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Maybe you work more which ultimately results in a higher average.
been a quiet couple of weeks, just 2 zwift rides in, no races, but i did hammer myself up the Epic and the Volcano, so no bimbling really, and then todays race,
3R Sand and Sequoias 1 Lapper, knew with the short lead in and 10km flat i could stick with the front group until the first "hill" which i did then it all splintered, i nearly stayed with them, but i was too gassed to chase on the downhill, kept good tempo up titans grove and got caught by a bunch of 4 near the top, managed to hold onto them on the rollers on the way down, thought id be able to have them in the sprint as i recovered on the flat, however at the bottom we got caught by a huge fast moving group, 20+ dragged a couple of stragglers in, last 1.5km a group of 4 had 15 seconds, the group managed to haul all but 1 of those in, heartbreak for them, like a proper stage break being caught,
last 2.3km as the segments called was fast - av HR was 187bpm for the last 3 minutes peaking at 197 so i was working hard, however managed to drag some sort of sprint out, going with 250m to go just missed Bronze by a knots cock, 1st and 2nd were up the road with a 4.1w/kg av, 14 riders split by less than 2 seconds, and happy with the result that i was 2nd in that lot
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=259434
Thought I might do a race tonight - first one since February and 2nd one in 2019
I used to be a B. Do I just go with that or do I have to find out my official category somehow? (how?)
@steve_b77 - be interesting to see how you get on. I've mentioned it on here before that I'm a lower end B, only done 3 races, got moved up to a B after my first race. I can sit in at 3.6 w/kg quite comfortably, but get done in on the 45/50 second fast climbs (6-7w/kg). Was a bit demoralising getting dropped from the main group of B's on the second lap of a 5 lap race. Got to pick and choose my events more closely.
Tempted to do the Classique Flat Race at 2030 tonight, but have done two tough training sessions in a row this week, tonight is supposed to be a rest night......
I might be a bit sore later and/or tomorrow, 130TSS over 3 events...
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=259436 (1505 1 lap super sprint Laguardia)
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=259260 (1530 ZA Tri 2020 Workout #5: V02max Development)
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=259444 (1700 2RR ITT Bologna)
The workout was a killer after the sprint race, trying to do multiple 300W intervals of up to 4mins was a real struggle. Thought I was then going to call it a day, but I had a recovery shake and then left it very late to decide to finish my legs off up Bologna.
Tomorrow will be a very easy bit of spinning!
I used to be a B. Do I just go with that or do I have to find out my official category somehow? (how?)
When you look on Zwiftpower.com it will show your current Cat in your profile. As you've not raced for 90+ days i'd expect you to be uncatagorised.
Cheers, yeh, all looks a bit blank weeksy - I'll try B and see how hard I can get my arse kicked !
Ho Ho Ho !
dropped like a red-hot turd before the end of the lead-in 🙁
well done to ??Mossimus though !
@kryton57 remember it's 95% of your best 20 minutes that counts. Yes I'm at a similar average depending on how the race goes. I'd say I'm good at hiding and I'm far better than I used to be at recovering from an effort or 3 than I used to be so I can normally make the group hurt up the short hills and be ok for the next one or reduced sprint. Not toniight though :0(
@scaredypants yes that lead in was hectic today, that is normally a 2 lap race, tonight was first time with single lap.
Due to faster than normal start I failed to keep with lead Cs off the line, managed to hide in 2nd group along embankment and eventually bridged to lead group. Had about 12 of us in front group, up the mall one chap attacked and got 4 seconds on the bunch, he was regularly putting in >6w/kg effort. A combined effort by the group reeled him in but as soon as we did he kicked again and disappeared into the distance, at that point we let him go. So 6 of us together under the 1k to go banner, decided no matter what I wouldn’t attempt sprint until green line, was back of group by said line but managed to get 3rd in our group, 4th overall, silver on ZP. The ‘winner’ on the road averaged >5w/kg, good going for a C🤗
Came in tired after a hard weekend and a tough extended Tuesday night.
Greater London Flat for 2 laps.
Comfortable in front group. Hit it hard up Northumberland and thinned the group out drawing out the man I'd earmarked as favourite. Steady again until the underpass then go again with same man but group stayed together. Forogot about the 2 rises after that. Need to remember for lap 2.
Again hide mostly, with a couple of out of category going off the front, until underpass and go with the front few. Again on next rise but it's getting strung out and I'm too far back. Final one and gaps are opening up and as we get to the turn to the finish there's a clear gap to the front group so had to go long and lacking top end power and got mugged on the line by 2 others. 11th on the line and 5th on ZP.
Still I've won the league as the only person who could beat me didn't race.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=260815
Congratulations Tom!!!!
Nice racing Weeksy. I see Bath Salts won again, it might be time for him to adjust his weight again. I have told you this before but you do realise the only reason he is a C is because he adjusts his weight to stay there. That guy has put on 11kg in the last 12 months with no detriment to his results. His pal Choppa has questionable power sources and refuses to use dual power to validate it. He will only use his power meter which we believe he has changed the ramping on and wont use his trainer as a power source. We reached out to him about it but he wont reply but is happy to tell the world that we have a grudge. Each to there own i suppose.
Doesn't bother me at all Blader, i just race who's there each day and race to the best of my ability on that day... anything else is a bonus. I'm not getting paid for it and due to my lack of sprint ability i'll never be unbeatable on C races... But i'll enjoy it and give a decent effort every time.
Doesn’t bother me at all Blader, i just race who’s there each day and race to the best of my ability on that day… anything else is a bonus.
I need Weeksy lessons..
@blader1611 dual power is flawed. Its possible and not difficult to use the same power source and record it twice.
LOL mediocrity has shown me that route over the years mate. I'm an 'average' racer on any platform, be it road bikes where i was dumped from a Cat4 race pack, XC racing where my best was a top10 in Fun or anything and everything else. But i have plenty of enthusiasm for it as it's all just burning calories and enjoying myself. This is where Zwift excels for me, because i was at the sharp end the other day rather than just cruising round for 15th, then i really enjoyed it lots. The thoughts, the planning, the tactics, the "Can i hold this group all the way" thoughts etc... Even though i knew i was destined not to win, it was nice to be somewhere in the ball park, irrespective of how real or fake Zwift racing is, it gives me certainly a bit of 'something'
Due to timings i'm thinking potentially the 7:45pm Chop race tonight.. I'm looking at an Outdoor ride on Sat, so really i don't wanna Zwift on Fri, so thinking maybe tonight is a plan. Big field, split Cats, couldn't suit me more... I think it's a 'chase' type race which will be a bit weird, but the course kinda suits me being Volcano Flat
I don't expect a performance like yesterday, but being somewhere in the melting pot would be nice.
Almost 2900 (two thousand, nine hundred) riders signed up for the Eric Min social ride that starts at 1500! 😮
... Server crash incoming! 😆
And I was thinking that the Eric Min Thanksgiving Ride was some sort of memorial ride for a bloke called Eric. Until it dawned on me that today is THE number one public holiday in the USA. And Eric Min is the founder of Zwift.
Doh!
*waves at weeksy* sorry I missed you flash past, I was in dreamland with 1hr 40 of glycogen starved Z2 drifting by. Boy I’m hungry...
Just completed the 1800 ZHR Hare & House Race (C). Pretty sure I had entered the B, but at the start line I was in the C Pen - which was fine by me.
Still really struggling with the drafting, sounds daft but I still think I'm putting out quite a bit of extra power compared to everyone else, when I'm sitting in the pack if I'm not doing my w/kg I drift back. This is with me stabilising first, sitting in the pack and then normalising to the same w/kg as the riders around me.
As I've mentioned previously, I'm a lower end B so will get DQ from the race. I was in the front group, I'm 69kgs and for 1 hour 1 minute it was an average of 242 watts. It was difficult, but the big difference I found between that and the two B races I've entered is the surge on the climbs, was only London flat, but the pace on the two short climbs probably only went to about 5/wg whereas on the B races it was closer to 7.
Results aren't showing in my Zwiftpower profile yet - any idea how long this takes to update? Or is it not showing due to me being a B and in a C race?
(I purposefully sat out of the sprint at the end, I didn't have much to give, but sat up with 500 metres to go to ensure I didn't interfere with the finale)
Well that may have reaffirmed some suspicion I had the other day, I felt my 4th place was too easily won.
Today was tonnes harder for a much worse result. Was it because I was better rested? Hmmm not convinced. I think turbo calibration was off. It felt easy picking up pace to 400w the other day, today 320w wasn't easy, much higher HR and lower power.
Meh
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=248944
@woodster - “ normalising to the same w/kg as the riders around me.”
It took me a few races to realise that staying in the pack on the flat isn’t about W/kg, it’s mainly about W. So if you are light you need more W/kg to keep up with the big guys.
Your advantage is on the hills where the big guys have to produce a lot more W to mange the same W/kg and keep up with you. It’s what makes the racing so interesting.
As expected, DQ’d from my race for W/kg.
3.5 w/kg for 1 hour 2.
It’s such a big jump for me to go from a C to a B. I can keep to 3.6 for an hour (steady state), which I admit puts me ahead of the majority of C’s, but in the racing context I’m out of the back of the B’s after about 15mins. Think I need to put some weight on and stay as a C!
Seems like a fair few of us binned out for w/kg.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=260251
, but the big difference I found between that and the two B races I’ve entered is the surge on the climbs, was only London flat, but the pace on the two short climbs probably only went to about 5/wg whereas on the B races it was closer to 7.
With zwift races you don't get dropped cos you can't do 4w/kg for an hour, you get dropped cos you can't do 10w/kg for 15 seconds.
I'm a pretty punchy climber/sprinter, on London if I'm still in the pack I'm making my attack on the ramp out of the underground and trying to hold on from there. It's never worked yet 🤣
But you finished in the front group. Albeit you got the C buffer of a few minutes you still held onto them to the finish.
You can't expect to beat seasoned racers in a category where you are a lump below the top WKG level (you can win them but you probably need to improve areas of your power curve) and also the top Cs who are under category limits are out sprinting or out powering you on the flat or small inclines. My 1 to 5 minute is stronger than my 20 minute effort IMO and depending on the difficulty of the race final sprint is usually over 500 and up to 800 watts. I'm a C though. Intend to be a B soon but I'll wait until I get upgraded.
Once in B I can finish in the to quarter at times but typically it'll be somewhere in the bottom half until I improve my overall WKG figure.
Also look at the ZPoints tab on your profile. You don't have masses of data as you've only done 3 races and you probably haven't gone as hard as you can in the relevant instances but thats something you'll learn doing more events.
I am faster up Libby hill and the UCI course but I also know Libby hill is important to me at the front end of C to stay in touch and I'm literally normally last man of the front 4 or 5 over it clinging on which feeds into my overall lap time.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=449004
The power ranges on the right show me pulling quite a bit bigger 1minute power and WKG which is important in Zwift racing espeically if you can repeat it. Put us in a TT and you'll more than likely smash me unless it's flat then it'll be pretty much even.
If you want to do better you probably need to do V02 max workouts to improve your short power and recovery from them.
Hi Tom, I’m my 3 races I’ve completed I’ve not sprinted, last night I made sure I wasn’t involved, other races I’ve been lower down the field so didn’t do much more than roll over the line.
My stats from Sufferfest where I used to do most of my training, FTP is 254, 5 second power is 918w, 1 minute is 385w and 5 min is 293w.
I do think my FTP is a touch higher than 254 as not retested for a while, but in an hours test I can stay at that power.
Don’t get me wrong as I’m not complaining in any way, it’s just tough moving from C to B so soon into starting virtual racing. Would have been nice to get the hang of things as a C for 10 races or so, then move up.
Last nights race didn’t have many surges which helped, even in real crits it’s those that do me in. It’s the constant sprinting out of corners with little to no recovery that I find hard. Think you’re right with what I need to work on rather than the 4 week FTP increase training I’ve been doing.
Woodster I feel your pain with being in the gap between C and B, every race is a lesson in pain. I have started easing my pace at the start rather than trying to ride with the front B group. I then race with the group I find myself in and work to reel riders in and have a sprint for fun at the end. Trying to live with riders who are putting out much more power than I can do is just no fun at all. Unfortunately I can average 3.4 wkg so get disqualified from C races.
I had the same issue you mentioned with power to stay in the shelter of the group. I've found using the pov camera (3) helps a lot. It is more like real group riding and you notice pace changes easier and quicker.
Just another note on draughting. If you sit on the wheel of a rider who is doing 4wkg, you will hold the wheel at about 3.2 depending on rider weight and terrain. You will still be on their wheel even when you almost equal their power output though and in some cases even when you exceed it slightly for some time. Obviously that leads to a huge loss of energy.
I rode with a rider earlier in the week in a crit, I was trying to work with him but he messaged to say he was doing a TT effort and didn't mind if I wanted to sit in. He was stronger than me so I was happy to oblige. We finished together and looking at the stats he averaged 4wkg to my 3.2
Thanks Daz, will look at the different POV camera next race.
With regards to drafting, the problem I have is that I will be doing 3.7w\kg while everyone else in the pack is doing 3.2, I’ll gradually reduce my power to their ratio but end up going towards the back of the pack fairly quickly, that’s wi5 me watching to ensure there is no increase in power.
This is why I finished the C race last night at 3.5w/kg, I ensured I sit in the group, tried to keep my surges steady, climbs were only small (London flat). This was much more noticeable on the B ride that I only completed 90% of, lap 1 was ridiculous as was the first climb.
I wasn’t sure if it’s the fact that I’m on a dumb trainer. Watt Bike Pro, so it’s accurate, but doesn’t have the erg mode. But I can’t see how that matters, dunno.
Won’t get to race again until next week, not sure if I suck it up and keep racing as a B, race C’s and get DQ’d but gain experience or do a focused training plan (focusing on short recovery after hard efforts).
With the greatest respect I think you have to learn from weeksy - as I do - about leaving your ego behind. I'm a low power / endurance racer AND I don't always finish the races as I ride/race to a coached plan so this puts me firmly in C, or alternatively I'm racing tired due to the training I do.
Plus I'm rubbish at road tactics.
As weeksy put it very well earlier, there are those of us that need to ride to the best of our abilities and be happy we've got the option to finish where we do, after all its better than sitting on the sofa swilling beer.
Well, maybe 😀
Just another note on draughting. If you sit on the wheel of a rider who is doing 4wkg, you will hold the wheel at about 3.2 depending on rider weight and terrain.
Not if there's any sort of significant weight discrepancy between riders. The whole w/kg metric prominence on Zwift seems to confuse people, especially when it comes to pacing group rides. At 4w/kg a 100kg rider is putting out 400 watts. A 50kg rider is putting out 200 watts. The only place they will be going at roughly the same pace is up a steep climb.
I wasn’t sure if it’s the fact that I’m on a dumb trainer. Watt Bike Pro, so it’s accurate, but doesn’t have the erg mode. But I can’t see how that matters, dunno.
Its not erg mode that makes a difference, it's the controllability of the trainer. So, if you hit a climb on Zwift, resistance to pedalling increases, if you stay in the same gear and turn it over, you automatically put out more power. On a dumb trainer, you have to change to a higher gear to get the same effect no? The flipside on a controllable smart trainer is that on descents, resistance drops so it's harder to keep power high compared to a dumb trainer, if that makes sense.
I've dabbled with turning trainer difficulty down from the mid point in Zwift. Prefer it at the midpoint as it means I don't really have to think when hitting a rise as you naturally push against it. When it's essentially off you have to pay attention and it's a bit harder to up the power I find.
You need to race as a B as at some point ZP will ban you from results for a period. No big deal in reality but those racing for poisition and using the live tab will ignore you.
I've only done 1 race this season which was a mass start of all categories and that was a lot harder than the C only ones I've done. More about clinging on than racing. Got a decent finish but had nothing left for the sprint. Hardest race of the year with highest heart rate but overall WKG was the same as the other races.
As said above pitch in for group 2 or 3 depending on the size of the field and race who's there be they C or B. Work on recovery from the start V02 max efforts.
For me good starter courses especially at your weight would be Watopia Hilly, Watopia Figure 8, UCI short hilly one (missing out the flat bit). Watopia Sand and Sequois. London not so much maybe whichever goes over Box Hill but you have to get there first.
Its not erg mode that makes a difference, it’s the controllability of the trainer. So, if you hit a climb on Zwift, resistance to pedalling increases, if you stay in the same gear and turn it over, you automatically put out more power. On a dumb trainer, you have to change to a higher gear to get the same effect no? The flipside on a controllable smart trainer is that on descents, resistance drops so it’s harder to keep power high compared to a dumb trainer, if that makes sense.
Thats the description of a controllable Smart trainer - it automatically adjusts resistance based on gradient in the main.
Erg mode is to hold the trainer at a set Watts output regardless of the road profile, speed or cadence. Its used to control/force a set power during intervals. You wouldn/t shouldn't be riding a rave in erg mode, unless you cleverly and scientifically calculated the average winning steady state power across the course of time!
Thats the description of a controllable Smart trainer – it automatically adjusts resistance based on gradient in the main.
Yes. The reason I explained what difference a controllable trainer makes was that I maybe mistakenly assumed that @w00dster was confusing the two since as you say, there's no obvious way of racing in erg mode, unless you're simply going to set a power target and stick to it, which kind of defeats the object of the exercise.
Thanks guys. I just can’t work out how I’m having to put out so much more watts per kg on the flats. It seems like it’s because I’m reasonably light, so on the flats I’m working harder than them.
Looking at the results from last night, a fair few riders were DQ’d from the group I was in.
I was having to average 3.4 to stay in the lead group while others were at much lower numbers.
I’ll give a B race a go next week and see how it goes. I don’t expect to win, I don’t expect to even be competitive, or even the lead group. Let’s hope I can get in a decent group who will work together though.
Flip side of that is though you have lower WKG and watts than almost anybody/everybody in the front group. There are some Cs who got distanced running a lower WKG but similar watts.
Now the Bs had to catch you which means they are working a bit harder.
Another point is your NP is almost the same as your average which suggests you were running at close to max. Not suprising when hanging onto a group. But then again so is everyone else but that's the nature of the Chase races as you don't win if you can't catch the groups ahead or keep away from the groups behind.
IMO you did pretty well with your relative lower watts compared to all the 80kg riders on a flat course. If you'd sprinted you'd have maybe sneaked into the top 10 overall although you should have started with the Bs.
A quick skim of the profiles of the Top Cs and Bs shows they are all right at the top of their category limits. One of the Bs got upgraded to A after that race.
I presume you are a lightweight rider woodster? If so that is why you are putting out higher numbers on flatter terrain. As BWD mentioned.
On flat terrain the only resistance is against the wind and two riders putting out 300w will travel at the same speed. If you were 50kg this would be 6wkg and if you were 100kg this would be 3wkg.
Come to a climb however and carrying the weight up the hill is the issue, the 100kg rider would then need to put out 600watts to equal the 50kg rider putting out 300watts.
Did the 1400 stage 1 of Giro Castelli earlier up Bologna course, trying to decide if I want to try the 1630 Cheetah 4 lap TT of New York's Astoria8, which totals ~46Km iirc.
Will be using my new P5 frame, but got no idea of what sort of power I can maintain in a draftless TT for ~28 miles, or how much over an hour it will take to complete.
@n0b0dy0ftheg0at how the heck can you contemplate two races in a day??!? Recovery ride for me tonight, 1 hour 30 at 135 watts - looking forward to it.
@Daz I'm 69kg. I could well have made top 10, but as I knew I shouldn't have been there I had already consciously made the mental note to make sure I stayed out of the final part of the race. The downside to that was I get caught by a number of B. Going to give a hilly B race at the end of net week - will also do a couple of training sessions a week and see how I get on into next year. Ultimate objective for me is to get fit enough for a Spring Crit series (starting in April).
@w00dster The Bologna TT was only ~19.5mins and unusually for this event only route, it was a "ride" rather than a "race/TT" event, so I think we were all on road bikes and could therefore draft as least on the ~5Km of flat before the wall of pain. It wasn't an all out effort for me (partly because I knew I wanted to do at least one more event this afternoon), I tried to keep under my LTHR of ~168bpm until a feable sprint for the final ~1min, so to come out 48th out of 139 with Normalised Power of 286W was a Brucey bonus. https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=258199
The 46Km Astoria8 TT was a journey into the unknown, the only other time I think I've tried to do "an hour of power" this year was way back in Feb, when my winter turboing was going great (my FTP based off 95% of 20min MAP was higher and threatening 300W, I was probably a Kg or two lighter than my current ~82Kg) and it was a fairly steady gradient of ~8% up the lower slopes of a virtual Mont Ventoux in RGTCcyling. Astoria8 is much more of a rolling course, as I discovered once the TT started, at which point I wondered if I had messed up by choosing my Zip808 wheels over my Enve ones. I tried to keep stretches above my LTHR fairly short for the first three laps, but even so, wondered if my legs were going to hold out after the Bologna climb... Somehow, using the big ring for short sharp inclines and going deep into the red gave me some sort of second wind on the final lap for my fastest of the event. Pleased to get NP of 262W over 1hr15min53secs, my best long power interval (not that I do many 40mins+) over the last almost two years of having a power meter https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=260973
Tomorrow will be a very easy day, well besides my postie shift, which might be hell! 😆
@Woodser I’m 69kg. That's your problem with looking at W/kg - as I said a few days ago. You'll have trouble keeping up with the pack on the flat where it's all about the W. But you can really hurt them on the hills where you lightweight riders have a big advantage and hiding in the pack doesn't help.
As for those who are heavier than you AND better W/kg, then it's just a matter of taking on board what Weeksy said and recognising that you can only do what you can do, someone is always better than you, so just enjoy the race.
Had to put the oil filled rad on in the man cave this morning as I decided against a road rode to do the ZHR 100k Audux - fasted.
God I'm tired now, but managed a 196w average over 2h:40 of a Zone 2 target of... 198w. Pretty good consistency considering gradient changes and a dropout which had me bridging a gap at 300w for 90 seconds or so when the internet returned so I could continue to ride with the group I was in.
Some of the A's in that ride averaged 300w for 2 hours, wow.
2hrs of the same tomorrow *falls asleep*
At times I went way beyond recovery ride territory, but I got stage 2 of Giro Castelli out of the way not long after I got back from work, at Watopia Flat Reverse. Just the Mountain stage 3 to squeeze in tomorrow.
Discovered that Crickles gave me an LTHR estimate of 175bpm after the ~75min TT yesterday on Astoria8 course, for the first time this year iirc. This was my norm through most of 2017 and 2018, but ~12 months ago it dropped to ~160bpm and I rarely got it to 165+ until September(ish). Must adjust zones on Strava and Elevate For Strava later. 🙂