STW Zwift Race Series 3 – Winter

I don’t think ZP has ever reliably updated FTP.

I got my message as I left zwift. I hung around cooling down till about 25mins but then when straight to a second race without a zwift restart. Got the message as I left the second race (though the effort was in the first).

Do people really do two laps of that in a race? I guess the much suggested tactic of upto hill 10/20% lower than ftp, hill 10/20% over must go out of the window.

I always warm down for a while if I can which took me back around to the climb yesterday, I was thinking of jumping off at that point but thought to just do it again at a more sedate effort. I was aboard a road bike so surely that will help as well. There is no way on gods earth I could get anywhere near the same effort as the first time up and that’s after quite a decent period of recovery. I was creeping up at around 220w until got bored and tried to muster 300w for the final couple of sections but that was extremely painful.

Would definitely need a total rethink on strategy for two laps, don’t think I’ll ever try it though for some reason.

First TT for me, didn’t realise the start wasn’t straight from the pens. Hard work from the off but couldn’t muster much on the later sections of the climb but enough for an FTP increase to 231 Watts. Great work everyone, a few passed me like i was rolling backwards!

I’m sure zwift uses more than one benchmark to auto detect ftp.

I think you must be right @sayoyad – last night I shut Zwift down as soon as I crossed the line so I could restart it for my wife’s ride – I definitely didn’t reach 20 mins and Strava has my ride time as 18.52, which is about 20 seconds longer than the race, so about right.

So it must have used something other than 95% of 20 mins to calculate my FTP increase

once again…Zwift hates me… 😀

DrP

That was my very first TT, it didn’t fit in to reccie the course beforehand. I think I was too conservative on the flat, averaging about 80% ftp, then on the climb about 110% ftp until the last KM when I got a stitch (I haven’t had a stitch for ages!) so backed off to ftp. Therefore I averaged under ftp for the whole route. Judging by how quickly I recovered, I could have gone harder, but now I know for next time.

That was my very first TT, it didn’t fit in to reccie the course beforehand. I think I was too conservative on the flat, averaging about 80% ftp, then on the climb about 110% ftp until the last KM when I got a stitch (I haven’t had a stitch for ages!) so backed off to ftp. Therefore I averaged under ftp for the whole route. Judging by how quickly I recovered, I could have gone harder, but now I know for next time.

With a two-phase TT course like that you just need to get a time on the board and take things from there – when you’re confident you have the legs for the distance / climb / effort you can actually push the flat to 100% ftp and then raise the climb 110% +

The first K of the climb is critical for me – needs to be a sustained sort of increase, ie not get to the foot of it and think you need to blow it up. That will let me do the second K harder – I’m a ‘steady’ climber, though, to put it charitably. A good light climber might want to put a sharper effort in right away.

Anybody else using a Tacx Flow? Mine only seems to lose Bluetooth, (assuming that’s what’s happening) on climbs during races when I’m feeling strong.

I had one until recently and yes, over about 250w at lower cadence/low gears and they overheat. I bodger an old PC fan into the side of mine which helped but also seemed to give me wildly overestimated power (+20%). I guess just make sure it has some airflow.

Last night was my first TT! I think maybe I went a bit too easy on the flat (90%ftp), but seemed to be able to maintain 115-120% on the climb. It’s a real **** that though, ay? Alternating between seated and standing, maybe went too easy on the flatter (lol) bits. Still, pretty happy. Made me realise there’s more to a TT than just going full gas. Interesting.

Seems like putting the TT in meant a lot of people got to try something new and different and enjoyed it! Glad that it had the desired effect and looks worthwhile considering for future Series.

Does the Watopia TT course use the same launch system? I did one TT on that over xmas but it was just a normal start from the pens. I thought other TT courses would use the same system?

With hindsight I could have gone harder. I forgot about the undulations at the start so was quite erratic there. HR didn’t go over 165 so there was some reserve there as well. Think I may have another go on a fast Friday event and try to max out.

@robbo1234biking yes you can have the TT start on fuego flats.

Is there a list somewhere of all courses ridden as TT? I should imagine Innsbruck with the leg snapper would be very good or a couple of laps of Paris.

HR didn’t go over 165 so there was some reserve there as well.

I didn’t get above 170 so had another 13bpm to find somewhere!

@kirky72 – why don’t you join the TTT on Thursday evenings? I think the only official routes are Fuego Flats and Bologna. There is a CC that organises TT events – I think it is Newbury Velo but there is a 8.30am TT on Tempis Fugit as well on Thursday. You can filter TT on the companion app.

@kirky72 any course can be offered as a TT. I think only tempus fugit and bologna offer the full TT mode though (conveyor belt start, TT focussed HUD and splits). Anywhere else and a TT just means a mass start with no draft available. Filter zwiftpower event listing by TT and you’ll see what’s on offer.
Zwift being zwift, there are sometimes races with “TT” in their name which don’t seem to actually be set up as TTs. Nice for gamblers I guess.

@robbo I have considered it but Thursday is often my day for a ride of a decent length, ideally outside, then rest day Friday ready for a big ride Saturday. Also at the moment other than bits and pieces of ad hoc work I have most of the day free so it’s a shame to wait all day to race in the evening. I also struggle to wind down after until very late in the evening, used to hate the late on kick offs at 5 a side for this reason.

I’m definitely a morning person and it was hard yesterday kind of sacrificing a lovely bright day where I could have had a run out on the newish bike in favour of 20 minutes of pain in the evening. I’m enjoying the experience of the series on the night and the discussion before and after so the trade off is winning at the moment. Come spring and hopefully being able to ride some nice long loops outside again I should imagine my preference would be more around riding out supplemented by Zwift as and when.

Do people really do two laps of that in a race? I guess the much suggested tactic of upto hill 10/20% lower than ftp, hill 10/20% over must go out of the window.

we did the 2 lapper in the TTT a few weeks back. It was pretty brutal. You don’t even finish at the top of the 2nd climb (as I’d wrongly assumed – should’ve done my research 🤣) so gave it all then realised we still had the descent & flat to do again 😭

That was good, felt like I was stuck not going anywhere as soon as the wall hit – and the cadence seemed slower than the pedaling I was doing up the steep bits as people flew past me as I was stood still. Really pleased to have won the D cat, but as you said @robbo1234biking I am on the cusp on C/D – so it would either be winning D or last place in C by the look of those numbers. Looking forward to the next one.

I definitely didn’t reach 20 mins and Strava has my ride time as 18.52, which is about 20 seconds longer than the race, so about right.

I think it basically goes a bit screwy with short races.

It seems to use your race average power but ride time. Eg @Phil56 in your case it will be your 370w average race power +the short lead in any pedaling in the pen or warming up before etc. Your ride time is actually showing at 25 min which is plenty. It doesn’t seem to adjust your ftp to best 20min though. It just takes your race avg power and calls it 20min if the ride time is over that.

I think it’s an error in the implementation of the published one rather than another undisclosed method.

@kirky72 I know what you mean about struggling to wind down. I had a full on day yesterday so was quite tired last night but had an awful night’s sleep. I was half dreaming about TT bikes and Bologna. I have always done Zwift and Traineroad in the evenings without a problem so I think it’s the extra adrenaline of proper racing that lingers a bit. The biggest complement I can pay to the STW series is I never have problems sleeping after TdZ events!

A few people have mentioned not getting close to their maximum heart rates but in a 20 minute test, there’s little to no chance of any HR drift and so it would really need to be an all out effort to get closer to MHR – not a relatively steady state effort like a TT. A sprint after an hour long race would always yield a higher HR I think.

The watobia tt is pan flat, I’ve done it lots. It’s well suited to some of the guys on here with big power but perhaps not the lightest. And unlike a real tt where it’s a balance of power vs aero, its purely down to how much horsepower someone can put out.

I reckon I could save everybody the pain of riding it and name the top 10 based purely on power outputs for last few races!

If we do do it, I think there are 2 versions, the 17.6 km and the 16km version. The 16km version is 10 miles, and my times on a zwift tt bike are uncannily close to my proper 10 mile tt time outdoors. Worth knowing if you ever fancy doing a proper tt and want to know how fast you’ll go.

@slowpuncheur I have hit my highest HR that I am aware of on a ramp test which is also pretty short. I just feel like I left something on the table in the final minutes to really get the best. My performance last night was pretty underwhelming to be honest though.

I don’t pay any attention to HR during a race to be honest. I would be quite happy to just record HR but not see it during the race or training session but Zwift doesn’t let you do that. I figure my own bodies survival systems will kick in if I am pushing to hard – I never knew what my HR was doing whilst playing a game of rugby but just seems to be something else we obsess over as cyclists! We do seem to like our data!

@robbo1234biking I suppose everyone’s physiology is different. I remember you saying you had ridden 11 days on the bounce. Lower HR might be an early sign of the need for a recovery day or two before you become ‘overtrained’. You did a big block at the end of December. Even @weeksy is slowly becoming a convert to rest and recovery;)

Oh yeh I keep a careful eye on what I am doing. My resting HR starts to increase when I am starting to get too much training in but it was 46 last night so think that is fine. I did a really easy 30 mins today and then got 36 hours of rest before racing tomorrow night. My biggest issue at the moment is maintaining my level of fitness gained after the December block. I cant generate enough fatigue to the level of fitness so it is starting to taper off but I will just have to accept that it will drop a bit (was around 72 and is now on 69 and dropping).

Far from it.

Had fairly substantial surgery yesterday. So layoff enforced upon me.

Hope that all went well weeksy.

Heeling vibes to you @weeksy. Hope to see you back on virtual wheels before too long.

Hope that all went well weeksy.

I’m not dead. So off to a good start

Soon be back @weeksy! Rest well!

I had one until recently and yes, over about 250w at lower cadence/low gears and they overheat. I bodger an old PC fan into the side of mine which helped but also seemed to give me wildly overestimated power (+20%). I guess just make sure it has some airflow.

Thanks, further investigation and tacx admit its an issue. Looks higher cadence is the ‘fix’.

Looks like I ‘need’ a better trainer.

There’s a few “not the norm” TT events tonight, starting in as soon as 1835 at La Reine, Bell Lap at 1850 and a short 9Km Queen’s Highway at 1900.

https://zwiftpower.com/events.php and use the filter to select TTs, looks a bit more varied than the usual Tempus Fugit and Bologna for at least the next few days!

Feeling drained today after work, can’t see myself even doing a pootle tonight.

https://zwiftinsider.com/zwift-patch-01132021/

Looks like a patch coming which might help some of the issues that people have had recently.

Dagnammit. Another FTP increase from this mornings TdZ climb. @robbo1234biking can you please update my FTP to 266w. Many thanks.

Just wish I could hold anything near that level on the flat rather than just on hills!

That’s a whopping increase!

How many goes can I have at repack @robbo1234biking ?

Thanks @svladcjelli I will update – good work

@dangeourbrain – as many as you want!

Ah that’s good – it turns out having companion running on the bars at the same time as the steering plate is a bit, erm, odd!

Just did a bit of Zwifting, Repack ridge steering sensitivity can be adjusted at the start line.
It’s now in the main settings menu rather than on screen, but the option only seems present when on the mtb. It also seems to stick once selected now rather than needing changing each attempt.

It’s still a nightmare on the boardwalk and inconsistent, but that could be my internet/WiFi.

Did a couple of fox hill climbs with a fan pointing at the tacx without dropouts.
Also found I’m faster up the hill with trainer difficulty turned up rather than down, by a fair chunk. I just make more power with a proper amount of resistance.

Here are the handicaps for this weeks race. If your name is in yellow then I have registered a FTP change for you since the last race (either from this thread or through sending a PM).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QPxMGqez2VsN-4mD17f90t06NzqSLMMoGe4cUEK1E3U/edit#gid=1821767440

I doubt my trainer will be back with me before Tuesday 😭.

Ive now moved into the unenviable position where I’m giving time to the likes of Savo, JR and Woodster. 😂Big points are maybe a thing of the past.

@robbo will it help me in the series handicap to put weight on or drop some off? 😀