STW Zwift Autumn Series 2

So, this podcast. Where can we hear it?

https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/singletrack-podcast-the-riding-bikes-indoors-on-zwift-can-be-fun-episode/

It is on the front page as well.

@feed next series is already planned and will be a official ziwft series i.e. from the pens but invitational/private event only as per the last 3 races of this series.

The podcast was going to be my morning commute material… but the headphones didn’t make the last minute bag swap 😭

For some reason clicking on that link didn’t work for me. Hopefully this works:
STW Zwift Podcast

Will have a listen to the podcast in the car this am…
In my hung over state… doh!

After a hectic weekend, the GF and I ‘celebrated Monday’ with 2 bottles of fizz!

Hmmm…. Will spend today rehydrating in prep for tonight!

DrP

Race day!!! Would love to say I’m back on form after last week but sadly not feeling like it currently. If there wasn’t a GC place to protected I’d be taking it easy again today. Very glad there are no sprints this week as maintaining a constant effort should be more achievable.

Anyway stream from hopefully the front https://youtu.be/PlxFz-FMF-M

Hi – enjoyed the podcast this week – would be interested in joining the January series to give it a go – is there a thread for the one for January yet?

“Quatch Quest (don’t panic!)”. Aka: a whole forum doing an FTP test together.

Hope you are feeling OK @nixie, that 16 second GC gap is exciting. @mahowlett and @j-r are in a proper battle as well. And @jimdubleyou has been sneaking up on @stumpy01 in the last couple of rounds…

Overall, I can see @v7fmp beating @j-r and @kirky72 after handicap, and a nervous wait for them all while @robbo1234biking figures out how many riders got in between them to hoover up points.

There will be lots going on later, looking forward to a good finish to this series…

Here’s my youtube stream link too…

If you wanna see Nixie and Phil’s backsides later on…!!!

So i’ve got a BIGGER handicap than the legend that is Phil56…! Hmmm….. I might need to put my old magic power meter back on for tonight 😉

DrP

I reckon @paino is in with a good chance too, because he gets a big benefit from dropping his worst points score.

There’s everything to race for at the top of the points table.

Looking forward to it. Again, I don’t know the course at all, and I don’t have a 1st lap to scope it out this time…

I’ll try and dig my HRM out tonight, I didn’t realise everyone else wore one, so felt like a bit of a fraud last week.

Gutted I can’t race again, promised the wife I’d help out with kids athletics club, both a Tuesday and a Thursday evening…..sacrifices we have to make!
Is there going to be a race series 3? Completely understand if there’s not, must be a big time overhead for Robbo to organise.

Series 3 already planned for January apparently. A good incentive not to hammer the mince pies too much over Christmas.

Given the handicapping system, I think it’ll feel more like a TT to the line tonight. Not my strength. I prefer old school racing but it’s gonna hurt, whatever:)

@savoyad thanks for the extra bit of pressure!! haha

Should be a good one, the final push n’all that!

Also gutted I won’t be racing this evening as I’m away from home at the moment. I never made it to the start line on race 4 due either to my own ineptness or Zwift’s idiosyncrasies so am going to miss out on two races in total. Hopefully attendance will improve for the next series. Big thumbs up to Rob for his hard work and good luck for this evening everyone.

@lewisdeacon – glad you enjoyed the podcast. I have sent you a message you are welcome to join in tonight but there will be a new thread for the next series soon! I just need to get round to writing up the race course and profiles etc but the races are all sorted and I already have the links from Zwift.

As a general note if you aren’t on ZP then I would encourage you to join. It is useful in showing Zwift how active the STW Zwift Community is.

As for tonights race I am not sure how hard it will start – will people try and create the gaps through Titans Grove or will it be more measured knowing that the big climb is to come. I am a bit in no mans land so might just mark the riders I am used to and then attack on the climb and see where I come.

As for tonights race I am not sure how hard it will start

it is Zwift. The start will be hard 🤣

Maybe crazy talk but the only chance I have is to try and make a break, split the group before the climb and hope I’m in the lead pack and closest competitors (jr) are behind. So I have an head start as we reach the climb proper, I think I need much more than the 45seconds I have to hold him off up the hill.

Only trouble is I can’t remember if other than a flattish course like the London race this as ever happened before.

Hard. Into harder. Followed by hanging on…

@robbo1234biking I am on ZP (from the LEtape races) – so should be good to go – have sent you the other details you need weight/FTP and have added tonight – as long as I can get kids into bed on time I will join

I imagine tonight will be a bit of an odd one at the front.

Depending on his form nixie could make the gap he needs on the climb so long as he doesn’t let folks rode away on the early part.
DrP needs to hold wheels without over doing it on the approach where he struggles a bit more but then should put time into folks on the hill.
Phil needs to hurt DrP early on and hit the hill with a gap or the competition dying already.
Crazy Harry needs better legs than last week but if he does, based on previous good runs, can afford to hold a wheel until the bridge then bury himself from there.
For me to improve I need to (a) turn up, (b) not choke to near death (c) remember to put my big boy legs on. If I manage those, all that’s left is I just need to out run DrP Phil and Nixie before the epic then hold on for grim death and I might even do quite well. Sounds easy enough but I don’t think I’ve had a single good race this series.

t is Zwift. The start will be hard 🤣

True – I am wondering if I let a group go away but have 28mins to catch them on the climb if that is a reasonable strategy. If I really attack the beginning Im not going to perform as well on the climb. Lots of opportunities!

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<div class=”bbp-reply-author d-flex align-items-center flex-wrap”>savoyad
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“Quatch Quest (don’t panic!)”. Aka: a whole forum doing an FTP test together.

And @jimdubleyou has been sneaking up on  @stumpy01 in the last couple of rounds…

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I haven’t actually been paying close attention to the results, so that’s not very re-assuring. jimdoubleyou definitely had the measure of me at the last race.

I seem to be going backwards to be honest. I am riding more than I was at the start of the first series, but seem to have got steadily worse & according to the numbers in Zwift am generating less power.

I stupidly went up to the radio tower on Sunday (no idea why I chose that route), with already stiff thighs from a mediocre run on Friday night. Not sure how I will fare tonight.

I checked the calibration of the trainer on Sunday as the temperature in the garage has changed quite a lot, but it seemed OK – was at the upper end of the scale so I tweaked the wheel resistance a little bit, to get it back into the centre.

I don’t really understand what it is with me, Zwift & riding on a turbo trainer – a couple of years ago, I did the 12-week FTP builder, busted my balls riding much more than I normally would & really worked hard – the supposed FTP gain after 12 weeks was 1 watt. It doesn’t really make sense to me. I said to my Wife after last weeks race that I am riding more often than I have been, but if anything, seem to be going backwards in relation to those who are around me. And it’s not an over-training thing – when I say riding more often than I have been, I mean twice a week, rather than once a month…

I’m surprised anyone makes any gains on those Zwift training plans if you are at a reasonable level of fitness when you start them. I’ve tried a few different ones and never got much out of them except tiredness. I think there are a few problems with them, all of which are caused by the fact they are geared towards people training for the first time.

Firstly the hard workouts are too easy, so they don’t push your body hard enough to force it to repair itself on the rest days and get stronger, I presume this is becasue if you haven’t trained before you don’t know how hard you can push and the tendancy is to stop when it hurts.

Secondly, there aren’t enough rest days, so even if you do mange to push yourself, you don’t get enough rest to recover, also because three aren’t enough rest days they have to make the ‘hard’ days easier as you won’t have recovered enough to do them.

Thirdly, they have the same problem as the vast majority of zwift workouts, they are too complex and seem to be targetting too many areas at once, I asusme this is to make them interesting, but you are better off targetting one thing per workout.

I think it would really help if you were allowed to add your own rest days, life gets in the way far too often for most people to rigidly do 6 days a week, apparently zwift refuse to add that as feature though, which make them an exercise doomed to failure for me.

My aim will be to finish, hoping for no tech issues or coughing fits.
Climbs usually suit me, despite my weight.

@mahowlett absolutely spot on. Traineroad is far better for that in that they really push you but mix hard efforts with active recover days better.

Was going to say pretty much the same thing as slowpuncheur!

Thanks @savoyad feeling better than last week so hopefully have a good run out tonight. The 16s is mighty close. You can see in my stream last week where I twigged that @paino was tearing into the gap as I forced myself to work again.

With the start in the desert pens I think breaking as many on the first climb is the order of the day. The rollers are going to be a killer straight after a high power start and when they let off its straight into the climb proper. Assuming I feel OK my aim would be to break away before the bridge on the way up towards the big climb.

I’m unconvinced by the Zwift training sessions too. I saw big gains last winter from Sufferfest, but it obviously doesn’t offer the social / racing aspect of Zwift. I used to absolutely dread some of the Sufferfest workouts!!

Traineroad is far better for that in that they really push you but mix hard efforts with active recover days better.

you can import TR workouts into Zwift (obviously that isn’t cool unless you have a TR sub as well). May try that as I desperately want to up my FTP before the next series 😃, like others been at the same level pretty much for a long time.

Great podcast Robbo! Good to see Mark riding again tonight.

@J-R very little chance for me tonight, despite giving up my lowest points. I’m only there or thereabouts as the sprint points added to my total. None of them to help tonight! My goal is to try and keep you within a couple of mins, the B GC race is still the target!
Given @Nixie has decided to go hell for leather on the first climb I think my GC race will unravel on the rollers before we even start the hard bit.

Bit of a leftfield question…
Has anyone anywhere raced zwift in teams? I don’t mean TT, I mean like a road stage of a Grand Tour? Could we generate teams of say 5 riders each (handicapped for fairness) and run a longer race of say 50km? I suspect that the spread of abilities would mean the fast lads would just pedal off if a team of 5 couldn’t reel them back in but this could be solved with categories. Just something else for Christian Prudhomme/@Robbo1234biking to crank up Excel for…

I’ve already started eating power up mince pies in preparation for tonight’s uphill struggle 😂.
I expect to be somewhere near the back again but hopefully not a solo ride so I might team up with some nearby frenemies 😂

@Robbo1234biking I’ve sent you a PM and zwift follow request so hope I can get in tonight if there’s room. In case you don’t see it here’s the details:

Name: Daz Hall

FTP/Weight: 291/79

I am pooped today!

Eek… Will see if I can refrain from blowing myself up before nixie makes an early break!

DrP

Hi Daz – have sent you the link and your handicap.

Sorry, think I’m going to have to bail, just like a fortnight ago the alternate week 0450 alarm combined with a bad night’s sleep has left me fighting going to bed all afternoon after work.

Bit gutted after doing a trial run the other day, approx 49mins iirc.

The evening start was always a concern for me since this all started.

Don’t kill yourselves through the Titan rollers, for many of us mortals it will be a 25min+ “FTP test” up the Epic KOM.

Sorry folks. Going to skip tonight. Failing miserably to summon the enthusiasm for my turbo trainer.

Good luck and enjoy!

Well that was a huge fail…all that effort over the titans rollers for the app to crash on the never ending bridge! Argggh!

Tried rebooting and joining back in by selecting ride with Robbo but it just dumped me on the hill and I couldn’t see anyone…so I binned it.

Annoying but let’s be honest I was never going to win a medal haha! Onto the next season!

Hope it went well for everyone else.

Wow, that was tough!

Managed to keep it steady up KOM and took a few places in the process.

Well done everyone!