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Nice ride weeksy! Still battling away down in the D's here.
I did the 20k 2 lap TDZ flat at 18.10 tonight.
First ride since I pulled something in my back. Also since I also pulled out of a PACK ride half way through as I didn't feel well.still don't know what that was about.
Went ok but I'd forgotten how much Zwift hurts. Sounds daft doesn't it? Lol But being off the turbo for even a short time and it's like my mind isn't prepared for the pain.
Anyway, it went hard in D's from the start as usual and I was struggling from the off. Held on to blobs for about 2/3 the way then pretty much did a TT. No legs to hold onto the guys shooting past and heart rate over 170 all the way I think.
Towards the end I had about 10 seconds on the guys behind but managed a sprint just out of principle.Lol First time I've had the Ghost PU too.
32 out of 52 on Zpower.
99 out of 159 on Zwift.
Is stage 2 on tomorrow? I usually ride every other day for legs and mind to recover ...so should be "fun".😳
I need to try one of these Crit races, never done one and I’m sure it will be a crazy pace.
Crits are painful like all the shorter races. You cannot afford to stay too far from the front because the pace is high, and one mistake that sees you gapped means your well off the back.
@poopscoop I think we have a few days recovery until stage 2, 13th iirc.
Doesn't take much time off to lose match fitness and forget your pain threshold while pushing your limits.
I got a bit caught up in the moment during lap 2 of the B race, after being surprised that a cautious pace kept me with a sizeable group of ~25. Pushed harder than I should have done after my manflu19 relapse yesterday and surprisingly set a decent 20min power not too far below my pre-lurgy recent best. 37th of 56 iirc on Zwiftpower.
^ Ah, the 13th. Good.
Glad to hear you are slowly recovering from the Andromeda Strain mate.👍
I did the tour 29km group ride last night. I'm not sure why they bother with group rides because it went off from the start and was race pace all the way round, it went off so fast, I was struggling to hold on at times and the pack split quite a bit. I wasn't sure if I was holding onto B's, C's or D's as everyone had same category.
Came in mid pack at 48.07
So I think from now on I'll just do the tour races, at least I'll be prepared 🙂 Already signed for stage 2 Saturday morning.
Wanted to check back in on the thread, this was me on here three months ago.
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.
It's gone well, I'm down to 66kg on the weight front and FTP from a ramp test is 247.
In fairness Zwift on the bike was 1/4 of the exercise effort 3/4 being Zwift running for most of the time but with a couple of half marathons out of the way flipped back the other way.
So thanks for this thread was a huge motivator in getting me started and keeping me going, especially in the early days.
66kg from 82 ? Be eck that's some performance there mate... Wow.
Superb work on the weight front ... from 92kg to 66kg demonstrates super human determination (that is unless its a ploy to distract us from an upcoming weight-doping scam - I think we have already got a STW claimed 66kg rider doing that on ZwiftPower)
Cheers chaps, I'm pretty pleased about it all.
What made a big difference to me was doing a few weeks at the start, creating a spreadsheet, doing a trend line saying "if you keep this up until you go on holiday you could weigh this" then using that trend line as a motivator.
Trick now is keeping it all off and see and see where I can hold my own in the races and actually do my Ramp Test FTP in a race enviro. Only done the one race and a few group rides since the major loss (tend to prefer structured sessions)
https://www.zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=1417072
The guy you beat into 2nd was quite well ranked too, i don't see you in C for very long.
To kelvin - when will zwiftpower upgrade you to a B ? - looking at your profile soon as you went over the limit as a D it upgraded you to a C.
I find if I do individual shortish (13 mile) time trials my watts/kg is much higher than standard races (no hiding in the bunch) and is close to the top limit of my category
First race in a very long time this morning. Quite enjoyed that but will enter as a C next time.
I enjoyed wondering how to loose the two riders I was with when a timely Cat. A group came by and I just caught them with a hard sprint.
To kelvin – when will zwiftpower upgrade you to a B ? – looking at your profile soon as you went over the limit as a D it upgraded you to a C
I'm no expert but it's this right?
Average of best 3 FTPs (95% of 20 mins) in last 30 days of races is used.
Yes... You can go over the limit by a certain amount in a race, but once your 90 day average goes above 3.20 you're kicked into B for the next 90 days..
Well done Kelvin on the weight loss, it gives me hope! 😉 Looks like I'm going to have to take a few days rest which I'm gutted about, I have a painful muscle niggle at the back of my knee which came on during my Monday ride, I don't want to aggravate it further so trying to step back.
It's hard cos I just want to ride and help the weight loss (which is coming off slowly), it's definitely keeping me in Cat D right now, when I looked at my recent ZP results, everyone around me had a much higher W/KG.
A bit of advice if I make ask; is it possible to switch locations during a ride, and how?
I have a 2hr workout any the weekend including a 1hr power test half way through which I'd like to do on the Alp.
Thanks
Nope. Not possible without saving and exiting.
It's been asked for many times.
16:10 Watopia Flat race i think today.
Taking the KTM out for an hour when i get home, then should be back in plenty of time.
Nope. Not possible without saving and exiting.
Ok thanks. Looks like the Tour of Fire & Ice is the only option hoping not to arrive too soon!
Well you can pick any route you like and then use the arrows when you want to make a turn to a particular location. Assuming you've picked Watopia of course and have a rough idea where you're going etc.
you can also just do a u-turn at any point and keep riding up & down the same bit of road to delay starting the Alpe ascent (assuming I've understood correctly what he wants to do!!)
I've not been zwifting for long but certainly feeling the improvements.
Did the 1st stage race yesterday and put out a higher effort than usual. I have been riding in D cat but upped to what Zwiftpower recommended and raced in C.
According to ZP I came 6th in cat which is way better than expected (I was seriously on the rivet)
Can anyone explain why the figures are all in reddish colour?
https://www.zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=523799
They're your 'best' figures on your profile. So your highest performance measured.
you can also just do a u-turn at any point and keep riding up & down the same bit of road to delay starting the Alpe ascent (assuming I’ve understood correctly what he wants to do!!)
Of course yes, thanks, and I think you have that is I want to make sure I start the AdZ at 59:59.
Thanks for the "ride on" last night weeksy, was flagging a bit in that race. Didn't finish at the very bottom of "A" for once, and don't mind being beaten by the A+ riders.
I'm just about to pop into the Team Italy Gladiators Race at 5.50pm.
42km, 515m total.
Going to be a hard one for me...
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=356752
That was a crazy C race. 294w average for 8th place lol.
We had people powering away at 6+ and then bring caught. Was Watopia flat and on the switchback type climb I got dropped by the leaders. I waited by easing off over the bridge sprint and had a good battle to the line.
First time in about a year I've raced on Watopia flat, so was good fun.
Shouldn't 4th and 5th should be DQed @weeksy, they are > 0.2W/Kg above cat C limit?
Good average for 29mins28secs, must be close to a PB?
Can't be far off mate.
Great effort there Weeksy. Nearly 300 for 8th?! I can dream.Lol
Well, got 7th of 8 on Zwift for the Italian Gladiators Race. Greater London Loop,2 Laps. 1st of....erm, 1 on Zpower.... as all the other D's were well over 2.5kg and got DQed.Lol
Odd way to get a gold.
Was basically a TT for me after about 10km. Everyone else either a long way in front or a fair distance behind. Then a battle to hold off another D that was stalking me. Honestly, it was like I was being hunted!Lol He clawed back a minute+ on me in the second lap and shot past on the surrey hills. After that I was just trying to hold off another D and managed to. He came in about a minute after me. He isn't on Zpower though.
Getting really painful hot spot on my right foot on these longer rides. Bought some second hand shoes from the classifieds to try out and see if they are any better. Never had this before, ever. Real world or Zwift and it bloody hurts! Lol
Moomnan got a silver in his cat I see. He's in B's so I would have only seen him for about a micro second at the start.Lol
Didn't fancy a threshold session so did a race. ToW stage 1. With my favourite section to attack on up and through the esses.
Flip it was fast.
Didn't have the power to put the hurt on up any of the slopes but enough to ease towards the front.
Front group kept splitting and reforming with about 15 left at the end.
No real sprint left and ended up with 4th after DQs in C.
Happy with that for now although it does feel like being back in October.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=356770
Fast race there Tom, mine was 26s slower for the race than you and i felt we were going bloody hard !
Stage 2 i think opens today, so may do the Tour version.
There was an earlier C race another 30 seconds faster than mine!
Needed to bump my ranking up as I had dropped to only 4 results out of 5 :0)
Still you've got a decent lead on me.
I'll have to have a look at stage 2 and see if it fits in next week anywhere. Not bothered about completing the tour but as you said it does decimate the other events.
Did my first ever race last night, Stage one of the Watopia tour, CAT C. Couldn't believe the pace at the start. Thought I was going to have to quit after 4km as I was ****ed. Was only after doing 10kms on my own that I got in a group that was passing me and stuck with them for a while. Quickly realised the advantage of drafting. Finished 43rd of prob not much more than 50 riders, top 29% of CAT C though. Surprised how small the field was for the race given the number of people on Zwift.
Must line up stage 2 for the weekend
Back on the bike early this morning but no notable events due to everyone doing the Tour, so I just did a freeride to check the knee, seems okay for now. Tomorrow I'm racing the tour.
Reached the dizzy heights of level 12, so everything is now unlocked....lucky me 😉
@kelvinshuffle 26Kg weight is a superhuman effort! 😮
Had to cancel my booked 0810 TOW stage 2 race this morning, as I got a reminder e-mail about a 0900 dentist appointment.
Surprised I've only put a bit of weight on considering how little Zwift I've done now for ~17 days, maybe I'm eating less, happy to be 76.7Kg in the circumstances on this morning's weigh-in.
Too many late nights of late, not attempting to sleep until gone 2300 for me last night, not ideal when I've got to be up at 0515 tomorrow and it was a struggle crawling out of bed at 0700 today... Making it that little bit more tricky to decide whether to check my rookie re-cabling skills from yesterday on Zwift, or do a short loop up Beacon Hill and the side of Old Winchester Hill... After almost six months I might possibly have 2x11 instead of 2x1! 😆
doing the watopia race at 13:12 if anyone in C fancies it.
doing the watopia race at 13:12 if anyone in C fancies it.
Best of luck, I'm stuck in work 🙁
Did my first race in a couple of years yesterday - Cat D, Tour of Watopia. I got a top ten purely on the basis on knowing to start sprinting a few seconds out from the gun so made the front group of about 15 riders and then tried to hold on.
Managed to hold on to the group for a while and even dropped a few with a well timed burrito after deliberately letting a decent gap open in front of me which I knew I could shut down but which caught my draftees by surprise.
Sadly I couldn't quite hold on to the end and got dropped about 5km out so eased back to the group I'd dropped which was taking it steady with about a minute to the next riders. On the last climb after the bridge I rolled off the front of our little group, more because of keeping on top of the high gear I was in rather than a deliberate effort and once I realised I had 7 or 8 seconds I used an aero power-up and time trialed solo to the finish.
Pretty pleased with the result and my sneaky tactics although there is a dark cloud to the silver lining... I've been doing one of the training programs for the last 5 weeks using a tested FTP of 210w,unfortunately the remainder of the program is going to be a lot harder as the race gave me a new ftp of 267w.
Anyway, I've signed up to do stage 2 on Sunday so hopefully the same tactics will pay off again!
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=356783
Very very happy with the result. Sad with the lack of ZP riders though. 23rd out of 120 on the road.
Knocked 30s of my Titans Kom.
Actually I went into the climb in 23rd. Lost some riders, hung onto some. We then split but me and 3 others clawed our way back in with 7-8 more riders to make a 10-11 man group after being hung out to dry 3s behind them for 1.5km. come the sprint none of us had much to offer.
Was also by a long long way my fastest lap of sand and sequoias.
Well done chaps, Looking forward to my stage 2 race tomorrow, hopefully I can do as well.
Kind of gutted I didn't head outdoors, but at same time, probably better to discover a few things on Zwift on the TOW stage 2 race...
Gears weren't very well indexed at all and even had to adjust mech high screw to get into 11T sprocket in the recovery ride I'm currently doing.
Legs moaning during second half of race, around Titans Grove climb, maybe I overdid things coming back up the short incline from the dentist this morning?
Lungs feeling progressively tighter as day went on, so manflu19 is still there, having taken it very easy since Weds shift.
Need to shift sprockets a bit more, I've become too accustomed to only having two gears!
Loads of B riders not on Zwiftpower, 47th of 56 I think with 271W average.
Might join the 1805 Kirchmair event as I've yet to do Seaside Sprint
Going to do the ToZ at 18.43 tonight.
Love Sand and Sequoias, it's my favourite free ride loop.
I just did the 18:10 TOZ Stage2 race.
Less than 1km to go. Sitting fairly comfy in front group ... Waiting for the surge to sit on to take me to the 300m sprint section ... And all other riders disappeared 😩
So took chance and just went off hoping for the best.
ZwiftPower showing me as 15th .. but not showing times; thinking maybe all riders had glitch and it's placed us where we were when it went down.
Bit frustrating because I still had something in legs to have had a sprint.
... not even showing me on there now.
I guess i didnt really do it then.