STW Zwift Autumn Series 2

Chipps and oblongbob took me up to the mountains and they, … they hurt me mummy ! 🙁

Managed to hang on to cat C about a third of the way up the hill (which was probably a bit keen)

Kept threshold ish up rest of hill which was hopefully good for some points.

Last bit was painful…

Ouchy! That was a great wee trio we had going there. I thought both you and chipps had me on the last ramp but I plugged away and managed to cling on and get by you. Chuffed with how that went all things considered.

Racing up that hill is horrible. I did however take 8 minutes off my PR so I guess the extra motivation helped. Cheers all, really enjoyed that, I think.

8 mins!! Wow, that’s a big chunk of time! I was 1 min 10s of my best ever, but having had covid etc, I’ll take that happily

Logged in last minute, put on the light weight wheels then go go go. 1 minute into the Epic KOM I realise why it has seemed oddly reasonable so far – still got my weight set for my wife from her having a go on Zwift yesterday.

Quit out, reset weight, then a lonely time trial to the top. What a wally!

Cheers Robbo and everyone who took part. It has been a great source of type 2 fun.

Had to stop to pick up one of my lungs after much coughing and a sit down, felt much better once I could just get into my own rythm and mash up the climbs at low revs.
Tried to drag someone up the hill with me and managed from nearly last to not quite nearly last.
Thanks all.

Thanks Robbo and everyone for another fun series. Another start where I failed to hang on to a group so time trialled from 3km with a brief rest behind D Fee just after the avalanche tunnel.

I really need to sort my starts out!

That break on the rollers caught me out big style. Managed to work 2-up with Daz Hall, but by the time we got the climb I was 20 secs back on Paino and Nixie. Took me ages to reel you back in. New FTP after that climb!!

Is there still a Robbo-nominated charity we can donate to as a wee sign of appreciation?

Own up. Who else collapsed on their bars just through the blue and white arch and realised the blue banner was another few hundred metres further on. Cost me about 5-6 seconds and a race to the line with @andeh. Some good rides from @V7mfp, @feed and @funkybaj. Well done to all who took part and thanks again to @Robbo1235biking – just go easy on the handicaps next time;)

I got a new FTP, but it was -9w from before😭

I didn’t fall for the blue arch, but was desperately hoping chips would! He didn’t.

Managed to work 2-up with Daz Hall

I think that’s a bit generous, I can only remember doing one turn in front, and then you rode away when it went uphill 🙂

Robbo

i lost WiFi but did finish time of 50;25 very lonely ride lost tracker mini map and companion app just me all the way.

neil

@jamesoz I think that was me you passed – just couldn’t hold on – for a first race, I finished and not last so I will happily take that – and a PB up the Epic KOM (but not like Daz’s 8 mins!)

Own up. Who else collapsed on their bars just through the blue and white arch and realised the blue banner was another few hundred metres further on.

Yep!

I was going full gas to try and catch Andy and Simon just in front. I wouldn’t have made it anyhow mind.

how do you get a new FTP ?

Robbo – THANKS man, really enjoyed those races. Much more entertaining when you sort of know who you’re riding with and being battered by

Thanks to whoever a STW reached out round to zwift to get us a proper pen, too. Magic

Thanks for that, I think 😊

I thought I was a goner after about a minute as the peloton elastic snapped, but got in with a good crew until the bottom of the big hill. I’d never done it before so had the advantage of not knowing where the top was… cheers all!

Gnnhr

@benman was that you that took the win? Nice catch and pull away.

Bit of a car crash for me. Two attempts at escaping on the climbs, one on titans and the other up to the bridge. Got the gap both times only for body to say no and I had to slow and wait for @phil56 and @paino to catch.

After the second my breathing was so screwed I thought they would blow right past on the big bridge. Somehow got it under control enough to hang on. I then shamelessly wheel sucked to the top and popped past @paino after he had done most of the work.

Not great again. Going to take some time off racing now till I’m properly well again ☹️.

Thank you to everyone who has taken part in the series. This has made the event what it is, by people taking part, getting involved and generally enjoying themselves.

A few stats for you:

Average race attendance (not including those who had to drop out): 40

Total time spent racing in the series: 200 hours 57 mins 57 seconds

Meters Climbed: 78,743m

Distance travelled: 7293km

Enough of me talking crap here is what you really want: the results from the final race of the series. These are provisional in case I have made a mistake!

Firstly, the results of the various categories from tonights race:

Cat A:

1. benman
2. nixie
3. Phil56

Cat B:

1. paino
2. Kirky72
3. Savoyad

Cat C:

1. v7mfp
2. Robbo1234biking
3. jamesoz

Cat D:

1. jimdoubleyou
2. Lewisdeacon
3. whirld

Now the race results for the final positions with handicaps applied:
1. V7mfp
2. Kirky72
3. Paino

The series sprint results were:
1. Paino
2. Garry Lager
3. Nixie

And finally the moment you have all been waiting for, the top 3 from the series based on points scored (best 5 scores count, scores that don’t count are in red on the spreadsheet):

1. Paino (224)
2. V7mfp (223)
3. Kirky72 (221)

That was close at the top but Paino sprint points have helped him take the title!

The GC win goes to nixie!

Full results here:

STW RACE SERIES 2 – Google Sheets

I hope that you have enjoyed the series!

If you are missing the Tuesday meet ups then join us on the TTT here:

Zwift Team Time Trial, Thursday

Or for more social rides then see this thread. There are Sunday Hills, weekday virtual commutes or stupid long Uber and mega Pretzel attempts.

Zwift meetups and social rides ?

For more general racing see this thread:

Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

The next series will start on the 5th Jan (I am expecting a few weight changes!) and the courses have already been decided! These will be official zwift races so we retain the starts.

@funkybaj noticed you getting closer from half way up the climb, had to dig deep to put a little dig in every time the gap came down to single figures.

Was solo for most of the climb, Andy King overtook me near the village, managed to claw back to him at the end only to lose out in the ‘sprint’

Great series, thanks again Robbo, Roll on January.

Who else collapsed on their bars just through the blue and white arch and realised the blue banner was another few hundred metres further on. Cost me about 5-6 seconds and a race to the line with @andeh.

Pahaha, I suspected that happened. I saw the banner but noticed there was still 200m on the clock and died a little inside.

That was unpleasant. I was convinced Chips was on an ebike as he stormed past me at the bottom of the climb at 4.5w/kg.

As always Robbo, thanks so much man, this has been great fun. Mad props.

@neilarn2 I have added your time onto the spreadsheet – I am afraid you missed out on a point by 11 seconds after handicaps!

Another enjoyable but tough one. Had a decent Titans Grove, but once on the bridge just went backwards! Held on for all I was worth. Hopefully it was enough to stay in the top 3 overall.

But as every has said, cheers Robbo. First beer is on me!

That was an ace series Robbo, thanks. Now I can gorge on mince pies and IPA till the next series. Think I’ve been lucky this time round that the races have fallen outside of my shift pattern. No way I’ll be able to do all 6 again.
Anyway, tonight culminated in an FTP increase from 318 to 321. Fairly pleased with the performance but kind of gutted I didn’t do better at the same time. Plan was to get past the rollers first and foremost then take the climb at minimum of 300W. @Nixie set his stall out when he gunned it up the first ramp at the very start of the KOM, I had the legs to follow so decided to go for it, then settled in with a steady climb. Was pleased to see @J-R fall back, was expecting a battle royale up the climb! The next 5km saw a brilliant individual climb from @benman who must have put in a turn just to catch us. Unfortunately didn’t put quite enough time into the boys ahead of me on points but at least got a Green Jersey out of it. Well done all involved, cheers!

Edit-hold on, surely can’t be first in the handicap? Thought I needed 90 seconds over Kirky???

Unfortunately didn’t put quite enough time into the boys ahead of me on points but at least got a Green Jersey out of it.

Um Paino – you won! 3rd in the race was enough to take the series!

3rd in C? Wish I hadn’t stopped for a rest now, although I didn’t have much choice. Lungs said no.

Whaaaaat? You sure?

Oooft! Happy days 😁

Yes, cheers Robbo, superb organisation. Looking forward to January’s events with trepidation…

Top 10 on handicap – I’m happy with that.

Can’t see me dropping 10kg before the next series so I’ll have to work on that FTP 🙂

@mossimus ha! I wound it up to over 4w/kg with about 3-4km to go, but struggled to maintain it. I had a second go at 1km left but you pair seemed to match it and stay 5-6 second ahead. Nice ride!

I’ll add the thanks to Robbo for organising. I only joined the series half way through but already looking forward to January.

Well done paino! What a finish, just a point in it.

I’m well chuffed with second. Good effort everyone!

Well done to the top 3 and especially @paino on the win. That was so close overall. Thanks to Robbo for a great series again.

Cheers R obbo  thanks for organising  roll on series 3, thanks Mark and Chipps for your help getting us the start pens and all official.

Cheers R obbo posted photo on my Strava feed not sure how to post on here, it’s bloody hard when you’ve got no reference points or timings

Once again thanks for organising it’s appreciated.

regards

neil

Congratulations @paino, @v7fmp and @kirky72 for well deserved podium finishes – and such close results in the points.

I found it hard going, averaging well above FTP for the first 10 mins keeping up with the fast guys over the rollers, and hoped Kirky and perhaps even Paino were suffering too. But as soon as we hit the KOM climb it became obvious they weren’t and after going flat out up the first km I had to back off and soon lost touch with them. I was then pretty much a solo effort with one or two others reeling me in and passing, but as I got to the final slope I saw @trolo closing in and made a big effort to get over the line ahead of him. I though it must have been a bad day for me, but when I look at my numbers it was as hard a ride as the other races – I reckon the others are just getting better with practice.

Thanks again @robbo1234biking for organising a fantastic race, and I am probably looking forward to racing again in series 3.

@v7fmp to be honest I really thought you had it. I just wanted to give top 3 a bash. I knew it was close going into it. It was the sprint points that did it though, so thanks Robbo for changing the format!

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Some pics from todays race.