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Did my 2 mins test on Zwift today. Ended 7w from my all time PB of 381 which I'm happy with considering I was a quivering sweaty wreck and shitting through the eye of a needle yesterday - a 24hr bug no doubt - and little sleep Monday night.
Just the 20 mins test to go on Saturday.
Dirt Cup Bologna 1 lap mass start road bikes.
8km then nasty steep climb.
Harvey Mushman of this parish masquerading as a C got the DQ.
Sit in to the hill. Couple of accelerations briefly split the group on the way but just strung out at the turn. It blew up immediately and settled in at an unsustainable pace. Slowed a bit and had Nic, 3rd overall, glued to my wheel. Plod plod plod then Jamie in 2nd overall dug in before the second time through the arches and distanced us briefly. Got back on as it flattened and ground in front and noticed Nic was in trouble so pushed on for final 400+m and basically blew before the line. 3rd on ZP and the leading 2 are out of category realistically.
Got my 100kph badge on the way down :0)
Also just 8watts off my 12mins 55seconds best ;0)
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=254850
2 more podiums needed to get a full set of podiums for the final results.
Wooh yeah promoted to 2nd ;0)
Also only need 7 results for final now after last weeks Zwift cock up.
So only need 1 more podium.
Well done and good luck Tom, great write up 🙂
Rest day today until Sunday due to other plans too (Palace v Liverpool being one of them), so down to you lot.
Harvey mushman of this parish here 😀
Just finished the lamb chop race (c) and it was brutal, i was on the limit the whole time and the elastic went when the B group caught us.
I’ve just logged on to zwiftpower for the first time in ages and noticed I’ve been suspended until January , hadn’t a clue I’d been doing anything untoward but it turns out I’m just above c cat limits, it’s a shame as I was enjoying the possibility of competing the odd time but mostly still being dropped. I think I’m in the unfortunate position that to finish at the sharp end of a c race I need to kill myself on the bike. When I enter a B race I’m blown out the back pretty early on.
It’s not much fun entering races knowing you’ll last a mile and die but hey ho! I think the off season padding hasn’t helped. I’m off to serve my suspension in shame.
If you ask and explain you hadn't been looking at ZP and promise to be a good boy they'll probably lift the ban on ZP.
It was odd as your name didn't appear on the Zwift list but you were on the live ZP leaderboard. You appeared to be stomping ahead up the climb and then dropped behind but I don't recall passing you.
Also is your profile weight correct on Zwift if you've put some on? That might get you back into C.
You’ll not have noticed me on Zwift as the names dont match, d.moody on there. I must correct that. And yeah I checked weight this morning and I’m up 3kg (damn it!)
I’m in the unfortunate place that I’m able to do 3.3wkg on a good day, I’m not a lightweight so get destroyed on longer climbs, I’m not a big lad either so have to ride hard to hold the bunch on a flat too. Fortunately I can sprint so I was loving trying to be there to contest a sprint in the C races. It is much more fun destroying yourself in the last couple of miles in a C race than destroying yourself in the first mile of a B race then time trialling solo to the line.
The recent races that have been over the category limits in C are the ones I still ended up dropped and mid field. I must be seriously inefficient. I will go back to B races for a while and see if I can hang on in a flat race.
Awwww that's a shame Daz... I'm disappointed and slightly jealous all at once 🙂
Daz we are very similar, I’m a B, but bottom end. Can do 3.4 or 3.5 on a good day for an hour, but last race I did got dropped into the second group on the second lap (lap 2 of 5). The climb was 7w/kg for 90 seconds then down to 3.5, the second climb my elastic snapped, got to the top about 10 seconds behind the main group but had nothing left to try and catch back on. Was then in a group who were attacking each other on the climb, bit silly really.
I think I’ve changed my forum name to match my alter ego 😀 I’ve been on here long enough to remember a time that wasn’t possible
Maybe it still isn’t and I only think I’ve changed it
Edit- yep, I’m still daz!!!!
Another long SST last night 2:10 at 2.9/3.2 W/kg. Felt easy for sweet spot looking at HR. Then I checked my FTP and I'd lowered it to 235 from when I was ill! Still that is exactly the training I need for endurance, so maybe I need to "fix" FTP for those workouts - or just set ERG mode and be done. FTP test this weekend I guess, or a cross race.
I'm probably a B, but was an A when I raced once. I get my races outside though, but am tempted by a low watt/kg group ride
Started up the free beta https://www.rgtcycling.com/ for the first time in months and did a few routes, including half of Mont Ventoux, being very lazy in cyling in my slippers instead of swapping top my cycling shoes was a really bad idea when I tried to put some effort in up the Paterberg "wall!"
Worth trying if you have a power meter setup, download "game" bit for pc/mac and the "remote" bit for your mobile.
Could some one explain "bridging via the Companion app" or " what's wrong" for me please?
So, I've altered my Zwift setup - more about that another time. For now:
a) With my bike facing "South", I used to have an old Dell laptop with the ANT+ dongle in front of the bike on top of a stepladder. I've always used a Belkin wifi extender to get the signal. I never had any internet or ANT+ dropouts to my Direto.
b) Today I received a 2nd hand all-in-one which gives me a big screen in from of the bike. The bike is now facing "North" - because the screen needs to be on a worktop - meaning the whole setup is 1.5m further away from the house albeit the ANT+ dongle is the same distance away from my Direto trainer. So, now I've got poor internet connection and ANT+ keeps dropping out. On investigation I've discovered the PC doesn't have bluetooth or wifi, so wifi now comes via a USB dongle in the back of it.
When pairing, I can choose to use Bluetooth - which I can't 'cause I don't have it - or "bridge" by Zwift Companion on my android phone. How does this work, because my phone is not connected to my devices and nor can I see where you can use Companion to do so?
And yes, some 3m M-F USB extension leads are incoming.
Companion app —> more —> settings —> device connections —> turn switch to on via iOS. Assuming android will be similar.
Assuming android will be similar.
Theres no such setting in Android. However I discovered that - because the USB ports are at the back of the all-in-one PC the device itself was shielding the wi fi dongle from the house. A quickly delivered pair of M-F Amazon basics 3m USB extension cables and I've got 16-30Mbps again and my ANT+ is next to the trainer aka no drops. Job done, 2hrs ridden on Zwift today with no issues.
So now rather than the 13" 2 core I7 laptop balanced on a stepladder I'm rocking a faster 4 core i5 with graphics card and 1080p 23" all in one in front of the bike on a worktop - a bit like Poopscoops setup a few pages back. Saves a lot of faff/prep every time - switch on and go - and the bigger screen makes a whole load of difference. Got the Dell all in one from Gigarefurb for £198.
I got a Dell optiplex 1010 refurb off Amazon for 130 quid with SSD and 8gb ram.
Hooked it up to an old telly.....which died....so I procured another for a case of beer.
Zwift on the Big screen
Well worth it if you have the space.
Yes mine’s an optiplex 9020 with 8gb ram, graphics card and 256gb ssd upgrade.
Not sure what im going to do with the other 240gb...
My wife was out for a few hours on Sunday so I thought I'd try something different: the Fun in the Sun 70km race on the Big Foot Hills course. This features the Volcano climb half way and a couple of small kicks before and after. I was interested to see how well I could keep going for 2 hours and whether it would be too boring.
In fact I found the focus involved in racing made it an engaging 2 hours and it wasn't boring at all. Listening to previous advice on this thread I tried not to go too fast at the start, just enough to keep me in the front half of the bunch rather than near the front. The pack split in two on the first climb, Titan's Grove but I was in the front bunch. But at the next climb over "Forward Climb" the acceleration from the front guys was just too much for me and by the other side I was in a select group of 3, which was soon 2 minutes behind the fast guys and 2 minutes ahead of the slower bunch.
Everything stayed stable for the next hour, and I got the impression I was a better climber than the other two but they were as good or better on the flat - probably big guys with good power but not as good on w/kg. But I thought there's no point getting away on a climb if they were going to catch me afterwards, so I just wound up the power on the climbs to keep them working hard but let them keep catching me. On the flats I was a bad group member and successfully spent 95% of the time at the back.
This worked really well so that for the first time ever when we got to the last 300m I found I had a good sprint in my legs and got 6 seconds off them over the line and came in 9/21 on B in Zwiftpower: https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=256909
Not a bad result, but nowhere near troubling the better Bs.
Looking at the stats afterwards for the other 2 in my small group I see I was totally wrong, they were both lighter than me, one of them just 60kg, so they must have been riding their legs off on the flat while I was taking it easy on the back. I feel now like I was quite mean to them - but I guess that's racing. Overall it was surprisingly enjoyable but I know now I could have gone harder and maybe should have burned some matches to hold onto the front group.
I gone done a race, EVR Europe tonight. Entered Cat D as I'd never done a Zwift race before, won it by quite a lot, in fact came 3rd in C 1 second off 2nd and top 20 in B 🤷🏼♂️
Zwift Power promptly binned my result and bumped me straight to Cat B 🤦🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️
I know you're all mainly on the racing side of things, but I'd like some advice on what plan to go with next.
I've been sticking to the plans mainly because the ~1hr session fits well with time I've got to ride and my FTP/WKG means I'm not going to be troubling even the lowest cats in races.
Main objective at the moment is to drop weight, I was 92kg at 170 CMs and a combo of Zwift/Less Beer/Longer dog walks/Avoiding Sausage rolls I'm down to 82kg. I've been creeping up the FTP to 216w and the KGs going down has helped the W/KGs figure.
I've been doing the 4wk FTP Builder with the odd free ride and a few extra ramp tests to see how I've been getting on. But the 7 days a week of that schedule hasn't really worked for me. I've been doing more like 4/5 a week depending on if I get an outside ride as well.
Getting towards the end of the programme so wondering what to do next.
I'd been riding sporadically once a week with a weekly run for last couple of years but nothing structured or that high intensity. So already a fairly big step up in volume but enjoyed it and it's helped with the motivation to eat better.
I'd really like get down to >70KG by next summer which would put me in the healthy weight zone.
The weight loss is the main goal but secondarily I'd like to get better at the ups at Surrey Hills Trails, have a go at the South Downs Way in a day next year and maybe the London Duathlon.
I'm considering either the Gravel Grinder or the MTB Absa Cape Programme
They feel sensible? Should I be looking at something else or because I'm starting from a fairly untrained state will it not really matter as long as I stick with it?
Anything that's planned and you follow fairly closely and regularly will help. Something else might be better but it's not going to be by much. The key is working in effective zones and doing it regularly. Remember the FTP number isn't the only thing. Think about how you've improved getting through some of the sessions especially when they increase the time of them. Weight loss will become harder and even though you are working hard at some point you'll plateau and again don't hang yourself on the ultimate number.
For me where 1 1/2hour session looked like madness a couple of years ago it's now the norm to push 1 hour sessions out towards that to gain further time at a sensible level.
Kelvin, as Tom says just choosing a program and sticking with it will probably help your fitness rather than worrying too much about exactly which one.
But you should now be able to enjoy an occasional race: at 216W and 82kg you are 2.6 W/kg which puts you well into C. You may not win any races but you should be able to keep up and enjoy it. And if you get down to your 70kg target you'll be right at the top of Bs. As a fellow Surrey Hills MTBer I'd suggest aiming for races with hills, because maxing out on your W/kg for 10 mins at a time to hold onto the pack is great training for slogging up Leith or Pitch. But if you are serious about doing the SDW in a day you'll need to build a capacity to ride 10-12hrs off road, and I suspect that means focusing on progressively longer slow MTB rides outside when Spring comes - such as 30->40->50+ miles around the Nivarana Killer Loop plus a detour to Box Hill and Headley for good measure.
Thanks both, reassuring that what I choose won't matter too much, might go for the gravel one as has some cadence drills in there and at the moment I'm prone to lag behind some mates spinning 100rpm up the trails while I'm nursing 70ish rpm.
J-R this the Nirvana Loop you're talking about?
I'm down on the coast in Worthing so not far from the SDW to do a bit of practice on the middle 30 miles when things dry out.
Waiting on @weeksy to report why a 60kg rider beat him in the sprint for 3rd ;0)
Well that goes down as VERY interesting...
Had 2.5 days withouot cycling coming into this race. Can't recall the last time i had that long off. I've also been down with a bit of lurgy, but we won't get into that.
Anyway. Greater London Flat, Dirt Cup series. As i join the pen i see the notorious bath Salts in there ! Sheesh. The undisputed king of C racing LOL.
We go off and the legs feel great, up the slight inclines i'm sitting in the lead bunch, due to the series it's a C only bunch which helps me lots. We go up the first climb after the right hander and Salts wallops it... .i'm hitting 650w to get after him as are a few others. His tactics worked though as we went from a group of 17 down to 9.
We've now got 9s on the goroup behind and we're working well, although only 3 of us taking turns on the front. Me being one of them, which i've not said in quite a long time. Down the underpass i'm thinking "this is it, this is where i get canned..that kick up then the 3% false flat kills me.... but no, i'm still there over the line into lap2 and the final lap.
I'm taking my share of turns and even pressuring the group a couple of times... Mostly flat so going well.... Down the underpass and up the other side i'm still in the group, we're now a 6 group from 9 a people have been shelled out..
Then onto the 3% and Salts kicks at 900w... Bumer... i don't have that and it splits into 2 groups of 3 with 1.5km to go.
They pull out 5-6 sec over the last km and we shell one of ours out, so we're a 2... But he beats me to 4th so i end up with 5th place.. Brilliant, way happy with that.
FTP increase to 276w too which is also nice.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=259403
J-R this the Nirvana Loop you’re talking about?
Almost. I ride it clockwise and include the tops of Holmbury and Pitch Hills, which makes it over 30 miles and gives some useful additional climbing. When I get home tonight I'll check what the actual laminated map from Nirvana Cycles says.
One plus for the Nirvana route is plenty of food stop opportunities.
Waiting on @weeksy to report why a 60kg rider beat him in the sprint for 3rd ;0)
In simple terms, i waited, waited, waited.... oh... Too late... he went and i missed it LOL.
@weeksy how does this race work? You guys in C were around 46 minutes for the race, which was significantly less than the time taken by A and B.
Their race was 3 laps, C/D race was 2 laps.
They didn't show on our leaderboard etc, but we did catch a few of the Bs and they jumped in our group a couple of times.
Ah, thanks @Weeksy
the notorious bath Salts in there ! Sheesh. The undisputed king of C racing LOL.
Are you aware he was DQ'd from a race series a while ago, for having an A group person (Choppa) ride with him in C as somebody to draft. It is a very interesting read:
https://www.zwiftpower.com/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=5218
Yup. Personally i have no issue with him... I think if he tried 100% all race he's a decent B. But how he rides, he's a very good C. His tactics may be somewhat unfair, but it's all fun in racing for me 🙂
He's also chatty in races which i like along with being prepared to put a shift in to get a few shelled out..
Nice one. I'm racing that later which is why I saw you were doing well in the Live.
His mate Choppa get's binned out of Dirt races regularly for some historical spat from what I can tell.
Only raced Salts once and I was having a bad day round Yorkshire and somehow pulled them all the rest back after he dropped them for second. I might hunt ranking points after this series has finished which means seeking out the higher ranked racers.
What does puzzle me is how does he keep his watts so low.
Today average Watts
Salts 249watts 90kG (NP 300w)
Weeksy 279watts 89kG (NP 290w)
Essentially finished on the same time.
NP is very close and I think from looking at a race file he pulses big power. So rather than keeping a constant effort he stops regularly but has probably shot through the group then backed off. Maybe.
If I get the time tonight I'm going to have a crack at the EVR Europe Race again, but enter C and see if I don't get booted from that, but looking at my stats from the last race I had an (somehow) averaged weighted power of 3.45W/kg over the race.
The C race is 2.5 to 3.2W/kg and the B is 3.2 to 3.9W/kg, so should I just gun it and go for B and get a right kicking?
@steve_b77 what cat does your zwiftpower profile indicate? Drop a link to it in here and we can advise.
I've only done one race and this was it; and as a result my ZwiftPower profile says Cat B at 3.35W/kg so just inside B. As it was my first race it could be a "fluke" output, but then again it could be bang on, so I guess that sticking with B is the best idea to get a decent average over a few races instead of a sample of 1?
I've only been Zwifting for a couple of months, so still getting used to it all really.
Zwift takes your best three 95% of 20min MAPs (from the past 90 days?) to form an average and then assign you to a category. If you are new to racing in general, not just Zwift, I'd be inclined to do two 20min+ races at sub 230W for 20mins MAP... If I haven't had a maths fail, that will put you in C and give you a few more races at least to get a feel for Zwift racing.
Still not done much "proper" racing in B that I've been thrown into, but did a handicapped Watopia Waistband TT on Monday (cat groups head off in reverse order every 5mins). I had to mess about with trainer difficulty (slope feel) several times to try and keep my power somewhere near 275W and hr under 168bpm (my LTHR) with the 16T sprocket until the very end, but quite happy to complete in ~43mins20secs with ~270W average.
No idea why the times don't match the position list, it looks like times might be based on when group D set off, as there's 5mins added to my time https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=258941
Struggling once again to get going today on a day off, woke for an hour around 0300 and then slept in until gone 0800... Need to pop out to get some supplies so doing the Sand & Sequoias TT at 1435 won't happen, but might see if I can get back and be warmed up for the 1505 mad 1lap dash around Laguardia... Been meaning to try one of these "super sprint" events for ages!
I'd be tempted to go with B with that power. If it was a fluke you'll be regraded in two races but if it's not then you risk DQ from a lot of events.
What does puzzle me is how does he keep his watts so low.
In simple terms, because of his crazy 15s or even 1min power he can risk sitting at the back more than others like me, if i start to struggle on a slight incline and lose the group of even 5-6 riders, there's no coming back from it, once you're gone you're gone. But he's low enough in his HR and max power that if he lost the tow he can squirt it up and back in he comes. So he can sit further back and do less work.
I tried 2-3 times to break the group, i even got a 3s gap on them on my own, but i was putting out 400w to do it and they had me even if i'd have tried, so was just trying to soften them up.
Interestingly the guy who finished 2nd was also highly ranked as were a couple of guys behind me, so i picked up 16 ranking points which i'm more than happy with.
I was happier though that i seemed to find some form.
Even if it does mean that i have to tell Crosshair he's right and i do need a few days off sometimes 😉
I'll deffo be concentrating on C races though i think, when i and others go off with the B/A riders it puts me too far into the red and i never recover, but racing with pure C riders gives me a half decent chance.
You're a B.
To get downgraded you'd have to do 2 races under 3.13wkg which is unlikely IMO.
I'd really like to be able to do 3.35 in a race. Maxed out this year at 3.19 (1kg lighter) and generally about 3.15 in races which I'm on the podium in a competitive field.
I think in most C races you'll also be auto DQed as you are officially a B.
@nixie @tomlevell guess I'll go give B a go this evening then and see how I get on, if I do I'll report back on here whatever the outcome.
You'll probably turn yourself inside out and be further away from C than you think you are :0)
Race experience over time will also make you better for the power output you can put out.
Good luck.
Thanks to the pep talk earlier did a race rather than a workout today, Same one I've done previously 3R Sand & Sequoias - 1 Lap (20km) as a D.
Load quicker than last time round, FTP bumped from 216 to 222 which was a nice perk as well!
You’re a B.
To get downgraded you’d have to do 2 races under 3.13wkg which is unlikely IMO.
I’d really like to be able to do 3.35 in a race. Maxed out this year at 3.19 (1kg lighter) and generally about 3.15 in races which I’m on the podium in a competitive field.
I think in most C races you’ll also be auto DQed as you are officially a B.
This kind of talk confuses me. Tom's constantly on podiums (well done!) but I race at 3.35 or thereabouts and am top third mostly, although I've a few "C" medals.
Que?