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Went well really. Due to a tough last 4km I didn't have much of a kick left, but overall it went pretty well.
Went to do a Traineroad ramp test before starting my training plan for Dirty reiver and Bham Velo but had a CBA moment and went for the Danmarks Cykle Union Racing League 20 k instead. Entered at the last minute and had not ridden before but I guess you could say it suited me - flat and short.
Not cycled much over the past weeks with all the bad weather, done a couple of 40 milers, slooowly so wasn't expecting much. Thought I'd give it some beans at the start to stretch my legs as had not had time to warm up. Got to the front easy enough but was then surprised to pull away. I thought I might throttle back, but thought again and decided to sit at 350-400w for the first 10 mins as I felt OK.
Expected to blow up and have the field come back but it never really happenend. As I got to 15K I had to have a word with myself to keep above 300w, but there was no real pressure from the field. A chap eventually realed me in with 2 k to go. I could keep it going but found it hard to increase my speed. I forgot to put the fan on and was overheating quite a bit too.
Zwiftpower gave me the win in (cough) C. Always been upper end of C but I guess this looks better as its a short event and plays to my strengths.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=269241
Funny what a rest and a few Christmas parties can do, along with zero expectation. All downhill from here.
Lol you bandit. 333w and 3.9w/kg ha ha. nice win if it sticks
Hangs head in shame
The Crit courses have been VERY kind to my overall ranking points. Or was it indeed my swap to a 44T front and grinding out the power... Certainly a combination of both i think
But in the last 10 days i've got 6.07, 0.81, 10.32 and 16.27 (for last night) which has moved me up massively from 221 up to 100th in C rankings. Massive jump.
Not sure i've actually improved in either fitness, riding or ability, but recent races on the Crit layouts really have worked in my favour. Big bunches, with good riders trying out the Crits and finding the course doesn't necessarily suit them, but suiting my profile perfectly.
Sadly, i'm still missing gold lately... 4 months since gold and that was in a 1 C rider race lol. My last proper Gold was in April !!!! Which is a shock considering i used to win many many races. But i don't recall the fields being quite a strong then, plus the fact i got bumped to B.
Nice one Weeksy - I think I need to try the Crit course!
Finally completed one the Tour of London courses yesterday (smaller field seemed to lead to far less glitchiness) https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=269238
My ride consisted of hanging onto one group for first lap before being dumped on a short descent. Then grabbing another group before being dumped on the climb before finally grabbing another group as it caught me - at least I managed to hold that one to finish:)
when does Zwift power move a person up a category? - looking at the race weeksy did there are some interesting results in the C category - i know I got bumped up to B because I had a few "good" results which pushed me over 3.2 w/kg - I tend to do 13ish mile TT's - no drafting skills needed so all down to rider power
midnight after they cross the 3.20 average usually.
What Crosshairs said ;0)
One session a week of V02 max repeats stepping up in duration by small increments for 4 weeks.
Test up Watopia KOM before when rested.
Do again on week 5 rested.
Then test again a say 4 weeks after that to let adaption take place.
Go on be a guinea pig.
Turned into a pumpkin at midnight as you predicted Weeksy
Up to B
Won’t be able to do anything longer than 20 k
Go on be a guinea pig
LOL nah. it may prove him right 😉
I think a bearing failed in that Crit race, the trainer started making a cracking noise shortly after the start. It now sounds like a buckled wheel rubbing on a brake. I've recalibrated it and it feels ok, just sounds awful. Back to the shop then.
ventured outdoors yesterday on the MTB since my big crash at the Hope Marathon, new bike as well, was quite pleasant, needed it
Anyone tried the new free beta RGT update yet?
Hoping to get stage 5 London Tour done today to complete the event, between Xmas shopping hunting and phonecalls I lost my pre-dinner window of oppotunity yesterday.
Was bored at lunch today so thought "I'll jump on this Crit"
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=282757
Sitting in the lead bunch happily at 8.6km and we came to the small kicker of a hill, i'd taken it in 44/11 for the first few laps but fancied a spin instead of a grind so changed to a gear easier at the bottom and lost the chain off the front ring ! ARRRGGGGGHHHH. I've not had this before but i've always run a N/W ring on the front but having gone to a 44T i got a ramped ring for silent running... but it dropped.
I cruised a lap as the group behind were 35s down on me and did the rest of the race with that group.
Meh and GRRRRR
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=283490
Crit race. Lol.
It seems day after day crit racing your legs eventually quit. Did ok for 5 laps but come lap - on the hill I needed a wheel to drag me in again. Lap 7 I just hung in. But lap 8 I got gapped after it and on the run to the line which is usually where I gain places I had nothing at all in the game.
Interestingly it was the fastest race I've done too. Tough one!!!
Good work. I know I've only done one but I thought the Crit was horrible and the first time I've nearly thrown up on a bike.
I will try another maybe when a bit more rested but the Alpe climb race I found much nicer, maybe it was less competitive being longer.
I assume shorter Races attract more riders and more competition due to the convenience as well as it suiting them.
Climbing shouldnt suit me being 97kg though.
I saw you’d register for one of the Crits yesterday Weeksy so I thought I’d give it a go. But of course I didn’t see you because you only see your own group, and you ended up doing a different one anyway!
It’s not well suited to me, and I’m pretty unfit from hardly any riding the last few weeks. I only managed to hold onto the leading pack for the first third, then ambled around until a small chase group caught me. But as I don’t really like it, it’s probably good for me - an FTP test on steroids!
I reckon you’d have been as fast as me on the Crit despite being a C, and probably nailed me on the sprint.
I’m back on Zwift after a year or 2 off. I’ve been so fed up with the shite weather that I’ve hardly been riding so need something to avoid being too fat to get on my bike come spring.
My first question is what’s happened to CVR?
It went away due to gdpr
That’s both a blow and a blessing. That shit was addictive.
Anyway, I’m going to start looking at short races to get back in the swing of things. See you out there.
Oh they still have rankings on zwiftpower.com
I'm top 100 in C
CVR went away and built their own game. It seems to have tanked (it looked pathetic).
Last Z2 effort before Christmas so I joined the Revo ride up Alp du Zwift to do it. Loved it, great fun, continued down at 200w as well which was a laugh.
Currently following the Gravel Grinder ‘training’ plan to keep me fitter than fatter over winter. In week 3 of 12, and seems like it’s a workout every day which is a little tedious. Need my recovery days more than ever, but could do with a gap of two days from time to time.
Thanks for those who give me kudos. Weeksy, just one question: have you got zwift and your turbo next to your office desk??
Weeksy, just one question: have you got zwift and your turbo next to your office desk
Errrrm no, why do you ask?
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=283691
Have been away for 3 days or so, heading back today we were earlier than planned so jumped on for the Crit race.
Went off the line well, sitting nicely with lead group after lap 1, into lap 2 and lost a second on them through no real reason but pulled it back on the whoops, then boom! Chain came off the front chainring again! Clearly the non N/W front Ring isn't going to work out for me. Got it on in seconds but as I was in too high a gear it dropped as the crank counter rotated and by the time I got it on again I'd dropped from top 15 to 120th and over a minute down on the lead group!!!! Oh deary me. The next 10 mins were spent clawing back places with 350w for a bit, then resting for a minute as I caught groups and then kicking on again, Go up to 90th with that. Then the leaders came round to lap the little group I was in so I jumped on their group and made up another 20 places or so, but let them go as I was getting tired and jumped in the group behind who dragged me round for another lap until they'd finished and j was in 73rd. Had a group of 4 around me and beat them to the line for 71st place. Which is a bloody disaster. Especially as I was quicker on the last few laps than the guy ranked 5th overall in C, so looking where he was and I was, we gapped him in our group just on the final lap, so I'd gave fancied my chances against him and may have picked up ranking points. Grrr.
That's it for racing for me now for a while, I'll do 1 a month to keep my rankings, but gave to concentrate Von longer efforts for Belgium training now.
Disappointed
I've gone back to the 38t chainring on the front now for Zwifting, it's also the same gearing I'll use for Belgium so makes sense I guess. But does mean I'll lose top end power in the races unless I can do it with higher cadence, we'll see.
Rode the ZHR 100k 2.5w/kg today Sand and Sequoa’s. One of the worst group rides I experienced tbh, as every group seemed to want to take the rollers uphills in Titans Grove at 3-4w/kg. In the end I gave up and joined in as they seemed happy for me to lead them through Tempus Fugit at dead on 2.5w/kg. Even the last 3km was a race-like lead in to the finish in TG which happily I timed right and lead the group over the line with a 750w sprint after 101k/2h 50m.
I’m tired though and doing the rides low carb or fasted so that was a tough ride.
Funny wee thing happened- I bought a Flux S back in July, and have only really started to use it in the past month or so.
Even when I bought it, I thought- this thing is noisier than I expected it to be. But hadn't really much to compare it against.
Anyway....I noticed the other day that spin down was slower than I expected, and it had a faint smell of something unpleasant at higher speeds. Long story short- even though it was under warranty, I carefully took one side of the casing off for an inspection.
The fan which attaches to the flywheel is warping upwards between the 6 fasteners, and rubbing on the central steel frame. Bad move maybe but I removed the flywheel and took the fan off. Yes its under warranty but apparently Tacx aren't great at fixing them.
All quiet and working well now.
All quiet and working well now.
I assume it'll run a bit hot and strange things might happen to the resistance - maybe OK in a shed over winter
Spot of tech help please?
I have a tacx vortex smart, garmin cadence sensor and an ipad. Been working great in ERG mode, really pleased with it. Software 'sets' the power output, I ride at whatever cadence I can to maintain that power output.
However, I've started the "dirt destroyer" training plan. Within this, there are segments marked as free ride where rather than set a power, it asks me to see how hard I can ride at a fixed cadence (to built leg power).
I go through the line at 65rpm, and what I believe should happen is the trainer fights me as hard as it can until I can't maintain cadence, ie the other way round to most segments.
However all that happens is that the resistance just turns off. I do my 1 minute "max effort" and it's just me freewheeling the pedals round at 30w/65rpm.
It's not speed - if I just try to spin faster it tells me to slow my legs down.
What am I doing wrong? Why is it not ramping the resistance right up for me to work against?
The last two group rides I've done have been amusing for different reasons. First was a FriYay fearless ride. I did a few of these last year and enjoyed them. Meant to be 2.5-2.7. It ended up being 2.9 for me almost from the off. There was so much bitching on the chat (massive group 200+) but pace kept getting pushed.
I managed 45 mins which considering I was nursing a hangover and had ridden quite a lot over Xmas I was happy with. Maybe it was a one off, but odd that even with a ride leader it never get close to the advertised rate on the flat. On the short hills, it was just mental!
Tonight I joined the SAS sub 2.5 ride as we rode Brechfa red and black yesterday which is a big day out on the MTBs. Just wanted to spin the tiredness out of my legs. No ride leader turned up. Mild Anarchy then prevailed 😉 It wasn't mad but I don't think it dropped below 2.5 all the way round then with about 4 mins to go, it just all went off.
I managed 18th out of 80 in my Cat which considering I had come in with the idea of taking it easy I'm sort of happy with. Not that I was racing...
I really must try a race one day..
@snotrag try changing to a harder gear you will see you will be putting out more watts at 65rpm.
When not in erg mode you need to use gears to vary your power:cadence.
I'm in the hardest gear possible! It's still in ERG mode - the software has jsut wound the resistance right down!?
For sections marked as free ride within a structured workout the workout should automatically disable erg mode and then re-engage erg mode for the next section that has a specified Watts.
Is this on one specific workout?
Maybe you could create your own custom workout in Zwift with a free ride section and see if you still experience same behaviour.
I have a tacx vortex smart, garmin cadence sensor and an ipad. Been working great in ERG mode, really pleased with it. Software ‘sets’ the power output, I ride at whatever cadence I can to maintain that power output.
Does it work as a controllable trainer if you're just pottering around on Zwift - ie: does the resistance go up on hills? Is it paired as a controllable trainer?
Right. Time to renew my sub for the next 3 months and get winter fit. Is there anything I need to know since last April? I know there are a few new tracks but hopefully the general experience is much the same?
Looking forward to joining this community again. Ride on.
Not a lot to know, new courses, new short Crit racing layouts, but same old stuff basically.
New to the wholw zwift thing, but am using it as part of my recovery from a hip replacement. So far have an old (20+ years) hardtail hooked up to a Tacx Vortex and have just started the FTP builder training plan. Two sessions in so far, feels i have a lot to learn, especially with regard to the social aspects. Some people have given me a thumbs up and 'Ride on' but not sure how to reply and/or do the same for others etc. Looking forward to see if my fitness increases as i progress.
I feel i might 'Spin-out' with the gearing i have at some point, is this why most people use road bikes?
Hi, Does anybody know if its possible to run Zwift as a spectator, to let me see if it will run on my Windows laptop? (it seems too low spec, but I'd like to test it).
I've downloaded, installed, and logged in, but cant seem to get any further.
Thanks.
You watch other riders to see if your computer is up to it. I did this before i subscribed as i wanted a bit of preview.
But how?
What did you see after logging in?
It should have a massive button that says 'just watch'
If I click the desktop icon, I get a splash screen pop up, and I click "lets go". Then it minimizes to system tray, and thats it. I think I have to conclude the laptop cant run it.
I got around the computer issue with an old Apple iPhone Se, plugged into a TV with a £15 adapter. Works a treat.