so figured if we keep the same pace he might drop off on the next lap. Went up box hill at the same pace but it was hurting and i couldnt drop them even with a power up so i slowed slightly to try and recover a bit. Upped the pace again and one dropped off but the other guy just sucked my wheel and then left me when he pushed out over 5w/kg. I quickened slightly to try and minimise my losses but he had a 15s lead at the top and he did a pr!! So went over the top with a 7:24 (excellent consistency if i say so myself) and soft pedalled in biggest gear down the hill. I realised after gunning it on all the nasty ramps in the subway that he was only 8 secs ahead so i had the last mile to chase him down. I caught him with 0.4m to go but i was pretty spent and fearing i had no sprint in me. Well after chasing so hard i dredged up some energy from somewhere and from just a bike length behind we both let fly. I was inching up to him but the line was in sight and my legs and heart were starting to fail but i managed to maintain the speed and he must have tired ever so slightly and just as we hit the line i believe i had half a wheel lead. Waited for the results and i won by less than a tenth of a second, he has since been dq’d for being over the limit. That race would have made a great video.
In all excitement i forgot i was still on discord and the others were shouting what had happened and could i stop heavy breathing down the microphone,oops!!! It seems they rather enjoyed my obvious pain and swearing.
That things when you've out for a pootle and end up having a bit of dig on the Volcano climb, entering into a bit of a battle with another chap for 10 minutes, dropping him and him coming back a few times, wheelsucking etc only to find out after that he was 13... 😳
Great job Blader!!!
LOL@Slowpunch, nice 🙂
Great work Blader 🙂
Just warming up for 16:30 race, fan on..... cold!
In this weather I have to have a fan on my face and the heater on my toes!
22:00 CVR race for me, i won the B race last week on a course that really sucked for me so looking forward to a flat one this week where I can kick some of those 65KG lads about a bit on the flat 😀
as usual, not in bottom 3 for B is target.
Og god ! that nearly killed me. 170 average HR and a max of 181.
It went about as usual really... Started off well but realised the group was 1 level above me as i couldn't hang on.. picked up 3 riders and let them do the work. 1 lap in and a big group behind caught up, so we were about 12-15 riders. Again, i let them all lead for 99% of it, but sitting close to the front on all of the pressure points and kickers. up Horseguards each time i hung on OK.... Right in middle of the group.
Last lap i caught a feather on the line, saving it for HG hill, i lost ground though somehow, even though i was trying. As we crested the hill the group shattered, not massively but enough... I was 1 from the back and struggling.... As he passed me i got his wheel and dragged us to the next 2... then 2 more... We were 2s behind a group of about 8, but our lead guy flew and we all got towed closer... bit of a push from us and we crossed the 1km banner about 1s behind the other bunch, but closing, around the roundabout we were all as 1 group.... I think we were all dead, you expect to see some big numbers about 400m out, but none came... we all just cruised, but a little faster.
I managed to get up with abouto 150m to go, but it was short lived... but i think i did OK and passed a few and got passed by 1...
Results shows 15 in our group
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=38757
the 'live' tab shows me as 5th in group... Which was OK.
25th out of 40 in B, but the results are meaningless as half will be DQ due to either power or registration issues. So i'll take 25th 🙂
It would have put me on the podium if not 2nd in C, which is about right for my level these days...
Destroyed..
Weeksy that is a great effort, you are doing very well in B now and certainly not out of your depth. The results show you were in a big group so you have done well to be at the pointy end. Is HG hill getting easier for you? I always get dropped on the flat section after there,it happens every single time.
Is HG hill getting easier for you? I always get dropped on the flat section after there,it happens every single time.
Not really LOL. I've not raced on Classique much lately though due to often doing lower HR stuff. But HG hill is still where i suffer the most... I think it's because as you're approaching it there's 2 other little bits that creep up, this rockets my HR and then means when i hit the hill i'm already at 174-176 on the HR, so almost at my limit, meaning there's not much left in the tank to give.
Not convinced i agree about out of my depth, i'm not quite top half, but it's tough to argue or complain about being just outside the top half. However that's very much only on courses that suit me as a rider. But i'm most happy with how it's going.
Whilst the weight loss has slowed to a crawl as expected, i'm still sitting below the magical 15st barrier, so hoping in the coming weeks to creep down little by little and get quicker by being lighter, not necessarily more powerful.
But thank you for the compliment.
I bought some toe covers the other day, ready for getting back on the trainerIn this weather I have to have a fan on my face and the heater on my toes!
Weeksy, good work on the weight. Keep it up ! (err, I probably mean down)
OOOh quite exciting in that I never do much Zwifting (my cost per ride is in gym membership territory)
but today
I saw my first ever 'other' STW in the name ride past 😀
That was poor, bad start, recovered a bit in the middle, failed miserably at the end. WBR one lapper.
Edit: 7th, group I lost in the last km was 3,4,5,6th
That's far from a disaster mate. You'll be on form in no time at all!
Tactically poor, missed a surge after the last climb and couldn’t get back on. Dropped nearly 20s in the last km...
Really enjoy reading the race reports Weeksy and Blader, really wish my cold and cough would do one so I can get back involved again.
I jumped into the castelli C group ride to help with the monotony of z2 riding and at least think about sticking in a bunch. Deffinitely made the time time go quicker and thoroughly enjoyed the sprint at the end. Out of interest what numbers have people seen from their t2240's. The blurb says a max of 800w but I saw a peak of 880w tonight and pleased with holding over 750w for 20s. No idea what these numbers are like compared to the seasoned racers in this thread but it'd be interesting to know
Right, i've signed up to zwiftpower and joined the STW team , got a decent pc that doesn't glitch at all and i'm ready to race....i think. Needing something to compliment my endurance training, i find lots of long steady riding makes me a bit one paced so i'm looking for some short (about an hour) races to knacker me out?. I'm at about 3.8w/kg at the mo and hoping it will be 4w/kg+ by spring. What do you folks recommend?. Any tips too would be welcome. thanks in advance.
Teamslug - most of the races that are more than 1 lap are generally about an hour long (races around the 20-25 mile mark). Build your wattage to about 350w about 5 secs before the start and then as soon as it start go for about 450w and that should see you in the front group and then just feather the power so you dont burn all your matches. Its also obligatory to do a race report on here because we like them and also it gives me an idea of who to avoid in a race.
gives me an idea of who to avoid in a race.
Lol!
And extra points for throwing up/falling off your trainer while sprinting/writhing in agony on the floor after the race/having your family question your sanity.
I have been enjoying the great outdoors the last few days. I know it's been said before but zwift makes an amazing difference to your outdoor riding.
Shoot for the stars sign up as an A.
Whoop whoop.
First overall in the 22:00 cvr, that's got to be a new FTP.
Pace was brutal for the first two laps (some of which might have been my fault), dropped to about 300w for the third, then it was all a bit cat and mouse for the last lap before a massive group spirit for the line from about 300m.
Really shows how hard it is to get a breakaway going on a flat course
Zwiftpower confuses me, I look on it but you can only seem to search for races not clubs.
Thanks people. Sounds good fun. I get the feelin i'm gonna get dropped in the flat races cos i'm not a power house but I'll do a few to get used to things and progress onto hillier races. Where does everyone run their Trainer Difficulty. I normally run at 100% but would it make any difference to run it lower?.
Zwift has slopes currently up to 17% and the Direto can simulate 14% slopes, so I run the difficulty setting at ~85%.
I think this means I have to use a wider range of gears, using the 28 and 32t sprockets to climb the steepest slopes.
Ok. On a Tacx Vortex at the mo. Only does 7% so i'll leave it at 100%. Had a Direto for all of 10 seconds last week. Set it up, calibrated it and just about to go for a pootle on Zwift and I think the belt snapped!!!. No resistance, nothing. Set it back and got a refund til I decide which one to go for. JetBlack Whisper Smart looks good but no reviews so a bit reluctant.
scaled i saw that victory last night, that is a very very impressive result, well done. Judging by the stats it was a quick race and that was a big group finish which makes it all the more impressive,nice one. I would say result of the year so far.
teamslug not read anything about those elite trainers breaking so you have been very unlucky there pal.
i somehow dragged my sorry legs to another GOLD in the EVR race this morning. It was 2 laps of london 8 so more box hill punishment. I nearly bailed on the race on the first run up box hill coz i simply couldnt be bothered to turn myself inside out. The lead group went off full of A riders and then about 4 or 5 of us were strung out so it was a solo climb but with people several seconds in front and behind. We bunched up at the end of lap 1 but the japanese riders went crazy on the long flat through london so i got dropped with 1 other guy. We hit box hill 2nd time and from 25s down i got within 2 secs of the 2 B leaders but they went crazy again and went up the last third of box hill hitting over 6w/kg! I was now on my own with 3 guys in front of me pulling away, i managed to gain a bit of time on the run in to the finish but i was a long way back. I was 4th but the 2 japanese riders were dq’d as the were well over 4w/kg and the other 1 was dq’d but not sure what for so it left me Gold. Very tired now and sick of the sight of box hill, intervals day tomorrow.
FFS!
no sooner do I "retire" from racing than teamSTW takes over the entire internet 🙁
(Well done to all. I'll be back, better than ever, like that Lance bloke)
Only does 7% so i’ll leave it at 100%
I think maybe you want the other way around and go for 50% - if you set at 100 then any hill over 7% will never feel any harder as your trainer's already maxed out. I think, anyway
Blader the race god! Great again.
I was pathetic today, not just a bit rubbish, but completely garbage.
Managed to stay my sorry self round 3 laps of London flat at some disgraceful pace though so not a complete loss.
Bloody hell well done blader!
My ride today was punctuated by a 5 minute + drop out just when I was three quarters of the way up Leith hill. In the past when this has happened it has only taken a few seconds to kick back in. Today I discovered:
1. The clock continues ticking on a Kom even when you lose your connection.
2. Although in the game your overall elapsed time seems to stop during the drop out as you aren't riding, at the end zwift adds the lost time back on. Strava doesn't. So in strava I did 46 min and in zwift 53 min.
PS I do not like this new forum upgrade. You can't seem to log in while in the thread from your phone. Also blader you have a terrible blue logo thing happening at the bottom of your post.
Edit: I have a horrible green logo thing happening at the bottom of mine!
And which only seems to happen if you edit your post...
Lacking motivation to ride outside or do tonights TR session I did my first race on London instead.
1 lap classique. Much bigger field than expected from when I signed up 20 minutes before.
Big effort out of the start to accidently lead briefly before "settling" in the front group. Another big effort up the first hill to stay in contention. Group split up the final climb with me in the rear half somewhere. Kept in touch under the 1km to go but only had a pitiful sprint left and got passed just before the line. 5 behind me of the front group and I was done for. Need to do a longer race again.
Currently 8th in B and 16th overall with 1 ZPower rider to be binned and potentially a couple missing HR.
Lowest avg w/kg by a fair amount in the front group too.
New Power highs up to 15 minutes.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=39163
ME and you would be very closely matched on the layout/distance i think.
I really enjoy throwing myself all-in for the short ones, they're ACE... but they do hurt.
Good work and great result mate.
Legs are feeling it at the moment. 13 out of 14 days riding now, i took yesterday as a rest but if anything my legs arguably feel more tired today then before.
I'm doing the Pilgrims of Zwift ride today at 10:35. around 2.0w/kg for the hour... I may pedal after/before too to get some extra.
Main difference is I like hilly races too ;0)
Oh and training works :0)
Training definitely works!
Did the 70min FTP test! By god that’s hard work, legs are sore this morning. Doubt it’s accurate using my dumb trainer but I try keep most things standard, I don’t touch the resistance etc.
so current FTP according to Zwift is 298w gonna start the 12wk FTP builder at week 3 and see where we get to.
Do you ever do any STW group rides / races??
</span>Do you ever do any STW group rides / races??<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #444444; font-size: 12.8px;">
No point, blader would kill us all up box hill 😀
Something we should consider though ?
Scaled i would be too far behind on the flats to beat you all up box hill! Its strange but in the real world i am a truly awful climber, so bad in fact that i actually run a 34t on the back. Granted i am in yorkshire where every climb seems to be above 10%.
just done the weirdest race that i cant quite work out. 4 lap flat WBR and i was with the A group all the way to the line and in the bunch sprint finish. I cant work out if i was riding well or they were a slow bunch of A riders. I think they were slow but also no attacks at all in the race of any note. It was the fastest i have done the course but i wasnt overly taxed keeping up,just the usual big efforts on the lumpy bits i was way down in the sprint though coz i let a 1s gap open up just before we all went for it, i think i was 15th overall and the bunch was at least 25!. Strange race indeed.
Said it some where else in this thread but.....
Real life Box Hill times = 2.5km = 7:45
Box Hill KOM (Zwift Insider verified) = 3km = 7:51
Climbing on Zwift; it’s ‘easier’ than real life because most people have the trainer difficulty at 50%. So actual gradient is reduced by 50%. The watts required for a given speed is the same.
Doesn’t matter if you are riding a bike with gears though. All the ‘reality’ slider does is gear your Zwift experience up or down. As long as you get a similar cadence to that which you use outdoors- it logically has to be transferable.
Slowly slowly on the weight thing now... Curently showing 14st 12.5 on the scales which is 12lb down on the start of the year. If i can get to 14st and single figure by the time i have a weekend away with Mrs weeksy next Sat, i'll be absolutely ecstatic 🙂
I've had a couple of slack mealtimes lately, last night was a massive pile of pasta along with a slab of Bakewell tart after, but i've been pretty good for nearly 4 weeks now and felt i deserved it... Will get back to being better again today 🙂
Training wise, i'm feeling pretty decent but static at about 300w FTP, which of course i'm happy with.
Race results on Zwift have been going fairly well up to now, but due to how my consistency is, i'm picking up 3-6 CVR rankings points per race only.... But consistently picking them up.
Today was 90 mins, was supposed to be 120min, but i'd peaked and called it a day.