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short one for me today, did wonder about a outdoor ride today, however the only rideable bike i have has 808's and its windy as hell so didn't bother, did the 13:05 3R Volcano Flat 2 Lapper - was with the front group for about 11km, when i got dropped, think the group spread out in a line at this point rather than a blob, 5 of us bunched together but i couldn't get back on, ended up doing the final 14km with 1 other, never got caught by the large bunch behind, kept the pace high, 292w NP, got done on the line by about a tire width, tried to go with about 600m left on the downhill, did 400w for over a minute, was too early, and the rider was strong, 7/20 in B
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=168273
Kryton - We all fall into that trap in the race where you could go harder but you don't want to do all the work. BUT as it wasn't a priority race you probably should have tried to either bridge the gap or drag the group back and hope someone will help. As long as you managed the effort so you didn't blow up and lose the group you were in I'd have said being done in the sprint by most of your group would mean a good result for you. Race effort made. Hard work done. Sprinted as best you could after flogging yourself.
Tricky balance so don't take this the wrong way. I should have done the same last week up the finish climb. Didn't help I couldn't remember how long time wise it was but then that was my other issue for not rechecking beforehand.
A rare cup (though not on the road) for me last night, upgraded one slot due to a missing HR from second place. One lap of Watopia Figure 8 reverse in the KISS short race. I like this course as the climb lengths suit me and I can normally raise my effort enough to pull away from some riders. I'm also quite liking these mass start events without power based start bins (ZP sorts out the rankings post race).
For once the start wasn't quite its normally craziness, which I was especially happy about having only got into the game five minutes before the start. Gave me a change to relax into it an coax my parkrun tired legs into action. Given the smaller field size I was determined to hold the front for as long as possible. The esses came and went easily, no real power hike needed on the shorter ramp at the top that you sometimes need. Onward to the main climb. I made sure I was on the front as the road steepened which meant I didn't had to go nuts to latch back on, instead just need to raise the effort a little more as the road flattened to catch the three that had started to break away. The four of use already had a comfortable gap or 4 seconds by that point and it continued to grow up too 20s at the top. The group seemed to work nicely together though I don't really have the fitness or power to pull A riders for more than 15/20s before someone will start to slide past again. Need to work on this part of my riding as it would be nice not to have to hide out of necessity when working would be more beneficial. The gap continued to grow as we work and up till the the second big climb it was a largely uneventful section. Other than one member not paying attention out of the underwater section and dropping back a few seconds. I tried a hard pull at this point to see if we could gap them and become a three however their A+ power was too much.
Onto the second climb. I had a draft bonus from the sprint which I used to rest as we went through downtown. Was hoping for a feather but picked up a aero instead. The climb started well and we were all close till around the 300m marker. I wavered a little at this point and a small gap opened. As it went flat I hit the aero and desperately tried to close back up. Got it down to 1s by the time the aero ran out but just couldn't close the last bit. At that point I realised I'd got a second aero at the top so hit it and went all in. Same again unfortunately, just could not quite reattach, damn. 7k to run at this point and I'm knackered and on my own. A quick check showed the following group had split more and there were 3 riders 2 minutes behind. ITT time as there was no way I wanted to be caught. As the distanced ticked down I kept an eagle eye on the gap and their power levels. Had a couple of scares where it seemed to be tumbling however I managed to keep it around the 2 minute mark till the end of the tunnel. With 2kish to go I knew I was pretty much safe and relaxed a little. No point ig sprinting so I trundled across the line at a steady 3w/kg in fourth.
Wife is out tonight so I considering a long zwift session. Legs don't feel up for a race so thinking about doing the pretzel as I've yet to attempt this.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=100168316
Great report and mirrors some of my rides in a way, but instead of me holding that gap, i'm usually the one being closed down and picked off in the last KM. Well done for not being me 🙂
I'm either thinking rest day and taking the KTM out in 30 mins or possibly the 5:10pm for the greater London Flat.
Shitballs, fractured shoulder, back on the Zwift as soon as i can talk my wife into fitting the chain on to my turbo bike for me.
Oooops. How did that happen then mate ?
Ouch, sounds nasty.
I took the sketchiest of about 15 line choices at Hit the North and failed to have the required skills to execute it in the mud. Straight over the bars and landed on my shoulder. about 5 years ago, in the same small, urban park i did a lvl 4 acj separation of the same shoulder.
40+ enduros and two trips to the alps between the injuries and an xc race in phillips park does me 😀
I took on Bibby, he beat me. By lots!
Race was going ok for first 1/3. Then some A guy and a 4.5 B caught us averaging 4.3 each! I hung for next 3/4 of a lap but then fell off back and sat at 239w for 1/2 a lap or so until a 4 caught me and hopped on wheel. We were closing on group ahead, well, I say we, it was more them as I was sucking wheels. 2nd of 4 in our sprint.
Bear with me, off topic but thought this would be the place to ask! Just finally got my bkool turbo up and running 3 years after buying it and using it once, life gets in the way. ho hum.
Just done an introductory workout, and when in free pedal, feels great, quite natural but i can pedal at a good lick and I'm doing about 4 kph. Once the workout starts and i have a power target, it just feels unattainable (slow not too hard). I literally have to be in lowest gear, and pedalling right at the limit of how slowly i can turn the cranks otherwise I'm just putting out too much power. Each time the power required ramps up it seems to be wanting a similar cadence from me, which is too low.
Is this how it's designed to work or am I missing something in setting it up, calibration etc? It's a bkool smart, with a garmin cadence sensor linked.
Morning all, complete Zwift noob here. I got my Tacx Flow smart trainer on Sunday and had a lap around London just as a play but what should I really do first? The I've an empty house tonight so have a bit of time to set stuff up and play about with it. TIA
Depends on your aim/goals mate really ? do you want a group ride ? A race ? Training sessions that are directly focused ? Training on your own terms ?
Nick - Have you downloaded firmware and are you using this on Zwift or on Bkool? Have you selected the correct trainer in the list?
Swavis - I jumped straight in with a ride, a FTP test then a race. If doing it again I'd skip the FTP test and race as that'll give you a good enough idea where you are at. Then I did a fair bit of map exploring and efforts up climbs and odd bits of racing. Not into group rides.
If you want to find a category do a decent effort up one of the big hills. Leigh or up the main mountain on Watopia.
Morning all, complete Zwift noob here. I got my Tacx Flow smart trainer on Sunday and had a lap around London just as a play but what should I really do first?
Unless you're desperate to go racing, I'd just use it by going for a spin. Work out how things function, like power-ups and drafting and what the rider boards show you - click on someone's name and you'll 'watch' them but also see their power rate, cadence and HR which can be useful if you're racing, and inclines and stuff. There's loads of info online, zwiftinsider is pretty comprehensive if you like understanding things like the effect of weight and notional air resistance etc.
If you want to go racing, go racing, bu bear in mind that you'll be at a disadvantage initially just by not knowing where the climbs are. I think everyone learns differently, I kind of like understanding things as a gentle learning process, others don't care. It's all pretty obvious mostly, but it's easy to forget that some of it's quite confusing to start with.
I wish ZwiftPower enforced their own rules. Ride the other day saw me pipped to the post by a rider with no HRM who also kept mysteriously popping in and out of view. He's not been DQ'd despite the race rules stating that all category winners need to provide heart rate data.
Likewise, there's a rider who weighs 50kg who you can actually see backing off from time to time to keep his average watts under 250W to avoid being upgraded into A. So the results consistently show aa W/kg of about 4.8, but average power of 249W, leading to continual wins in B.
Categories should be automatically generated based on where you finish in overall rankings, IMHO, and ZP-calculated average power data shouldn't be available during the race.
Thanks for the tips, I think I'll start by just doing some rides until I find out how stuff works, I had no idea about the power ups...
I just want to use it to increase fitness and something to do when I can't get away from the house.
Explore the worlds. Don't forget Watopia is always available but you have to select it.
I'd try a training plan at some point to see if it works for you or not but not straight away.
Racing is fun and a good way of giving yourself a kick up the backside if you are a competitive person at all. Hurts though :0)
Flaperon - Report it on the forum on ZP. Both the result and the sandbagger. They might upgrade the sandbagger eventually. He's probably weight doping as well to manage the watts just under the limit. Linky?
Categories should be automatically generated based on where you finish in overall rankings, IMHO, and ZP-calculated average power data shouldn’t be available during the race.
The problem with having no categories is it takes some of the tactical elememt out of it for the slower people in C and B. Last week I chased down 2 Cs and dragged them to the finish line to keep a B at bay. If the Cs helped great but I didn't have to think about them in the sprint. Enforced category selection is what is needed and hopefully the new ZP ranking system works out when it arrives and is utilised by Zwift.
Its interesting to see how serious the zwift racing is becoming with the controversy about weight doping ... any idea how much the winners of these shows actually win?
18.55 Gladiators race for me tonight. Not done a race for over a week, and only 1 or 2 little spins on bike inbetween that. Front group must have been pros (professional weight-dopers of course) so they dropped me on first climb. I stayed with a fast 2nd group until the last climb - then the same old story of getting dropped towards top of climb and not being able to get on back of them as the descended.
Have enjoyed doing a few of the (Luke) Rowe & (Dani) King group workouts recently. Unlike a lot of the Zwift workouts they don't try and hit every zone in a session. This evening's Chain Gang work-out was a tough series of varying length (1-5min) 'free ride' intervals.
Does anyone know if you can view all the workouts for a particular organiser? Otherwise it's easy to miss them unless you check the list on a regular basis, especially if it's not mentioned in the title of the workout.
Edit: found you can search by text on WhatsOnZwift
Well as they say, a wins a win, but i was a smidgen disappointed with how part of it went
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=169588
Lap 1, all good until the hill in the middle, lost the fast boys but hung well with the group i wanted. This group i felt was a higher group than i ought to be in, but i was doing OK in it... Over the line for lap 2, we've pulled in a few and dropped them and we're cracking along... Hit the hill again as a group of 9... I went over the top in P2 for the group, with 6s down on the guy ahead and 4s up on the guys behind... It was just after this it all went wrong... As it drops back down theres, a slight rise and as we hit this rise the absolutely FLEW past me with the drafting effect, just disappeared and next thing i was 3s down on them and losing fractions ! then seconds, then it was over, their speed as a group just blew me apart.
But i had a decent lead over the next group back and i was feeling somewhat OK with things.. legs not bad, HR high but again, OK... So i cracked along at 270w or so for the last 1.5km and not quite held the gap behind, but kept it plenty safe and had more left in the tank if i'd needed it.
Would have given me a decent placing in B as well that... But that's the sort of course that really suits my strengths as a rider.
Nice win Weeksy, you destroyed the rest of them. Never done a 2 lap of that course, i think i would prefer the slightly slower pace of a 4 lapper.
I did the grind race this morning and stuck with every attack the Dirt team could throw at me. I was in a bunch sprint and ended up 8th just a second behind the winner. Well pleased with that as it was my highest avg watts for a race (268w) and its pretty flat with only a couple of ramps in it.
Nice one Weeksy :D.
I've not raced that course in months. Really want to have another go at it.
It suits me because the first 4-5km is pan flat. So i can hang with faster riders than somewhere like London which has the kick up a couple of early times into the ride, so the A's bin us fast Cs there.. but at Innsbruck it's flat right until the big (to me) hilly bit, which means i'm higher up than usual. Luckily if i can get the right Bs and Cs with me i can hold them on the hill and it's then flat again... So works well for strong fat blokes. 🙂
As if by magic.... just come in from 4 lap race of the same Innsbruck circuit. Stuck myself in as a C and am glad I did as I ended up with a bronze 🙂 Pretty straightforward race all told, apart from my first shouting at for holding a wheel of someone who was pissed that I hadn't done any work in a group and then broken away on my own (I was just using up a drafting bonus before the finish line). Very strange, as he then went on to break away on his own! I always try and take a turn on the front of a group so no idea what had bugged him so much. I noted that he was riding as a C but finished mid pack in the B's.
Whoever it was on here who said the hill mid lap was a 1 minute climb, I thank you. Was a great help knowing that I could pace myself out for that time with a bit left in the tank to power off the top corner. This always seemed to bring quite a big reward from there on in until the finish line more or less.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=171915
Looking at your race and figures, we'd be a good race.
Sounds like a good week for stw on zwift! I entered some 8 lap London route this week and held on for about half a lap before sliding further and further back. Just didn't seem to have the legs from the off
Results seem to show I did okay though on zpower in cat ç
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=168679
8 laps of the classique, that's a proper ride ! Great work.
Well new kickr core arrived this week as the last one was faulty but alas the new one is worse so looks like that is going back. I am not having much luck with these but at least Wahoo have been really quick to resolve it. Did the sprintapalooza ride this morning and smashed the sprint section on watopia flat, managed it in under 20s (19.33) for a new pr, maxed at 962w and pretty sure i broke my 15s power but as i bailed before the end i cant see my results on ZP. Anyway i can find my result even though i bailed half way through to do another race? That sprint segment i managed 23s at avg 750w so its got to be good 15s power.
It seems i am a far better rider if i have no fuel and no warm up. Did Innsbruck race this morning and was going quite nicely with the front group. Some of elite A group went off the front but we maintained them at 25s or so for the full race. I was hanging in with the second A group and a couple of other B’s but it reqd some huge efforts up that dreaded hill. I think the third lap i avgd 465w and peaked at 700w up that hill which hurt a lot! Even when i realised on lap 4 that it was actually a 5 lap race that mental blow didnt stop me. I stuck with the group and managed to win the sprint to the line, 6th overall and silver in cat B. No fuel or warm up is the future.
LOL not sure it always works out... but that's a cracking effort there buddy.
I'm in for the 14:15 short flat one today, then a bit of a bimble round after. Arguably i should rest today but tomorrow will deffo be a rest due to family plans, so i'll ride today and wipe myself out.
Timing worked out nice and I got a little 6-7min warm up before the race.
Went off hard and strong, holding in with the As until the top of horseguards on lead-in.
As we split I ended up with quite a strong B, but he couldn't hold the 5 riders closing in us, as he was at 3.6, I couldn't help either, so I sat and waited for them on his wheel.
They caught just over the line on start of London flat, so we all bunched and I played hide and seek.
There were 2 other C's in the group of 7, I was wondering how they were, checked my HR, 196, errrrm no. My monitor gas been playing up a bit lately, this was clearly miles out.
As we continued I was doing ok, we went along past turn for Box and one guy split us, poops, then another a d another, so 3 were pulling away, then another B pinned it and I went with him at 450w or so, we killed the other C's and he dragged me into the 3. Nice. Up the underpass and I nearly lost the wheel in the run down, but just about hung in.
Race for the line I wAs destined to be last, but one guy went way early and I pipped him on the line.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=172188
Gold by about 45s, so a convincing win really. Arguably one of my best performances for many many races
First week off in a while, moved house though and a primary school coffee morning scuppered my only window of opportunity, now everything is upside down and im back at work with 4 shifts in 5 days and an upside down house with no internets, whine whine whine, sodding real life 🙂
Nice win weeksy, another destroyed field says to me that you should be upgrading. It seemed a strange race looking at the stats,other than the top two there werent many riders with big 15s power. Its normally a bunch finish so i would have expected plenty to be hitting double figure w/kg.
It seems i am a far better rider if i have no fuel and no warm up
More likely, you aren’t leaving long enough gap between eating and racing, causing an insulin slump as the carbs are transferred. You need to experiment by for me this is 90-120 mins.
Nice win weeksy, another destroyed field says to me that you should be upgrading
I hear ya, but ZP still has me as a C and I do often pick routes and distance to suit me. But admittedly I've got gold in 4 out of last 7 races. But it won't actually change who I'm racing at the time etc. I'd still end up with slow B and fast C around me in the race. It's not like I'll magically go quicker
No racing for me but reached the end of the ‘build me up’ program (well, sacked off most of the last 2 weeks as I was ill). FTP Test 260 tonight, 3.4 w/kg, up from 210 at the start in January.
I wonder how much improvement long term zwifters get. As we know, sometimes it's a steep learning curve as you learn to work, push, suffer and get on with it.
I wonder how taking someone who's been zwifting hard for over a year would do.
Is anyone watching the finals on Thursday night? I might try and watch it live on YouTube.
I entered a"race" last night that turned out to be a time trial which I hadnt realised. The masters which was 12 laps of some short course in NY. Legs were still suffering from a long ride at the weekend and I could tell from the off it wasn't going to be a good race for me. Ended up 4th/5 in cat b which was worked out from age groups. Seemed odd that the numbers were so low in my age category. Ended up with 2.9w/kg which I know I can do more than
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=172533 results here
I was having a bit of a debate with one of the Top Cs and have put myself into a short race against him on Thurs
https://www.zwiftpower.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&p=12383#p12383
It was a topic regarding whether i should or shouldn't move up to B. OR wait until my power enforces it.
It seems from the 'race rankings' section, i'm sitting in 94th place. He's not a million miles away from unbeatable within C...
https://www.zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=62302
Looking at his power, i need plan B rather than waiting for the sprint, so i'm going to be hitting the power about 2.5km out and seeing how long i can hang in if i can get a PU and get away. I can't physically put out the 1000w i'd need to win a sprint.
I was very confused by the results for a while Yim...
My tired efforts / poor strategy have me adjusted to a C in my profile. It'd be interesting to hit a race when fresh, as I'm having a crisis of confidence in paying for a coach.
I'm still of an opinion that un-coached riders - and Weeksy is a good example - seem to be able to put out consistently good multiple performances where coached riders seem to have 4/5 good races in them max. If I don't move up in XC races this year, I'm abandoning the cost of a Coach and will be in here more often for sure.
Or, it could just be me.
It's an interesting one Kryts, my performances rarely change from day to day, no matter how i feel, tired, great, completely dead, it's the same.. (roughly), Blader is another.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=110351
He races longer, harder and faster than i do, day after day after day, with barely any rest. What his race profile doesn't show is his 'ride' events too which he often does on the same days, doubling his race distance.
As we know, i've debated the structured stuff, i've debated the peaking, resting, racing thing, more than a few times... But Zwifting for the sake of it or indeed for the sake of training, doesn't do it for me, i'm either riding outdoors or i'm racing on Zwift.