Forum menu
I just get my FTP from riding around. Zwift actually tells you when you've increased it. Don't ask me how accurate it is however.
I am not a real cyclist though. I'm just in this for the endorphins. Saying that it is nice to see improvement and I do feel stronger when riding outside.
Yes I read most of the reports, team STW seem to be going well in all categories. As I'm not racing or using Zwift that much at the moment it's sporadic and I'm not contributing here much either. Mostly riding outside after 6 months of mostly indoor. Job of turbo to make me stronger/faster has been a success.
FTP test on Trainerroad every 6 to 8 weeks. Since starting that in January I've not managed to get an increase in Zwift automagically, even when racing, which is a good thing as it means I'm doing it mostly right. The TR ramp test is far more pleasurable experience than a 20 minute one.
Also Strava group for whoever was asking.
https://www.strava.com/clubs/STWzwift
Also Strava group for whoever was asking.
That was me, thank you.
Hmm might skip the test then or perhaps do a TR Ramp test to get a baseline. I'm fine at pacing when running but never had to do it on the bike.
Or just ride hard on Zwift and let it calculate for you. Or do a race as that'll make you ride hard. You need at least 20 minutes though.
A test is better as a repeatable check on where you are at but if you just want to know roughly what you are for category placement just ride on Zwift. One advantage of that is you'll get the ego boost of an FTP increase regularly as you ride a bit harder again and again.
One advantage of that is you’ll get the ego boost of an FTP increase regularly as you ride a bit harder again and again
Or the feeling of desolation when you cannot 🙂
Races though as slightly different as tactics play a factor along with number of riders, groups and pace around you at a given time. Some days i'm 20w harder than the others, just depends on both me and the race itself.
I assume the feeling is worse when you do worse on an FTP test as it actually tells you whereas riding around on Zwift only tells you when you do better. I've yet to do an FTP test that went lower than before. It'll happen soon enough but I'm sure I'll come up with a good excuse in my head ;0)
Racing won't always increase it but it's a good way of getting up to your limit as you cling onto the front groups. You know if you went as hard as you could or when you were in a group that realistically you could escape from but can't drop so saved the watts for the finish.
Never done a test, I just go off Zwift. Like others have said I never do any sort of workout, only race, so you only need it to work out which group you should be racing in (FTP/KG) but you will soon figure that out after the first race.
Does anyone get different results for CVR rankings in Mobile and full desktop WWW ?
There was a flat short race starting just after i got my lad from school, we were supposed to head out cycling or football but he felt poorly, so i jumped on the race.
WBR 1 lap London flat. Usual course for me this one, quite commonly raced. 55 entrants in it.
Jumped off the line well, lost a little ground up to the line, but on the kickers before the subway i closed down so was sitting in the top 3-4 over the subway after the line, a group of about 20 of us flying down the side of the Thames. We arrived at the hill and again, prime position. 1/2 way up the hill, all good, then 3 kicked then 4, then about 8-10 went. So we ended up with another guy here or there pulling away and we were a 5. 14th-20th or so in placings overall.
Down the run towards the finish on the warm up we'd lost 11s to the A's, so that was it, all over ! Game set and match. I checked behind and saw the next guys were 35s behnd us, but putting out 4+ compared to when me and an A were taking turns on the front. We were doing 3.5-3.7 each and i sent a message to ask the guys with us to help a bit. The BRT guy Harvey took a couple of turns, which was better... but still mostly me and the Italian A, Fiore were taking turns, it's very unlike me to do turns, but I was hoping we could stay ahead of the closing trio. Sadly that wasn't to be and we were caught about 2/3rd of the lap in by them, but we managed to hold them.
Into the small underpass, one of them kicked out of the way back up and nailed us... gone... He was up around 6w/kg and none of the rest of us were managing that. By now, i was peaking up at the 175-177bpm, on my red line that... So struggling, on the little 2-3% kick i lost a bit of ground but got lucky as BRT had also lost 5-10m and was throwing in a turn to get back... I pushed on to get his wheel and he dragged me into the bunch of now 6 of us. Up towards the line, the A and another went early... but with 300m to go they both died a death and me and the others swallowed them back up... but sadly, the 2 other boys were stronger than me and just pipped me to the line. Damn.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=58965
Results put me 3rd, which is OK 🙂
CVR though confuses me. It was showing as -8 on my phone for Mondays race and +5 today... But when i browse on desktop i get -7 for Monday and +8 for today... So i'll take that LOL. I'm +1 this week. In the last 6 races, i'm +8 points... Which seems like a VERY small figure for such a lot of effort 😀
I'll take it and move onto the next one. Rest tomorrow and a bit of KTM riding at lunchbreak i think. Let the legs recover a bit
Oddly those results put you in sixth now, do they get revised? Very strange how three of you were the same time behind the leader but had different total times!
Did my first short spin out last night after getting everything set up. Just one lap of the Classique loop so nothing to shout about. Leaving jeans on was a big mistake though, so hot! Going to need to tweak the setup a bit though as it was quite hard to see the laptop just off to the side (need to mount an old TV on the wall). The android companion app also lost its link to the race (taking my HRM data with it). Hopefully using the laptop's own BLE for the HRM will solve this.
I did see a few achievements flash up but not sure which, is there anywise outside of the game app to see these?
Going to try my first race either Friday or Saturday evening. Probably only a 1/2 lap effort to start with (The 8.20 WBR 2 Laps Jungle Circuit Hilly Race looks like a good candiate). Based on power output last night going to start in class C.
That's the 'unfiltered' so doesn't have the DQ's or people who have been bumped up in Cat to B.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=58965
If i open in Chrome via above link i still get the Filtered, so still 3rd. The other 3 were way over Cat limits.
Got it, I wasn't logged in so didn't see anything but unfiltered. Thanks.
I did a 50 mile ride yesterday on a truly lumpy route which also had 5 cat4 climbs on it so i wasnt really in a racing mood this morning. I decided to do the ZHR race as it had quite a few racers i recognised who generally always beat me but i thought i might just draft them for a while until i got dropped. As always my brain decided halfway through the first lap that the race was on and i was going to try and stick with them. It wasnt a fast pace but it was enough for my tired legs and with the A group catching us i knew some of the B’s would jump on so i buried myself and jumped on the A group. So now the pace was pretty fast and i had 4 other B riders with me so it was a case of hanging on to attacks and trying to last till the line. The last half lap was pretty full on but i stuck with the A’s and noticed that we had dropped the rest of the B’s by a few seconds so i just had to get to the line for the win. I had no sprint in me so i did the last 0.6 mile at 500w which put me ahead of quite a few A riders and i crossed the line nearly 2 seconds in front of the next B. GOLD was well deserved today and i have no idea where it came from, my legs were shot to ribbons by the end. Rest day tomorrow.
Did my first short spin out last night after getting everything set up. Just one lap of the Classique loop so nothing to shout about. Leaving jeans on was a big mistake though, so hot! Going to need to tweak the setup a bit though as it was quite hard to see the laptop just off to the side (need to mount an old TV on the wall). The android companion app also lost its link to the race (taking my HRM data with it). Hopefully using the laptop’s own BLE for the HRM will solve this.
When I first started using zwift I was using Bluetooth and had lots of drop outs which is frustrating when in a race. Bought an ant+ dongle off eBay for £10. Had a drop out when using that so bought a usb extension to put the dongle right next to the trainer and never had an issue since (Well, the only issue was when the cat decided the cable and dongle was her new favourite toy and dragged it across the room)
Might be my set up/trainer but never got on with Bluetooth connection at all
Going to try my first race either Friday or Saturday evening. Probably only a 1/2 lap effort to start with (The 8.20 WBR 2 Laps Jungle Circuit Hilly Race looks like a good candiate). Based on power output last night going to start in class C.
I'll be racing Friday and Saturday night so will look out for you especially as jungle hilly is my favourite.
Regardless of what cat you go in remember to start fast and stay with it as it will ease off but almost impossible to get back on if you don't go with them. Also any incline will provoke big power so again be ready for these. The jungle lead in is usually about 6+km I think, but lead in is all part of the race so lap one will seem really long, lap 2 will fly by. The wooden rope bridge over the gorge is steeper at the end than people think and a favourite place to drop riders who dont put in 5w up it 👍
Good work Weeky and bladder ☺
When I first started using zwift I was using Bluetooth and had lots of drop outs which is frustrating when in a race.
I bet! I've got both an ant+ dongle and USB extension for the trainer itself so hopefully only the HRM I need to solve. Unfortunately both the HRM's I have are bluetooth only.
Regardless of what cat you go in remember to start fast and stay with it as it will ease off but almost impossible to get back on if you don’t go with them. Also any incline will provoke big power so again be ready for these. The jungle lead in is usually about 6+km I think, but lead in is all part of the race so lap one will seem really long, lap 2 will fly by. The wooden rope bridge over the gorge is steeper at the end than people think and a favourite place to drop riders who dont put in 5w up it
Thanks for the tips. Going to be interesting to see how I can do. According to strava I peaked at 895W last night (avg 228W @ 81KG including the slow start) though that was quite a spike.
All my stuff is bluetooth (smart trainer,cadence and hrm) connecting to my ipad and i dont have any problems. I seem to recall reading somewhere that multiple bluetooth connections were more of a problem for laptop users
I entered the Team Italy Gladiators Race (B cat) London loop ... the group was thinned out to about 15 riders as we started Box Hill ... towards the top it was down to 7 riders; 3 A cats and 4 B cats.
We managed to get a couple seconds gap on one A cat rider and 2 of the B cats ... and 4 of us then worked together to put about 40 seconds on them before we started Box Hill again. The 1 B cat went pop fairly early on the climb, so just me and the other 2 A cats pushed on.
I stayed with the 2 riders till almost the top, and was still feeling quite fresh ... the Sham 69 came on the radio ... I pressed my iphone to turn the volume up ... and paused the race!!!!
About 15-20 seconds of panic then as I tried to put the race back on ... by time I did, I was 30 seconds behind the 2 A cat riders, and only about 30 seconds in front of the B cat riders we`d dropped on the climb earlier.
(Sorry for the poor race report effort)
Oh no... i hate it when you do/press something that screws it all up ! eeeek !
How can i be faster with tired legs? Yesterday my legs felt heavy but i got gold so today on my rest day they were really heavy and a bit tight and i ended up with GOLD again. Not sure if this is a fitness thing or just having the right mindset. I am getting closer to racing with the A group as thats 2 days i have managed to hold on to them for 95% of the race. They only beat me by 40s and that was all in the last 1.5 miles when they were hitting 10-12w/kg. I ended up racing against 1 other B who had managed to hang on as well but i put in a big attack on the last hill (watopia flat) and got a 10s lead and by the line i was 18s ahead. I ended up averaging 280w for the race.
Real life ride for me yesterday. Club ride in prep for our annual week riding around Europe. Only my 3rd outdoor ride this year due to kids and life but the zwifting definitely helped.
Group of 24 last night with a 40 mile route of rolling roads with a few sustained climbs. We have 2 points on this route that are acknowledged as race points. There is a climb of 1.5 miles with gradient average of 6% which runs back down the other side and finishes with a flat dead straight 1 mile to the 30mph sign. When we do this route we alternate between race to the top or steady ride up and race to the sign so it can suit the climbers one week and the sprinters the next time. This week was sprint day. We climbed as a group and as we crested over the top I took the front, pushed the pace and lead out around the hairpin bends until about half way down. A few others took a turn before I took to the front again. As we reached the bottom it has a couple of short rises and the group bunched up with no one wanting to lead out. A few took very short turns and I got boxed in on the inside (Too much zwifting) as we hit the straight, The pace began to rise as some of the less experienced riders thought they could sprint for the mile! we were in a group of 15 and hitting 35mph so faith in the other riders was top priority now. as we neared 1/2 mile to go I needed to get off the gutter. Glancing back I saw a mate coming by and as he passed me I managed to "insist" a gap was behind him. now on the out side I could follow wheels and come around when I wanted. A couple powered forward as we neared 300 and I held their wheel and as each one blew up I moved to the next. with 200 to go I was second wheel as one of the strongest launched. I help until 50 to go and gave it all I had and came around him with 10m to take the W.
The second race is the last 1.5 miles back to HQ which is continuous 4% with the final 50 kicking up to 12%. This time I lead out and kept good power all the way and stomped the pedals for the last kick and the double win by 20 meters.
Without Zwift I wouldn't have had any fitness this year and would have been tail end Charlie for sure. The tactical decisions on sprinting and attacks worked as learned in Zwift as well
Ok first race done. I now have Bambie legs. For some reason I don't show in the results which is annoying ( https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=59382). Seemed to go alright. Was in a group with one A, some Bs and one other C. Managed to stay with them dispite really bad ghost shifting (qr not tight enough). Had to rapidly learn to pedal smooth to reduce the rocking. Managed to bring the power up at the end but faded about 5s out. Was fourth in c in the unfiltered but not there in the results. I did have HRM dropouts again but restarting the phone app got it back. Going to need an ant+ HRM I think. Loads to learn but I did enjoy it.
For some reason I don’t show in the results which is annoying
have you got it linked to strava ?
Yeap. Just checked again and now I am showing (as dead last in B). Guess I need to go up a cat.
Well done, that's me in 3rd. All crossed the line together
Good job. Very tight between you all at the top!
Did a crit sim earlier. Very realistic in terms on how a crit bunch reacts to other riders, ie negatively people are left to hang out to dry.. No one, including myself could make an attack stick so we all just sat watching each other building for the sprint. However a guy got away with 2km to go and we all thought we could bring him back (was only 7s ahead) with less than 750m to go and the guy still 5s ahead I lost my bottle and went for it. Dragged a guy along with me and he pipped me at the line.
3rd place and I rode so lazily that Zwift power recommend I move down a cat haha..
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=59520
Quick question guys!
"CVR World Cup Training Race: Decat" on tomorrow at 6.30pm.
What does the "decat" mean and can I just join in like any other race??
I'm not in the CVR league or anything.... Just want to do the training ride tomorrow based on its length.... and the time of the day is convenient too.Lol
Sorry for dumb questions.
(I am smart trainered and have cadence/HRM as per their rules if relevant?....)
I'm sure it means everyone shows as A cat's regardless of what you would normally choose. It means you work harder staying with a group usually as you can't just sit with the B's or C's
The Cats in CVR stuff was different anyway as it was based upon your CVR league ranking, rather than your W/KG power as per the usual races.
Amgen Tour of California stage 2 mountain 8.
230 started. I settled into the second bunch and actually found the pace ok even though it was up near my threshold and I have had an awful cold for the best part of a week.
Hit the epic Kom in 78th and slowly picked off a few to get to 57th at the top which became 46th at the top of the radio tower. I ended up on my own again on the way down and was passed by three early on. I was still feeling pretty good and had a 30 second lead over the next group of three.
6k to go and the road flattened out and my lead dropped to 20 sec. I thought sod this your going to have to work for it and started to dig in. 3k to go and it was down to 15 sec and one guy left the other two behind. 2k and it was 9 sec. I really started to push and hit the last k with the lead still 9 sec. 400 to go and still 9 sec and I started to wind it up. 100 to go and it 5 sec. I really flogged myself and was almost heaving on the line but beat the guy by 4sec. I then went outside and coughed up a lung.
Ended up 49th overall. I took 40 seconds off my epic Kom pb and 30 seconds off my radio tower pb and set records on a whole lot of strava segments. I need to be sick more often.
Quick question for you all, how many times did you have to ride up Alpe Du Zwift before you got the fancy pants wheelset as a reward? I am getting fed up with gloves.
Erm, I think it's random. From vague memory, I got the helmet first time, then the wheels on the third, I think, then the gloves on the fifth. Or something like that. But I think the idea is that the spinning wheel of fate is a completely random allocation deal.
I quite like the gloves, though a less garish, camo-friendly alternative would be nice...
Someone ages ago asked whether anyone reads the longish race reports. I'm slightly bemused by them - mostly they all seem to read the same, 'it was super fast off the line, I was dropped / hung in with a group of A/B/Cs, we hit a hill and it was hard, coming to the end I was with one or two other people, we all sprinted and I won/lost... then my results didn't appear on Zwiftpower till later and everyone else in the race was disqualified...' Hmmm... I guess I do read them, sort of, after all.
But I suspect I'm not really the intended audience and people clearly enjoy writing them / reading them. Personally I'm more interested in the metaphysical aspects of Zwift along with the weird human behaviour.
I skim race reports, whether real or virtual, if you weren't there then they're just not all that interesting.
I see people are hinting at some news today, potentially relating to the worlds, although the bloke doing the teasing on FB doesn't seem to actually have any professional connection to Zwift, so he's possibly just winding everyone up for funsies.
I'll be back once it starts raining again 🙂
Yeah I can't see me using it for the next 5 months! Just upgraded the computer I use though, so I can look forward to frame rates in double figures!
Did Amgen stage 2, seems I'm not too quick up the hills and slower on the flats.....was fun though.
I still dip in to the thread to read how others are getting on. I cancelled my sub earlier this month as I have so much outdoors riding to do IRL that it didn't make sense. But I will surely be back on later in the year when the weather turns again, flying the flag for Team STW
PS I like to read the race reports 🙂
When I first started with Zwift I though I would cancel the sub in the summer months, now as I seem to use it four or five mornings a week as a training tool I am thinking otherwise. I just find it easier to get more done in the 1 - 1.5 hours that I have when compared with going outside. The nice benefit is riding outdoors has become all about the ride with no real training thrown in.
I did stage 3 earlier today but i was right at the back of 300 riders as i only got logged in with 33s to spare. I thought we were doing the mountain course so rather than full gas at the start to get to the front i did a 380w tempo for a couple of mins to try and save my legs. I actually ended up getting in to 58th with that so i settled in to a group which had a nice pace but not overly taxing. I suddenly realised after about 8 miles that i was still not on a mountain so fired a text out and was told this is figure 8 course. So stupid me had let the front go so from that point i gunned it to see where i would end up. I managed to get 24th overall which was good considering i spent half the race just pootling. I managed a 1 min power of 450w and a 5 min power of 350w in the second half of the race so that is now something to aim for in future races as i wasnt really trying for it. Also i managed to do this with my saddle far too nose down as i hadnt put it on properly, more stupidity from me.
I know i'm the only one who does my other rides etc, but that's been my format so i'm sticking with it.
Went out yesterday and had a bit of a Ridgeway ride.
[url= https://farm1.staticflickr.com/961/27271857807_1a47aaed09_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm1.staticflickr.com/961/27271857807_1a47aaed09_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/HxVpbX ]2018-05-16_06-29-16[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Overlooking Wantage way. Ended up at White Horse Hill in Uffington... Jeez i've only done it once before and it didn't get nicer on this attempt... Eeeeek. Hard that. But cracked on and ended up on the Lambourn road, which was fine with me as it meant i could head towards home, i was 55km in at this stage and i'd been taking it pretty easy.
I was planning on stopping in Great Shefford for water and food, but as i reached the junction, 2 roadies were there heading in the direction i was planning. Oooops. That's game on and chase on isn't it ? Caught them within 1/2 a mile and on a little kick i took the lead. I assumed they'd fall off the back but about a mile later, they were on my wheel... I went a bit harder, harder... I was now cracking on (Strava tells me later it's my 2nd best ever times, despite being on the 29er and having ridden it plenty on the road bike), but still they were there... 9 miles later we went our separate ways... They'd sat on my wheel for all of it. LOL.
[url= https://farm1.staticflickr.com/964/27271855427_b97701f968_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm1.staticflickr.com/964/27271855427_b97701f968_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/HxVotV ]2018-05-16_06-28-44[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
In a weird twist of fate, we were chatting near the end of it at Woodspeen and it transpires one of them lives in the same village as me.. which considering it's not a big village and i've never met or seen him before is quite weird. I thought i knew all the active cyclists in the village.
The section after that was horrific really, i'd gone into the red with them and cooked my legs, but i was still 20km or so from home. It seemed into the wind mostly too. But it was sunny, warm and nice. So i plodded home at a very easy rate of speed and got home eventually. 90km in with 1000m of climbing, far from 'epic' but a decent day all round really 🙂
Weeksy - was a great day for a ride yesterday,bit mean yours was interupted by wheel suckers but sometimes its nice to have that bit of competition mid ride.
Well it has finally happened, i did the wbr 3 lap flat route and stuck with the A group all the way and was in the bunch sprint at the end. The race started very fast and it took me nearly all the first lap just to get the lactic out of my thighs from the start but i eventually settled down. Stuck with them and attacked every hill which was keeping me close to the front so managed to get several 2 second micro rests. I knew i would have to go hard on the last hill after sprint bridge so went full on and crested in 3rd so then just went hard to the line with a cheeky sprint at the end. I finished 8th overall in the race but won GOLD in B by nearly 3 minutes! I think i am going to dip my toe and join the cat A riders for a while and see what happens.
Also in that race was E Bradbury of JLT condor who put on a mind boggling turn of speed. He was taking phone calls mid race so dropped back from the group by about 20s. We had just gone over the hill in the tunnel so pretty much only half a lap left to go when he let rip. In only half a lap he gained the 20s and won the race by 45s!!! He just went past us in a blur and continued smashing out massive numbers, it was incredible to witness. No idea who he is but i am sure somebody here will have heard of him
It is just astounding in all walks of life the difference between the Pros and normal humans. Used to see it a lot on track on motorbikes... they'd disappear like you'd stalled.
Funny though isn't it... people see 'us' and think we're super fit and really quick.... but in reality we're just fodder and the fast guys wouldn't even warm up at our pace.
p.s. Give A's a go... you've done amazingly since we battled in Cs.
I enjoy your write ups mate, it's your thread anyway 😉
Did the CVR race again last night, for the last 2 weeks that's the only Zwifting I do, what with it being nice out and all.
I'd been getting a load of flak from the Draft lot for my turbo being rather generous in a sprint so i'd decided, with it being Wattopia hilly this week that i'd try something a little different. First lap and I didn't get much of a chance to do anything! The guy i'm racing went straight u pthe first climb like he had a rocket up his arse. As a group we reeled him back in on the descent with his team mate just sitting in.
At the back end of the first lap i got away and put about 15 seconds into the group, they caught me again at the top of the climb 🙁 My heart rate was sitting at 187 at the top, my average for the race was 180, it hurt reeeeal bad.
3rd lap and the climb was still being lit up, Draft were trying to break me 😛 I was 4 seconds down at the top of the climb, some random pulled me back on (thanks!) and the other team Draft rider sat into our group with the leader 3 seconds off.
It had all just got back together by the sprint so i had a dig and settled in for some more pain, i still had 8 seconds on the climb, i knew i needed a fair bit at the top and still had 8 seconds, 1:49 on the last lap, not bad 😀
So it's simple right, just keep doing more w/kg than who ever is on the front of the group 8k to go and 22 seconds,that's not enough, is it?
Well, at the line i still had 2 seconds in the bank 😀
4.8w/kg for the race 180avg/190max and a new ftp. All in all a completely different race to anything that I've ever done, I can certainly say I've never spent so long at those heart rates.
[img] 
[/img]
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=60052
It is just astounding in all walks of life the difference between the Pros and normal humans. Used to see it a lot on track on motorbikes… they’d disappear like you’d stalled.
You ever ridden a mountain bike with a motorbike racer? A few of the guys in the superstock 1000 series ride MTB and and the bike skills are insane. They'll drag a mate out who's not ridden a push bike in 10 years out occasionally and they're buzzing your tyres on a technical descent. Absolute nut jobs the lot of em!