mrblobby - Member
Btw, that video up there that monde posted, I watched about 10 seconds in there middle of it and someone on a weird looking recumbent trike thing popped out of a side street. Never seen that before.
It was a 'special' bike that you could get for a while. Not sure what the criteria was to get it. When I first started on Zwift mid-December (around then) you used to see them loads....
Must have been a temporary thing because they've disappeared now.
I saw quite a few people moaning to Zwift that it was too jokey etc. but I thought it was great fun....
I should have googled it...
[img] 
[/img]
It was a challenge wasn't it? Ride 50 miles or something on it to enter a draw IIRC
Should be more fun stuff like that IMO!
mrblobby
I need a new turbo trainer, £300 budget - tempted to just get another Vortex.
For a smart controlled one, I don't think there's any other option with a 300 quid budget.
Yeah you're right!
Ordered a new one from Halfords for £260 🙂 (£300- £30 BC & £10 cashback). Pick it up tomorrow 🙂
It's put me in 3rd on the STW league though so it's all good
Damn, i seem to have dropped to 10th after a recent splurge of Volcano activity from STWers
nathb - MemberOrdered a new one from Halfords for £260 (£300- £30 BC & £10 cashback). Pick it up tomorrow
When you pick it up, check that the skewer & bolts are in the box. It might just be the Flow Smart that is affected, but I had two delivered with no skewer & bolts & there was someone on here yesterday I think (a page or two back) that had the same issue.
Oh I will.
One of the Vortex's I got off Amazon didn't have the mounting plate. The next one came with a mounting plate but someone had forgotten to weld the bracket onto the frame. 😆
Jon's short one tonight.
Those 1min efforts burn a bit near the end don't they? And the 3x FTP x 10s - full on sprint in top gear and I couldn't get to the number, about 40W short (targeting 645W)
Is that because I'm shit, cheap turbo can't handle the power, other reason?
Oddly fun though.
Managed to calibrate my Flow Smart tonight....it was way too tight.
Made a massive difference to how the resistance felt and my numbers.
Knocked 75 seconds off the Box Hill segment on Strava! I was busting a gut to do it, but even so....!
theotherjonv
Jon's short one tonight.Those 1min efforts burn a bit near the end don't they? And the 3x FTP x 10s - full on sprint in top gear and I couldn't get to the number, about 40W short (targeting 645W)
Is that because I'm shit, cheap turbo can't handle the power, other reason?
Oddly fun though.
Brutal workout isn't it, there's not enough warmup time for me - I need 10 mins at least. I only got 5/11:
[img] 
[/img]
Next time I try that it'll be with fresher legs!
I gave Jon's Short Mix a go this morning - managed to get 10/11 on it but it's quite tough getting the power up for the short sprints quickly enough. It wanted 10s at 715W even with my puny FTP, and I'd never actually been over 700W on the turbo before - was surprised it was capable of it in fact! Decent short workout anyway.
Racing in EVR Asia C today at 11.05am ... Bit of a longer one at 7 laps so need to try and pace myself a bit as i can't maintain anything over about 2.6 for that length at 7 laps of the classique.
Got 30 riders in C, which isn't bad for a Friday morning ride.
Good luck with that. I'm sure it'll be more enjoyable that the pipeline review and utilisation review meetings I'll be doing at the same time!
I got 10/11 too, didn't get a star for the first sprint, but being wise started dropping gears and spinning up in advance of the next two.
Even then, I was only getting to ca 600W vs a 645 target, but it let me off
Will try it again maybe at the weekend going for less gear and more spin (could only get to ca 130 in the 10s) and see what i get. But equally, not sure how much my turbo can take.
Can you access the workout report screen again once it's gone (just realised in time that you can freeze it this time) but didn't screen print it?
What was slightly annoying for me is that the star I missed wasn't on one of the sprints - it was actually for one of the cool-down bits. I had the same issue with the short sprints - I never actually hit and held the 715W target (707W was my max by the looks of it) but seemed to get close enough. I was having to get into my biggest gear and stand up in order to get some power on as fast as possible but it's tricky because there is also a little bit of a delay while the turbo's resistance ramps up.
do you do the workouts in ERG mode? I've found if i try to spin up before the short 10 second sprints it doesnt work very well as the trainer just alters resistance while i'm spinning the power up.
Only tried it once mind so maybe i've just not got the technique right!
do you do the workouts in ERG mode? I've found if i try to spin up before the short 10 second sprints it doesnt work very well as the trainer just alters resistance while i'm spinning the power up.
If ERG mode is where Zwift alters the resistance to match the power it wants then that is the way mine is set-up. I've had the same issue with trying to power up early - the trainer just reduces the resistance so it then takes longer to get up to power once you're in the sprint. What I do as I approach the start of the sprint is to go into a high gear and slow my cadence, then stand up and sprint hard as I cross the start line. It still takes a few seconds to get the power up though.
yes, I am in Erg mode; what i mean is that as I get close to the start of the sprint sections (and I mean last 5s, not half a minute) then I'll change up gears (most of my workout is done in big+5 or 6 for a nice straight chainline, and allow the turbo to change resistance to get power)
Not sure if it makes any difference, just makes me feel better.
Will try it again staying in the same gear and going only from the gun next time.
{data sheet for the flow says it can do 800W / 6% hill; I've got the slider on 60% realism currently, would changing that make any difference in either ERG mode or normal mode}
2 laps in, in lead group
lap 5 of 7, just 6 left in group
last lap. group of 2 for 4th i think
lost the group... bloke did me so i eased on last km to make sure i was under Cat limit
[URL= http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/5th_zps4o9w4oja.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/5th_zps4o9w4oja.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
Nice work Weeksy!
Save those legs for Tuesday evening though 😉
Save those legs for Tuesday evening though
LOL SO you and CH can gang up on me playing a game of "lets show the non racer how the big boys do it" 😉
[URL= http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/C_win_zpsvhioyjd6.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/C_win_zpsvhioyjd6.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
Wahoo! Nice one.
weeksy
LOL SO you and CH can gang up on me playing a game of "lets show the non racer how the big boys do it"
Nah, sprint drills 🙂
Congrats on the gold!
nice result! Although, if you have to ease up at the finish to avoid DQ, and you are able to post on here whilst racing, defo time to move up I'd say 😆 I will also be having a crack at B next time I race!lap 5 of 7, just 6 left in group
Hmmm it's a point yes...I was sitting nicely at 160-165bpm which is pretty happy compared to where it starts getting tough at 170+. I tried to break away a few times from the group, but they were strong. (As was seen by some of their numbers in w/kg at the end). I couldn't really have done much more though over the time/distance and that circuit really do suit me and my riding.
Bs.. Damn, i'm not sure i'm ready for Bs.
But in my head, it was always "win race move up" when i was trying to win Ds... So arguably why should it be different in Cs i guess. But i didn't honestly expect to get anyhwere near in Cs yet.
The "easiest" (still needs a big effort mind!) ways I've found to break away are on short, steep hills or when a faster, non-racing rider/group comes through, because both of these nullify your aero disadvantage. Or just use a power-up 🙂 Breaking away from a group on the flat is near impossible (for me, anyway) as you have to crank out so much more power.
On the hills, 2-3 of them were 5w+ so there was no real way to manage that without blowing up stright afterwards... I guess the result shows my tactics overall were right 🙂
Sounds like you were riding with higher cat riders (or same cat who then got DQd)? Not surprising you can't drop them in the case but even more reason to move up into the "right" category! 😀
Well, it seems 1 was re-instated, i had a great battle with him and his adjuster power is RIGHT on the edge of DQ,... but he won the race, fair and square too as he had the beating of me as he was one of the 'group of 2' .... So i can stay in C now if i want 😉
Well done! Great work. If you are producing those figures in a race then your FTP/KG is probably already B grade.
So i can stay in C now if i want
No, you should move up to B. It's much more fun........desperately trying to stay with the lead group for a bit, then dropping back and struggling manfully in a small group, then dropping even further back and dying a small death until the end. And all the time cursing those <75kg 'liars'.
Real world ride this morning - 'tis lovely outside. A 70 mile loop of the Surrey hill
mashiehood - MemberReal world ride this morning - 'tis lovely outside. A 70 mile loop of the Surrey hill
Day off for me today as doing family stuff and off to watch the Crash Bandicoot twins racing at Abingdon. May have a nice early morning spin tomorrow on the road with the locals as i need to get the tyre off and a road tyre fitted for Hillingon testing with the 2 racers on Tues.
some cheap(er) smart trainers on evans ex display sale
https://www.evanscycles.com/accessories/ex-display-home-trainers_c?sort=-price_inc_vat
Oohhhh.. that cyclops powertap super bike thingy looks good value!
weeksy
Day off for me today as doing family stuff and off to watch the Crash Bandicoot twins racing at Abingdon. May have a nice early morning spin tomorrow on the road with the locals as i need to get the tyre off and a road tyre fitted for Hillingon testing with the 2 racers on Tues.
Who're the Crash Bandicoot twins?
There may be a couple more folk joining us too. Do you use your road bike much outdoors?
Oohhhh.. that cyclops powertap super bike thingy looks good value!
Don't think it does controlled resistance, so not that great for zwifting.
Bit sick of turbo here so went out for a spin last night. Was a lovely ride, dry, not too chilly, legs felt great, until my lights failed 8 miles from home 🙁 Don't get that in Zwift! Usually have everything fully charged and carry a spare light but was all a bit rushed and out of practice 😳 Rode a nervous last 8 miles to the light of my iPhone torch!
The rest of the ride was impressive though MrBlobby! I still haven't averaged 20mph anywhere worth counting IRL lol
Haha yes, it was a bit of a balance between trying to ride quickly enough get home before the phone battery died and only being able to see a couple of metres of road ahead! Actually been a while since I've seen over 20 mph avg on a z2 ride, good conditions, but it was pretty flat.
Averaged 18mph on a hilly (3500ft) this morning - that's good for me in Feb / bodes well for summer
.Who're the Crash Bandicoot twins?There may be a couple more folk joining us too. Do you use your road bike much outdoors?
You and CH. I thought your race was today. Oops.
I use the road bike next to never outdoors. But CH wants a ride with the lads in my village tomorrow so I'm playing out on it. I have very little interest in riding road bikes though, but will be nice to be out having a chat.
Not likely to be Zwifting this weekend - did a 20 mile road loop with my wife today. She seemed happy with her rebuilt bike and the 11:34 cassette seems like a winner compared to her previous 11:28. Useful shakedown for my Roubaix as well as it's the first time it's been used outside since it's had a lot of changes.
It's the cycling club dinner dance to night so while I'm planning on doing tomorrow mornings club ride it might well depend on how well behaved I am tonight!
Ah just seen the latest challenge email from Zwift. I was wondering why every other rider seemed to be wearing a Trek Segafredo jersey! Good bit of marketing that.
Not really Zwift related, but this thread started out for me as a weight/fitness thing along with being a Zwift thread, so potentially the best thread for it i guess.
Good ride outdoors today with a few locals and one of the STW race gods, Crosshair. 57km of roads, some fun, some cruising and some power efforts.
The clearly apparent thing from today's ride is how important climbing is. I can hang with Crosshair on the flat, well short term, not sure about long term. But on the hills he just utterly destroys me. One long climb from Wantage called chain hill I lost just over 1 minute to him. That was for me a 10min segment, I'm guessing he had more in him too. Whereas I had no more left.
Obviously, none of this is a revelation to anyone who's watched the threads over the years.
The positive to take from it is that I can potentially hang with a group at Abingdon. Hillingdon, not so sure how much the little kick will affect it.
All in all, interesting ride. My times were great compared to my previous times, on the sections i tried on, i took massive chunks off my previous bests. One particular section be from the next village along into my village i'm very proud to have 79th best time out of 2247 overall ! It's also the fastest time of anyone this year 🙂 So pretty happy. Sure, it's all relative and early in the year, but it shows i'm not a complete donkey.
It's also the fastest time of anyone this year
ahem..might need to take another look 🙂 sorry...having said that I was drafting you 🙂
For a moment there weeksy it sounded like you enjoyed road cycling?? 😆
.For a moment there weeksy it sounded like you enjoyed road cycling??
Its all cycling, its all pleasure, its all great to be outside playing, but its not an adrenaline thing with road stuff, even going downhill, today's high speed was 67kph, but I don't feel out of control, or that its getting sketchy etc, its just going in a straight line.
The most pleasure from today was a competitive aspect rather than the riding.
Out on a MTB its fun, laughs, scaring yourself etc.
For me, road stuff I don't ever see being more than a training tool with a social aspect thrown in a bit.
Thanks for saddle height tips. It did feel better when where you said it should be. I've now positioned it there properly etc.
I also did a real world ride this morning. Rode at the front most of the time and set a couple of uphill PBs which is good considering I haven't lost any weight since starting Zwift and I was on the winter bike.
I got a 9th/2400 🙂
On a 13 second segment 😳
Great ride Weeksy and nice to meet you Metasequoia.
I have made a vid- just to practice fannying around with the editing software really- rather than any insightful footage. It should be uploaded by about 2019 😀
First decent real world road ride of the year for me this morning, combination of Zwift and Fat club saw me shaving nearly a minute off my eleven minute climb, for the first time ever I watched people dropping off the back of the group rather than not being able to stay involved.
Somethings working!
Raced outside this morning in a TT, and punctured half way round at the furthest point form the HQ.
Back to proper riding this afternoon on Zwift, FTP test with tired legs, 4.7w/kg. 4.8 may be possible but not much higher.
BRS TT on Tuesday will be my next effort.
Vid has finally uploaded- going to try and upload a better quality one overnight. I wanted to have a play with the software anyway....
Yes it's a bit sad but I've never worried about that yet in life 😀
Weeksy is living proof of the Zwift effect- not that I've edited it to give him much glory 😉
With the weather being decent I ended up riding outside both days - a 20 miler with my wife on Saturday then out with the club for a 46 miler on Sunday. Went with the slower bronze group on the way out and came back with one of the silver groups. Was feeling pretty good and led on all the climbs - was expecting quite a few Strava PB's but my Garmin crashed right at the end of the ride and lost the return leg. All that effort for nothing, 'cause if it's not on Strava it never happened!
Should be back to Zwift this evening but don't think I'll be racing - might do one of the FTP builder sessions possibly.
I also did an actual real life road ride yesterday! Apart from nipping to Tesco on the Inbred, it was my first ride on the roads in months - felt a bit weird to start with.
I was a bit concerned how fit I would actually be & whether sitting in the garage sweating buckets would have actually helped....but it does appear to be working and my fitness is definitely coming back.
Gears on the bike are still an issue! I think the whole lot just needs stripping, cleaning, new cables & setting up again - just finding the time to do it, because it will basically be miss a training opportunity to do some fettling, so at the moment I keep putting up with dodgy gears. Could drop it into the LBS, I suppose.
Raced outside this morning in a TT, and punctured half way round at the furthest point form the HQ.
That sucks. I've had that happen on a TT warm up and had to walk the 5 miles back in bare feet 🙁 At least it was a nice warm evening when I had mine.
Pretty dismal Zwift ride last night, just about managed what I had to do (and got to spend some time in a nice volcano jersey) but so tired I could barely sustain low z2 towards the end.
Gears on the bike are still an issue!
If it's an indexing thing then well worth getting one of [url= http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-derailleur-hanger-alignment-tool/ ]these hanger alignment tools[/url]. Can make quite a difference. And surely more time consuming to take it to LBS than to sort it out yourself 😉
I also did a RL ride yesterday (my first MTB ride since starting Zwift). Definitely noticed an improvement in fitness, faster on the climbs & more stamina overall in the legs. Made slogging through the mud a bit more tolerable!
Hi Zilog. Just taken the cassette off the Neo, that Edco hub treads a fine line between genius and madness!
This the first time you've seen it then? Take it your LBS fitted the cassette for you? I had to use a lot more force than I was comfortable with to fit my cassette! The design is very clever, hopefully will last long-term.
No, I did fit the cassette originally and it was maddening! Took a lot of care this time to remember where the small slot went. Still takes a fair bit of wiggling to get it on. You'd think it'd be cheaper just to ship two freehubs than the fancy Edco one.
Yeah, I think I managed to line it up with the slot right first time but then because of the amount of force required started second-guessing myself and ended up trying all different positions!! Did it come off easily enough?
Thanks for posting the video Crosshair!
Metasequoia - MemberThanks for posting the video Crosshair!
Yes mate, your arse does look fat 😉
Sadly... mine looks a lot fatter 😉
Yes, came off fine.
No probs 🙂
Am i right in thinking that most of the budget end smart trainers only use ant+? I only use an ipad for zwift so it can only pick up bluetooth spd/cadence.
Weeksy is living proof of the Zwift effect- not that I've edited it to give him much glory
Zwift effect being the need to constantly race and attack? 😉 I was expecting to see a nice tight chaingang there 🙂
Lol! I was a guest so didn't know what do to 😀
Zwift effect being the need to constantly race and attack?
LOL i spent a LARGE chunk of the time attacking them, despite the fact i knew it wasn't actually possible.... but every flat section we came to i went on the attack. Not necessarily a sprint, but on the power anyway... head down, click the button a few times and let the big legs do their job....
Part of the reason was CH's posts saying "i need to have an easy day and not push it" etc... So i thought "lets see how that goes then with male pride as i come past you"...
One section out of Lambourne i gave it a good squirt of power as we left the village, it was flat for a decent amount of time... i never once looked back, but i knew CH would be coming after me, he can't resist... as i got half way up the climb to the Ridgeway level, he came up along side me, despite the fact i was climbing out of the saddle and getting the power in there !
On the run back from the Chain Hill section we took the road from Farnborough, i immediately again got on the pace, letting CH overtake me through that village, knowing i'd attack and hold him on the down section towards West Ilsley.... Sadly for me, there's 3 small (in his world), hard (in my world) clinbs that meant i knew it was all over once we reached the climb... of course, i wasn't wrong and he gapped me on the hill.... i then came back at him on the downhill into West Ilsley, but the problem with that was i was then putting out 168bpm effort and on the other side of that village is another hill... then a flat, then a final hill.... LOL... I tried....
Sadly my battery was dead by then 🙁
You were quick along there! You only averaged 0.5mph slower over 7 miles! I'm gutted it wasn't my fastest time though 🙁
This Friel plan I've written better start working quick, otherwise I'm toast!! 😉
It was my quickest on that section by 3 mins... from 24.45 to 21.45 I worked on it i can tell you !
I was trying to begin with but my HR was only 163- mostly because I thought I was way over my last fastest time. Lazy boy!!
My pb is 3 minutes off of Metasequoia's @ 23.6mph!
crosshair - MemberMy pb is 3 minutes off of Metasequoia's @ 23.6mph!
The scary thing is, the neighbours time who was properly struggling y'day has a best of 19.52.... Which just shows how much training and fitness can go up and down over time of course.
Not ridden that section, if time allows I may pop up that way later today 🙂
The scary thing is, the neighbours time who was properly struggling y'day has a best of 19.52.... Which just shows how much training and fitness can go up and down over time of course.
Or that 19.52 was segment sniped on a day with a gale force tailwind!