Forum menu
Road to sky now starts from the new jungle pens. Gets rid of the climb up to that. So basically down hill till it's up (and up and up).
Boom. Beat an 8yr old in a sprint finish....
@peesbee Thanks for the ride on, how can you tell another STW'r if they do not have it in their name?
I am trying to do endurance rides as well on Zwift (when the roads are icey and temperature sub zero). I have signed up for the #jennride 2020 so am keen to boost endurance as much as possible over these grim winter months!
I was determined to do a 100k ride on Sunday but joined a ride that went up one of the volcano hills so spent about 9 minutes climbing on each lap which slowed the overall distance covered. I got to 2hrs and bailed because the 100k was going to take 3 hrs. I should have joined the flatter Audax ride because that could have been completed in around 2h40 I reckon.
Got a DQ the other day on my first individual race 😩 Since my broken shoulder blade last October I haven’t dared to venture outside on the bike so Zwift has been my friend these last few months.At this time of the year I’m just doing my base phase of training so I’ve spent all my time doing the Kiss at base Z2 rides along with my own sweetspot and tempo sessions. A mate asked if I’d like to join the group he rides for (WKG) to do the team time trial races so I signed up on Zpower. Because it’s a team event and was able to draft at times I felt they weren’t to taxing (av HR for them had been around the 150-160 mark) so never really went balls deep. Then I entered my first individual race as a cat B rider (as zpower classifies me from my efforts prior to the race) it went well but because this was my first real effort on my own I went well over the upper limit of 4 w/kg for a B rider (actually ended up at an av of 4.2 w/kg for 40min) so i wasn’t officially placed and got put on the unfiltered board 😠 Managed to get a FTP increase though so at least I don’t have to do a test for a while, every cloud and all that 😁
LOL we dream of getting DQ'd from B.... Heck, i struggle to get DQ'd from C !!!!!
Awesome work there !
I got to 2hrs and bailed because the 100k was going to take 3 hrs. I should have joined the flatter Audax ride because that could have been completed in around 2h40 I reckon.
Eskay, I join the weekend ZHR rides as they are categorised w/kg Based on Z2 and are predominately on the flat so it’s easy to ride solo or most likely in a group at your desired level. I enter as C, 2-2.5wkg and it does take 2:40 ish to get to 100k. Bear in mind that’s still 45 mins quicker than an average outdoor 100k.
if your bored get chatting but I find keeping an eye on my watts plus working appropriately in the group enough to get me through.
Top Zwift race tip of the day...
Don't realise you are using your presumed under-reading power source (Direto, more than 5 below factory offset figure on sticker on base) part way through a race and then switch to your presumed decent reading source (4iiii).
Left for dead by group I was just about hanging on to on TDZ Hilly until the switch, dropped my average power when I must have been close to improving my 20mins best and caught on the sprint finish by some of a chasing group having been solo most of lap2... D'oh!
65th of 95, possibly my best B race (rather than TT) so far, dropping under 78Kg at yesterday morning's weigh-in for the first time in over a year helped a tiny bit too. Can't complain at 103% Intensity having done "30/30sec Anaerobic #3" workout a few hours earlier.
https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=309405
Thanks @Kryton57, I may give it a go this weekend if the weather forces me inside.
They are pretty good rides for getting the most out of your time.
On that 2 hr ride (according to Training Peaks) I spent:
1 min Z1
57 mins Z2
47 mins Z3
12 mins Z4
(and a couple of mins 5&6).
On the road there would have been loads more Z1 because of junctions, downhills etc.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=310568
Made a mess of that.
Sat in bunch happy and nice all race, about 10 or so of us in it, I was watching Verledens as he's a high ranked C. He's very good at saving watts that's for sure, but as with some others who do the same, it is a bit risky.
My HR was comfortable and I was sitting with a drafting truck. About 900m to go Verd split the bunch with an aero and pinned it at 800w. I kinda jumped, kinda missed it and threw the power up too, but I'd missed his wheel and ended off at 400m about 20m ahead of the chasers but slowing rather than powering. I got swamped on the last 100m for a distinctly average performance. Poor planning and tactics really. Meh.
What’s the HRM of choice here, that will connect either direct to my iPhone and Zwift companion or to the Bluetooth on the laptop?
I don’t need a watch as I’ve got a Polar FT4 which is only compatible with the specific Polar protocol on the HRM strap.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/CooSpo-Monitor-Bluetooth-Waterproof-Compatible/dp/B07D4J5VDK/ref=sr_1_1 has been great for me for just over two years, ANT+ and Bluetooth. ~£25 and there's a 5% discount voucher showing, at least for me.
22/99 according to Zwift, 3/17 according to zwiftpower. I guess a lot of people don’t have a zwiftpower profile.
Did first race in months tonight, forgot how brutal they are. Finished towards the bottom of the B's as usual! Nothing changed there...!
Just discovered the TDZ Bologna stage 4 "race" is ~25Km, twice up the hill...
Oh my!
Doing stage 4 Bologna either tomorrow or Saturday.
Will the race start also be the end point of the circuit in Bologna?
Asking was I evidently have issues knowing at which point the race is over!😳
Edit:Just been looking at some info on Bologna. Wish I hadn't now, ignorance is bliss. Going to stay way back in the last D's so hopefully don't blow up on the hill. Twice. Not sure I'm looking forward to this one.😁
No draft in TT so no real point of sitting in...
https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=313426
The Bologna event is no TT bikes, at least for the "race" event, so it's drafting city.
Did Bologna earlier. That hill, twice. Never done that route before.
Yeah, normal bikes, not TT.
82 out of 136 on Zwift in D.
17 of 33 on Zpower.
Held on to a group of 5 most of the way so stayed in the draft as much as possible and tried not to go too fast on the flats knowing that horrible climb was to come....
Last hill I was overtaken by a couple of riders in the last km. In truth I'm pretty happy with the result though.
2.2wkg average.
Was great to have the spray bottle of cold water to spray over my head and face as I ground up the hill. Stopped my head feeling like it's in an oven!
I've never ridden Bologna, I doubt I ever will.
Trying to complete the tour de Zwift so I'll give the 18.00 ride a go. Only ever ridden Bologna once ages ago - think it might be a rude awakening climbing hill twice...
Yeah, Your Tour de Zwift here too.
Missed stage one but I can catch that up at the end of the series.
Stage 5 is in NY and pretty flat, thank goodness.
The only good thing about the hill on Bologna is the ride back down it is a good chance to recover.lol
Bit disheartening grinding up it and seeing the A's and B's come flying down while you are bursting a lung still to get up it!
weeksy
Subscriber
I’ve never ridden Bologna, I doubt I ever will.
Why not mate?
It's uphill, I'm fat
Yeah, hills don't suite me either. Currently 101kg here but going down.
Only having <10 grams carbs a day and the weight is dropping off. Zwift is helping with that too!
Don't think I'll ever be suited to big hills though. Not sure I have any cycling forte actually!
Got an 11-32 at the back with a 34 granny so I can just spin up most stuff. Never been an out of the saddle low cadence climber.
hmmm 83rd on Zwiftpower. Only 10 minutes behind the fastest 🙂
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=313328
I finished 18 minutes slower that you AD.😂
Just managed under 50mins this morning for double Bologna hill climb race (266W), a new best in the lunchtime Tempus Fugit TT of 303W for 25mins dead and finished the day with a 69min low cadence z3 erg workout (207W with short ~4min additional cool down).
Big day on the turbo and far higher than I've done outdoors for some time.
Wish me luck cycling to/from work and walking on a hilly delivery duty tomorrow! 😆
^^ Don't think I'd make it off the turbo without falling off it after all that!
Did only my second race last night. Found the Bologna race bloody hard. Similar story to poopscoop, 47th in D 1:08:57 2.0w/kg.
Went out hard, couldn't hold, went backwards all race. Standard.
I did however chase someone up the last climb and finally caught and passed him in view of the line which was nice, and painful in equal measure. Other than that I was pretty broken.
Just had my first Zwift race - Stage 4 Bologna.
Initial observations:
1) good fun, even if I did stop after one lap (the race was two);
2) surprisingly engaging knowing you're racing real people; and
3) the power group thing is complete nonsense.
What’s the HRM of choice here, that will connect either direct to my iPhone and Zwift companion or to the Bluetooth on the laptop?
Wahoo Tickr's been great for me. Does BT and ANT+ simultaneously and has the bonus of flashing blue and red light to show that it's functioning.
cannot catch a break,
whole year so far (i know, i know, its only the 25th Jan) has been a right off - always take Christmas off riding, family time innit, kids went back on the Tuesday, but i had an exam, so no spare time, come Tuesday night the vomiting commenced, one, after the other day after day until i succumbed on the Saturday night, felt crap, Tuesday another exam, work, work, eye the Friday as a good day, Thursday night random projectile vomiting from one of the young uns, write off, went to Dalby on the Sunday, still managed a sub 2 hour red, bit wheezy at the end and all night, wake up Monday with a chesty cough,
leads me to today, woke up feeling a lot better, mrs took the kids out after lunch, spy the 15:10 2 lap bologna, bluetooth won't wake up, reboot, bluetooth wakes up, zwift pops me in some group ride instead, quit that, log back in and HRM takes an age to sync, bologna already started, ffs, see some 10 lapper volcano oh crit thing, that will do, 4.8km lead in, just before the start of the laps everyone vanishes, go to quit and they reappear, but just far enough away for me not to be able to bridge, quit
climbed off with 4.7km in the legs deciding it was fates way of saying i wasn't well enough yet
1st world problems, but jesus its frustrating sometimes,
Having given up on nmy (third!) Flux S, I'll hopefully be back on Zwift next week. Cycle Republic have finally agreed to swap it for an Elite Direto. I'm hoping this one might be reliable. Three Flux's in a year and I only use the Turbo between Nov and March!
Anyone else here with a Direto? Kryton I think?
There's a few of us with Diretos, Kryton57 and myself for a start.
If the Flux has been your only source of power readings, don't be disheartened when you see your figures drop by ~15%, when the "calibration" offset (in advanced settings on the Elite My-Training app) is within ~3 points of the factory sticker on the underside the Direto readings are usually +/-1% accuracy (even though these days they guarantee +/-2% iirc).
I'm on a direto as well.
Alex
I have a Direto and love it. Used it for a month and has been rock solid.
No other experieces to compare it to, but it just works, flawlessly.
Is quiet and links to stuff easily so just start pedalling and away you go, almost silently.
Sure you won’t regret it.
Thanks. I was just enjoying my best FTP ever (before the Flux decided it preferred it's bearings square not round...). Ah well it's not like I do any racing or anything. I'll just have to work a bit harder....
Before I get the Elite, I even changed the - original - drive train on the CX bike I use on the turbo. 7 year old 10 speed SRAM Apex still does the job. I expect my first job will be indexing and setting limit screws. That's so much fun while hand cranking.
I've downloaded the app ready for when I do the swap.
Hand cranking turbos is not fun!
Bologna TDZ in about 65 mins, paced myself too well as was thinking about second time up the hill so finished fresher than I needed. Still enjoyed passing a few people on the hill who went bombing past me at the bottom and clearly exploded.
Another vote for a Direto.
Race attempt 2 in 40 min's. Going to drop down a cat and see how that goes. Also joined Zwift power.
Glad I did the group ride rather than the race as my results in the race would have been slightly demoralising.
Alex
Anyone else here with a Direto? Kryton I think?
Yes - Direto here too.
I did the Bologna TDZ race earlier. Felt really good pre-race ... absolutely smashed it on first climb up, but power was barely touching 300w ... had to drop down into granny ring and could still only grind. Finished towards back of B cat riders and only averaged 228w which is my lowest average watts for a race in 2 years on Zwift.
I ran the calibration afterwards and the offset value was 6 points off from the sticker on Direto ... looks like the belt needs tightening!
Anybody here tightened their Direto??
Finally finished one of the 100k audax rides. I was gutted when my internet dropped out after 2hrs, it came back a couple of times then went again so switched to 4g. I carried on riding, even though my avatar was the only one on screen half expecting it not to upload at the end but luckily it did!
I will be running an ethernet cable from the network switch this week, the power line adapter in the garage is too unreliable.
Anybody here tightened their Direto
No, been meaning to for ages, as mine is ~6 points lower than sticker too. Compared to my 4iiii, it under-reads by ~20W sub 200W and ~10W 300-400W.
However, I discovered the other day that ERG sessions interval matching works much better using Direto power, I just accept the (dangerous?) presumption that I'm actually doing slightly more effort than the figures.
With two ascents, that Bologna race is quite tricky to pace, with such contrasting stretches of road. If you've got working gears (unlike me), best strategy is apparently under your ~60min power on the flat and then above it up the hill. I freewheeled down the hill after the first climb, which helped me recover a bit, but I was still ~10W down on the second climb despite giving it my feable beans for the final ~0.25Km.