Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

Been on Innsbruck and seen a time up the climb that would have meant maintaing 70kph for the duration of the climb. The time vanished after a few minutes but either a glitch or someone was seriously cheating.

Best group ride I've been on. Great bunch of guys and lots of convo. No bitching, even though the "B".word came up a couple of times.Lol

First 2 laps and I though, ah, great little bimble. Lasr lap hurt, in a good way. Going to ride with this lot again next Friday.👍

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Did the 1930 3R watopia race tonight. 3 laps of the hilly circuit. Propping up cat D.

Only 15 in the race in all cats.

Did a lap in a group of 3, sitting 8,9,10. All working well for a lap then on the climb on the 2nd lap that all went to crap, I ended up in the middle of the 3. By the end of lap 2 I was a minute behind 8th but a minute up on 10th. Because there were so few of us that was that, was hard to keep the motivation up after that so pretty much cruised around the last lap keeping an eye on the time gap.

I didn't get lapped so that's a positive.

Finished 9th out of 15 overall, 2nd of 4 in D. Not many on zwift power though.

Might try again on Sunday.

Wow, that was a small group, wonder why? Still a good result though.

Anyone ridden the TdZ Stage 6 yet? I'm trying to figure out whether the Richmond route includes that bastard 13% cobbled climb or not!

Richmond is full course, embrace the roller coaster! 😆

I did small group ride stage 6 as my first session of the day, treated it as a leg tester warmup after missing the start by ~20secs.

Can't get on Zwift till Monday for stage 6. Not sure if it does include it.

Not ridden Richmond before so ignorance is bliss! Lol

I did small group ride stage 6 as my first session of the day

It'll be my only session of the day when I ride it.Lol

I shall race it on Monday evening - very short race again with 3 little climbs at end.
Those struggling to hold on till the first climb will be shelled on the short steep 2nd climb .. by that I mean me!

Just been looking at the route on Zwiftinsider.

Going to be fast from the off.Lol

Is it the second to last climb that's a bit of a sod?

I need to try and hold back a bit on the flat or I'm just going to be my usual rolling road block by the climbs.😄

Yep, it's the second incline that is short and steep, keep it steady on the flat/downhill until the left hairpin at ~7.5 miles and then prepare to work (or reduce the "trainer difficulty" to make the climbs take longer at a lower power).

Got a nice wide 2x setup on the trainer bike so I'll twiddle up the climbs.Lol

Is the second one cobbled? That's extra nasty.

Well, today was a good day.   Did the ZHR 100km as a Zone 2-2.5 ride for the second time this weekend but after starting to read Matt's Fitzgeralds "Do you want it enough" last night, I had a buzz about me.  Once the group was formed I spent the majority of the ride pulling it along, with a feisty last 5km and a little sprint at the end.

Entered as C but finished 5:30 mins in front of the eventual C "winner" to be bumped to B and finish 11th in category. 2.7w/kg average over 210km this weekend to earn a beer with the Rugby today.

Good times, and feeling pretty good with it.

Raced the 4 Horsemen today, 55 miles with 7000ft climbing. Not a course I am suited to, got into a decent group from start that pretty much held until Radio tower climb, lost a few places up the Alp, clawed a few back coming out of jungle. Ended up 4th in C on ZP, took 3:30 with an NP of 229, good workout, feeling it now, time for rugby and beer.

Raced the four horsemen...

I want to ride that but as a bimble, not in a race.😳

Well the FTP Booster plan seemed to work, Sat with steam visibly rising from me after Tour du Zwift C cat.

As before I Started too strong, stayed with the lead pack for most of the race and led for a bit. Totally fell apart near the end, not helped by thinking the race ended 2k before it did.
The last 0.7k felt like it went on for hours. Dropped down to 32nd in the end but FTP has risen from 279 to 302 apparently.

not helped by thinking the race ended 2k before it did

I thought I was the only one that does that! Lol

Nice increase on ftp though. 228ftp here.Lol

Was it Stage 6 you raced? Richmond?

Well that Richmond finish isn’t fun is it...

Yep stage 6, Richmond. Was horrible, I dug too deep. There is no way I'd be able to ride an actual bike in the state I was in near the end, saw 163bpm which is a lot for me.
The screen is quite far from the bike so couldnt read the Km remaining and the archways look like finish lines with the sweat in my eyes.

Pleased with the power increase. Still fat though @97kg.

Didn’t know where I was at any point other than recognising the KoM climb.

Certainly wasn’t expecting that climb just before the finish...made up 4 places on the flat just after though.

24th on Zwift, 4th on zwiftpower at the moment but expecting to get bounced.

24th on Zwift, 4th on zwiftpower at the moment but expecting to get bounced.

Nice! Assuming the same race, I'm 14th on Zwift power and FTP is slightly lower than Zwift stated @298.

19.10, I was in D’s.

Bumped to 2nd. Don’t really understand the rules they apply.

Nice ride guys. I don't understand how the "bumping" happens either. I was a little perplexed by it after a race last week.

Still fat though @97kg

99kg here so your power/weight is a damned sight better than mine. Encourages me as it shows what is possible.👍

I'll be riding Stage 6 tonight. Looks like it gets a bit vertical after about 12k.... Got to try and force myself to hold right back in the D's as I am going to suffer on those ups.

Good going fellas.. Nice work.

Poopscoop

Subscriber

I’ll be riding Stage 6 tonight. Looks like it gets a bit vertical after about 12k…. Got to try and force myself to hold right back in the D’s as I am going to suffer on those ups.

No good holding back because you will lose the front groups and drop too many positions. You gotta go all in on first climb in the hope you can hold a wheel to bring you back up to the front on the descent whilst getting your breath back ... the last climb will be the one that hurts; short nasty climb!

19.10 for me tonight ...

Not a nice feeling having to sit up and back off coming towards the first sprint on Saturday of TDZ. Favourite race course too. Cruised round the hills with a HR that was too high. A far cry from racing it for a podium in October. Think that confirms I'm still vaguely ill and not recovered from a big weekend before :0(
3rd last in C and a couple of big hitters were racing so fancied just hanging on.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=316025
Not raced since the beginning of December!

I think when we take a bit of time off racing for whtever reason we forget how to suffer for the first few races back... I'm sure you'll get form back soon Tom.

Now I’ve been bumped. Tried to hard, zwiftpower has reclassified me as a C...

Welcome to c!

A weekend of nothing for me, between family events and DIY I didn't get to sit on the bike, so back to it this evening. Planning on joining a group ride and seeing if I can keep up with the pace for an hour...
Plan to do more endurance training so I can deal with the races better, plus at some point I want to hit the big hills. Am I right that you have to be level 12 before you can ride Alpe d'zwift?

one trick for the Alp is to use "join rider"

Pick someone who's doing a REALLY low speed, the odds are they're on the Alp. Then roll down to the bottom and you can do the climb even if not at the level 🙂

I like that hack Weeksy...cheers! 🙂

read a bit more. Zwiftpower classifies you based on your last three races. my last three (2.72/2.56/2.48) put me over so I get bumped.

I had a fun but ultimately pointless race, but I expected it before starting. Small field, most random riders not registered etc

Race was a slowish pace, fun last 800m ended with 4 of us within 2 bike lengths over the line. My screen looked like I had 2nd, but results had me in 4th.

https://flic.kr/p/2ioE898

I went in with tired legs from Saturday so wasn't expecting much if a race

All this racing talk sounds awfully serious and complex!

I'm 7 weeks into Zwift/Smart Trainer ownership, and I've just completed the 'DIRT DESTROYER' 6 week programme. My only Zwift use has been these sessions so I've nop done any free riding or events/racing.

I've never managed more than a couple of hours (cumulative) on a turbo before through sheer mind numbing boredom so this is some acheviement and also a big credit to Zwift.

I've really enjoyed it - and I'd recomend it. It does seem quite well tailored to MTB, lots of slow bits, lots of speed variations. I'd reccomend it.

I started in December on my first ever short FTP ramp test at 239W. I have no idea if thats good, middling or rubbish. However I'll try to a test tonight or tomorrow to see if there are any changes!

What should I do next though?

(Maybe go for a ride outside is the right answer!)

Maybe go for a ride outside is the right answer! - riding IRL is always the best answer.

But on Zwift you should really try racing. You'll never work yourself so hard and be so focused on your riding as when you are in a race. It really is where the most intense fun is to be had.

As for your FTP - well the key factor in Zwift is FTP W/kg, so work that out and based on that you can chose a category A-D for racing. In reality you will feel like you are comparing yourself to others in the same category, but with the proviso that if you choose too low a category to be one of the best you will soon get kicked up to a higher grade based on your performance in the fist few races.

As for what a race is like, my experience, shared by others on this thread is:
- starts are brutal, the first 2-3 minutes are usually well above your FTP as subgroups form
- you can't ride at above your FTP for long, so you do need to pace yourself based on the race length, especially keeping something in hand for hills and a final sprint
- on the flats your raw power and making the maximum of drafting is key. 239W is middling, but not bad, you'll find a group you can hold on to but it probably won't be the front one.
- for hills it pretty quickly shakes out based on W/kg.

Work out your category, choose a race, give it a go and have fun. You'll learn quickest by doing.

i think the key with racing on Zwift is forget about absolute position, especially in the lower categories. There are so many ringers that you'll never be able to hold onto the lead group. race what is around and just in front/behind you. its much easier now you can only see the people in your race.

however, if you can hold onto the lead group long enough to get yourself up the road a bit, can give you a real advantage.

@snotrag try a short TT like that 1725 Tempus Fugit ~18Km, out and back very flat course, it will likely take you just over 20mins. No drafting, all about pacing yourself, don't forget to "buy" a virtual TT frame.
https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=322236

This particular event has no boundaries, all do same event, no separate A/B/C/D/E races.

A number of TTs don't get listed as TTs on Zwift Companion or at Zwiftpower, they show under "race."

This will give you a ballpark 20min FTP for racing.

Join Zwiftpower if you want to race for rank points.

read a bit more. Zwiftpower classifies you based on your last three races. my last three (2.72/2.56/2.48) put me over so I get bumped.

Noop, best 3 in the last 90 days.

First proper ride on the Directo. On same ^^ dirt destroyer plan. Looks more interesting that FTP builder I did last year. Initial thoughts are ERG is more sensitive than Flux, and the trainer feels smoother. It also feels easier to get to the same watts.. however I did change the original press fit BB Bearings which were square so probably too many variables.

I need to get back to one of the group rides that normally nearly do me in and see if they feel any easier.

No ride/race today. Allowed myself to break my low carb diet for first time since Christmas last night.

Woke up a bit hungover and felt dehydrated and bloated all day.

The positive is it reminds me why I'm on the diet as I've felt s*** all day!

Stage 6 tomorrow evening at some point.😁

Had to be sensible today and resist the urge to race, legs covered in metaphorical concrete, two blocks of 5min upper zone 3 and two very short z5 surges were more than enough to severely test the quads.

Still to try Richmond stage 6 tdz race, did short social the other day, hoping legs will be up for some hard work tomorrow.

As for what a race is like, my experience, shared by others on this thread is:
– starts are brutal, the first 2-3 minutes are usually well above your FTP as subgroups form

Took me a little while to realise you just have to go flat out on the gun. In my experience the start of a Cat C race is pushing 450-500w for a sustained period before it settles down. Managed to win my first one recently, but before that I was always playing catchup from the start and it's just impossible to bridge the gaps. If you can stay at the front until it settles, and you can recover from the initial effort, then you can probably hold your position for a while.

It doesn't help that you have so many people well above their category. It seems most people at the front of Cat C races are pushing close to 4W/kg despite the cutoff at 3.2.

one trick for the Alp is to use “join rider”

Pick someone who’s doing a REALLY low speed, the odds are they’re on the Alp. Then roll down to the bottom and you can do the climb even if not at the level 🙂

Anyone doing Stage 6 race (or ride) later? Just read that the rides have Double Draft which is probably why I found it impossible to catch up to the group after getting dropped last time 😂😂. Not done many DD events; it makes a big difference!!

It doesn’t help that you have so many people well above their category. It seems most people at the front of Cat C races are pushing close to 4W/kg despite the cutoff at 3.2.