STW Zwift Autumn Series 2

@undarra links have been sent.

Thanks Savoyad. Robbo has just messaged me with the links. Cheers Robbo 🙂

Well I’ve not fallen asleep like this time last week, helped by being on the late shift, with an alarm at 0700 instead of 0450! 😆

I’ve even been organised to make and eat dinner early for myself in the last ~30mins, albeit I made way too much, but scoffed the lot down and now feel absolutely bloated.

All I know is that if I make the start line tonight, I won’t be challenging my Feb lap time around here from a Tour De Zwift stage 6, my best 20mins power of the year while being part of a swift moving blob… While being a good deal lighter than I am now.

Have a good one tonight all! Wish I could be there but will be late home. I’m looking forward to reading the banter afterwards, so make sure you give good race reports for us that can’t be there.

Whoops! Been too busy to look at my front mech & lost chain from last week.

Tempted to stick my other road bike one, but that means calibrating & all that faff.

Arse Biscuits…..it never used to be this complicated 🙂

At least I should have the warm-up to test it out and improve things cock it right up…

@stumpy01 didnt you win a nice set of bike cleaning stuff to keep your bikes in tip top condition?

click here for topless STWers in YOUR area….

Live streaming to YouTube… can’t figure out how to schedule, so it’s running now!

Just warming up!

DrP

robbo1234biking

@stumpy01 didnt you win a nice set of bike cleaning stuff to keep your bikes in tip top condition?

Yeah, it looks like it!! I haven’t received an email though which it says I should have done. I dropped STW an email to see if I missed it somehow!

I had a really stressful day of work today, so that was a great surprise and perked me up, no end…

Just warming up

Aren’t you about an hour early?

It worked for him last week.

Meh… early bird etc etc

Sometimes I like to tuck my knees up to my chest, grab them tight and lean forwards…
Hey.. that’s just how I roll…

DrP

Very Milton Jones

Argh. Invite gone. Any chance on reinvite Robby?
Sorry

I was trying to log in to watch the action unfold and maybe provide a 2nd rate version of Carlton Kirby’s commentary but there seems to be an issue logging in so anyone actually racing should probably try and get sorted ASAP otherwise there could be issues with people missing the start.

I can see the event but can’t enter…. zwift!

Just sent you the link. Sign up through that

Thanks Robbo. I’m in.

Enjoy fellas!

Just been getting some tips from Sagan 2015 on YouTube 😀

Well thats annoying and new – crashed in the middle of a race restarted and did an update. Thats my C class GC hopes gone!

I passed you as you froze robbo, then had a Bluetooth drop out and nearly made myself vomit before giving up as DNF. Looked to be a few crawling on the climbs too, maybe a high rate of attrition!

Crash mid race must be annoying!

Started more gently this time, happy in the group. Trainer dropped out so DNF too rather than kill myself trying to catch up.

My trainer dropped out too at exactly 1 lap marker. Typically when feeling good.

Ooh… that was interesting!
Less constant power this race.. more cruise… sprint…cruise… climb…

I just didn’t have enough legs to keep up on the last set of climbs and lost Phil etc through the arch…

Annoying how a few seconds leads to a 30 second gap when you’re riding on your own!

Bravo

DrP

Oww, my legs.

Enjoyed that, thanks for towing me round people.

I shouldn’t have raced. Dodgy guts caught up with me. Now feel even more like crap. Desperately trying to keep the gap down at the end while surfing the sickness borderline.

Sounds like a few dropout issues this week…annoying.

I had a good race. Started well enough to get into a group ahead of my nearest rivals. I was able to last a lap with that group then went solo for the last lap trying my best not to drop too much time.
I couldn’t work out what was going on behind me exactly as K Stumpy and J imdoubleyou times kept fluctuating by 1 min or so between themselves. Probably just a zwift error but I hope the gap was the bigger of the times that kept flashing up 😉

My trainer sounds like a playing card stuck in the spokes, (Tacx Flow). It’s done this before and seemed to fix itself. I’ll take a look at it when I’ve dampened the urge to introduce it to Mr Sledgehammer.

Overall it went OK for me – I needed to get with the front group over the first set of hills without @kirky72 if I was to have any chance of making up his for his minute handicap and it was touch and go all around the second lap has he manfully hung on at about 50 seconds deficit until the last couple of hills.

I just didn’t have enough legs to keep up on the last set of climbs

@DrP I think the only difference between you and I on that final climb is I was very lucky to have a feather and it just let me cling onto Paino as got to the arch. You spend an incredible amount of time on the front powering the group around – you deserve bonus points for that!

Sorry to hear you were ill @nixie – there had to be some reason for you not being on the pointy end fighting for the finish with Phil.

Thanks again for another great event @robbo1234biking

Wow… Found that a lot harder than it should have been for the second race in a row. Either I’m getting slower or you lot are getting much faster 😂. Was glad to get swamped by the second group in the end for a bit of drafting respite, and then ended up in a small breakaway group with Mr Nedeh and Drysdale, who me honest right to the very end. Great racing but totally wrecked now.

That was a disaster. My pedal started to wobble as we approached the first climb, and sheared straight off the crank half way up. It was probably a bit stupid to keep riding as long as that (maybe “new chainset” stupid)… Sorry @kirky72 and @mahowlett if you were stranded the wrong side of the gap I let open…

After I accepted that the pedal wasn’t going back on and finished having a paddy I went back into the game and tried to record the finale for a few groups – I got some footage including @phil56 pulling away from @paino and @j-r (great ride btw), @kirky72 sprinting around @mahowlett at the finish and @slowpuncheur leaving behind @v7fmp and @mossimus. I’ll try and find a way to share it.

Thanks @robbo1234biking for yet another great event. My strategy next week is to get to the finish line with me and my equipment in working condition.

I think one of you has my ass. Could you hand it to me please?

Sorry to hear you’re not feeling so clever nixie.

Much better for me than last week, felt pretty reasonable but my legs were empty, couldn’t seem to turn the pedals fast enough.

Lost the front group on the first sprint, barely managed to hit 600w let alone hold it so ended up watching everyone disappear off into the sunset.

Spent most of the rest of the race ticking along with a few folks (ta for the tow) but couldn’t seem to muster it on the hills and everyone rode away from me on the last climb.

Ah well. I guess all that cheese and beer combined with very little pedaling had taken its toll since summer. Still feels like a positive after last week.

(edit: well despite feeling like that was very disappointing I’ve got 4 pbs on that. Guess it’s not a course I like then!)

Enjoyed that, first Zwift race since last winter, so just sat in the group for 90% of it waiting for it to kick off 😅

Knew I wouldn’t have the pace if it went to a sprint, so just chanced my luck on the last hills.

Well, my usual tactic of pedal like mad to hold on to a group failed this week. Or at least I failed to execute it properly!

Good ride round in the end with a few folks.

Well, that was interesting… Decided not to even bother  trying to stay with the keenies in the front group from the start (which is why I’ll never be a racer) so after about eight seconds found myself with a good bunch of folks and rode around for a couple of laps, mostly with other people. That’s how it’s meant to go, right? 🙂

ANT+ pairing to my bike gear failed just before race start, by luck Bluetooth paired Direto, perhaps through Zwift Companion bridge. Don’t know if it was a USB extension or ANT+ dongle fail or just a random spare of the moment fail… All worked last time I used it ~2 weeks ago.

A few mins after the race start, I managed to get my Lezyne GPS recording power and cadence from Direto, plus heart rate monitor, all on ANT+. If you want me to find a way of uploading this Lezyne backup for the hrm data, let me know.

Found that very tough, almost certainly the hardest ~55mins I’ve done since before October.

Thanks again Robbo. Wasn’t feeling very with it this week and hoped to just ride and have a go at the sprints, which I did but the power up gods haven’t been kind. All fun though and thanks to those who dragged me round with them.

Enjoyed that, not quite as intense as last week but still almost vomiting

1st lap got into a good little group including chipps, up until the climbs, where I was dropped like a particularly slippery bar of soap. When I got to the start finish I was in no-mans-land about 8secs behind OGG and DFee and the same in front of J Antram – it was an easy decision to sit up a bit and wait for J Antram, as I was goosed. We worked together until the climbs and I managed to pull clear up the second short steep bugger and hold it until the line.

Cheers all top entertainment once again