STW Zwift Autumn Race Series 1

Yeah that wasn’t going to happen however if there had been 2 more with us at a similar power we possibly could have.

Looking at the power outputs there was a clear gap between the first 2 riders and the chasing group. Unless we have a couple of very strong riders waiting in the wings who didn’t ride this week then I can’t imagine any of the rest of the field is going to be able to hang with you in future races.

The winners in these races, especially the flatter ones, will be the “weakest” (on paper!) rider who can stay with the fastest group.

I was very much helped by this last night – I was definitely the lightweight in my group and spent the whole ride clinging onto the back, and then getting a boost from the handicap.

In the flat races a handicap system hurts the fast guys doing the hard work at the front of any group and helps us wheelsuckers – but you can’t adjust for that because you never know how the groups will split up.

It’ll be interesting to see how it works out next week with everyone getting sorted out by W/kg up the long big hill in the middle then scrabbling to regroup later.

Looking at the power outputs there was a clear gap between the first 2 riders and the chasing group.

Not sure on the gap at that end as neither nixie nor his partner in crime (whose name escapes me sorry) are in my followed list but…

Phil was at broadly similar W to me yesterday, finished a good chunk ahead after I lost touch on the descent.

Zilog’s group caught the three of us in the middle with about 700m to go. There was a 90W gap between zilog (who beat me over the line I think) and I.

The gap in power is definitely made up for by numbers, 5 or 6 riders in that front group and the weaker riders can rest up a lot and pull in short bits but still hold on until something breaks the group like a hill.

One thing I always struggle with in zwift races is getting on wrong side of splits at start. Yesterday was a prime example, I’m sitting on about 12th wheel in the pack and the group is stretched out pretty much single file. All of a sudden someone in front loses a wheel and a gap appears and then you are goosed. Yesterday I managed to get back on via the biggest dig I have ever pulled, but usually it’s game over.

In c cat races the line never gets as strung out but b & a cats it always happens and only way to prevent it appears to be to stay right at the front. Any tips?

I was naughty and carried in a power up from warming up on watopia.

@robbo1234biking Will that be allowed in the future or are we best to dump them in order to make it fairer?

In c cat races the line never gets as strung out but b & a cats it always happens and only way to prevent it appears to be to stay right at the front. Any tips?

Never be at the back 😉

@poopscoop. Power ups are allowed and I can’t really police it so if people get one during there warm up I don’t think I can do anything about it.

Ok matey. I’m guessing most won’t have them so I’ll bin mine to keep it fair.

Not that me having an extra PU helped me much yesterday.Lol

I need to lose more weight for the coming week/s. That will help. It’s going to hurt next week but I like the ups once I get into a rhythm.😁

Not sure on the gap at that end as neither nixie nor his partner in crime

Think it was about 42s in the end.

Right – handicaps for next weeks race are live. Remember this is relative times so look at riders similar/close to you!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zXYe-yQSG8429UxPsAC0ipwjXs8rJtBvlqHxFpLBlaE/edit#gid=508130961

Sheet 2 on the spreadsheet.

Results table also added on a new sheet.

24 seconds. I think I can make that up.

Good work Rob, you def deserve a round of applause for all the effort you’re putting in to this.

Is the intention to take the best 4 or 5 results to allow for a missed race? I’m in Scotland doing the Badger Divide for race 3 so don’t want to scupper my chance of glory! (I’ve no chance of glory)

Woah, some big handicaps there! Shows how much difference a climb makes 😬

^^ Yeah, 18 minutes 30, I best only have one warm up beer.

Handicap should put everyone’s time over one hour. Fastest riders should complete this in around 40 mins I reckon. There are big handicaps but the majority of people have a large handicap. Look at riders similar to you. W/kg does help but so does a high Ftp as the second half is flat/downhill.

Ivan – the results will be based across all 6 races but I think most will miss at least one race and scoring in every race will be difficult!

If all goes well this series I will do one next half term in the run up to Xmas.

Thanks Robbo, I think my numbers look there or thereabouts to you guys compared to the last Sunday Hills I did with you.

Sounds about right, I just had a look, I’ve done Innsbruck a couple of times as a solo ride, not a race and it was around 53mins Inc cool down each time, a reasonable effort and I’m heavy.
Hopefully I won’t cock up the IT this time.
Thanks for your hard work.

This is really interesting to see how those handicaps will work out, big respect for doing the maths Robbo!

Time to get some hill practise in…

Who’s up for some Sunday hills this week?? 🤣🤣

Wow not raced that course for nearly two years!

22 min!😥

Given the climb is in the middle of the route and isnt going to be nearly as much of a factor as if it was at the end, that seems an exceptionally large handicap!!

@robbo1234biking

At some point would it be possible to put people’s Zwift name next to their forum name so we know the names to keep an eye on during the race, if that makes sense?

My zwift name is R.M.
I can’t race next week due to work.
I think I’ll try and ride the race route another day and compare my time to everyone else with the handicap applied.

@poopscoop, good shout that.

zwift name-fordo197 (stw)

This race series is great, full credit to the organiser, Robbo…it’s the kick I need to get the fitness back on track.

Hopefully this round I won’t be asleep and fall off the back before the race starts

@poopscoop If people post on the main thread then I don’t see an issue. Some people have PMd me there Zwift names so I wouldn’t share those. Some of these are there real names and they may not want it associated with an account on here for security etc. I will scroll back through the thread at some point and add the names where it has been posted on the thread.

@tpbiker I calibrated the race against one of the 7 days of tarmac races on the same course. Also you are ‘only’ looking at putting 6 minutes into the group of C’s that contains me. Having ridden with you once on the TTT I think you would be capable of pulling that sort of gap out with the hill. Its how the downhill affects the groupings on the other side but if you can pull out a few minutes gap you will be down the hill before a lot of the group would have got to the summit.

Laughgov= Val Gough (zwift name)
Sorry i know i know its an anagram how clever bla bla bla (apologies in advance)
😂

Question i know you should give it socks up the hill. Is there any point on way down or just chill. Ive heard that theres no point in pedaling over a certain speed in zwift. Is that true.

Obviously back up and lash on when back flats.

In the past I’ve stopped pedalling on descents (and occasionally stop my wheel on purpose) so you get into the Froome tuck. Seems to catch pedallers pretty quickly.

Andeh here, Andeh there 🙄

Obviously back up and lash on when back flats.

Supertuck is pretty quick once your over 60kmph. I tend to keep pedalling, one because it can be faster, two helps clear crap from the legs and three you can catch supertuckers out with a burst of power. It takes them time to spin up again and if you do it in the right place you can gap them as they loose the supertuck benefit but haven’t yet put on enough power to hold your wheel.

Makes sense. Ill give that a go. Hopefully still be in shouting distace at that stage.

Cheers

Supertuck needs 50Kph+ and 6%+ gradient iirc, just stop pedalling, worth doing if not in a blob gunning it down the mountain.

So spreadsheet had been updated with Zwift name where they have posted on this thread already or it matches there forum name.

Supertuck is pretty quick once your over 60kmph. I tend to keep pedalling, one because it can be faster, two helps clear crap from the legs and three you can catch supertuckers out with a burst of power.

I’m the opposite, love the supertuck as it’s always a much-needed break when I’m dying, if only for a few seconds! You do need to keep on your toes though, as said you have to start pedalling again HARD before it starts to flatten out or you’ll get dropped!!

(Having said that I’ve dropped people a few times by supertucking then sprinting at the end with fresher legs whilst using an aero!)

How long is the climb? And is there a zwift route that replicates the course? I use zwift a fair bit but generally for zone 2 rides, I tend to be watching videos and not paying attention to zwift.
Last Tuesdays race was interesting, I was in a big group with Weeksy et al, we were going at a pace that was just under my comfortable pace, but the group ahead were too far ahead for me to make a solo catch to. Not knowing the course I almost missed the split at the start of the climb, put in a big effort and then stayed in the group. We were then travelling at just above my comfy pace (3.7 to 3.9 W/kg)for the remainder of the race, so was happy I didn’t try a break earlier otherwise I’d have been toast.
The finish line crept up on me, last couple of Km’s were fast, was trying to save some energy for a sprint even though we were going over 300 watts, I was watching my power, checking what gear I was in, checking the distance to the end, checking where everyone else, then people came past me and the race ended! Was great fun and happy with my performance.
I’ve done next to no training this year since outdoor racing was cancelled. In March my FTP was 280 (from a zwift ramp test). Did a Sufferfest 4dp FTP test in August and it was 231. After Tuesdays race Zwift gave me a 241 ftp, but happy to still race at 250. I’ve trained and raced a lot over the years so hoping my fitness will come back to normal fairly quickly.

The climb is 7.4km or 4.6miles at 5.4% average. My fastest time up there is 29 minutes.

You should be a lot quicker.

Sorry completely overdid the end of August and last day off school for the kids and the Tour was on :0)

Handicap for me at 18:30 looks ok. Never raced it but in theory I should be looking at about 45mins during a race. Not certain I’ll make it as outside is calling and trying to keep off Zwift for as long as possible.

I’ll be back into it in October though.

The cat2 climb segment.

https://www.strava.com/segments/18397965

Best STW time is 17min27secs, 3.22W/Kg from start point to summit riding solo got me just past the summit ~18 months ago, 3.72W/Kg for 23min12secs on the above segment… No way would I expect to get anywhere near that time right now after ~5.5 weeks of very little! 😆

Thanks n0b0dy, I’ve done that climb back in Feb as part of an ftp builder session, 27 mins,average 215 watts. Was an under over session by the look of it and the first two miles as part of my warm up (140 watts).
Think I’ll try and give it a go if it’s available today or tomorrow.

Having purposefully dodged any hilly races for a while now I thought I would have a test ride of the Innsbruck course this morning.

It wasn’t available so jumped on Japan hill climb race. Jesus that brought me back to earth with a bang. wasn’t sure when the first prolonged climb would come so tried to get involved in the usual crazy Zwift race for the lead pack and blew out of my arse to hang in as long as I could. involved a climb up through volcanos then road to ruins, felt like two lap. then with a few miles to go an feeling pretty spent I was hoping the finish line would be in the usual place on the promenade, no it was up the bloody KOM climb with summit finish. after climbing the first few steep switchbacks I hit the wall and the remaining 2.5miles were agony, I actually stopped a couple of times as I lost momentum climbing out of the saddle on the 10%+ parts and several guys I had managed to drop earlier passed me by with ease. nearly just turned around and cruise back down, shaking and close to puking. finished 12th in cat c and despite feeling like I put more effort in than Tuesdays race I only averaged 243w and 3.1w/kg. 9 minutes behind the top 3 cat Cs so can see how the handicap can be easily eaten into next week. They did ride behind their cat though all averaging above 4.1w/kg in fact most of the top 10 were all 3.2 to 4.

Can’t get into Zwift power anymore for some reason to check results after disqualifications. Has it moved or changed?

In summary do I not racing up hill. bodes well for next week, I need a couple of willing domestiques and will avoid a hilly mtb ride next Monday.