STW Zwift Autumn Race Series 1

So perhaps my wifi is bolloxed.

It’s not you.

Plenty of grumbling about it in chat tonight and in races I’ve done and I’ve seen it a few times personally (including one very odd session in the TTT that had me catching the group in front whilst coasting up hill and pulling away from our group despite being at about 3w/kg less)

On the handicap results there are a lot of times around the 1:06 region so it wouldnt have taken much to move up or down the results table.

Garry – I noticed the lag thing – it was only 3 or 4 seconds but I was riding next to someone and it wasn’t showing 0. Not sure what is causing it.

Hopefully the start worked better this week. I tried to get everyone just in front of me. It didn’t work for me lol as by the time I had typed and out my phone down I was about 100m behind everyone. Tried to catch up to similar riders but was too much so did my best on the climb and got a pb and then spun the rest of the way to keep an eye on the race. I did have to go for it on the sprint though! I wish they gave results for the sprints and KOM so I could award some points for those but they don’t unfortunately.

Hazzah..second after handicaps!

Robbo..you OK to update my handicap with new figures please?
FTP as a few posts back (something like 269) and weight 70kg now…

I’ve lost so much upper body mass by not being able to exercise the chest/shoulders… it’s good for Zwift, but honestly my arms are so much thinner than I’d like, and my left arm is proper skinny…

I’ll eat ALL the protein and get back into light exercise/weights, but don’t have enough strength to lift a dumbbell so it’s all ‘pull’ motions at the mo…anyway I digress…I’m skinnier than I’d like, but that helps up the hills!

(In fact, at my skinniest in 2017 i was 65kg.. thankfully i kinda keep power in the legs, and absolutely smashed Brighton Big dog that year!)

I’m currently drinking vino rouge, trying to ‘calm down’ as I’m all pepped up on caffeine drinks and excitement!!!

DrP

Garry I had similar and did last week too. I think it’s something to do with the start and the fact some people start a little further down the road than others.
We don’t have a grid start like normal zwift races where everyone starts at the same time.

I might be wrong but I think that may be causing it.

Did notice on the climb that I was sitting in fine in the group on screen but it sometimes showed a 3 or 4 sec time gap on the rider list. So perhaps my wifi is bolloxed.

I think that the meetup arrangement works on an exact distance based on where you start and works out time gaps based on that. Robbo spawned way back on me and we crossed the climb together but he was showing as 6 seconds infront, Ogg was 2-3 secs up when we were level I think too.

Great “fun” yet again guys! Thanks for organising Robbo, having done some myself I understand the pain of setting it up!

10min all time best and 2nd best 20min…
legs are pretty cooked right now!! Not quite a pb on the climb but was chasing Dan Fleeman for that!

Enjoying how the handicap really shakes it up again and gets rid of the raw differences.

Next ones could actually be more tactical than this.

first time on that course for me too…managed to pace myself just right up the climb and then just about recover enough on the descent to hold of my pursuers in the final 4 miles

happy just to get some points on the board as well

great riding everybody tonight and big thanks again to Robbo for all the organising – looking forward to a slightly flatter race 3..

U.z.

Ah, that prob makes sense as the guy behind me was ‘21 seconds back’, whilst Phil was behind HIM On the road and only a few seconds back on me..

DrP

Gary. Yep I noticed when the 4 of us were grouped up you were showing as 4 seconds behind.

From my POV you finished in front of me on the sprint but the results don’t reflect that.

Think @oop north is right. That makes sense that the times are based on time on course vs position.

and my left arm is proper skinny…

Don’t want to know about the recovery exercises. 😳

Oh and in seriousness sorry Craig, not tomorrow for me for the commute. Going to take the mtb to work and come home the long way I think so without doing a crazy early start won’t have time for zwift in the morning.

I’m not sure I’m doing it myself Brian, Robbo has set it up.

Right now it’s all about refuelling

Blimey! 4th once the handicap is applied was a massive shock!
I do seem to prefer the hilly course.

Was on my tod for most of it, but had a few people that I slowly reeled in and passed to keep the motivation up.

Similar to what DrP said above, I prefer the resistance of the hill to push against. On the flat I can never generate the same power. How does that work?

If that was the hilliest course though, mediocre performance will be resumed next week.

Similar to what DrP said above, I prefer the resistance of the hill to push against

I’m the opposite.

In a hilly 40 mins race I’ve had 265w, in a flat 290w, why I have no idea.

Robbo, looks like you aren’t actually racing in the events yourself which seems a shame given the amount of time you put into them. How come?

I think everyone who races should chip in a few quid and robbo can buy himself a crate of beer as a thank you. No idea how we’d organise that however!!

@weeksy – drafting?

Good idea tpbiker! If we can’t do the money thing then Robbo should at least take one of the prizes being put forward by the STW crew.

I think he has done the right thing by having the non racing excuse…wish I’d thought of that 🤣🤣🤣

The draft would make you faster, but not more wattage..

DrP

No idea how we’d organise that however!!

Like this I guess

I’m guessing I can just send him the proceeds via PayPal in the end.

Weeksy, cadence maybe? I’m the opposite where I’m normally better on climbs at lower cadence (65 to 70). On a normal ride close to 90 cadence I struggle with trying to keep the same power.

Gary. Yep I noticed when the 4 of us were grouped up you were showing as 4 seconds behind.

From my POV you finished in front of me on the sprint but the results don’t reflect that.

Cheers mossimus, makes sense with what folk are saying with the start locations etc. Good to know for next time.

Sprint for the line and I was clearly ahead on my screen, but finished 4 secs behind J-R in the results!? I’ve never seen this before, how did it look on your screen @J-R?

I can only remember that I managed to sprint past one person and was close to another, but don’t recall which of our group they were – I was too knackered.

I used to see a bit of Zwift lag on some of the sprints on Weeksy’s rides; a couple of times I’m sure I passed someone on the final sprint down the Mall, only to end up a couple seconds back in the final results. I guess that’s just how it is on Zwift.

I was thankful to be riding with you guys, we all seemed pretty well matched up and down the hill although it did seem like you lot were on the front most of the time.

Thanks for organising Robbo, looking forward to The Volcano even if 17m per lap isn’t getting me any closer to that Tron.

Bit of a rubbish day here and almost convinced myself not to ride but at the last minute decided to. Glad I did. Even if you’re slow the endorphins are still there.👍

Start was very smooth I think robbo, nice blob and “GO”. As always thanks for organising and doing all the behind the scenes “paper work”. No lagging issues that I noticed I’m glad to say.

Had a chuckle at some of the in race comments, just what you need up that climb! Sorry for my text speak/ typos…. Hitting the keyboard is like shooting at a moving target whilst I’m rocking around on the turbo.lol

I was mostly TTing… Couldn’t catch the guy in front (can’t remember his tag?) and battling to keep in front of “j.nicol” (sp?). We swapped places a couple of times on the climb and I felt like I was the “prey” forever being chased down by him. I spent most of the ride watching his w/kg and just trying to match it.

I put a cursory sprint in at the end as I was passing the Boss (robbo) and wanted to look good.😆

The cheapo Coo Po heart rate monitor works a treat if anyone thinking of getting it. I’ve used it on bt and ANT and both work great on Zwift.

Thanks for the ride all, some of you buggers are bloody fast! Great motivation to ride more and get fitter/lighter.

Edit: Here is j.nicol hunting me down! It was j.bawden I couldn’t catch…. I have issues with people whose name starts with “J” obviously.lol

@tpbiker – I did race in it I just don’t count my time as it isn’t really fair to win my own series. Plus I (virtually) crashed out the first race!

@dangeourbrain and all – thank for the generosity of raising some money for some drinks but it genuinely isn’t needed. I have enjoyed organising the series but I don’t feel that it is appropriate to take any money from it. That wasn’t my intention.

I aiming to organise a second series before xmas as it is looking increasingly likely (unfortunately) that options in the ‘real world’ will be limited over the winter so giving people something to look forward to on a wet, dark Tuesday evening is all the thanks that I need.

If people are insistent on putting into the kitty then I think it would be appropriate to make a donation to charity – perhaps Cardiac Risk in the Young. https://www.c-r-y.org.uk/

Now down to the planning of next week. The time gaps aren’t going to be as big as I expect some big blobs to form with it being a circuit race and there is always the incentive of trying to hang onto the fast riders coat tails as they come round for another lap. The lead in for this one is 1.7 miles which gives ample time to get together as a group before crossing the line and the racing starting!

think it would be appropriate to make a donation to charity – perhaps Cardiac Risk in the Young. https://www.c-r-y.org.uk/

Sounds like a grand idea

I’ll leave the Go fund me up till the end of the series and if we raise a few Bob for charity at the same time that’s a big bonus.

robbo, watch the lead in as it’s lumpy…. depending on where we start on the pier but i think the hilly bit will cause issues, but assuming we then go over the big bridge that could be the place to GO.

I think we will spawn on the tunnel bridge to the volcano not on the sea front. should make it easier to get good grouping quickly.

I will do a meetup on that route at lunchtime for my workout and see where it spawns and what issues we might encounter.

Needs to be quick though, last night took a bit of grouping, the front kept going stinging out rather than getting in a good blob.

Alternative is to get everyone group and ride over the actual volcano start / finish as a blob and then go go go!

How many laps next week?

Only issue with that oop north is people will accelerate towards the line rather than as they cross it.

Not sure what went wrong for me on the start last night, but i was rolling along at 100w i thought and was 15s back on my own. Someone else was stalled on the line, i was watching them, suddenly i was 15s back. It didn’t matter last night as such as i closed up on my Oppo before the hill, but i had to put in a bit of effort to do so. If that happens in the Volcano, it’s race over.

For information, i still think it’s worth us looking into a proper ZP/Zwift rae series from start pens and with proper Cats. There’s plenty of smaller races/groups now running series so i’m guessing it’s not impossible. That will negate any of the discussions on final positions due to the starting system and timings etc.

Alternative is to get everyone group and ride over the actual volcano start / finish as a blob and then go go go!

That’s what I think will be easiest. Everyone will know what to do then prior to the race and it works when there is a good lead in. The lead in on the first two has been very short.

It is scheduled for 10 laps I just need to check lap times as it prob doesn’t want to exceed an hour, but once on the circuit the lap times will be very fast. 10 laps also allows everyone who hasn’t got it already to get the 10 laps of the volcano achievement!

Would be fun to do a 10 mile group TT on TT bikes on a flat course with handicaps.

ooooft, 10 laps is a decent length, i think we’ll see some of us dying in the back 1/3 of distance.

10 laps should be sub 1 hr racing for most I think. And it’s another variation, race 1 was flat and short, 2 was longer and hilly, this will be longer and flat.

Would be fun to do a 10 mile group TT on TT bikes on a flat course with handicaps.

Mass start TT would be an interesting addition for next series.

For information, i still think it’s worth us looking into a proper ZP/Zwift rae series from start pens and with proper Cats.

I can ask around BRT on how you go about setting them up? Although I think the mixed cat approach makes it a bit more interesting.

long flat race… Hmm…DrP out the back again on this one!!

DrP

I’m looking forward to the shorter laps race to see if it gives more opportunities to be dragged along by the faster riders as they come round!

What’s the lap distance again? 2.5 miles or so?

I can ask around BRT on how you go about setting them up?

I looked into it briefly a few months back and the requirements seemed to be very esoteric. There was no formal process certainly, contact zwift, ask nicely, prove you’ve run group rides and races before, know the sock length rule, explain general relativity in haiku and mime. That sort of thing.

Sounded like a road club would be in with a reasonable chance of making headway but that any sort of informal group would have no chance.