It wasn't. It was 2 mins splits. Cs went off 4 mins after A, 2 mins after B.

But the result is currently Cs only onto CVR, that's rarely how they do it.

Ah sorry- looked at the wrong one.

FWIW, seeing how quick you were on the Compton group ride LAST year Weeksy, I'd be scared IRL now!
I'd do you on the kickers or drop you by accelerating hard every couple of minutes but a flat TT would be pretty close I think. 304w is a useful tool!!!

Looking at Strava from them days and comparing my actual output via Zwift, I was arguably slightly better then, that ride was about the best I've ever been. I'd say even on a fully tested FTP test now I'd be very lucky to hit 300.

That said, I'm not sure how it manages with terrain etc. If it was a 2% hill I think I could possibly mange it, but if you get the kicks and drops with terrain, I'd struggle.

I could try one I guess, but curious how it does inclines/power etc.

Weeksy dont bother doing B races as you might get in the way of all my trophy glory! I really dont need more competition. Kids have broken up now so no racing for me for a couple of weeks so you guys best keep the trophy cabinet filled up.

Mate, I'm not going to be troubling the podium on a B race. No chance. I'll be back to praying for anything other than last.

I'd say even on a fully tested FTP test now I'd be very lucky to hit 300.

That's not true going on today's race. You did 320w weighted today for 16minutes. So at one speed in one gear at one cadence, 320 for 20 minutes is totally plausible!

It wasn't that many weeks ago I only managed 313 for 20minutes.

I've just been in a race with Ian Bibby from JLT Condor. I certainly taught him a lesson.............on how to get dropped from the group before the end of lap three.

I think he won the race, but I was only a few minutes behind.

Nowt wrong with being dropped by him. You're far from the only rider to have that happen.

tomlevell - Member

Are you using a smart trainer?
If so have you found the RPM gets ramped up towards the end of some of the sessions? Thought it was odd at first but is a recurring theme on some sessions in weeks 3-4.
More guidance from Zwift would be useful as your going in blind and not knowing what to expect and how much they want you to do around the 4 days a week. I'm doing the sessions when I can while doing other stuff on the other days of the week.

Sorry Tom, just seen this.
Yeah, I'm using a Tacx Flow Smart.
I'm not entirely sure, but i think that the rpm is dictated mainly by you. If you speed up, it eases off the resistance.
I've been doing workouts before when my cadence creeps up and up and wondered what was going on, but realised that if you reduce your rpm the resistance creeps up.

There are workouts where it asks you to sustain a certain power at a certain rpm.

Race just after 9 or longer and slight slower at 9.15 hmmm

Not sure I've got a race in me today, but I've felt like that before and as soon as you get going it's all ok.

But I do need some miles in to reach the 8000km target.

Zwift? Finished it.

[img] https://goo.gl/GNw4Sk [/img]

Level 25 and just unlocked the Tron bike.

Nice work beej. There should definitely be an end of level boss to do battle with 🙂

Sweet. Regret all that climbing I wasted on distance challenges first 🙁 only 11% towards the tron

Did a zhr ride, was described as 1.5-2.0 but the other description had it at 2-3.

Did 65km in a decent group, but not much chat, no matter how hard I tried, it was just me and one other chatting.

Ended ride 65km in and 220w average. These was 10km left of the ride but I'd reached my attention span threshold 15 mins earlier. Wasn't a slow pace by any means, 39kmh overall. Average HR of 141

weeksy, I suspect that lots of riders (like me) have no bloody idea about chatting mid-ride

65km and not even racing? - zzzzzzzzzzz (I'm sure it's good for you though; all I do is short rides)

Wasn't too dull, Mrs Weeksy had gone Xmas shopping and my lad was shooting people on Xbox, so just passed some time really.

I'm more short than long usually, but I need a few long ones to get to 8000km. Currently on 7720km for the year now.

I'm within 2km climbing of getting an attention-seeker bike like beej up there. I'm in the middle of 2wk off work as well, but can't ride. Can you imagine any greater misery ?

😀

Did the Pretzel today, at my own pootling along pace surprisingly easy.

I did find myself wondering how a double would feel

I've done a few rides in the past 2 weeks, since buying the new 2240, and I'd forgotten how much fun it is- if also brutal.

I've got the trainer etc set up in the conservatory in the house, an Apple TV4 as the head unit, and by the time I'm finished every window is misted up!

I've only really bimbled at present, getting a feel for the courses etc. The hilly ones are attractive to me somehow, but its very immersive. I think I'm still in the STW group so will join up for some rides soon- I think my average power is about 240w according to Zwift, which seems well below where you all are now 🙁

That depends on your weight sir. 240w is great if you're 75,kg, not so great if you're 125kg

Ah, cheers weeksy- I'm 73kgs right now, so thats encouraging- thanks! I'll confirm that its definitely 240 a bit later when I'm logged in again, I may be misremembering...

Might do that 4 week FTP builder.

Nice work beej. There should definitely be an end of level boss to do battle with

Isn't that racing Rachael Elliot?

Rachael or Tim, take your pick 🙂

oooh, hello Mr B - might I ask you a favour, please ?
(will send as a pm, so your reply is not public)

(no, it's nothing obscene !)

Wasn't intending to race but you know. Most interesting and fun one I've done. Tiny warm up then 3 laps hilly.
Sensible start and in a group of mostly Cs and a B. Split up a bit second time up the main climb but all back together. Up the last climb before the Esses and I pushed on a bit to bring back a couple from a group in front and see what happens. We dropped a few of the strugglers and gained a dodgy D and another B. Split up a lot more up the final time up the main climb and I'm further back than I'd have liked and the Dodgy D has disappeared up the road again with another B. The B I'd been with dropped off the back and had to work very hard to catch back on. A general regrouping and I hit it hard up the hill again before the Esses and only dodgy D can follow and 2 others catch up in the Esses. The B I've been with most of the race is 30m back. Hold him off before the sprint and start the sprint later than normal and bit late really. Just pipped the dodgy D on the line for the victory from our group. 6th B out of 8 and would have won C on 2.9w/kg so happy to have moved up. I did see the wind in my group sometimes too honest.

Oh and no powerups used now or in the future. You up for that Weeksy ;0)

Also nice as I wasn't just on my redline the whole race and was able to recover inbetween efforts a bit.

Well done TL

I like races without power-ups, though I'll merrily use one when I'm desperate (and lots of the bigger races do have them so you shouldn't hamper your chances if the rest are all on the juice - oops, wrong thread 😉 ).

I REALLY miss them if I'm pleading for one through a banner and then get a shit one, or 10 points; cheers zwift 🙄

You up for that Weeksy ;0)

I've not shirked away from a challenge yet buddy. Bring on the fun.

So whens the big challenge taking part? When are us "C's" making the step up?

My one quick 1 lap tonight was good fun, couldn't hang onto the lead group of A/B's, dropped back to the group of B/C's and hung on to the last climb, went hard from there, group split, I ended up 20/75 or 6th in C, which translated to 3rd once a load of people had been bumped.

Must say, that all out one lapper is a whole lot more committing than a three / four lap race, I was out on the floor at the end for a couple of minutes.

I think the 8.05pm is my only option tomorrow as we've got football at lunchtime then Star wars at cinema. Depends though. If not then, I'd expect Monday ARVO/evening.

Never got back in time. So, 17.05 for Richmond flat 4 lap tomorrow?

I might make an appearance in that race but I have just started the Everest challenge so it is not going to help me much climbing wise!

I won't be able to keep up with the B's either 😀

If there's any course me and Muggo for example are going to do half decent in Bs on, this is it... Of course it depeneds on making the right splits at the right times and covering the right moves, but i'm of the impression that a lot of that comes down to luck and just being on the right wheel at the right time. My tactics certainly won't change much, but "Trust the Blob" is the phrase for the day... If you can sit with a decent enough bunch of riders you can be dragged way harder and further than you imagine just by being in their bunch. My toughest bit will be holding the wheel 3-4 mins into the race which is where I usually sit in and recover after the hard start.

Hope to see several of you out there 🙂

I'll probably be home in time to have a go, but given the legs are feeling a little shaky I am going to stick with my C's. Flat course for 30 minutes, should be alright!

well, we're all off at the same time anyway, although likely different pens. But should all meet up quickly.

Finally back to lifetime 1000 !

[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4593/24270079277_3744d06328_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4593/24270079277_3744d06328_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/CYEv1H ]1000[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

anyone playing?

Warming up now!!

me too. see you there

Oh my ! what a battle.

Me, Zilog and Sram in a group with mostly B/Cs, on warm up and lap 1.... Next thing, there's a split.... no-one chased it... So i had a go... Well, i had 5 goes, i was SOOOO close to bridging the gap, 20m... TOW TOW !!!!! No tow... DAMN...
So i came back to the group with Zilog and Sram again... .watching behind they had a B doing 3.7-3.8 and were 30s back... then 25, 20, 17.. Damn.... Into the last lap, we had 14s on the group behind but i could feel they'd catch us... I got an Aero PU over the line on final lap... with 1.1km the group behind came by.... I dug deep to stay with them, threw in the Aero at 1km to hold wheels, i wanted to save for the sprint but i'd have lost them by then if i never used it... 400m to go, Zilog grabs an Aero, i try to hang on his wheel, but he pulled on me and left me by 20m or so... I pushed on but not a lot left...

All in all, i'm still a strong C, a weak B lol.

Ouch... it all hurts !

well done lads ! I did a bit of spectating on that one as I'd been on the turbo just before you started. Quite some power going in from about 1km to go, with some good hanging on for dear life, too

I had nothing to give when the other group came through..... I will remain in mid c's for a while.

Did I dream the "real" Ian Bibby coming through on lap 1?

Yeah well done STW! I watched about 10 miles of it on and off.

Really enjoyed that race, tough though! Literally no let up at all cos it’s so flat.

I was actually in the group ahead of you at the start Weeksy (lead Bs I think). Waste of effort really as I couldn’t hack the pace for long and ended up dropping back shortly after the 1st proper lap started. Ballsed up the power surge as your group came through and had to sprint to get on the back of it lol! Spent the rest of the race just keeping up with the group, was an effort but comfortable (just). Always get a boost from seeing the other STWers & imagining them sharing the pain!

Wasn’t planning on sprinting as my HR had crept up to about where things start getting uncomfortable in the last half of the final lap cos the pace was increasing. Had jammily picked up an aero though so thought, sod it!! Saved it until 0.2 miles to go, then used it & gave it all I had (which was a surprising amount actually... maybe my 3 weeks of ftp training did some good 🙂 ) Managed to blast past everyone except one guy who was too far ahead so just cruised over the line for the last few meters. HR hit 192 😯

Looking at the results on ZP would’ve won C had I raced in it as I usually do... reckon I’ll stick in B now though as I didn’t die, and wasn’t last lol

The only downside to Bs is seeing the massive chasm in speed difference to the fast Bs. They were 4 minutes ahead at the end. Which is just bonkers.
Couldn't really have played this one out any differently myself, looking at my HR on Strava, like yourself, my HR crept up and up and up over the last 3km or so as the behind bunch closed.
In the ideal world I'd have come up with something to stay with you at the end, but it wasn't to be. I was done good and proper.
Top racing lads, was great having friendly faces about.

Question: How do you know you have gone out too fast?
Answer: When Weeksy passes you after the first kilometre.

Despite nearly killing myself in the first k I managed to get into a group which only dropped me after two laps. Then rode with one other guy until another group caught us. I managed to stay with them to the finish. I did discover it is really hard to try and sprint when your trying not to throw up over the handle bars!

22nd in C which I'll take especially as everyone ahead of me averaged 25 to 60 watts more than me. I could not have done anymore and I am still feeling shattered.

Just started Zwifting, good fun!

You lads in a group or something? Will have to try a race, done a fondo event which was pretty much like a race and not pushed myself that hard in ages.

Well done buddy. All we can is give our best and hopefully enjoy it a bit too! Sounds like you did both.

Was going to get back on the zwift horse tonight after a couple of weeks off but
A) don’t like Richmond
B) can’t seem to get off the sofa.

Cheers Weeksy. It always fun after you have finished 🙂

Great result in Bs by the way. I am (as I am sure are many others) waiting to see what ranking points you got 😀

You lads in a group or something

Within https://www.zwiftpower.com some of us have added Stw as a tag for 'team' so we know who eachother are. It just so happened that 3 of us today were around the same pace and in a bunch of riders together. The theory can be that multiple racers can help one another out and have tactics etc, but today I think we were all on our limit and hanging in there near the end

Zwift via https://www.zwiftpower.com has race events you can join and race against people all over the world on various courses etc.

I'm really enjoying reading about everyone's efforts while I'm dying with this lurgy.

13moh commute home today, I think it's probably best that I keep away from the turbo.

Thanks JK, today didn't give me any advantage being a B as we all went off together at same times, arguably slight disadvantage as CD came out ahead of AB when we all met on the road. I'd have got 10th if I'd raced as C. If I come out on cvr with a 0 for today I won't be too unhappy. I think it's about what I deserve.

JK & Larry - as weeksy says, put a "stw" on your zwiftpower team section

I have STW in my username as well (you can just edit that to read what you like; remember that swift shortens the first name to just an initial)

That gives us all a chance of spotting you. You could also put your usernames on here and we might be able to follow you on zwift as well (then out phones will tell us that you're riding and we can randomly "ride on" when you think you're all alone 😀 )

I’ve also just started sporting Weeksy’s (un)official STW fluoro pink team kit 🙂 only unlocked it the other week as it’s level 16!

I did notice that and laugh actually!

-3 points on cvr. Meh, it's mostly a fair result I guess

Ive noticed that halfords have the T2240 at £190 - is it still the right trainer to go for to get off zpower?

zilog, you're the only lumberjack on all of zwift - you should be looking for something with more of a check in it 😀

JK & Larry - as weeksy says, put a "stw" on your zwiftpower team section

I have STW in my username as well (you can just edit that to read what you like; remember that swift shortens the first name to just an initial)

That gives us all a chance of spotting you. You could also put your usernames on here and we might be able to follow you on zwift as well (then out phones will tell us that you're riding and we can randomly "ride on" when you think you're all alone )

Thanks for the invite Scaredy. I have added stw on zwift power. User name is Mark Sullivan (the Kiwi one).

Invite? - you mean to "team" stw?

Don't get your hopes up, it's not an actual team - we don't even have any decent drugs 😀

And here I was assuming I'd have to start taking some...

Can't see me getting on before 9pm today... Mrs Weeksy is out at works-party so i've got to sort the boy out and put him to bed etc.

Tonight is likely to be more of a cruise than a race though, i need 245km by the 31st... So i need to get in 45-50 tonight really to give me any chance of not spending the whole of NYE on the turbo. Normally the 245km wouldn't be that tough with 11 days left.. But i'm away for 5-6 of them on Xmas family duty, so it could come down to the wire... Which means even 30km tonight would help me out a lot.

The closer i'm getting to my target miles for the year, the tougher it seems to be getting.

7801.5km for the year now and target is 8000.... 45km today seemed tough !

Rmgvtec - that trainer from Halfords is perfectly fine for zwift and that is as good a price as you’re likely to see. I have one myself and no complaints from me.

Well done STW team, great reading the ride reports and even better that you are all challenging yourselves by going in to B cat, all the best riders are in that group 😉

Dont forget all new stw team members must have asthma before they are allowed to join in!

zilog, you're the only lumberjack on all of zwift - you should be looking for something with more of a check in it

Anyone ridden one of the CVR World Cup races yet?! Another 30 miler today; probably give it a miss!!

I entered the CVR world cup, different class even at the grade I was meant to be, lights went green, watched everyone disappear off up the road, might just have been having an off day.

Had an equipment failure today, did the 19.40 WBR 4 flat lap, got myself into a really good group a couple of dozen B/C's going along at a fair old lick, three laps in and the group was whittled down to a dozen, couple off the front, few out the back. Came to switchback climbs surprised to still be in the group but feeling good then it happened..... ANT dropout, nothing, no heart rate, no power meter, no trainer.....nothing....gutted.

Will have a tinker tomorrow but I think its my USB extension cable as the dongle seems ok. No points for me tonight.....

Picked up a t2240 today as halfords have reduced it for £170 which I thought was a steal. Genuinely suprised how much more interesting it is to ride on zwift than my dumb trainer plus I think compared to the new t2240 the old one was under-reading. I'll have to try find a race to do tomorrow to give it a good bedding in.

Finally after nearly 6 weeks i think the lurgi is on the way out and having not zwifted for a week i thought i would do a quick race. I went for 3 laps of Watopia hilly and a good size field of 65 so ideal. I decided i wasnt going to do more than 400w out of the gate so i tickled along at about 380w but i had to do this for quite a while to get near the pointy end but even then a lot of A’s and a few B’s were well ahead. I forgot i was on hilly and thus the big hill is right at the start and i forgot and was still pulling 380w at the foot of the climb so i just carried on and fought the pain. First 4 mins of race were nearly all at 380w so spent the rest of the lap recovering. In a group of 7 going a good pace so we ended up catching a few that got spat out of the lead group by end of lap 2. I think 2 B riders were still in the lead A group so i was now in a battle for bronze in a group of 9 now. I seem to be quicker on the hills than all of them so used the 2-4 sec advantage to rest ready for a big finish. Then people started to really up the pace in the flat section heading to the sprint so hr went pretty high. So tactically i could attack that last big hill and see if i could hold it through the rollers or just stick with the group up the climb hopefully leaving a bit for a sprint. Decided to lower the gear and happily spin up the hill at 105rpm which actually put me in front with 2 others and the rest about 4s back. We carried on at pace through the rollers with another couple joining us so it looked like a sprint finish between 4 of us. I waited as long as i could as 1 guy got a few secs lead on us and hit the aero PU and with 0.2m to go sprinted, guy in front ran out of juice and the rest got left in my wake. Took BRONZE and ended up 10s ahead of the chasers, very satisfying when you win with tactics. 2 riders in front of me have very strange stats considering the time they did, it looks like they won the race using very little power (the winner looks like at no stage did he ever get near 400w).

Great race Blader, well done. The guy just in front did 327w normalised!!! Seems legit? He had a good smattering of time time in all the power brackets over 300w?

Wow, some big numbers there in w/kg - winner of B avg 4w/kg and avg power 273w. Makes him nearly 70kg. Fair enough I guess but yeh, top top end of B. (2nd looks like 80kg)
Well done blader

The winner though didnt get over 400w max looking at his graph, how is that possible with all those hills and being in the A group? I didnt read too much in to it so may be i missed something. The race although at a good pace didnt really seem that fast although may be a week off the bike helped me. I had more problems with lack of energy as it was a fasted ride rather than the pace, got a bit of jelly legs in the race when it felt like i had no energy but only lasted 30s or so.

Just a weight thing I guess? The bar chart suggests he spent a fair bit of time in that vicinity? Had a high output for the start few minutes too?

It's amazing what difference clinging on to that slightly faster group makes too.

The winner though didnt get over 400w max looking at his graph, how is that possible with all those hills and being in the A group?

(what bar chart are you two talking about ?)

I just hit the little i next to his name and one shows his wattage over the race. I am not bothered by it and i only looked coz my ipad moved the page slightly as it was loading just as i was trying to press my i button, the lack of wattage is what made me realise it wasnt my graph!

Just had a look on zwift and there's a bunch of pros on there. I don't imagine they're actually racing but surrounded by fast riders & lots of testosterone ! 😀

Ah, I see:

Wednesday, December 20th
6:30PM GMT
Lotto-Soudal Team Presentation Ride
DESCRIPTION
ABOUT

Join us for this ground-breaking event. For the first time, a UCI World Tour team is having a Zwift ride as part of their annual team presentation. The 2018 Lotto-Soudal team is being presented and 10 members of the team will lead a Zwift ride LIVE from the Tour of Flanders museum in Oudenaarde, Belgium. Ride alongside André Greipel, Thomas de Gendt, Puck Moonen and the rest of the team for this historic event.

JOIN EARLY!

Please join the event at least 15 minutes before the start to have a good spot on the start line.

RIDE INFO

This is a moderate pace group ride and not a race. Please respect the pace and stay near the ride leaders. The first lap is a social pace ride and the last lap the pace will increase. All are welcome to join!

COURSE: Watopia Flat
LAPS: 2
LAP DISTANCE: 6.4 mi / 10.3 km
TOTAL DISTANCE: 12.8 mi/ 20.6 km
PACE: 2-2.5 w/kg on lap 1 but the pace will pick up on lap 2.
RIDE LEADERS: André Greipel & Thomas de Gendt

LOTTO-SOUDAL TEAM MEMBERS

André Greipel
Thomas De Gendt
Puck Moonen
Harm Vanhoucke
Rémy Mertz
Sander Armée
James Callum Shaw
Jelle Vanendert
Enzo Wouters
Frederik Frison

just hit the little i next to his name

Had my first race tonight on the smart trainer, its incredible how much easier it is not having to stare at the gradient numbers but feel it instead.

I started off feeling good and strong trying to hold in with the lead group of C's in the SZR 4 lapper at 6pm. Managed to keep in until halfway up the climb on lap 3 and then a timetrial to the end with no one to work with. Finished 4mins off the leaders in the end but there was no way I could sustain the pace. Zwiftpower results show average power at 3.0w/kg which im really pleased with, a pr by 0.2 and a final result at the moment of 14/74. I guess a good chunk of the lead bunch must have been dq'd.

3.0 is proper strong for C mate. Will be interesting to see final results.

Happy then?

well done rmg - yeh, looks like a lot of promotions to B in that race

and a pretty huge field too

Yeah really happy with it though my hr curve looks painful. 161 average with a max of 171bpm. My personal max is only 174

[img] [/img]