Because it’s based on recent 20minute efforts. So if you haven’t been anywhere near CP20 for twenty minutes lately, then it will calculate off of the best you’ve done.
It’s not a magic 8 ball, it only knows what you tell it 😆

I imagine you’ll get a nice surprise on Saturday- you certainly deserve one 🙂

Well done TiRed, sounds like a good performance. Anyone racing today deserved a medal- that was a scorcher!!

Back to Thruxton tonight for a cheeky race! I know I said I had finished but I fancied it and things were ok at work so what the heck!
In fact, I just spent an hour searching in the twilight for a short on one of my electric fences so I’m glad I went back and checked.

My whole attitude was different this week. I was much more focussed for some reason. I had no game plan as such, other than to never be in the wind! Follow moves, attempt a bridge by all means but let somebody else shift the air for me.

As it was, nothing got away.

I took an extra bottle and used it to douse myself with water on the start line- which attracted some odd looks but felt amazing! Thanks Trainerroad Podcast with the Cliff Bar Crit team (episode 21) for that handy hint!

Warmup was sedate, I decided to eat normally with no excess sugar hit other than a plain SIS gel and took no caffeine today whatsoever. I didn’t notice any difference at all- in fact, it was the clearest head I have had for a while.

I was on form with my drafting tonight. By carefully metering out every pedal stroke and pre-empting the bunch slowing, my average was just 205w!!!! No wonder it felt easy! NP was about 250 but that’s still only low Z3.

Last lap then, and time to surf. Things got hairy up the hill again but everyone stayed upright.

I was moving forward well and was bristling with anticipation. The imaginary line showing the top ten was less than a bikes length away and I just had to negotiate the chicane and unleash hell! Points were inevitable now!!

And then! And then! And bloody then as per usual. I can still barely believe what I saw but one guy sat up at the first apex of the chicane, a guy well in contention for points I hasten to add, and shoved the rider on his inside!!! After last weeks crash, I was a little on edge anyway but this was mental!! So I eased off expecting another earful of Carbon splinters. But somehow they both held it.

Sadly, again, I lost just enough places to not even beat my best finish. I’m 9th on the Strava flyby at the moment but I know its not right.

The Sprint was good, no Wattage bazooka but the small segment at the finish line has me 140/1916 riders at 32mph.

So, for an unexpected race I am pretty pleased. The race was spot on, the sprint was spot on. It’s just that dopy chicane!!!

@CH, have you considered taking the bull by the horns as it were in the last lap? Takes luck out of the equation.

Sounds as though you stayed fresh the whole way round so should have plenty in the tank. Put yourself on the front coming into the chicane and then go, you might not win, but how many are going to come round you if you are putting out a 1400W sprint?
Not going raking back through the whole thread, but don’t i remember Nath getting some points from starting the sprint a long way out?

Fifeandy- Yep, with hindsight I should have done that tonight but I thought I was in A1 position. Riding wheels and still making up ground.
The trouble is, my first three races there all involved me going too early and dying a death.
I certainly felt like I had the legs.

It’s 300m from the chicane but doesn’t look like it so everyone who doesn’t know better goes early and fades.
Again, it’s easy to say in hindsight but I was seriously thinking I could get close to the podium if that incident hadn’t played out. I was well up for it!

So it’s tricky really (and by the by if I don’t make it back there again). Throw your dice in the sprint or risk towing people to their sprint success by going too early.

I’m certainly tempted to have a go at the latter if I can get to the final ‘climb’ as fresh in the future.

[video]https://youtu.be/3ElOchZZ5YU[/video]

Ironically, some of the Racesmart how to sprint vid is filmed there 😆

Yep, I was mid pack against the 18+?mph wind and off the normal line (nathing).

A quick burst and then 555w? For 60 secs got me a couple of points 😆 I started from half a lap though 😆

Well done CH, the point(s) is/are coming! Just need a bit of overdue luck!!

I’m glad I’m on a R&R week this week, this whole working thing has thrown a right spanner in my training works… Need to get back into the routine of working and hopefully start commuting from next week so that’ll give me 90 mins of training each day (its 8.5 miles each way). Just need to find a route that won’t get me killed…

555w for a minute??

I needed more than that IN the draft 😆

It was enough for Ben to get 3rd place though…..

Haha well it was 1,000w to start with 😆

https://www.strava.com/activities/878859833/analysis

(HR data isn’t right – flappy jersey syndrome)

😆

Was there a secret hand signal to go with that one 😉

I had to make an emergency stop at a garage for 1.5L of water and a can of coke

Ha. I was out at the weekend and did exactly the same thing. I was riding out to the in-laws.* My route took me around Cambridge and across the fens. After about an hour and a half I realised I was averaging over 35kph. Of course, I just *had* to keep the average up.** 😈 I was expecting to hit somewhere to grab a drink about the 2.5 hour mark, but didn’t hit civilisation until Swaffham at 110k.*** I was delirious by that point. With the heat, my HR had been at threshold level for 2 hours. Every slight rise in the road started to feel like Ventoux, sapping my speed away with it’s horrific 1% gradient. 🙄 I drank a litre of water and a can of coke at the shop, then another litre and a bottle of powerade in the last 15k!

Sadly a slight mistake in my route planning had me going along an unpaved farm track through rural Norfolk, and that put the nail in the coffin of the 35kph average. 🙁 Ended up with 124k at 34.8.

* What a horrid thing to have waiting for you at the end of a lovely bike ride! 😯

** I now know why everyone loves the Tour of Cambridgeshire – it’s flat as a pancake round there.

*** Whether that actually counts as civilisation is debatable. 😉

Anyone doing thruxton this Tuesday?

I haven’t entered yet but will be tempted for sure.

So today I refitted my new BB today with the proper grease and tool (to tighten it together). Normally with a pressfit BB you run the risk of damaging the BB removing it, this one just slid out 😆 A massive thumbs up from me for the wheels mfg bearing. On another note it’s brought the chainline in a little bit which is making front shirts much smoother and the extreme gear positions less noisy!

While everything was off I removed the bar tape from the chainstay and fitted a couple of layers of helicopter tape.

Before:

After:

Okay onto the main point of this post, today was week number 4 of my plan – the rest week with a test on the Saturday!! The plan this week went to “£&@ with starting a new job – probably done 60% of what I’d intended. Last night I went for a few cheeky pints as my best mate was passing through london. This morning I woke up 3/4 times with partial cramp in my left leg… not a good start to a test day!!

Anyway after I’d had breakfast and done the above I fired up Zwift, stuck the industrial fan next to my head and started.

Previous FTP was 315, but during the CVR World Cup this happened:

Today I’m pleased to a announce:

Old: https://www.strava.com/activities/939188689
New: https://www.strava.com/activities/1051469731

332w = 4.74w/kg

So in short, is the plan working? YES!!!

Unfortunately I’m not sure if 15.5 quality hours a week is going to be possible, so I’m cutting the plan back to basics, focusing on the core elements (which are only actually 1-1.5hrs during the week) and being less worried with the filler bits. I’m hoping that commuting in Z2 as much as I can will make up for those hours. The weekend rides will continue as they were.

5w/kg is the target in 4 weeks time 😆

That’s awesome Nath! Well done mate. It did seem like a full time job for three weeks so understandable if you need to reign it back a bit.

ZADA approval will be required soon for sure! I heard on the Zwiftcast today that they are going to extend the Zwift Acadamy to the men. Who knows, you may get far enough to get a free trainer out of it if nothing else 😉

You should definitely target CVR ’18 too….

Yeah that’d be nice, I do need to try and do an outdoor ftp test at some point up a 20 min climb for when Zada come knocking haha.

Not sure I’ll be good enough for CVR etc but I can try 😆

Okay Leigh! I’m in for Tuesday 🙂

Cool! Haven’t entered in advance but providing it isn’t super wet I will be there…
I’m (hopefully!) Reliably informed there isn’t any issue signing up on the night

Nah, it’s been fine since about rd2 I think.
Ah that’s awesome, see you there!

I may come over for a watch. What time is start tonight CH ?

19:45 kick off mate.

Bring that roadbike and have a play 😉

crosshair – Member

19:45 kick off mate.

Bring that roadbike and have a play

Are you crazy sir ? I’d last 1/2 a lap and be absolutely thrown out the back !

You can manage 200w 😉

Well in simple terms, i look back at Abingdon and how that went, i’m not convinced i’ve improved in any way as a rider in power/fitness/weight etc, so for me it’s only ever going to end one way at the moment. Sure, i totally get your 200w and how races have worked out for you, but that of course is with a LOT more experience and pack riding skills now than i have etc.

Yeah- experienced gained by getting stuck in 😉

I’m only messing really. What time can you leave, you can come with me if you want? I’ll probably head off around 17:30

On my way there, I tried to think of good analogies for my points/podium/victory this evening. I came up with a few ideas but I will tell you now that I don’t need to use any of them!

So why mention it? Because, it highlights a subtle difference in my attitude. I went there believing I could win. If that sounds arrogant, I agree! Especially as I’m seemingly struggling to get close.

But things are really clicking lately. I feel safe and confident on a wheel and can avoid almost all braking. My few goes off the front combined with my latest sprints (albeit from a bad position) have shown me I have the power and I have kind of realised that speed (as in actual mph forward motion sort of speed) is a limiter but only if I’m in the wind. As a lazy wheel sucker, there’s not too many moves I can’t follow.

I also ‘know’ now that the standard of Thruxton regulars is very high! It is seriously tough to place there.

Lining up on the grid after the smallest of warm ups (more of a not-get-too-wet-up) I looked back and there was a normal or larger sized field! At least 35.

Three things concerned me.
Firstly, that there would be a crash. A guy from two weeks ago in a very garish outfit was there and he was dangerous! And strong sadly. So I knew I wouldn’t relax in the bunch like last week.
Secondly, that I would get cut off behind a crash. Staying well out of the way and watching people like a hawk is all well and good but if that moment comes, Abingdon has proved how tough it is to catch back on (Nath and MrB had no such worries and thoroughly deserved their points of course).
Thirdly, that ten people would get clear! With the sodden track and ongoing rain, cornering was going to be interesting. It seemed that there were a large contingent of strong riders out and by just drilling the top chicanes, a gap would be pretty easy to create it seemed.

So I decided to go for it. To try never to be in the wind but to otherwise attack the front and keep tenth place or better all race.
And that’s pretty much what happened. A variety of strong riders had the same idea. Ben, a couple of Swindon Wheelers (I think), the Army, Marines and Airforce riders, a couple of guys in skinsuits, Castelli kid and one of the pink-kitted teams were there or there about all race trying different things. And every time they went, I followed.

Staying seated and just launching it behind every attack, a string of 500-1000w surges across the race saw my average power jump to 270w this week and my NP to 302w!

At times, we would get a small gap but nothing really stuck. I knew however, that the bunch would be feeling it too and that at least I was ahead of the curve.
I also found the ‘hill’ much easier this week and seemed to have no problem following people and even opening up gaps. I always seemed to come through the chicane in the top handful of riders.

Midway through, one of the skin-suited guys I had spotted in warmup as a potential threat was trying to get a move going as we came up past the pit wall. I looked across and he looked back and I knew he was thinking he wanted to go.
Instead of an icy stare, I couldn’t help but pull a massive grin as we both knew he wanted to go and he knew I wanted him to go. We both laughed out loud and swung across next to each other.
“How many laps to go?” he said. “I don’t know, I was looking at you and not the pit board!” I laughed back.
“If you want to try, I’ll come with!” I said. “Ok, not yet!”
Sadly, he didn’t really get a chance again but I am sure he finished strongly.

Anyway, with three and then two to go, it was attack and counter attack and I followed the lot. Once or twice I got hung out on the front so soft pedalled relatively and waited for someone to come through. There may even be a piccy!

Bell lap and I was second wheel! Someone I hadn’t seen all race was having a kind of half arsed TT attempt off the front and I felt sorry for him. He was just dragging us all to the sprint. Down the hill and another attempt was launched. I switched wheel and joined in.
Towards the base of the hill, Ben and I were almost sharing a wheel so I shouted at him to get behind me and I would lead him out. With that, some huge guy with massive calf’s came past on an early flier up the hill with literally zero chance of success. So I switched wheel again and got a cracking tow.
I felt great! Floating on air on what turned out to be a 550w pb up the hill. And tipped into the chicane SECOND WHEEL!!!
This was it, I can win this!!!!
The noise grew as aero wheels passed on all sides. Shit! Now kick!!!

And somewhat predictably, there was nothing there!! 897w is like 500 short of where I should be and as it turned out, it was only my third fastest sprint.
I tried hard but perhaps not as hard as I could of and rolled over around 12th or 13th I think. So hopefully a new finish position PB and maybe even top 1/3 but still no points!!

Fun though!

900w’s pretty bloody good after a hard race IMO – on (cough) zwift I’ve sometimes not got above 600 at the end

I doubt it’ll be long before you can race up front AND kick properly at the end

Have you a link for Thruxton races? – might just have a go one day 😳 and it’s fairly close to me

Do you have to be BC registered or just pay on entry?

Epic write up as always – it’s getting closer!!!

Lol! Been saying that since March 😆

You need a license Scaredy but can do a day license I think. My friend went with his provisional Bronze license and they charged him an extra tenner so when you factor in the discounts you get, a year’s Silver BC membership + Race is a no brainer I’d say.

If you do FB, search ‘Behind the Bikeshed Summer Series’ otherwise:

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/158693/Behind-The-Bikeshed-Racing—Thruxton-Series-Round-9

I really do think that’s it for me now until October.
I seem to be doing an alright job of maintaining what I have on a skeleton amount of volume with a good dose of intensity but I don’t think I am building fitness.

I have a pre-plan FTP test pencilled in for Saturday. If the results are better than expected I may revisit that first paragraph ❓

Crosshair, apologies I didn’t confirm my attendance! I was in a blue and red Morvelo top on a black and red propel. But you wouldn’t have seen much of me by the sound of things!
I mainly surfed around the back with a few moves up around the top 3rd on the straights, then pretty much right back after a corner. I was shitting myself cornering today…I even got told by an older guy to get in the middle instead of sitting at the back..! Felt at one almost with the pack at Dalton a couple of weeks ago, not at all today!
Still really enjoyed it, I just need to be less shit!
Think I moved up on the last straight to low 20s maybe in the sprint. How high do they go with placings there?
Awesome write up as per usual too…!

CH, seems we simultaneously posted….I’m sure I will see you at the next one after your test…(social secretary permitting! Definitely hoping to make a couple more by the end of this season)

Ah! Gutted Leigh, I was going to post to see if you were there. I was amazed how good the surface was in the end- after being worried at the start. It was just enough pre-race rain to clean off all the junk I think.

Did you see the guy I was referring too with the very ‘unique’ kit on 😆

What did you think of the circuit?

They normally place all finishers 🙂

I saw a guy with an “interesting” green/ neon yellow kit…I guess that’s the one! You wouldn’t lose it in the car park, that’s for sure!!
I liked the track…first ride on my race bike in the wet though! Will be interested to see how it compares in the dry.
Will keep an eye on BC for results!

Yeah that’s him 🙂

What tyre pressures did you run? I ran my 25mm GP4000’s at 65/70 and felt super stable.

Blimey that’s low CH!!

Lowest I’ve put mine down to is 85 😆

I don’t honestly know that it gave me more grip than my usual 75/85 would have done but mentally it gave me a huge boost.
Perhaps that’s why I had a slow sprint 😆

More seriously- realised this morning that I forgot to drink any carbs!! I took a regular SIS gel on the line and that was it.
It wouldn’t have got me the win but the extra sugar may have got me my point ❓

It’s almost like you’re sabotaging yourself sometimes 😆