Yeah… this week felt easier…

My hr was about 174 max today… 188 last week…

That hurt!

DrP

I was happy to stay in contact with the same group of riders for pretty much the whole of the race. It got easier to pace myself the more I got used to the laps.

@dangeourbrain I had a total dropout at that point for a second or 2, luckily I was pushing about 450w at the time so when it came back I was still in the bunch. I guess you weren’t so lucky.

That was a tough race – if you went too hard on the first lap then you might blow up and not make it to the end! Some good racing out there again though guys. Well done to all!
Results are as follows starting with Zwift Cats on the road

A Riders

1. Tpbiker
2. Phil56
3. Mahowlett

B Riders

1. Eat_more_cheese
2. J-R
3. W00dster

C Riders

1. Kirky72
2. Drew
3. Retrorick

D Riders

1. Poopscoop
2. Jaminb
3. Whirld

With the handicap the top 3 for this week is as follows:

1. W00dster
2. DrP
3. Savoyad

So the overall leaderboard looks like:

1. Kirky72 (136)
2. Trolo1234 (129)
3. W00dster (118)

Although there are 6 riders over 100 points so the top of the league table is pretty competitive. DrP is in the top 6 despite scoring no points in the first race so plenty of opportunities for everyone to still get on the table.

Thanks all for coming – well done all. Results are provisional in case I have cocked something up.

Full results here

Next week are back in Watopia with something a bit different – Road to Ruins! 18 miles including some s!ck off road sections.

That was a heroic effort by the front group. Hardly any gaps at all.
I know it’s not a big hill but it comes round far too often!
I had 4 laps with no power ups-is that normal? Then got lucky with an aero boost on the last km before the line. Thought I messed up the sprint but I was looking at the wrong avatar!
Cheers Robbo! (Paino)

i got my first ever connection drop out with 1.5 laps to go (fordo197) fuming

Don’t think I dropped out @mahowlett I just “picked” the wrong wheel and was too slow realising it. I figured being on the front of the group into the flat I’d be fine but I fell out the back like I’d dropped anchor.

Possibly I caught your wheel as you dropped out and then it “portaled” you back to the group but left me at the back as it occasionally does but whatever it was it was, ultimately, user error. If nothing else I emptied my legs a bit much yesterday and just didn’t have the oomph to take me over properly, I should have been pulling the group at the point I slipped, I shouldn’t have been holding wheels.

Oh and zwift bullies me.

@eat_more_cheese You’ll have got XP points rather than a power up! Not much use in a race though 😕 think I got 4 or 5 lots of points 😭

And tonights photo gallery:

how to host pictures online

Fortunately for me Dangerbrain helped tow me around the last three laps

I think race 1 saw you, andeh and I plugging away in the middle too!

To be fair you held on pretty well for much of that, there were only a few bits where you fell off my wheel and I wasn’t entirely dawdling. on a few of the little kicks both of you made ground on me too.

Phew, enjoyed that.

Managed to hang with the big lads until about half way, then got dropped just after the climb. Tagged along with Kirky and Dangerourbrain till the end, but definitely didn’t manage to do my share in the wind, I tried a couple of times but I was pooped, plus Brian has a killer diesel engine to drag us all along 😁

Next week will be interesting. Who will be using the MTB?

Not last! (Just) Woohoo!reckon I could have gone harder now I understand how it works. Ie go like hell at the beginning.

A night for the Bs, some good times there and uncannily with the handicap saw 6seconds between 2nd to me in 6th. If only I could pedal a bit harder or managed to get a power up in the last 4 laps, seemed awfully stingy tonight, had me keep second guessing if I’d actually gone through the gate. I finally got one on for lap 10, cheers Zwift.

Well done Woody awesome effort.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zXYe-yQSG8429UxPsAC0ipwjXs8rJtBvlqHxFpLBlaE/edit#gid=864122685

A couple of slight errors on the results (apologies to those I left off – cognitive effort after a race is difficult!) should be sorted now.

Next week will be interesting. Who will be using the MTB?

Tempted by a TT bike to be honest. I’ll loose a bit on the lead in but after the first 4k I think the groups will fall apart when it hits the climb any how. That’s the chance for the very quick folks to break away down the road and it’s where me and the not blisteringly fast ones need to loose the chase group. So unless I get lucky and come over the top with a willing partner I think it might be I’m better off with out and out speed than being able to draft someone who isn’t there.

The heat destroyed me! Zpower seems to think I had a crap enough race to drop my FTP to 260, although Zwift still shows 302. Is it normally that dynamic?
Looking forward to some hills.

I’m thinking ride in on a road bike swap to the MTB for the dirt and then back to the road bike to finish. I’ve got the change-over fairly slick but it’s whether the aero benefit of any group outweighs the better rolling speed of the MTB. Might be a call depending on the position on the day.

I’ve got the change-over fairly slick

It’s about all I can manage to hit the occasional powerup button and type a few witty rejoinders.

Changing bikes is never going to be a good idea. As far as i can tell as soon as you lose the wheel in front in zwift it’s game over.

I guess you could change at bottom of climb but why would you do that unless you had a lead on the group behind..and to have got that lead you’d have had to bury yourself regardless of bike

Zwift insider says normal bike is 30 sec faster than a gravel bike and about a minute quicker than an mtb.

Next week will be interesting. Who will be using the MTB?

Not me. There’s a decent climb and more road out of the jungle. Doubtful there is enough gain in one lap to justify the swap time.

I’m considering the same Hoppy, but it will be a call on the day. That MTB is definitely faster around the jungle but I wouldn’t want to be on it for the whole ride.
Like you say, it depends what group you are in at the time and how fast the change is.

So after saying I’d pootle, predictably I got a bit carried away and managed to hold onto the lead group…just. Those wee climbs were tough on the last few laps weren’t they. Need to lose some weight…or get better at getting feathers rather than bloody XP!! I think I got 4 XPs. Hope I haven’t broken myself. 6th in the road I think, but yet to see where I am in the real standings. Thanks for a great race guys, and to Robbo for sorting once again.

23 points! Get in!

That might explain why I had nothing in the legs yesterday. Woken up full of cold (it is a cold as we had to get a Covid test to let my son return to school). Think I need a few days off to recover and hopefully feel better for next week.

I stuck with the lead group for one lap but then mine was a story of gradually dropping back through the groups. I was in a group with some other Cs and attacked on the ramp and managed to create a 4-5 second gap. 3 other riders bridged across and then I slipped out the back, into the main group and eventually down the road further!

The early climb in next weeks race should really sort the pack out. It is pretty short but 6-8% gradients. Check out the strava segment as well – the fastest guy is half the time of number 2 and only average 252W to achieve an average speed of 92kmh – some fishy numbers!

I will be riding the same bike for the whole lap/circuit. I think the draft is more valuable so try to go into the jungle with a group.

Get well soon Robbo! Rest and recuperate is the key for some of us this week.

Looking forward to next weeks ride. The problem with changing bikes is that it can easily lose you a minute over the jungle lap changing to a MTB and then back again. Can you really make that up and more over one lap?? For sure if I’m in a group I’m staying in it.

Looking at my time for lap 1, i simply went in too hard too soon. My HR for the lap once we were going was between 174-176 which i simply cannot maintain, with an average power of 312w and 487w max. The 487 would have been on the S bends out up the volcano.
After that, it was only a question of how i’d die, not when.

5m 17 is by a decent chunk my fastest lap ever.. i should have as i said, been closer to 5m 40.

You needed me to pace you slower Weeksy! 🤣🤣🤣

Are there some errors with the race 3 results? My race time + handicap looks ok but other race times + handicap seem to be higher than the 2 totals added together?
I could be wrong tho, out wouldn’t be the first time either!

Yeah that first lap was fair brutal. Strava has me at 368 average and 665 peak. I’m glad it settled down a bit after that.

Hope the cold clears robbo

Are there some errors with the race 3 results? My race time + handicap looks ok but other race times + handicap seem to be higher than the 2 totals added together?
I could be wrong tho, out wouldn’t be the first time either!

This. I havent really been able to work out how the results work, it may be me, but some of the times dont add up and my handicap is different to what I thought?

Looking forward to next one but your all scaring me with talk of different bikes! I’ve never ridden the route – should I try give it a whirl this week?

@retrorick sorted that you. I just didn’t copy and paste the updated times after I updated them last night so positions are all OK just the wrong times displayed.

@snotrag – yours should also be sorted out now and add up!

Thanks Robbo. That was excellent. My most enjoyable zwift ride for ages, possibly ever. The time gaps went up so fast when people went out the back of the lead group. I had to laugh when Robbo tried to start a conversation as we approached the hill for the final time (“Are you lot on the last lap?”). We weren’t exactly going at “let’s have a quick chat” intensity!

Road to ruins is indeed very different. Not just because it has proper hills. It can land you with a long grinding ride back from the jungle if you lose the group at the wrong moment.

should I try give it a whirl this week?

I quite like it as zwift routes go, which means it’s likely to be horrid by most people’s estimation if I’m honest!

As to whether it needs scouting out I suppose it depends how serious and how pointy end on the road you are. In the pack, like most zwift racing, it doesn’t matter too much so long as you know roughly what to expect and vaguely where, you can pick that up from the profile, its more about staying in the bunch, and reacting to other riders rather than the road. If you’re hoping to make a break for it knowing where the road turns to dirt etc might be very useful

Looking forward to next one but your all scaring me with talk of different bikes! I’ve never ridden the route – should I try give it a whirl this week?

it’s the only route with a genuine decision to be made! Pretty extensively analysed though (have a look on Zwift Insider). IIRC then riding solo, swapping gives you an advantage but in a pack road bike for the whole thing is faster?

Thanks.

Heres a technical question – I found it really hard to ‘match’ speed with anyone – I was either catching (getting the ‘close the gap’ notice) and then I’d shoot atraight past them, or dropping back massively.

Perhaps its kit based – I’m on a really basic Tacx smart trainer – it doesnt seem to react very quickly to changes in my output.

Any tips on how to ride in a group?

simple asnwer, practice… you’ll learn when you can hold, go and how long it needs to react accordingly.. I was sitting at a lower power in the insane group, just hanging on in the draft but i knew coming to the S bends going up i’d have to kick on about 3s before the incline to get the momentum, you then need to crest the incline at that power, drop even 0.5s too early and you’re gapped…. I lost 2s to the group and pulled it back (which wiped me out) but as i was closing, you can ‘roll-up-to’ the group with the right momentum, giving time for recovery…Usually.

It’s all just Zwift time, practice and experience.

I think yo-yoing is par for the course…

I found that I was mid pack..would give it a PUSH on the pedals, power would peak at 350w, and I’d end up leading the group for about 10 seconds (even if i reduced to, say, 250w)….. I’d then drop back mid group and stay there at 240-270w…

You have to be aware of leading the group, slowing a BIT..and the group overtaking like a freight train!

DrP

You have to be aware of leading the group, slowing a BIT..and the group overtaking like a freight train!

Death n tacxes isn’t it.

It’s all just Zwift time, practice and experience.

this. You definitely get better at it! I’m pretty good at hiding in the pack now 😃 if you are interested in exactly how it all works, again ZI is a mine of information as all this stuff has been analysed in detail.

Robbo it seems the effort of trying to hang in with the lead group for the first 4/5 laps as pulled my ftp up. I got the notice at the end that it has increased to 267.

However for the race itself I averaged 259. The other races I’ve been in and around the mid 240s. I’m guessing it’s taking the strongest 20 mi ute spell in the race for the measurement which probably isn’t wholly realistic.