STW Zwift Autumn Series 2

I noticed somebody in my group popped the van power-up then went to the front and started pulling – I didn’t realise people misunderstood that until reading the posts earlier but now I’ve noticed people doing it I reckon it’s actually probably quite widespread.

Thanks all. That was a long one tonight with no real let up.
So onto the results:

Cat A:

1. nixie
2. mahowlett
3. munkeymadness

Cat B:

1. Kirky72
2. mossimus
3. paino

Cat C:

1. slowpuncheur
2. oopnorth
3. V7mfp

Cat D:

1. Jimdoubleyou
2. Whirld
3. Jmd12

Mall Sprint Top 5

1. Paino
2. Garry Lager
3. Oblongbob
4. Munkeymadness
5. Nixie

And the overall race winner with handicaps applied:

1. drew
2. trolo1234
3. dandasbike

With the sprint points added the top 3 for the series is as follows:

1. J-R
2. Vf7mp
3. drew

Green Jersey Race

1. Nixie (23 points)
2. Garry Lager & Paino (22 points)
3. Phil56 (11 points)

Link to the full results: These are provisional in case I cocked anything up. Let me know if I did!

Next week we head to Watopia with a couple more hills and a bit shorter!

For those interested there is a TTT on a Thursday evening – you can practice one of the hills we are riding next week 3 times:

Zwift Team Time Trial, Thursday

Cheers robbo once again. My ftp has gone up to 274 now so you can alter my handicap accordingly.

Thanks Robbo, I’ve just opened a second beer!

That was very tough and felt really rough at the end of it, I think I had the wrong kind of meal and a bit too late again but such is the real life issue of balancing family life with Zwift races. Ha.

The pace was frantic as per usual and I was hoping for some kind of split just to ease the power output after. I tried to power up the climb after the under pass hoping only a few would follow up and then we could form a smaller group but it only seemed to drop one or two including Robbo (sorry Robbo) and left me woefully short for the sprint.

I think Nixie dropped a hint before the sprint on the second lap saying something like if you to make a break you’re going to have be smart. Took that as a cue to get towards the front of the pack on the sprint and not ease up, we had a small group and put the power down up the gradual climb hip which opened a small gap that the second group couldn’t quite bring back. However it’s second guessing sometimes with the weird +/-5 second variations which may have showed some be closer than their real road position. I tried to take my share of pulls for the next lap until nixie left us as I concscious of keeping a gap to certain riders in the group behind.

Really pleased with and equally suprised to manage 3rd on the road. I’m giving a slight handicap to some guys that I used to have a start from so not sure if the gaps behind were big enough to grab some decent points. HR average of 175 tells me why I felt so crappy at the end, really put it in on this one and the course is well suited with plenty of flat for semi recuperation and short steady climbs that I can just about power up.

Cheers guys that was great our little group with Weeksy etc, I had the van but couldn’t remember  what the outcome was from this afternoons chat so just used on the underpass.

once again Robbo thanks for organising.

Well I really enjoyed that and chuffed to win my Cat. FTP up again to 250. We had a great group with Robbo, Oopnorth, Pewsey, Dobski and a few others. Shared the load well until start of last lap when pace seemed to drop and as Oopnorth mentioned, it started getting cagey. I could see a few using PU’s up to keep up so was when Giggsy went, we were off. That last 8km was a killer sitting at 7-10 secs ahead of the group – especially when they can see you around the Mall hairpin bit! I think Giggsy let me have the sprint for the illustrious 18th spot:)

One point Robbo. I PM’d you this afternoon with an updated FTP – did you take that into account in the handicapping?

Ooh… 9 th place in the current rubbings, on 2 races (couldn’t make the first)…

How’s it work in the end… Best 5 of 6?

BTW… my arse is killing me tonight!

DrP

That start was mental – I averaged over 300w for 15 minutes just to keep up. When I missed the split I went backwards quickly and joined up with the other group. After the start I didnt have enough in me to go after slowpuncheur and giggsmaster – i tried to make a long break with 800m to go but that didnt pan out and think I fumbled over the line last in our group.

Still back up to 280w FTP and 10 min and 15min 12 months power bests so a good effort none the less.

Wow that was a tight affair after handicap. 14 seconds between 2nd and 5th, I finished 1 sec down from dandasbike and only 2 in front of DrP.

@slowpuncheur – I didnt get a chance to update the handicap but just checked and would have cost you 15 seconds. You are 27 seconds clear of next guy so it wont affect the results. Will include it next week – will make a bigger difference on the hills at your weight!

I need to start selling this as a training plan – I should add up the total FTP increase over a series and use it in my marketing.

Moving up to 250 after the race moves you from C to B so you will be in the B’s next week!

It was mental, I looked at Strava and it was 700w at the start then 300w for the next 4 or 5 miles, then 0w. I left the room at that point to avoid ending anything electronic.

I think Nixie dropped a hint before the sprint on the second lap saying something like if you to make a break you’re going to have be smart.

I’m glad at least someone listened to that. Was trying to get across that just reacting was never going to break the group (by the time the reacting people caught I’d have been out the front too long to help pull away) but at the same time not explicitly saying what I was up too. Worked out in the end.

Robbo, thank again for a great race. you were going really well at the start. Then watched you fade a bit and end up in the group behind (that used and betrayed you initially!) that I dropped back to after 20k with the front group. Was a good group to be in. The course suited my physique (mass!) well and I should have done better, but I am still a bit fragile after my COVID experiences last week, so definitely would have been madness to try to keep with the leaders today. I’ll settle for my 3rd in the sprint. Hopefully form will return a bit for next week. Think my ftp must be down 20-30w just now – maybe do a ramp test at the weekend.

I got a ‘normal’ point too! Wasn’t expecting that 😄

Thanks Robbo – I think! Actually, I’ve just checked at FTP is 249.999. I’ve avoided ramp tests over the last year or so, racing is much more fun! You could call it the iRobbo plan;)

Yes it’s a shame live comms like Xbox live isn’t used for everybody or you could execute some real time tactics a little easier.

I think after a sprint is quite an obvious but not overly used place as people have a natural tendency to slow down and regroup, maybe ridden too many sprintalazos (whatever they are called) or most races apart from the prime ones don5 count so everybody just stays in the group. There seemed to be a few small gaps forming on each sprint, just need a few like minded riders to keep the hammer down.

Ha ha slowpuncheur, I had nothing left to give for the final sprint. That 18th place was yours by rights…. 😀

Gonna miss next week, working away in London. Wonder if I can hook up my turbo and bike in hotel room 🤔

That took a lot out of my legs. When the first group split I decided to bridge the gap and tried to take Robbo with me but ended up doing it on my own. Then got dropped with I think Douglas, another big effort to get back in the group and eased off as I got there but didn’t quite get in the draft and fell back again. Que another effort to get back in the group, lesson well learnt there! I was never going to keep with the fast guys when they put the power in while I was recovering so ended up with @andeh for the remainder of the race, thanks for pulling me round! I was struggling to put any more than around 240W in when I was at the front but we made it work.

Well done all, especially to the B’s who hung on in with the lead group.

I’m glad at least someone listened to that.

I listened to that alright and guessed there would be an attempt on the underpass or after the sprint – but I had no legs to keep up with the sprinters and it was all I could do to hold onto the second group after the split happened. No prospect at all of trying to go with Woodster when he bravely tried to bridge the gap.

the weird +/-5 second variations

I joined only 2 minutes before the start and noticed that I was near the front when we spawned and I seemed to start before most other people. Sounds good, but actually it’s bad news because Zwift makes my time start earlier – so for example when I was still in the pack alongside Kirky it showed him as 3 seconds ahead – and that was before the split. Then at the finish I thought I did a good sprint and passed a few in my group – but in the timing I ended up at the back of the pack. Next week I’m going for a strategy of joining very early and seeing what that does to my relative time – it’s a puzzle.

Thanks again to Robbo for all the hard work organising the handicaps and results, and I’m looking forward to next week in Watopia with a couple of small climbs to liven it up.

Sorry DrP missed your question last night – yes the results will be based on the best 5 out of 6 so everyone has a chance to be ill/cat jumped in the turbo/dropouts etc.

You could call it the iRobbo plan

I should do a diet plan to go with that…

It looks like my points from last night haven’t been added to the overall points tally for the series

you are right dandasbike – should be sorted now – would appear I gave them to dangeourbrain despite him not riding!

Mint! Cheers for that

would appear I gave them to dangeourbrain despite him not riding!

Zwift hates him…but Robbo has his back!

DrP

Great race again last night, thanks Robbo. Missed a warm up due to late working but manged to hold onto a good group with Stumpy, Ogg, Neil Arnold and a few others, which pulled me round faster than normal. Had nothing left for the finish though, and bagged some points too! Looking forward to the next one.

cheers for last night chaps. Was in a good group with Robbo, oopnorth etc. Felt like a good pace, but not sure I had much more in the tank other than to just keep with the group!

The flat courses are certainly a test of endurance and grit! Looking forward to the next one already.

oh and a slight spelling mistake on the results sheet Robbo, its v7fmp, not v7mfp!!

(not that it matters!)

Do I have to activate the coms somehow? I just watched Nixes live stream back and realised I had no chat appear on screen at all – not even Robbo’s go go go – the chat sidebar was there before the start but stayed blank for me.

Do you use the companion app?

It was running on my phone next to me – didn’t look at it much though.

Should come up on the screen then – not sure why it doesn’t!

Thanks @robbo1234biking. Another great workout. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it though! The start was so hard. I just wanted to group to split so it would settle down a bit. But that took ages.

@nixie really bossed the race. @kirky72 was very strong – he was super active when the group was big, and it wasn’t a surprise to see him make the cut when the front eventually moved away. Great ride kirky.

@w00dster’s attempt to bridge across was heroic. The margins were quite tight, but we weren’t coming with him @nixie. I thought he was going to make it (alone) but this explains why he didn’t:

I upped the pace at that point and left you in no man’s land as I didn’t want the second group to come back with you.

And I love @drew’s understated way of saying his strategy yesterday was to win:

Decided to set my sights a bit higher and stay with one group ahead of my usual.

It worked, nice one @drew.

yeah I thought it should, that coupled with drop outs made it kind of a lonely race!

I’ll try another group ride later and have a play and see if I can get things working, cheers

There is an option in settings @maycontainnuts to turn group chat on/off. It defaults to on, but maybe yours is off? Worth checking…

ah cool, I’ll take a look, thank you.

I just wanted to group to split so it would settle down a bit. But that took ages.

Yep – I needed that split that to happen but after 15 mins I just fell of the back!

would appear I gave them to dangeourbrain despite him not riding!

Zwift hates him…but Robbo has his back!

DrP

Par for the course though that I can only pick up points by not riding.

Sounds like I missed a good one but very much sounds like the right decision to give it a miss!

I’m really looking forward to next weeks course. I love the figure 8 route.

Probably scant consolation Robbo, but I was impressed that you stayed with the front group for so long. I watched the front group split away with you in it and made a brief effort to bridge, but had already worked too hard to stay towards the front of the group in that frenetic first few kilometers and had nothing more to give. I did manage to hang with the Oopnorth group that you rejoined. Again – I was surprised how long it took us to reel you in once you were detached from the front group. From then on it was just a case of hanging on and trying to find moments in the race where I could get my HR to drop to more sustainable levels if only for a brief period. When it got into the last kilometer, I think you and I had a similar idea of going early to try and avoid the fast twitch sprinters. In the end Oopnorth came through with an expertly timed Aero boost – I got a little bit of a tow from him, but couldn’t find anything extra to properly latch on. Pleased to have been able to see my HR Max (a lowly 168) as I crossed the line so must have timed my efforts reasonably well. Looking forward to the next one already.