STW Zwift Autumn Series 2

That start was brilliant…. hope we can keep that!

Really good race… ftp has gone up again, and li’l old me averaged something like 290w for the race! All this zwifring is paying off by worsening my handicap!

Will find out what it went to and let you know Robbo…

My calves are REALLY cramping up now!

DrP

I was quite looking forward to finding you coasting the second half stumpy. Would have been glad of the company!

Zwift booted me out after 30 minutes, was just leaving the Ocean tunnel and about to start KOM, in a good group of 6 inc Scaredypants and Fordy.

Earlier I also got booted out doing a warmup, Zwift normally behaves itself, running it on a dedicated laptop with only W10 and Zwift installed.

Anyone else have issues after latest update?

Went to bed for a nap at 1700ish after an early dinner and literally just stirred, the 0450 alarm caught up with me big time, sorry!

Ah, mossimus – yeah you disappeared instantly from my screen
Hard luck – was a nice group that

I’ve had to restart zwift 5 times for my spin down…

It’s a bit rubbish UI isn’t it.. why does it shut down when you finish a race or ride!

DrP

Awesome stuff with the proper start, plus the sprint finish really means something as everyone has the same line! Was gutted to miss out to S Holehan by 0.1s 😭 Then checked the h’caps and saw he had 2 mins on me so was actually quite pleased with that 🤣🤣

Well I truly messed up the start and missed the split at the front…from then on it was catch up all through the race. Tried to chase down Robbo’s group amd we were doing ok, slowly bringing it back until we hit the first hill and the group split. After that it was 3 of us trying to bring back a group of 5…it was never going to happen. Paul, Pawsey and myself did alright holding time between groups but the last hill got me, I just couldn’t hold on over the top and I was then solo for the last 4km! It was tough and I had to keep the power on whilst watching the time to the group behind, luckily I held on to the end.

A real tough one that, just constant hammer down. Well done all.

Lungs weren’t playing playing ball again. Loads left in the legs but dying on the flats again, less coughing with the fan turned down though.
Good fun though, cheers all.

That was Ace! much better than the ITT last week!

I fell off the front group pretty quick, then the group I was in split on the first climb I feared I’d be on my own again, but then O.gg, J.Jules, J.1osbourne and me formed a group that I could only just about hold and we went all the way to the end. My HR went through the roof near the end too but still managed a (feeble) sprint at the line.

Hurt like hell, but great fun!

Wow! That’s the best I’ve done by miles, think I’m getting the hang of it now. You all said I needed to try harder off the start – I managed to get the holeshot for the first 500metres of so by winding my old Turbo up during the countdown to the point I think it was about to take off… Didn’t last but at least I didn’t set off plum last again!

Rode in the group of 5 with Robbo till the last climb when you gapped us. Finished with z.ilog and d.fee whomever you are – really enjoyed actually ‘racing’ for once rather than a solo TT. I had to go for that sprint to the finish!

Mega props to Robbo for running it as usual, and @robbo1234biking you can update me for next week!

I started well, for the first 200m! Then settled into the group of 10 at the back. I kept an eye on my nearest competitors and prayed for mechanicals 😉😂. One of my prayers was answered one wasn’t! I couldn’t find the power to sprint at the end, need a bit more practice 😂

I decided to go for the sprints this evening, shamelessly wheelsucked my way around the course doing the absolute minimum I could.

Dug deep on the climbs to make sure I could go over at the front of the group then take up my position in the draft again to get towed to the sprint.

It seemed to work OK, I think I got 3rd and 4th so that should give me a better than (my) average points haul – that 2nd sprint was longer than I thought though!

Sounds like a plan for next week Ivan!

Great race that. Felt like I’m coming back to life after COVID. First hard race since. Garmin’s estimated ftp was still about 15w down from normal, but I felt so much better.

Did both sprints count? Got 3rd in the first one but couldn’t quite bring myself to chase the second one, and would have been a mess for the finish. Rolo – I so nearly caught you on the line…was agonising!!

Robbo – thanks again!

Will the results be on zwiftpower?

Also… though it said my ftp had gone up, where can I see what it went to?!

DrP

Not the best night for me – turbo crashed twice and had to reset, wifi dropped 3 or 4 times blanking the rider list, and I’ve got a cold. Still pretty awesome to see the new format – wd Robbo.

Would have parked it up but the green jersey competition must be honoured, so rode round at the back and just did the sprints – third on the first one and second on the second (at least on my screen – between paino and nixie, there may have been other riders ahead who had left the world I was that far back). Took a couple of screen shots for the master timekeeper.

I was riding with D Wood for a bit but his name wasn’t on my rider list and his dot looked different – I would have dropped you a message to see if you wanted to ride together but I couldn’t, wasn’t sure if you just wanted to go your own pace.

That was damn hard work, tried the sensible – where’s the guys I can race with – approach. Got in a good little bunch and hung as best I could.

All was going well until the climb after the tunnel, bye group 🙁

Pushed on to the end, need to get an ebike for the climbs.

Once again, big thanks to Robbo for the hard work.

So there’s 3 of us all thinking we got 3rd – maybe my plan wasn’t that cunning after all!

Ouch – that was a painful race.

Managed to cling in to the very quick front group, but inevitably Nixie and Phil eventually got away.

But that last big hill you could have knocked me down with a feather, literally: the whole group had PUs except me. I started slipping off the back and had to redline my HR to get back in the group at the top.

After that I was just praying for the finish line and it was almost a relief to see Kirky go off the front for a well deserved first place of the group and a very strong ride.

The Zwift race start and finish format were great – thanks Robbo and STW.

I’d be surprised to still feature in the sprint points this week. Tried for the second but had been pushing too hard to really nail it.

@dangeourbrain – I saw you going backwards and wondered what was up…once I got going again I did debate dropping back and seeing if you wanted some company, but I somehow convinced myself I could catch the group back up. Ha ha…no chance.

I’ve been struggling with my front mech for a while and ignoring it. Might have to do some tweaking at the weekend.

retrorick

….and prayed for mechanicals 😉😂. One of my prayers was answered one wasn’t!

Ahem. Was that me?! 😅

funkybaj

Think I was riding with you Stumpy. Wondered how you dropped back towards the end there, doh.

What’s your Zwift name? I was trying to remember everyone’s names in the group..

I noticed Dobski and Figg seemed to be playing a tactical one….

The PU gods were not kind to me tonight…I kept being given the useless van or nothing…I was desperate for a feather!

Maybe my third was taken from me😢

eek.. FTP after this race has gone from 270 to….. 292!!!

FFS!!

DrP

Thanks all. Really enjoy that route. Lots of places to attack and its different all the way around so doesn’t get boring!

So onto the results:

Cat A:
1. nixie
2. Phil56
3. Mahowlett

Cat B:
1. Kirky72
2. W00dster, Yanboss, DrP, J-R, savoyad, paino
3. trolo

Cat C:
1. R obbo1234biking
2. V7mfp
3. slowpuncheur
Cat D:

1. Jimdoubleyou
2. Whirld

Sprints to be decided – hold fire!

And the overall race winner with handicaps applied:
1. Kirky72
2. W00dster
3. Yanboss

Points totals to be updated – hold fire.

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 Richmond for 2 laps of the UCI course.

For those interested there is a TTT on a Thursday evening. It is World Championship this week with medals for top 3 finishers in a class. Savoyad is happy for anyone to join in – it is about being inclusive and riding as a team so feel free to give it a go!

Zwift Team Time Trial, Thursday

@ivandobski – you should have said, I’d have given you a better lead out!

Thanks everyone, and yes, lots better with the start pens and consistent finish line.

Didn’t have a great start but no excuses, just wasn’t pedalling hard enough. Realised I wasn’t going to do well on the main event so had a good ride round with a couple of groups and mama he’d to contest the sprints at least.

Hold fire on the points totals. I have the sprints wrong. I need the screenshots from Garry so hopefully he will email them over to me or post them on here

The PU gods were not kind to me tonight

Yeah, van for the first hill that split the pack then another van that I dumped before the second climb – result, got a feather for that climb up to the bridge, same as nearly all our group; bad news if you were the ONE who didn’t

Then a feather for the finish so I burned it up the last tiny hill rather than waste the effort of pusing the space bar at the end

Great racing. Need to learn to suffer a bit more at the hard bits.

Tonight played into my hands nicely. Phil and Nixie jumping up the road was great for my green jersey goal-they were both putting themselves in the red while I cruised around in a great bunch which ultimately gave me a great lead in for the sprints. Thought about chasing Phil after the second sprint then realised I’d be dead with 1km to go as the entire bunch passed. Unfortunately I slowed too much and they all sailed past me anyway, oops.

Sry to complicate things Robbo – was at the back!

Second one won’t have everyone listed but has my time between paino and nixie.

Thats OK I can work it from those times!

Rode in the group of 5 with Robbo till the last climb when you gapped us. Finished with z.ilog and d.fee whomever you are – really enjoyed actually ‘racing’ for once rather than a solo TT. I had to go for that sprint to the finish!

@snotrag (excellent forum name), d.fee is me, really enjoyed tonight’s race, tough but not as bad as last week’s solo race.

Thanks again Robbo for organising. Roll on next week

Much less nervy at the start with none of that speed up, slow down oh shit they e gone business but still a very tough pace to try and keep up with. Nearly burned out early on due to way too much yo yo-ing.

Glad when Nixie and Phil finally pulled away as it meant our remaining group was less likely to get stretched and felt I could have a chance of staying with it if I could make it over the climbs. Really went for the first steep part of the final climb to try and get ahead, dropped a feather and tried to tire the group. Only succeeded in **** myself up and nearly gassed a few flew back past me on the small decline but managed to jump on a wheel and get back on.
tried again to make a break on the Ramps but got caught and struggled to recover in time for the sprint to the line. surprise to see nobody really powering for the line so enjoyed a tow and few seconds expending my final bit of energy to amazingly cross in front of our bunch. Chuffed to just hang on with the faster Bs such as Paino, JR, Ian, Savoyad amongst others.

cracking race again and managed to just about average around my FTP for the race with the efforts on the start and climbs being offset by copious amounts of drafting in the group.

Truly horrible that lads, cheers. Great ride from trolo, you seem to love the climbs and did great to stay away from our little group to the finish. Look forward to more of the same next week (fordo197)

Great racing. Really tough hanging onto the first big group on the climbs but a great group to be in. So glad I got 2 feathers!

@robbo1234biking new FTP of 290 W explains the pain in my legs. Thanks again for organising

Ahem. Was that me?! 😅

Yep 😀.

Next time I’ll finish dinner more that 5 minutes before the start, although not sure it made much of a difference.
Hate next week’s course, but keen to break my scoring duck next week!
Cheers for organising Robbo…..

I saw you going backwards and wondered what was up…

Yeah, that was not nice, started a bit slow but not too badly but certainly not enough to shake the Bs loose early. My 10minute effort was down a bit but not terrible, hit the first climb and started slipping back a bit, dug in to try pick the lead group back up but just didn’t seem to make any difference to my power and I was going backwards.

Savoyad passed me and about a second later I coughed up a lung, couldn’t clear it so couldn’t breathe, full panic mode, tunnel vision and had to work hard to keep up right. By the time I got back to being able to see properly I was 3 minutes off the back of everyone. Set my self the target of catching last man, caught up with S.Ram settled into a very steady ride together which was all I could manage and then got dropped on the climb.

I managed an effort for the second sprint but that wasn’t great, though with no tow in it wasn’t too bad but it left me hanging. Pushed on for the last k more to prove to my self I wasn’t dead than anything else.

I will be glad when I’ve coughed up the last of this crap. 🙁