Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

Boxhill again tonight for me, no chance to beat my last time though, not with a rotten cold 🙁 If i Try I'm likely to pass out on the bike!

Wow that was actually quite good fun!

Sort of liking Zwift 🙂

It's not far off

Box Hill - London Zwift - 8:22 - Av 22.1km/h AvCad 78 AvHR 176bpm AvPower 337W

Real life - Boy Hill - Zig Zags - 7:54 Av 19.0km/h AvCad 86 AvHR 188bpm StravaPower 296W

Box hill for me. 9:10 IRL V 9:12 on Zwift, I was nearly 2 stone lighter for the RL effort though..

No Zwifting for me for a few days as my daughter is visiting so the spare room has had to go back to being a bedroom. I've also got a 10K running race at the weekend so want to take things easy for a few days before that.

I'm supposed to be zwifting this evening (on my plan), but it's my birthday so I'm eating a bag of chips with a pint or two instead. 😆 Will be doing bike fit stuff tomorrow - thanks to the person who posted the app earlier!

On a side note, the new forum is funky:
[img] [/img]

Happy birthday mate!!

I scheduled my Birthday on Monday this week so it was on a rest day 😀

#dedication
#organised

😉

scaredypants - Member
Weirdness on the 8.00 TT tonight - never finished. Supposed to be 10miles (16km), I gave up at 17.3km with no banner in sight
Results are on the live button but they pretty much arrange themselves in order of distance ridden.

weeksy - Member
Had that. Unless you ride to banner about 24km it doesn't register

Screesnshot taken, just in case, like

Happy birthday nathb 🙂

A pretzel pootle for me tonight.

Edit... oh arse, it's London 🙁

[b]mrblobby [/b]

if you have an Ipad change your date to last tuesday 31st, then log in.......once in before you start a course, change your date back to current.

Well done weeksy on the new Box Hill time, that's a bigger improvement than I had last weekend. Much left in the tank afterwards? I'm stuck in Gdansk today so no Zwifting for me, perhaps for a race some of us with close stats should try riding as a team, through and off etc. Not that I've ever felt any real drafting benefit myself

.Well done weeksy on the new Box Hill time, that's a bigger improvement than I had last weekend. Much left in the tank afterwards?

Mine wasn't improvement as such. I'm not convinced I'm any quicker than say 4 weeks back, just now the right power is being reported by hardware/software. I tried hard though, average 353w and 175bpm is proper hard. I think if pushed I may have 5-10s tops left in me. I think more gains would come from weight loss at the moment.

Pizza and beers for tea won't have helped me.

I can't get my BP that high since being on BP meds and I'm on docs orders to take it easy too because of my Atrial Fibrillation, since starting Zwift though I've pushed myself harder and haven't had an episode.
I might hire a stages for a month just to see what my real output is, was never interested I it before.

harry too
nathb:
[me 70kg + kit/bike/water/computer = 80kg roughly.]
Are you talking about real life weight or Zwift weight? I thought rider weight was just the rider not including the ancillaries....

crosshair
Happy birthday mate!!

I scheduled my Birthday on Monday this week so it was on a rest day

#dedication
#organised

Thanks CH, top organisation skills there! I've just eaten my weight in chips and cake today 😆

mrblobby
Happy birthday nathb

@cheers_drive - I'm renting mine from these guys: https://panaguabikes.com/pages/stages-power-meters-as-used-by-team-sky-hire-or-try-before-you-buy#.WJOUpMvfWhA
If you decide to buy they knock off your first months hire too.

Hmmm! Sounds like some crafty carb-loading tactic to me!!
Or extra weight for those sprinting legs 😀

I'm back on MyFitnessPal today after a relatively kind few days off! Should be back within 1lb or so of last weeks race weight.
Aiming for 85kg for the Spring races.

Oops- veered off-topic 🙂

As I expected, that hurt a lot, think I ripped my lungs open and only managed 8:52 boooooo! Day off work tomorrow and was gonna ride IRL but that may have pushed me over the edge.

Tough ride in the KISS race there. Moved up to C and started quickly but lost the lead group and then couldn't seem to catch onto another group. Probably rode 80% of it alone or briefly with random stragglers and then my legs just gave up. Still a good workout as always.

The RL Box Hill segment looks shorter than the Zwift one. That said myRL time is slower but I've only ever ridden it at the end of PRL so to be expected.

Tough ride in the KISS race there. Moved up to C and started quickly but lost the lead group and then couldn't seem to catch onto another group. Probably rode 80% of it alone or briefly with random stragglers and then my legs just gave up. Still a good workout as always.

I find the KISS races particularly bad for sandbaggers which makes pace at the front totally unrealistic. Try the EVR series. It's been much closer racing in the two I've done so far.

In fact looking at the results, the top 25 or so got DQ'd.

you sure it's sandbaggers - maybe just people trying it out for a first/2nd time ? (I did a TT before I did a FTP, for example)

Don't you get forcibly upgraded/DQ'd if you keep overshooting ?

Results won't count on zwiftpower but doesn't stop you from entering. Top 5 > 4w/kg, most of the top 20 over 3.5w/kg.

Like I said, I've stopped doing the KISS races as it' doesn't make for a good race.

I've only done 2 races (actually only one, started a second and then couldn't be arsed so deleted it) and both times the pace at the front of a Cat D has been unbelievable. Then at the end the top however many who were doing that pace end up at 3.5W/kg and get DQ'ed anyway. So you don't know who's really racing and therefore how to race against them, because you don't know till the end whether they were genuinely in the race or not.

Not that i can see any means of preventing it. And I know weight doping is probably a thing too, but at least with that whether it's a 100kg man doing 250W average or a 100kg man doing 150W average but pretending he's only 60kg so he goes faster - at least it's still the right W/kg so you're racing against the right band.

Yeah, might try EVR then. I've enjoyed the kiss races I've done before but this was pretty brutal. Didn't help that I'd munched a chilli for dinner 30 mins before. Nearly saw it again 😯

I really enjoy the races but rake absolute position and cat with a pinch of salt.

Get in the race, get in a group help each other fo as fadt as possible, sprint for rhe line.

Simples.

Lol! I'm now division 2 in 'RR with climbs'

I know it depends on what draft I could have found but my finishing time in Tuesdays KISS race would have put me almost top 20 in A's!!!!

I'm so tempted next week..........

@blitz I found the same when I was in the KISS (C) race on Tuesday, and couldn't figure out who was in the race, or how (badly) I was doing... Still as you say, it was a good workout, and fun to try.

Looking forward to getting another race in soon, but the 8pm starts are really the best for me, but might try EVR to see what that's like.

Guys, don't underestimate the draft! If there are sandbaggers in your cat- USE THEM!! Leave nothing in reserve hanging to their wheel at the start or up the climbs. Then wheelsuck and recover.
If you can get it right- you can hang with riders putting out 1w/kg more than you!!

[quote=crosshair ]Guys, don't underestimate the draft! If there are sandbaggers in your cat- USE THEM!! Leave nothing in reserve hanging to their wheel at the start or up the climbs. Then wheelsuck and recover.
If you can get it right- you can hang with riders putting out 1w/kg more than you!!

yeah. but in the EVR races I've found I can hang onto the front group for long enough for the race to settle down whereas in the KISS races the pace of the front is just insane.

Wrong thread.

Kind of agree that KISS can be like the wild west but the 8pm weekday time is convenient for me.

Argh on bloody Zwift again despite best intentions. Set off this morning but less than 15 mins into road ride got a slashed sidewall. Careful ride home then a few laps of London 🙁

When are you going to pin a virtual number on MrBlobby??

[quote=cheers_drive ]Kind of agree that KISS can be like the wild west but the 8pm weekday time is convenient for me.

KISS seem to be 8pm tues/thurs

EVR are 8pm mon/wed/fri

When are you going to pin a virtual number on MrBlobby??

Hi CH. Doesn't really fit in with what I'm trying to do over the next few weeks but when non-virtual racing season starts some Zwift racing will probably work quite well. I think if I was going to put in those sorts of efforts now I'd come do some real racing with you and nathb 🙂

How are you liking your Neo now? I know I ask you that every few weeks. Still find Erg mode rough?

KISS seem to be 8pm tues/thurs

EVR are 8pm mon/wed/fri

Cheers, that makes sense. Tues / Thurs are my Zwift days because they work well with a Sunday ride. With a young child in the house I'm lucky to get that, I don't have the flexibility to ride when I want any more (which is why Zwift is so good as I don't miss out on a ride if the weather is pants on my allocated day).

Fred is still here

How are you liking your Neo now? I know I ask you that every few weeks.

I'm liking it. Works well having a spins around Zwift. Having a virtual environment with gradient changes to tackle, other riders to pass, etc. makes for more dynamic riding than usual turbo work. Hoping this helps avoid turbo legs having put in almost no time riding outdoors in Jan 😕

For more traditional interval work I put it in TT/Tri mode. The lower simulated CdA makes a big difference to the feel, probably better than the LeMond. Works well for intervals in TT position.

In Zwift it can feel a bit lumpy simulating steep slopes but that's not really a problem. And accelerating maybe doesn't feel quite as natural as the LeMond either (I think if you were to work out the effective CdA it uses in road mode it'd be a bit higher than the LeMond or my road bike CdA.)

The lack of noise is great. I have my headphones at about half volume now instead of full volume!

I did have some problems running over bluetooth with a huge control lag so I switched over to ANT+ and all is fine.

Power measurement is good too. Tracks my C1 PM very closely, consistently 10 watts lower, which you'd expect as one is at the spider and the other at the rear hub.

Still find Erg mode rough?

I've only tried it once and it was horrid for harder efforts. Like riding through thick mud. Reading the Tacx forum, it seems they did tweak it a while back to make it more natural but people complained that it reacted too slowly to power changes so they put it back. Might be better for stuff like capping easy Z1 efforts.

Bored at work and just thinking about the KISS sandbagging discussion and wondering if more categories would help?

I reckon say 6 categories instead of 4 would be good. I'd hope it would mean you could find a closer group and make the races more competitive?

I accept that when you move up you're not going to be near the front groups but when the gap (literally/virtually!) is massive it's not great. Even thinking about this as purely a fitness tool and forgetting about coming high in the placings, I'm sure you push harder when you're in a competitive group/race then just going through the motions at the back.

Or just MTFU and get quicker?

I decided to do a test ride tonight with Zwift using power readings from my turbo (one of the cheapo T2240's Tacx Flows from Halfords) and with my Garmin recording the ride using power readings from my power meter (4iiii Precision). While during the ride there were differences between the power displayed on my Garmin and the power showing on Zwift from the turbo (generally it looks like the Garmin/4iiii combination reacts to changes in power much quicker, both up and down, than the turbo does - and I don't think that's just averaging due to display settings) overall they were very close:

Garmin/4iiii: 217W average, 493W maximum, 219W weighted average
Zwift/T2240: 219W average, 451W maximum, 222W weighted average

Quite impressive from the T2240 really.

[quote=blitz ]Bored at work and just thinking about the KISS sandbagging discussion and wondering if more categories would help?
I reckon say 6 categories instead of 4 would be good. I'd hope it would mean you could find a closer group and make the races more competitive?
I accept that when you move up you're not going to be near the front groups but when the gap (literally/virtually!) is massive it's not great. Even thinking about this as purely a fitness tool and forgetting about coming high in the placings, I'm sure you push harder when you're in a competitive group/race then just going through the motions at the back.
Or just MTFU and get quicker?

I don't think it would make any difference. if you look at the numbers at the front of the KISS C/D race before the category limits are applied on thursday, they would have been competitive in the A/B race. I don't think its people inadvertantly having a good race or not knowing where to place themselves.

ultimately, it is just a game and another way to ease the pain of the turbo...

Of course. I really couldn't care less where I finished in the race. It's just the ones I've enjoyed most, and pushed hardest in (the main goal as you say) are where I've been in a competitive group and had mini battles with those around me. I was musing over the idea that having more cats would increase the chances of getting this. You'll always get people sandbagging and blasting away, but I guess I'm wondering if those left would have a better race?

Blitz- my own personal preference is for the no cat races. Then you can just race whoever is there on any given day. After all, the only prize you usually get for winning a race is a DQ 😉

Seriously though- I have never, in 55 or so races been affected by a sandbagger? Either follow the wheel or don't but if you blow up, it's not their fault!
If you watch the race streams, you'll see that even the A race takes it easy after a while. Yes the starts are mental but that's a good reason to work on your 1 or 2 min power.

Besides, the Cats are based on FTP which is quite useless at predicting race success. The 2nd place B on Tuesday was 3.3w/kg!!!
My 10th/76 in B was with 3.2w/kg! And I would have finished 21/40 in A assuming I could have found the same amount of draft.

Learn the craft- there is an art to it 🙂

How are you liking your Neo now? I know I ask you that every few weeks.

I'm liking it... <snip>

Interesting, thanks. Could you get a Kickr too please, and try that for a while then compare and contrast? Cheers. Oh and a Flux as well for good measure. Ta.

I can see myself upgrading from my Vortex one day, but not sure what I'd get at the mo.

[quote=crosshair ]Blitz- my own personal preference is for the no cat races. Then you can just race whoever is there on any given day. After all, the only prize you usually get for winning a race is a DQ
Seriously though- I have never, in 55 or so races been affected by a sandbagger? Either follow the wheel or don't but if you blow up, it's not their fault!
If you watch the race streams, you'll see that even the A race takes it easy after a while. Yes the starts are mental but that's a good reason to work on your 1 or 2 min power.
Besides, the Cats are based on FTP which is quite useless at predicting race success. The 2nd place B on Tuesday was 3.3w/kg!!!
My 10th/76 in B was with 3.2w/kg! And I would have finished 21/40 in A assuming I could have found the same amount of draft.
Learn the craft- there is an art to it

i think its more that in the KISS C/D races it just seems to get strung out right from the start as opposed to a group forming and then you may as well be doing a time trail, and then you may as well be on a time trial bike, and then you may as well be on trainerroad following a blue line... 😉