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Raced last night instead of doing a workout, just to see/gauge where I’m at. Picked the Greater London loop course x2 forgetting it was up box hill.
Anyway stuck with the A’s until 1/2-3/4 the way up box hill where people were getting dropped like flies. Soldiered on with a couple of other guys until the sprint finish for 9th. Not too bad.
My heart rate though is crazy high at the moment, it was at Hillingdon in Saturday’s race too! Maybe more under overs to get it back down leaving some more in the tank?!
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=54739
After watching Scaled last night it was interesting seeing teams work together, it was a bunch of 5 ( 2 teams in pairs) with Scaled isolated which made the result pretty impressive! Thought the elastic was broken on the 2nd box hill though.
But certainly yesterday there were moments I pushed harder and didn't drop the group when chimp brain was telling me it didn't really matter I hung on 'cos Weeksy was there.
I'm going to find a race and then we can have a go as a mini team with tactics 🙂
(edit: Yep and it was very partisan - Go team USA! - They almost seemed disappointed Scaled came 2nd )
But certainly yesterday there were moments I pushed harder and didn’t drop the group when chimp brain was telling me it didn’t really matter I hung on ‘cos Weeksy was there.
That's kinda funny, i was looking for you lots to see where you were etc.
Weirdly, well, arguably not that weirdly as it's quite common for me, i was comfortable in the race, sure i was at the high end of my HR but i was still happy. If the pace had stayed at/around the first 3/4 of the race, i could have carried on for another lap. My problem comes in that section 1.5-2.0km from the end where everyone ups the pace that little bit, it goes from 3.0 average up to 3.6w/kg.... That's the bit where i die on my ar5e and get handed it back. I then don't have a kick at all.
About 3km out and about 5km out i was tempted to give it a blast and solo it out...But i knew inside that the guys on the front pushing out 3.5w/kg would drag me back unless i gained 20s, which wasn't going to happen.
I need to work on that ability to have the extra grunt at the last 2-3 mins, but i'm not sure where i'm going to find that 🙂
Well that went better than expected, I hadn't seen what the course was before i got on the start line but just caught a glimpse of the profile on the CVR stream, London, one hill, this could work for me. Then I noticed the rest of the field, the big guns were back from playing in LA. Chris Beck (US masters XC racer?) and Adam Zimmerman *gulp*. I was racing as a B last season in CVR and every race that had hills i'd got spat out the back pretty hard, Zimmerman was normally the one that did the chewing.
Beck was just out on a ride and isn't racing in our league so when he went off the front nobody wanted to chase him, least of all the two TeamODZ members that were still in the lead group. The bunch stayed together pretty well the first ascent of box hill and we ended up with 5 of us by the start of the second lap, two TeamODZ and two from Draft. I'm 95% sure that Draft weren't trying, there were a couple of attacks, more little digs really where they went racing off the front at 11+ but ODZ and I marked them back.
I knew that the battle for me was going to be the second climb up box, if i could be in touch over the top of there I have a decent chance in the sprint. They might be fitter and faster than me but from last season I know that most of them are 8-10KG down on me. At the bottom of the climb there wasn't so much an attack, just a relentless diesel like effort from Zimmerman, We'd gone up box hill in a shade over 6 minutes the first time and that'd nearly finished me, I didn't even clock the time the second lap but it felt a lot harder, if not faster. As I said, I dont think Draft were trying, any sort of kick and the group would have splintered but as it was. we went over the false top together. I knew i had to get some momentum up to crest the next rise, I'd been dropped there by this lot twice last season.
I was still in touch! The 5, no, wait, 4 of us, we'd dropped someone on the climb but I couldn't work out who it was. the rest of us all just rolled down the hill, I just wanted to get my HR down for the stairs kick and sprint. It was a bit cat and mouse with 1k to go, I knew i didn't have more than about 15 seconds or so in my legs so had to wait for someone else to kick and hope that i could catch the draft or wait till ~300m and punch it myself. Someone jumped me about 650m out and I was there just on the limit of the draft until 200 to go where I kicked as hard as i could, it felt like an epic struggle but watcing the replay it was all over in less than 20 seconds 😀 Took silver in the race 😀
Thought the elastic was broken on the 2nd box hill though.
You and me both fella!
Cracking write up and performance 🙂 Nice work sir.
Jumped on the 6am Stage 6 event today, think I prefer the normal direction epic climb compared to today's reverse direction. Ground my way all the way up tot the radio tower and bombed back down trying to make up for lost time picking up a nice group of 4 for the remainder of the loop. 268w average for the 20 miles, at that time in the morning I will take that.
Just the pretzel to deal with and the tour will be done. Hooray.
Just been out on my 'nice' bike for the first time this year, glorious weather, dusty trails and by god! the bike just flew. A winter on a fully rigid bike and Zwift have paid off!
It's a little self indulgent but I'm really really pleased with this..
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Like DM52 that's 6/7 done, with just the pretzel to go. I much prefer the epic KOM in the reverse direction, the gradient is more consistent and I just got into a rhythm at around 2.3 w/kg.
Over the top at the radio mast and that was pretty much the day done. It was a 3up TT down to the sprint with me and a couple of guys from the US, I put in a kick on the ramp up after the bridge and just put my head down for the final couple of km and solo'd to the line.
Probably finished around 3/4 of the way down the field of 480.
Good efforts all round!
Did tow stage 6 y’day too. The usual situation for me keeping an ok pace on the flats but dropping many places once the inclined bite. Struggling still with foot pain which hampered things a bit up to the radio tower but managing a 155th overall so not horrendous. Far too warm for the turbo though, garmin said 23’c and my heart rate was way up by the end.
First time commute to my relatively new place of work. 18 miles each way, averaging 19.5mph on a cx bike, on road. I'm battered today. Actually took a little while for the bike to feel natural, even though it's my zwift bike too. Last year mostly rode the commute with panniers, so not having any also felt different.
Trying to work out how I'm going to fit i the next two ToW stages. I'm away this weekend, so the Pretzel is going to be in the catch up weekend, but at this point don't much feel like riding this evening. #motivationgonetoday #mustgetmyarseintogear
I'm off out shortly. I have until 3:10pm riding time. Destination mostly unknown, but will involve a pub at lunchtime. Heading Stoke Row, Wallingford general direction.
Stage 6 is brutal and i didnt expect it at all. I was already tired after a 50 miler yesterday but i soldiered on. The first half an hour is just pure climbing and a killer at that. I pushed on over the top and ended up in a race with a belgium rider. With 1 mile to go i was slowly dropping him but my legs were screaming but i held out to the end. I actually finished 10th out of 231, i am now exhausted. I have 3 rest days now which i desperatly need, this week i have done 100 outside miles and 40 zwift.
Was supposed to be my first club ride last night and first out door ride in over 6 months. Spent an hour in traffic due to an accident and missed the start and with no idea where they were heading turned back home. Did stage 6 TOW when I got home as was kitted up and it was just about to start.
Most races I have done I have got there early so was a shock when I joined to find over 630 others and I was so far back I couldn't even see the start line!
We took off and it was like a race with seriously fast pace. I pushed on and jumped from one group to the next. Tool quite a few places up the first few inclines moving up to 120 on hitting the mountain base. Long continuous line of riders stretched out but kept 3.8-4.0 for the duration and crested in 85th place. A group of 5 in front eased off on the top loop and as I cought them I figured I'd have an easier decent with others than solo.
We headed down but no one was taking it easy as I had to push 3+ just to stay with them. We caught a few on the decent and passed at a rate they were unable to join. As they ground levelled either they were playing games or had gone too hard as the pace dropped to 2 to 2.5 and they seemed content to take this to the line. My trainer doesn't have a high wattage so all out sprint isn't ideal for me although I prefer that IRL. With this in mind I pushed 3.7 for a few k's which dropped a few but when I eased off so did the others. Pushed hard up the last hill which left just 3 of us, 2 from original group and one we just picked up on the hill. Again the pace dropped as we neared 1.5k to go. We were being caught by the group that had been formed by the dropped riders so I pushed 3.5 constant until 1k. With no sprint I decided to try and surprise the other 2 with a long dig. With 900 to go I dropped to the back just long enough to wind it up to 6/7 w/kg. As I passed them they were still sat at 3 so I gained 10 then 20 meters at the 700 mark. They had reacted now and were matching my watts, waiting I guessed for the 200 to go before sprinted fully. At 500 I gave it my all and hit 10/11 w/kg and held. With my compact crank I was spinning but holding power. They were now 15 meters behind, 10 meters, 50 to go and they were 5 behind. As we crossed the line we were all together but I thought I had just held out.
I have a glitch at the moment where when the results come up it won't let me click or scroll so I couldn't see the result! Luckily I read someone else's write up and he screen printed the result screen that happened to have me on it.
All 3 of us recorded the exact same time. No separation at all, but it did place me in the middle of them in 78th place.
Happy with this " not a race" ride 😁
I have a glitch at the moment where when the results come up it won’t let me click or scroll so I couldn’t see the result
I thought it was just me! I go to another window, then back and it's ok.
There are pages of people reporting this issue on swift help, so hopefully a fix in the next update.
Will try the click on another window thing, thanks
ToW stage 6 here as well.
After last week's debacle when I hit the wall my goal was to finish without outside assistance.
Started off 319 in it and for once it didn't seem like a mad start. 97th at the start of the epic Kom in a group of 9. It was a really big group to start but the front of it split off pretty quickly.
At the hill it ended up single file pretty quick. I rode a pretty steady 3.5 to 4 w/kg to the radio tower and then backed off a bit as I was starting to feel it. At the top of the radio tower I was 58th.
I was on my own on the way down when a group of 5 caught me with 10k to go. We caught a couple of other guys as well. They spat me out with 5k left. I spent that trying to keep the guy 20sec behind me, behind me. Managed that and finished 61st I think. I was almost dry retching at the end.
My ftp even went up to 232 watts so stoked.
I am enjoying everyone's write ups. Some awesome performances there.
Edit: I was 62nd. It says my average power was 213w so not sure how my ftp has gone up.
Stage 7 here we go (4pm start)... 44.9 miles of zwift pain.
What a disaster!
ToW stage 7 last night. Hottest Saturday of the year, so perfect for riding a turbo trainer in the garage!
I got myself organised in good time, plenty of drinks, a couple of towels and lined up with another 300 or so hardy folk (mostly from the US it seemed).
We rolled out, I barely lifted from the 150w i'd been maintaining during the warm-up, which meant I was healthily in the middle of the pack, watching the whippets disappearing into the distance. 5 minutes gone and already the distance counter was showing less than 70km, ha ha, so easy!
Before I knew it the climb was on us and the lightweights who I'd distanced on the flat started to come past. Don't go mad, keep the rhythm and keep drinking (by this point not opening the garage door seems like a poor decision), 37mins for the Epic KOM and I hit the radio mast in almost bang on an hour. Down the other side and a group of three formed, we managed to catch another 3 riders on the flat, but as we approached the zig zag climb, my wifes stability ball leapt off the shelf and locked the back wheel. By the time I'd sorted that out I was in a 50 second no-mans-land in both directions. Not a race, so I was happy to TT it.
I had about an hour to do the Epic KOM in reverse smash the descent and sprint to the finish, if I wanted to finish in under three hours, Game on! Hammering down the other side it was starting to look like I wasn't going to make it, by a minute or two. Get to the sprint through the village and the low battery warning comes up, bound to be enough juice to finish, though I can't reach the laptop to cancel the message and I'm not stopping! 1.4km to the finish, red light of death and the laptop shuts down, are you kidding! Get off the bike in a massive strop, clean everything up and eat the contents of the fridge. This morning, my daughter who was using the laptop to play Roblox, cheerfully tells me that my cycling game was still on the computer when she turned it on!!!! Another lesson learned.
I'm now looking for the Stage 7 times on the catch-up days, it will give me a chance to pip Weeksy on the full pretzel Strava segment!
Oh man, that's a good write up!
Did stage 7 tonight after a Sunday lunch down the pub and 3 pints.
It's a bloody long time on the turbo that!
That's a bit of a bugger Matt. My iPhone battery has just decided that it will start to die really quickly, and coupled with the fact that someone in the house has put my usb battery pack in a 'safe place' which cannot be found, I can't rely on the companion app either.
Stages 6 and 7 to do next weekend - joy. Timings just didn't work for me this weekend. Only way to do it next week is Stage 7 on Saturday and Stage 6 on Sunday (v early).
Was out walking this weekend in and around Matlock. Calves and hamstrings are really hurting today, so tonights workout may be interesting. If you are out that way and fancy a pint Sinclair's Ale house is very nice, and worth the climb up the hill.
Hayfever has properly set in too, grrrr!
I like Zwift but no chance if it’s sunny outside
I like Zwift but no chance if it’s sunny outside
That was pretty much what happened to my stage 6 attempt 😀
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Managed to finally ride Stage 7 yesterday evening on the 6pm event. I had intended to do the 10am and the 2pm one but both times the tv decided it would stop working about 15 minutes into the event.
After setting up the emergency monitor and updating Zwift on the MacBook I finally got underway, driving hard to the Epic KOM climb knowing I would end up sitting at my own pace and watch everyone else slowly overtake I only managed to lose about 80 places on the first climb which was a bonus. I have discovered on these events that not a lot of people work on the descents, couple that to my above average weight the descent from the Radio tower allowed me to get some proper overtaking done and close time gaps that would otherwise be impossible.
I ended up with another rider who lost interest in working on the flats so come the reverse epic climb I was over taken by him again as I laboured up the hill and it was a fairly solitary affair until the end. 5 minutes faster than last time I attempted the Pretzel 2 hours 34 minutes at 260 watts average which given the temperatures I was pretty happy with.
My legs hurt today, eating the contents of my fridge has done nothing for the hunger either.
It's pissing down here so looks like i'm going to be streaming on CVR again tonight, not sure the world needs to see me sweating in bibshorts but i need all the points I can get today.
Long fast drag followed by Leith hill then box hill shortly after. I'm just going to have to sit in the bunch and keep my powder dry which isn't always easy to do when you know that you're strongest on the flat. The course would be much better for me if it were the other way round!
Did the 5:10 WBR 2 lap London flat.
All went swimmingly until the last 3km, then approaching the underpass I was toast. Exiting the underpass and everyone was 4+ and I threw my hand in and cruised the last 2km.
Just didn't have a finish in me today.
Tired.
Beer and champions league time!
Does anyone else have make up rides to do on TdW? I've got stage 6 to do, after doing the pretzel on Sunday it seems daft to not do one last little stage!
Stage 6 as well to make up. I'm thinking I might try Saturday at 8:50am to get it over with early.
Bit windy here so......
WBR 4 Laps Classique Flat Race (26.9km/16.7mi)
Today 13:25
👍
Stages 6 and 7 for me. Have to look at times to see what works with the family.
I'm now on rest/chill week for the duration, i think they call it 'tapering' i just call it IRRITATING !
I’m now on rest/chill week for the duration, i think they call it ‘tapering’ i just call it IRRITATING !
Might be there Sunday 🙂 Got the fast bike out of the loft and a couple of decent laps of Swinley have given 'encouragement'
Might be there Sunday Got the fast bike out of the loft and a couple of decent laps of Swinley have given ‘encouragement’
That's just what i need... LOL !
Team STW bagged another win last night and i'm beginning to really doubt the numbers coming out of my turbo. On the one hand, i'm not that fast, on the other there has been a fairly steady improvement over the winter. Who knows, i dont have an independent PM and seems I don't know anyone with one either so i'll just have to suck it up.
Back to the race, London Triple Loop and we completed it in just just! over an hour. I'd really have liked to get it under but we played some cat and mouse at the end, but lets start at the beginning. I don't like this course, Leith hill is a nightmare for me, my 3 main rivals are all 59KG to my 76.
It was all quiet for the first loop on the flat, I'd promised myself that I wouldn't go steaming off the front and try and form a breakaway.before the hills but off i went a few times with no joy (bloody obviously). My zone goes off with all the groups together so we were a big bunch at the bottom of Leith and I felt pretty good on the lower 5% slopes, there were a fair few attacks at 7+ w/kg from the whippets which meant some big efforts from me. On the steeps we ended up with a bunch of 4, we dropped my buddy Frank (from racing B last season) so there was me, one team ODz and two Draft riders, not the ideal situation when they're all 59kg and there's still box to go...
I managed to just about hang with them up most of the way up box then one of the Draft riders had a mechanical, offered to wait for him as we had a decent gap to the next big group although we did get caught by a small group that we'd dropped on the last climb with the faffing about.
All last year i'd got dropped on the ramp at the top of the hill, this time i kicked and dropped someone else! Just me and Leo from Draft went over the top together, no bloody way was i working on the down, I think he knew I had him in a sprint so was trying to keep us both at 4+, not happening buddy 😀 I just sat on his wheel until the escalator ramp where i kicked on again and got about 5 seconds on him. I didn't have another couple of minutes of 6+ in me which is what he was putting out while he was catching me. I decided to play it safe, recover for a minute then get ready for the sprint.
Bit of cat and mouse for the last 2k, sat behind him and wound it up for the little dip and he didnt chase. HR hit 190 at the end and i was a a little bit sick in my mouth :$ wobbling mess for about the next half an hour as well.
Hahahaha, you're awesome mate ! Congratulations.
Whether your numbers are real or not, doesn't matter... .they're what you have and what you work with 🙂
A mechanical?
Scaled - doesnt matter what your numbers because what you do know is that they are better than the rest in the race!
i did Surrey Hills this morning for the first time ever, safe to say i wont be doing that again. It is a truly hateful course, i did get SILVER but i think there were only 5 of us. Note to self to always check the profile of the race.
Hopped onto Zwift last night for a race, after chatting with coach Shutler who kindly provided some googled advice, I was armed with 50g of carbs. 🙂
Chose the KISS race at 8:05pm;
No big hitters meant it was an 6x London Classic absolute crit simulator. The curve balls were the “hill” and passing the other bunches, had to be really careful you weren’t following a C/D wheel as they swamped us right until the small hill. My intention was to be as lazy as possible and use my 50g of carbs carefully, unfortunately I followed a duff wheel on the second lap? up the hill then had to bridge to front pack. Meant I burned up some of my legs for the sprint. But I think with a PU (I didn’t get a single one in the last two laps) and more concentration I could have been on the podium?! I ended up with 8th though.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=56171
Cracking result that nath, how's the low carb coming along now?
That's quite some HR you had going there 😀
Thanks, bit miffed I was only 1.7s from 1st 😆
LCHF is working for my stomach, energy levels and general happiness. However it’s killed my top end cycling and my HR is wildly up on what I’m used to (around +10/15). Starting to experiment with 50g carbs 30 mins before a race to see if I can revive some top end. It’s a bit disconcerting seeing my HR at 180 just keeping with the bunch where normally it was 160-170.
KISS TT tonight if I get back in time to see where I’m at under my own steam.
Just did the KISS TT, longer than expected as I didn’t read the description properly. Cartwright was on the start line so I knew that 1st place was gone, unless he had a mechanical 😆
Music on, head down and pedal was the tactic. Result was 3rd and an FTP boost from 300w to 310w @71kg. There was loads more starters than the results show?! https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=56376&sid=b52d246db4186f661b5af0c5e4434fe4
Also with various updates etc I decided to track my Tacx Vortex power against my 4iiii (which matched a stages). The results:
Vortex - 333w average- https://www.strava.com/activities/1531648233
Power 327w average (chop the end off) - https://www.strava.com/activities/1531621907
Pretty damn close!
Did the Pack social ride on the greatest London loop reverse which was the first one I had done in ages. About 150 in it. For the first 5k everyone stayed together but once we hit Keith hill gaps started to appear.
It did not help the ride leader had "sweeper" in his name. He was at the back most of the way and asking people to stay with the leader. I could not figure out for the first half of the race where the leader was until I realised it was him.
The ride was advertised as a 2-2.2 w/kg which has normally meant about 2.5-2.7 for me but today that seemed about right. I even had to slow down at times and at one point turned the fan off as I was getting cold!
I finished in a group of 75-100 or so with the rest having gone off the front at various stages. It turned out to be an hours ride and I didn't have time for the after party back up Keith hill. All in all a nice recovery ride.
PS I normally read this thread on my phone. At one point it was up to page 220 or so and then changed to page 199. Now it is now back up to page 224. Weird.
Quick 2 lap race on the Flat to get the legs moving.. 21:05 WBR
BY GOD IT WAS TOUGH!! - Lead group went off at a brutal pace and just didn't calm down. Held on for 1.5 laps but with about 10km to go the elastic broke and there was no 2nd group for about 1m:30s so individual TT to the end. Tried to 2up with another B rider but he wasn't having any of it so let him go..
Anyway no my greatest race, suffering a bit with Hayfever asthma at the moment...cough cough.. send me a jiffy bag...
Anyone else having trouble finding the tour of watopia events on the companion app? I am using iOS and they don't seem to be there.
Ok scratch that they have appeared