STW Zwift Autumn Race Series 1

virtual/handicapped or on the road ?

Main thing for me is not to kill myself by trying to keep up with the rapid ones before we even hit the climb!

I think that’ll be a story for many. It’s a question of how much you can gain from group as to how much you’ll tire if you go too hard.

Personally i think a good tow will gain you 30-40s on the lead in…. Will a rider lose that through being too high in the red, i’d say yes, and more. For me, i’d play it at sitting at below FTP by about 15% on the run in, maybe even 20%. Then around FTP up the hill… quick recovery and then pinning it down the back. But the back will be s much about who’s with you as much as anything. 2 riders or 3 pushing on down the hill i think could make up a minute on a solo easy, maybe even 2 mins by the finish.

I’m trying to think of a way i can do it so i can see both my power/riding as well as watching others. Maybe i should join as my lad via the iPad so i can scroll through people in crowd view etc… would be fun, but if i’m payin too much attention to them i’ll forget to pedal myself.

Continuing the conversation from the other thread, yes @robbo1234biking that is what I was doing yesterday, and I concluded that lightweight frame and fairly aero wheels seems best.

Somebody was asking about the course, it is rather hillcentric, involving a chunk of riding to power/TT.

Sector 1 – 2.5km flat
Sector 2 – 1km up 1.6% grade
Sector 3 – 7km up 5.5% grade (unduldulates between 2-12%)
Sector 4 – 6km down -6.7% grade
Sector 5 – 3km almost flat
Sector 6 – 400m up 7% grade
Sector 7 – 800m down -4.2% with 3rd quartile 2% upkick.
Sector 8 – 1000m flat

Jeesh… the tactics on teh road are serious aren’t they!
I’ve onlyy really raced MTB (single speed XC, or enduro) in which you kinda wanna ‘get away quick’, then it’s all up to YOU (legs and mind)… no draft in XC really..

On the road it’s PROPER – I fell out the pack last race, and simply couldn’t catch up…
I guess teh flat/slight climbs will be pack based, then the climb will separate the groups…

Will be interesting to follow!

DrP

Unless i’ve missed someone above him, Phil56 is our series best up there in 21:46

@mahowlett is in there at #4 with 19:06 and I’m just behind him at 19:20.

I’m hopeful for better than that today. That was day 2 of a 5 day series nearly a year ago. My times on the similar profile Forward KOM have been stronger this year so fingers crossed.

I guess teh flat/slight climbs will be pack based, then the climb will separate the groups…

This route tends to go as a bunch till the motorway round about, starts to stretch on the gentle slope immediately after and shatter when the bends start.

Phil56 is our series best up there in 21:46

And I need to make 15s on him 😞

@weeksy

I’m trying to think of a way i can do it so i can see both my power/riding as well as watching others. Maybe i should join as my lad via the iPad so i can scroll through people in crowd view etc… would be fun, but if i’m payin too much attention to them i’ll forget to pedal myself.

That is what I am doing via my wifes account to try and give a bit of commentary across the race. Will see what I can actually do though and if I can manage that whilst riding. There is no pressure on me as my results don’t matter but if I get into the race I may forget to mention it.

@twisty – thanks makes more sense now. I was thinking that was quite some effort from you to do that far on the turbo. Mind you it is quite a commitment in any case for that level of detail!

I’m trying to think of a way i can do it so i can see both my power/riding as well as watching others.

You can watch others will still riding. Could use companion app to keep and eye on your output.

My daughter’s first week at school and she’s only doing 2.5hrs a day, so I’ve got 3 days off to look after her.

Race prep so far today has been:

Wash car
Spend 90 mins on my hand and knees weeding
Bouncing on trampoline for about 30mins

Just eaten 3 cheese twists for some mid-afternoon carb assist.

Gonna try harder to stay with a group at the start this time.

There was a Zwift update a few days ago, so anyone who’s not been on since last week might want to get set-up early to allow the update to do it’s thing.

Excuses in early. following a hilly 4700ft MTB around Hebden way on Saturday I tried to keep my legs moving with a blustery road ride around the trough of Bowland yesterday.

Just taken the dog for a shortish walk and struggled to get back up a small hill to home. Legs are like lead so I’ll be having a 15/20 easy leg turner before hand to try and loosen the buggers up. can foresee me hitting the wall going up the KOM tonight.

Looks like there’ll be some good tactical riding, good luck all.

Muffins are good carbs yeah?

Spshuly the chocolate ones.

Weeksy, is this some sort of weight doping?!!? If you put weight on in real life does it make zwift easier!??

My best time is about 27 mins I think, on the stoopid badge that has you start at the bottom, ride to the top, where the badge starts, then ride down and back up again.

Having done that, I have to say I’m really looking forward to not being there tonight.

Can’t make it – have a great ride !.

Going back to the supertuck question the Zwiftinsider article strongly suggests its worth doing! https://zwiftinsider.com/speed-tests-supertuck/

Unfortunately out of the question for me as I don’t have enough skills to trackstand on rollers.

back pedal (I’ve never ridden rollers so no idea if that works)?

Lol I’m fighting the demons of sugar and yummy goodness. If trying to dispel the myth you can’t out train a bad diet

Unfortunately out of the question for me as I don’t have enough skills to trackstand on rollers.

Get off, make coffee, get back on at bottom of the hill. That’s what you do on a turbo anyway.

Going back to the supertuck question the Zwiftinsider article strongly suggests its worth doing! https://zwiftinsider.com/speed-tests-supertuck/

So the issue you have here is that this is not a race and therefore it will use standard dynamics…. Although Robbo is running a race and results, I’m fairly sure this set up gives standard tuck not Race Tuck.

You’d need it to be an official race with start pen etc for the supertuck to work.

Very good point. I will probably just pedal as I find it helps clear the legs after the climb.

Really ah crap was looking forward to downhill chill time – poo

Never mind all these tactics – what are you wearing?
I missed last week so not sure if there is a correct dress code, STW bumble bee 🐝 or mufti or other?

Thanks

It’s up to you what you wear but quite a few people are wearing the bumblebee!

Stealth!

Thanks – there’s nothing stealthy about when your last! See you all shortly

I’ve got a retro top I’m gonna wear… just cos…

DrP

I’m usually well up for a zwift race but I’m slightly apprehensive about tonight given I can’t tell if the weekends horror show was a one off. These races can get painful quickly if you have an off day, and the temptation to try to stay with the front group in the first 3 km will I feel lead to total explosion half way up the climb.

The temptation to try and stay with the front group for the first 3km led to an explosion halfway through the first 3km last week so if I make it halfway up the climb before that happens I’ll be well pleased!

Omg.. I’ve actually got the live stream working!

click here for topless STWers in YOUR area….

I’m just spinning at the mo!

DrP

singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stw-zwift-autumn-race-series-1/page/11/#post-11371275

Riding and pretending to race

Work scuppered tonight for me. Have fun.

Thanks for putting the twitch stream up DrP. 👍

That hurt. Bike is making funny noises now. Charlie smashes the climb 🥺.

Charlie’s effort on the climb was immense. I was watching and forgot to pedal myself thinking I was doing 400w! Lol.

Good effort all. Results coming soon.

oof….
That was painful… my glasses are covered in sweat and grime… I was gurning like a champ up the climb….
I knew if i could keep about 4-4andabit watts/KG up the KOM I’d be able to recover on the way down..should only be 20 ish min…. HR got to 187…was feeling that!!
Tactics worked… As I said to Brian.. hills are just pedalling and being light!!! my 280ish watts would be useless on the flat, but I kept enough leadout on the hill to stay away from the bigger boys on the last sections!!

Also got a new FTP… 267… can’t remember what i was before..245 or something…?

I’m not sure if it helped, but i changed my trainer gradients/difficulty a bit too.. couldn’t really tell the difference?

I really do prefer hills – i find it easier to put power down as the resistance feels ‘better’.. on the flat it just feels ‘odd’..hard to explain

DrP

That was absolutely rancid, most I’ve ever sweat in my life. 24 mins on the climb, happy With that. See you next week 😳

Kept with the lead group up till foot of climb, managed to put out well over 4 watts per kilo for the climb, still got absolutely smashed going up it however by the fast folks.

Not sure zwift have the downhill drafting sorted..I was dropped on a 10% descent because I stopped pedalling for 2 sec to reach for something??. Had to kill myself to chase back on to a couple of lads, but I was done by time I got to the pesky last little climb that I wasn’t expecting and found most unwelcome.

Cool down pro rider interview, pending final timings.

that was some tough **** course. climbed on my own mostly occasionally pulling one or two with me. crested the summit on my own about 18 seconds infront of the next guy and a few bunched up seconds behind him. so expected them to group together and pass me pretty quickly. for some reason they didn’t get together and I managed to solo upto the leg snapper the caught somebody else and we towed each other over the line to keep a little distance from the chasing riders.

I dont think ill ride tomorrow. wheres the sick bag.