Good effort! I'm gonna do the 37 mile Ottawa race shortly, never done a long one.
I'm destroyed today for some reason. Just wiped out. I keep asking at 5am which isn't helping, but I think recent activity has just taken its toll.
Fantastic cycling there nathb, i think thats the first stw win i have seen. You even had 0.29s to spare.
I opened the iOS app on my phone, joined with no sensors paired and clicked 'Ride With' on Nath then quickly clicked on his name so I could watch.
It was quite entertaining! Great result too Nath 🙂
What view does everyone use? I only like camera 3 (the first person view) as it enables me to best judge the draft. Most realistic too.
Thanks!
I use the 3rd person camera so I can see what others around me are doing haha. Well within the iPads field of vision!
I always use the default view, find most of the others make me feel sick!
Race was a bit of a disaster, turbo was randomly stuck at 80w, so I didn't move off the line, quickly switched to my P1s, but was 30 seconds down. Chased to about the middle of the pack, but the groups were tiny, so couldn't get any momentum. Race was too long, gaps were huge, i ended up doing the last 45 minutes totally on my own, which really isn't any fun! Just soft pedalled for most of it. Definitely be sticking to shorter races where you actually get a race!
The guy who won was an animal, took it by nearly 7 minutes
For those using the Tacx T2240 (the one from halfords everyone has recommended) how noisy is it? A friend is asking who lives in a flat and as it's back on offer in Halfords he is contemplating buying it but is unsure on the noise level
Noise levels are fine, probably one of the quieter turbos to be honest.
Njee20 - going solo in a race can often feel like an old school turbo session when you just faced the wall! If i end up in that situation you just have to think of a challenge within the race to motivate yourself to get over the line.
Yeah it was pretty dull!
Didn't help that when using the P1s there's no feedback from the turbo (obviously), so I kept losing crazy amounts of speed on the little ramps by forgetting to pedal a bit harder!
Huh?!
I use a 4iiii power meter with a vortex smart trainer and get feedback from the terrain...
If the turbo trainer isn't reacting to the terrain, assuming it's a smart one, then you need to set it up on Zwift as a controllable trainer?
Yeah, pair your PM as the power source and your trainer as 'controllable trainer' and it will work exactly the same. It evens works in workout mode with ERG mode now.
Yes, sorry, meant more because the trainer threw a wobbly, so I unpaired it. The original point of the excercise was to compare output of the turbo and the P1s. Which I'm still intrigued by.
Hate erg mode though, that can sod right off!
Anyone having Strava/Zwift issues today ?
Did a social ride earlier and it's not imported into Strava, can see it in Zwift, if i download and import i get an error for the FIT file being an unrecognised filetype ?
Rode yesterday with no issues, not tried today.
I had issues yesterday, tried to join a race but it took so long to join that i think i ran out of time. It also said my last session had failed to save properly and would i like to save it ( it had saved and been on strava for the last 2 days) and in saying yes i think it got its knickers in a right twist hence missing the race. I tried the Rapha mission yesterday but ran out of time as i spent an hour just climbing and still had over a third of the way to go. I was 3rd on the epic KOM board behind someone called M Cavendish! He is on zwift now but not sure if that was him but if it was he beat me by 27 secs and i wasnt even trying (i suspect he was trying a lot less than i was).
Did the KISS Down Under race this morning, finished 5th out of 30 ish, but Zwift power only shows a couple of mid pack finishers. The points would be useful to climb back up the Cycligent table.
Thats a good result bigfoot, those races are pretty fast in my experience.
Hayman, Dowsett, Adam Yates and Cav have all been on today apparently.
They should have some kind of Zwift approved orange tick I think.
Can someone tell me why the volcano flat course has quite a few hills on it? Did the team Italy race tonight and i was flying, in the lead group at the end of lap 2 and then on the final lap it all went belly up. I lost concentration and didnt see a group of five get a few seconds ahead and by then it was too late and they were pulling over 5w/kg and a massive sustained effort from me couldnt bridge. Then the wife phoned so spent 2 minutes just idling and freewheeling so with that race ruined i decided to hammer it the last 2km and still ended up 8th and 3.78w/kg and 311w average and bronze in cat B.
I did my first "proper" ride with Zwift today, a 90mins workout incorporating 3x15's 90% FTP.
It was OK. My observations were that time passed more quickly than it would using Trainerroad, and my average speed was faster making me think that I'd log more KM's than I'd really "ridden". However I also tracked the ride on my garmin and the Strava average speed is almost the same now I've finished.
Somehow, the whole effort felt easier than Trainerroad despite using the same power meter on both, in the same way that riding on the road does.
And, is it me or did it rain in Zwift at the same time it started raining here by coincidence?
P.S. Is there any way of exporting Zwift rides as GPX or similar after the fact?
My Zwift freaked out the other day:
https://www.strava.com/activities/1102950457
(Look at the screen shots)
@kryton - log into www.zwift.com - they're saved on your profile and can be downloaded as gpx files.
I've had the rain coincidence thing before- quite funny 🙂
I think the key to 'getting' Zwift is to just consider it a place. A place to meet folks for group rides, a place to race, a place to train.
Especially once you've tried a race on a few different courses - it kind of takes on a character like say Hillingdon does.
Even when I'm plodding around doing a recovery spin, the various hills and features remind me of battles gone by and gruelling efforts that kind of warm you to it.
Your rides get stored in a log folder on pc. Can also download them from Zwift.com I think....
Found on Zwift.com, thanks.
Ouch! That wasn't a great performance, went out too hard really. It seemed to be sort of an A group then a C group, no real B riders in there.
My STW buddy was playing too, but he was on a strong day and hung with the leaders for 3 laps, I lasted 1/2 a lap and lost them.
Final lap I struggled terribly today, nothing in the legs at all.
Finished it though.
Weeksy, I was dropped with 1 and a good bit laps to go. The reverse 'flat' seemed much more hilly than the normal 4 lap Watopia flat. Over the last couple of days I have been trying to get the Zwift mileage up before month end, but I'm done in now so might have a couple of days off. Hats off to you for finishing the race.
My lad has just been playing, did about 8 miles and twice up the hilly route climb. Managed 70th out of 109 on the kom. 60th out of 104 on the sprint segment.
He's proper hot and sweaty.
Tomorrow evening we may try to find him a social ride with a group.
The reverse 'flat' seemed much more hilly than the normal 4 lap Watopia flat.
I thought the exact opposite on Wednesday! I hate those rollers in the last 1.5 miles when doing the 'normal' route, they were nothing in reverse, likewise that long drag after the boardwalk was a nice descent!
Lined up for the ZHR TT this morning, but only four others turned up. At the start, two went off at great speed, one was on Zpower so not a rival but he dragged another with him. I settled into fourth place at just below my TT pace keeping third place in sight. Somewhere in Central London first, second and fifth riders disappeared leaving me following one other rider. Going up Box Hill I caught and passed him, he then stopped leaving me to ride to the finish and the "win". With no other riders visble on the course and a small race made it a very lonely ride.
If you're young and fit, zwift can now be used to get a job!
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/team-dimension-data-professional-contract-up-for-grabs-with-zwift-academy/
Wowsers....
No use to old fat fellas like me... but still bloody great !
You can still do the academy 😉
LOL yeah right.... i'm gonna be 'that bloke'..... Hmmmm
I had a great fun race last night. Was a PRS race, I entered cat C mostly because i still believe i'm borderline C and also because B was looking a bit empty on riders.
It was Volcano CCW, 7 laps, so a short race, but a LONG 3/4 of a lap from the Pier to the start took it up to a reasonable distance.
Felt good all the way through, holding the HR reasonable. But there were 20+ in the group, so i spent a bit of time and effort trying to break the group down with some attacks, i'd go off the front after some drafting or a hill and pin it.... keep it hard for 1min to see who was coming with me, so who was not able, after 5 laps we took the group down from 20sih to about 14, still a big group and 2 laps to go... Couple of other guys attacked but it was like Crosshairs Thruxton races, it was never going to hold, so i didn't even always chase as i knew others would.
We put in a lap of 5min 39 which i think ranks now as my best lap of all time on the route...
Lap 7 we still had 10-12 but we were all getting a bit mixed up now with the odd D rider who was hanging in the group after being lapped, 2 Bs who'd been caught by our group after a minute lead and 1 A who started 2 mins before us and was in the group as well, so we were swelled to about 15.... CCW gives you the longish little hill into the Volcano just before the end, i'd saved a Feather for it and about 700m out i nailed it up the hill, sadly i was too late, 2 riders had gone before me and were 7-8w/kg up the hill, but i knew the hill wasn't the end, there was a bit of flat to the line and a small kicker, we battled it out but never caught the lead guy, in a 5 man sprint i got 3rd for a 4th overall in the race.... But it was a good bit of fun, so i didn't mind not getting the podium, everyone in there deserved their position and put in a great effort.
Best part was +15 on the Rankings later... Nice..
Sadly (sort of) that's me done now for 3 weeks ! I'm off on the family holiday and won't see a cycle again until the 21-22nd... Eeek ! Should help with the rest/recovery, but with the beer and pastry, not sure it will help with anything else !
Ooof that's put you within a whisker of top 10 for the volcano CCW!
https://www.strava.com/segments/14032426
nathb - MemberOoof that's put you within a whisker of top 10 for the volcano CCW!
It's funny you know, i still don't think of myself in the same league as the people around me, i still think i'm kidding myself. Take for example the riders in 7th, 10th and 13th, If you'd ask me, i'd say they're all WAY quicker riders than me and if we put ourselves on a road or trail they'd absolutely destroy me... But the times posted are the times posted and can't be argued. I think at times that's part of my problem as a person, i don't think of myself that highly in a cycling context, but the reality must be that i'm not completely rubbish 🙂
I guess some of this self doubt is why i've not joined CH in his racing, i don't think yet i'm up to the task. If he can't get a point and i can't match him anywhere then how exactly would i get one ! But then you ask, does it matter if you don't..... Well... Kinda.
I'm looking forward to the Gorrick G25 though coming up soon, hopefully when i get back from holidays i can find some form again and do a decent job 🙂
Happy with that though overall 🙂 I can go into my adventure and cake eating happy that i'm doing OK.
Believe it or not I feel exactly the same!!
I've taken part in circa 10 real life and 40 Zwift races and I can hand on heart promise you that mentally I've only said to myself "right you've got this" twice - my latest Zwift race and the Abingdon one where I got 3rd.
Weeksy, my experience of Zwift v real life is that it really flatters you aerodynamically. As bigger guys, producing bigger wattages, that does inflate our relative positions on a flat Zwift course unless you have a really good position outside. Over the past year, my outdoor and Zwift rides have got closer though in terms of power v speed.
I personally got so frustrated with wondering about Zwift racing and where I really fitted in that it almost drove me to try real racing to find out for myself.
I can assure you you have enough power to finish with a Cat 4 bunch regardless of your aero's. Whether you have the drafting, cornering, awareness and concentration only you can discover. But that's not going to get easier no matter how fit you get 😉
Woo second place!
https://www.zwiftpower.com/race.php?id=10124
Very happy with that as I'm still recovering from a cold! (If I'm showing as 3rd it's because 2nd hasn't been DQ'd yet for being on a standard bike)
I've only said to myself "right you've got this" twice - my latest Zwift race and the Abingdon one where I got 3rd.
At risk of being a bit of a dick I'd say that if you thought 'you had it' was 3rd a successful outcome...?
Outcome is with the benefit of hindsight, that was during the race when I thought that.
Am I happy with the outcome? Kind of...I did have it, what I didn't count on was being cut up in the last corner by someone forcing their way up the inside of me. It was a photo finish, but it very nearly resulted in an off..
I see. The only races I've really thought i had it are when I lift my arms off the bars crossing the line haha!
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I think Nath can count that as a success. Especially as we all thought he was kissing tarmac when his rear hopped out 50m earlier 😆
Again that's hindsight...
I'm talking actually out on the race course way before the finish/just after setting off and feeling like you've got this / you belong here / this is your race / I can do this / in not out of place / this is in my comfort zone.
Finishing position doesn't really matter for that?
You harnessed your inner arrogance basically and got your best finish. Sounds spot on to me 🙂
That was a fast lap weeksy on volcano ccw, i did it yesterday and was only a few seconds quicker and it ruined me. Sadly though our times are only close to the top ten for the womens leaderboard not the mens. I hate the course as i can never seem to get any rythym going.
Good result nathb.
Top ten of the STW Zwifters group I think they meant Blader.. 🙂
That must have been a fast group you were racing in Weeksy 😆
I just tried on the TT bike and could only manage 5.45 @ 50w higher 😀
Lol I was leading it! It was a fast lap 1, the next 7 were a bit slower but still all around 5:50-55. It was certainly cracking on, but my HR wasn't going crazy, I was quite settled. Group makes a massive factor. Solo I've only done I think a 5:57
Last nights TT
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😈
I think Nath can count that as a success
That's the second time you've posted a photo of people I don't know with zero context 😆
I know what you mean about that feeling of "yes, this is right" though, I had a whole season of it some years ago in XC racing, didn't always convert to a result, but you just feel things click.
I'm the guy in the red, trying to recover lost ground 😆
Up until 50m to go I'd been racing by the book.
Almost give up before starting when I'm next to some of these guys, particularly Mr Cartwright
https://www.zwiftpower.com/race.php?id=10375
Some big guns in that race Nath, looked like a sprint finish in your group. What times were you climbing box hill up in?
I raced yesterday and there were only 4 of us in the lead group so i played around with some tactics. One of the group attacked up a little hill so went after them and when i caught up and he slowed to recover i went again and they all matched me, thats when i realised i might be the slowest in the group. Anyway last lap was me,a lady called doris and another guy as we dropped the fourth one. I actually went pretty close to flat out with still 0.5km to go thinking i might just get the jump on them, sadly i was deluded. Turns out the lady was the fastest and beat us all, she had a rapid sprint.
I also weighed myself for the first time in 6 years and it seems i am not as slim as i thought, i am 82kg not 79. I am a shade under 5 10' but in all honesty i dont want to lose anymore as i would look too skinny. I guess i must be podgy boned as i think recommended weight is 12.5 stone (take that recommendation with a pinch of salt). I m not interested in getting my weight down so i am going to work on my core and leg strength still with the aim of getting to 4w/kg.
I guess i must be podgy boned as i think recommended weight is 12.5 stone
Recommended by whom? Ideal BMI for someone of 5'10" is just over 11 stone, 12.5 puts you just into 'overweight' (but only just). If you do want to get faster then losing weight is overwhelmingly the most effective, trying to build power up to a threshold is far far harder, particularly if you're carrying a bit of flab.
Good result Nath, some big power numbers in there! Good to see the KISS races still getting big entry numbers too despite it being summer, last few races I've done (unsurprisingly) have had much lower numbers.
@blader:
8 Aug 2017 18.3mi/h 182bpm 391W Powermeter 1,328.5 6:08
8 Aug 2017 17.6mi/h 175bpm 351W Powermeter 1,279.8 6:22
The faster one was when I attacked up it one the second lap, actually didn't sit down for the entire length of it!! It killed my legs and didn't have much left for the sprint 😆
But my aim was to ride as close to FTP as possible for the entire race, to see:
A) what it felt like
B) what it achieved
C) how much I had in the tank for the final sprint
Which it did nicely! If there is a video of the race you'll find me in second for quite a bit of it.
I am a shade under 5 10' but in all honesty i dont want to lose anymore as i would look too skinny.
I see this posted quite often - is looking skinny actually a bad thing?
Don't get me wrong, being skinny has quite a number of disadvantages, but what it looks like isn't really one of them.
Njee20 there is no way i could get down to 11 stone, you can see my ribs now and i am 13 stone. I have broad shoulders which i guess doesnt lend itself to being a racing snake. I will dip under 13 stone by a few pounds and i think that will be as far as i go.
Fifeandy - i have a pin head so if my frame gets too skinny i just look ill then couple that with my ugly face and i end up looking like a drug fiend waiting for my next fix. The wife is already not keen on my size now as my legs have "disappeared" according to her.
Disappeared legs work pretty well for some people:
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They should be offering him food not water 😐
They should be offering him food not water
Nah, still carrying a bit of early season weight at Paris-Roubaix, need to slim down a bit more for the tour!
Excellent photo though that shows what >6W/kg looks like.
Now you see that is not a good look. Heck i am no where near that level and i certainly dont want to be. I would rather be faster through hard work than diet.
I downloaded zwift this week and I thought I would give it a go, I am using a tacx smart flow and pc.
I have managed to do a free ride and a workout, but I am completely clueless about the races! I have figured out I should be in D cat, but when I look at the races lots of them seemed to say you needed to change your name to be included in the results! Not got a clue about how to do that! I thought you could just click on a race and then crack on, but it seems to be a little more complicated than I thought!
I am nenjoying things, I just want to give racing a try!
I would rather be faster through hard work than diet
Hard work alone won't get you much beyond 4.5w/kg.
Phil40 These days, the event module and the way the results are captured by Zwiftpower.com means that changing your name is not essential. But it's easy to do so on the menu screen anyway, just click the little pencil next to your name.
Also, many races remove all the non racers from view now, so you won't confuse anyone by not having the tag in your name.
So basically, just join any of the races that take your fancy on the event module, warm up a little and pedal like mad!
BAck to Zwifting later after a 3 week layoff, i am likely to do the KISS 2nd base race at 8pm i think, i was going to do a race earlier, but i need to spend time in the bath and getting shaved along with just trying to feel a little more human.
Welcome back weeksy, just to let you know that whilst you have been away all of us are now Cat A riders in the elite league so you best crack on and catch up.
I did the ZHR hare and hounds race yesterday and it was one of the best races i have done. We had 10 of us in the group chasing the C group and it was just at the perfect pace and no one tried to go off the front, we just all worked together. We only split up in the last 0.8km when the pace really ramped up. Anyway i went early and ended up finishing in 3rd ( 3rd in group and as it happens 3rd fastest overall) just 2.5 seconds behind the winner. Very enjoyable and strangely i didnt change gear once in the entire race except for the sprint finish at the end with 0.5km to go.
Word of advice:
Don't go straight from 3 weeks off to straight into a hard paced race, especially if you had a late night, early start and have eaten just about everything on the face of the planet and drunk gallons of beer!
It was tough. Hung with lead group for a lap and half but missed 2 pedal strikes as I sat up off the seat and lost the bunch. Hung on as we'd built a large gap to finish 11th out of about 40 but I have a feeling 6-7 will be a DQ. Power wasn't bad but HR was 174+ when it should previously have been 165
Gulp ! I rode outdoors on the roadie !
Wasn't a long one but was trying quite hard ! managed to set PRs on every segment apart from 1.... Pretty happy to be quicker than i was, especially after the layoff. ! Eeeek.
Njee20 there is no way i could get down to 11 stone, you can see my ribs now and i am 13 stone. I have broad shoulders which i guess doesnt lend itself to being a racing snake. I will dip under 13 stone by a few pounds and i think that will be as far as i go.
You should be able to see your ribs, that's healthy! You're probably not carrying much fat on your rib cage, so it's a bit of a moot point. I do think in part we have a warped perception of what 'healthy' is, but anywho.
I did a group ride on Friday, never tried one, was quite pedestrian, but a big field. A load of guys charged off from the go, like it was a race, I stayed with the leader, but did eventually end up ahead in a group of 10 or so, sat up and went back to the group for a while, but ended up 'finishing' 3rd, do loads of people give up on group rides, or do you get kicked out if you get a certain distance ahead?
Actually looking on Zwift Power I got DQd anyway, presumably because I was over the threshold.
Load of people give up if a bunch of mongs go off at a stupid pace 😉
How can you get DQ'd from a group ride ? Why was a group ride in ZP ?
There were 98 starters it said, although ZP lists 70 (of whom 21 were DQd), about 10 went off fast, not insanely so, but clearly had no intention of staying with the group! I ended up about 3 minutes ahead of the leader. Obviously they did just give up, hence disparity between ZP and the side bar at the time.
Why wouldn't it be on ZP, isn't it for all "events", not just races?
Generally the only group rides that go on ZP are the ones with a race final lap. Often they DQ people for starting the race lap ahead of the ride leader.
It's a tough one with group rides. If your ride leader is a woman, the pace can be well lower than advertised. (2.5w/kg is slow if she weighs 50kg!) and if that doesn't fit with what you have planned then hooking up with 5 or 10 like minded souls off of the front can be a good way to get the pace you had hoped for.
People take it way too seriously IMO and one or two seem to get off on a)having a huge pack and b) typing smug rebukes at those doing something different.
I've yet to notice the behaviour of others affect my ride- the ride leader being a control freak is way more annoying than a few people riding off into the distance.
Agreed, didn't bother me. The leader put a few messages saying "ease up at the front", but wasn't pushing it. The group ended up hugely spread out.
You've only got to look on the Facebook group for how ridiculously serious some people take a bit of fun. It's crazy!
Thought i'd do a nice ride today.... Jumped on the Aussie Hump Day Ride... It went nicely, was sitting at 120bpm for most of it, with an average of about 200-220w, so fairly comfortable. At the end was a 2 lap race... It was chaos as there were 300+ riders... But i was holding a decent pace of about 280-300w, then.... Puncture ! I just noticed it starting to slip, then more, more..... Bollox ! Had to bail out 🙁
Today i passed 5000km for the 2017. My target is 7500km in my head but not sure how realistic that one is this close, so 7000 would be nice.