Does Brians house have gnomes?

It bloody well does not.

Though pleasingly it seems it does have less hedge and more mini digger than when I left this morning.

Really not a fan of the pump room but I’m having a go for my first ride (virtual or otherwise) in what seems like ages.

Really need to redo the grips on my Zwift bike – they stink…

That was good fun. Did the 6pm running.

How’s membership on this? Can I join up?

Oof… Why do I always race these!
42min, average 278watts!

Was 80th our of 1680 which was cool!

Knackered now!

DrP

Was 80th our of 1680 which was cool!

Nice!

I hit my target (between the C and D beacons ) 🙂

b33k34
Full Member
How’s membership on this? Can I join up?

Follow this link, then shout up on here with your zwift user name and we’ll approve you.

https://www.zwift.com/clubs/fcbd9c17-1ff8-4477-8104-3408856e0084/home

Good effort folks, I’m going to ride it tomorrow all going to plan

Bloody hell, that was hard. I went off too fast then slowly slipped backwards. Being ill for most of December hasn’t helped my fitness. FTP was 240w, now down at around 205w.

JimW came past me.

It’s tough course for sure!!! Nowhere to rest and recover.

I really enjoyed last nights effort, but I really need to try and chill on some of these 😀 I got a 243w average.

Well done everyone, next up is Richmond!!!

Urgh. Just done my first race in ages. Went from a Kickr V1 to a V5 in the meantime and have gone from a FTP of around 300 (or so I thought) to struggling to average 205w for 50 minutes in the race – reckon my FTP will be around 230.

Either the new Kickr is underestimating, or I’ve lost a lot of power (likely, I’ve been messing in the woods mountain biking for a couple of months), or the old V1 was massively over-estimating. Suspect it’s a combination of 2 and 3.

Bollocks.

john_l
Full Member

That was good fun. Did the 6pm running

you’ve should waved, I was one of the 2,668 other guys (assuming it was the longer ride)

I’ve signed up for the sat 9am A-ride in Richmond…
I see Robbo had signed up for this too..!

Anyone else up for it? A bit longer this time…3 laps, so 40 ish km!

DrP

I’m away this weekend so no Saturday or Sunday for me.

That said after this evening my legs are likely to be unhappy with me tomorrow when I tell them to pedal to work, not sure we’ll be on speaking terms by Saturday 😂

My wife is judging a STEM Lego competition on Sat & Sun all day so although I want to get the Richmond route ticked off I have no idea when I will fit it in.

I have to say @stumpy01 I’ve seen plenty of excuses on here for not riding before but that is most excellent! For my own part, daughter wants me to accompany her on a run on Saturday morning so Stage 2 is Sunday mornings little treat I think. Sunday PM is national Cyclocross Championships. Bobble hat at the ready!

slowpuncheur

I have to say @stumpy01 I’ve seen plenty of excuses on here for not riding before but that is most excellent!

She came home from work a few days back with her official ‘JUDGE’ t-shirt and it’s possibly the proudest I’ve seen her, since giving birth 🙂
My daughter just said ‘oh, mummmmmm’ in that ‘you’re such a loser’ tone and rolled her eyes.

It’s 8:30-4:30 on Sat & Sun, so the TdZ route 2 will have to be done in the evening.

slowpuncheur

Sunday PM is national Cyclocross Championships. Bobble hat at the ready!

Do they not make you wear a helmet?

Maybe a snorkel if it keeps raining. My only participation will be visiting the beer and chips tents.

Did the TDZ ride 2 this am…
Didn’t realise it was 48km!
A few kicker climbs in the first half, then recovery…3 laps worth!

Was around the 100 mark and list the blob on the cobble descent! Came about 140th in the end… Was proper ****!
About 1hr 10 for the ride….

DrP

Was around the 100 mark and list the blob on the cobble descent! Came about 140th in the end… Was proper ****!

Was that the “Waaaaa!”? ;O)

I pootled round in a nice group near the back. Much more civilized.

Just ticked off round 2 standard ride. (2pm edition)
Sat around 470th out of 1000 until the last km and ended up somewhere around 380th

Back on Zwift after 8 weeks of no riding, I was trying to aim for 4w/kg but was seeing no/backwards progress, with not enough TSS I think – 22nd of Nov I did 260w on the ramp test, down from a peak of 279w on the 15th Sept – was getting a bit dejected so took a break while I built my rocker plate.

Today, did a ramp test after only riding for an easy hour on Sunday on Zwift on a pace partner… 222w! 😱 I’m guessing I’m a good 30w down from just not riding at all since November, then a bit of lost power.

My HR has been up by 10-20 resting and up when riding too, hit a max of 195bpm on this ramp which I’ve never got before, I’ve only hit 190 previously.

I’m going to start a TrainerRoad polarized plan, 4x rides a week, lots of Z2 work. 6 weeks base followed by 8 weeks build, hopefully I can get back to 260-280w in this plan as it ends right before a 2 week Scotland trip.

The good news is the the peak power you’ve lost to inactivity will come back fairly quickly.
The peak power you lose to rocking your rocker plate though, not so much. Otoh, increasing the comfort and core engagement etc should lead to more sustainable power at a slightly lower peak.

The good news is the the peak power you’ve lost to inactivity will come back fairly quickly.

Yeah I’m expecting that to come back fairly quickly once I start riding regularly again.

The peak power you lose to rocking your rocker plate though, not so much. Otoh, increasing the comfort and core engagement etc should lead to more sustainable power at a slightly lower peak.

Ooh, controversial! 😁

Tbh there was no way I’d manage to do a 2hr z2 ride without the rocker plate, I doubt it’ll affect my peak power much but we’ll see.

I did the TdZ A ride this afternoon. First time up that particular climb and jeez did I struggle!  I carried on to the summit though and was happy to see that the gradient actually eases off a bit in that upper stage. Of course, I’ll have to do it all again at some point in order to get the Ven-Top badge!

This year’s TdZ does seem to have longer (duration) and hillier routes as the main events than in previous years. I’m doing them as we go along and they make a nice change from the mainly zone 2 block of training, but the Reine/VenTop climb is quite a slog. It always seems much harder than AdZ which I think is due to the lack of hairpins and timing points.

It always seems much harder than AdZ which I think is due to the lack of hairpins and timing points.

The scenery is also dull as dish water, all things considered ven top is a very good approximation of sitting on a turbo in the garage with nothing to do but turn your legs.
It’s almost as though someone at ZHQ thought zwift wasn’t an attractive enough proposition to exercise bicyclists.

Slogged up last night. Still can’t do climbing efforts properly in ZWIFT.

I did La Reine 2 weeks ago to get the badge, I swore then I wouldn’t be repeating it for a while…it will be the B ride for me tonight

Did the Stage 3 B route last night, thought it was a corker for a fast group ride. The little kickers in the first couple of miles break the groups up.

I was after a short, pre-weights workout today and found Lunar Light. Very clever. I got it after a couple of minutes. Are there any more of those Easter Eggs?

Did La Reine on Monday. Think it’s a pretty good approximation of the real thing, ie. fairly dull!

Stage 4 looks fun.

How’d I miss this club? Either way, just joined up, am Avoiding Trees over there.

Am doing the TdZ too, although generally the short ones so I can fit them in to a lunch break.

How’d I miss this club? Either way, just joined up, am Avoiding Trees over there

Crikey, there were a lot of approvals to do! For those not familiar with zwift clubs you need to go into the clubs section of the companion app to see any club events such as, ahem, Sunday hills

I’ll l pick up stage 3 tomorrow. Definitely need to crack on with the zwiftercise, been a distaster of a week for eating and not not doing much of anything!

Sigh… Knee and hip hurts.. Can’t face ven top so doing champs ellyse in a few minutes!
At least it ticks it off!

DrP

Sigh… Knee and hip hurts..

What have you done? I fell off the wagon quite hard this week but have avoided any sort of injury, though there may be some swelling round the mid section, we’ll have to see.

Hi Brian and Co.
I’m keeping an on eye on these rides and hope to be able to join in again soon. I had some fairly significant surgery last November (donated a kidney), but I’m gradually getting back into the swing of most things now and Zwift is one of the last ones on the list!

See you soon,

Blimey Phil!

Hope it went well & you (and the recipient) are on the mend!

Wow Phil… Great of you! We’re all a lot less fit than a few years back, so welcome aboard!

Brian… Running…. Was fine, then did a run which killed my L hip 2 weeks ago… Now it’s gone to my knee!

DrP