STW Zwift Race Series 3 – Winter

I always wear an 80s style headband for Zwifting

I need one of these desperately…any recommendations???

I’m still really pi$$ed I didn’t click ‘go live’ on youtube!!

I was gutted too, my one chance to watch live as you lot are going through the hellish pain whilst I’m sat on the sofa with a brew and neither yours or Nixie’s feed works! I was looking forward to throwing in some comments 😉

any chance at all the next series can be on a different day?? maybe a wednesday?

whoa! race on Weds then TTT on Thurs?!! The only other day it could be really is Mon, that still allows a Sat ride and then some recovery!

I need one of these desperately…any recommendations???

@oopnorth definitely don’t just get a cheap unbranded one off eBay, they are utter shite! I’ve got a few Nike & UnderArmour ones, nice & thick & absorbent, guess any decent branded one will be fine.

Maybe a little off topic, but what kind of training load are the fast group doing?

My usual training regime is going out with the fast group of my local club, and get beasted twice a week. Plus a couple of 5 mile commutes to work.

At the moment I’m doing Tues race, Thurs TTT and then a longer steady ride outside at the weekend.

Last week I did 3 hard Zwift rides, plus a Sunday ride, and I suffered last night for it.

I need one of these desperately…any recommendations???

Decathlon ones are okay

What’s going on here then? A glitch in the matrix?

😃

That’s a lot of red!

Did you ride Yorkshire before hand?

I think my Racing Ralphs were a bit underinflated. Why do I try to keep up with you lot?

Did you ride Yorkshire before hand?

Yep. Sorely tempted to head back there at the time.

Do you mean what kind of training programmes?

Kind of, more just hours/type of stuff.

I sacked off any type of programme, particularly the Zwift ones, as they seem to kill off any motivation. I’ve been doing the Tuesday race, a couple of 1.5hr workouts (usually V02 Max or Sweetspot), some actual riding and the odd steady recovery ride. Just feeling pretty rough so didn’t know if I was going too hard.

Lack of actual outside riding is getting me down now, round here (N.Lincs) is dull af, not worth the hours of post ride cleaning for the measly vertical on offer.

DrP

@stumpy01
I got a linkseys velop mesh wifi… I went for the 3 node one..currently only using 2 nodes, with one in a drawer for when i get a house…

Cheers DrP. Just had a look and it seems that the prices have come down.

AO have a BT whole home wi-fi 4-pack for £99, which seems like incredible value. I think this piggy backs the existing router.
They also have a TP-Link triple pack for £105. These can be run off the existing router, or you can use one as the router itself.

Also seen some on Amazon that piggy back off your existing router; Tenda Nova MW3 which only costs £70 for a pack of 3.

Need to investigate this further, but looks like it might be a better option to try.

Lack of actual outside riding is getting me down now, round here (N.Lincs) is dull af, not worth the hours of post ride cleaning for the measly vertical on offer.

Same for me in North Liverpool, totally flat and no good woods or anything, just the beach hence I have considered a fat bike… Nearest good stuff is North Wales but not practical for a quick hours fun, or during lockdown.
My last years riding has been completely indoors.

@stumpy01 I still use my Virgin router to ‘bring internet into the house’ as it’s a cable network. But the Mesh then flings wifis everywhere.

DrP

I’ve got a TP Link deco mesh system with 3 deco units and it works a treat. None of that drop out you get when moving to different signal boosters etc. Patch cable into back of Virgin router and pair them up. 10 minute job. Highly recommended.

Don’t forget to turn the virgin router into modern mode (disables WiFi and avoids double NAT). You can only use one network port to connect the mesh when doing that.

Lack of actual outside riding is getting me down now, round here (N.Lincs) is dull af, not worth the hours of post ride cleaning for the measly vertical on offer.

Same in Coventry for me. Muddy, dull, flat, with horrible roads pretty much mandatory as well. At least the first lockdown was sunny, this one’s really getting to me now as I can’t even go for a walk somewhere nice. I had a quick look at the hill walking thread and then just got jealous.

Hopefully the zwifting at least means that I can come out of lockdown/winter fit and ready to make the most of being allowed to travel.

I’m in Shropshire and whilst there’s good riding it’s just so bigging at the moment it doesn’t seem worth going out as I end up cleaning for as long as riding. Add in they’re doing forestry work all around me and it’s a bit of a write off for this winter outdoors. But soon, and hopefully the trails will come back strong)

@stumpy01 – I’ve literally just received the Mercusys S12 4 unit mesh system which was £80. I’d never heard of Mercusys but it’s TP-Link’s budget brand so should be reasonable quality even if it lacks bells and whistles.

Well that’s a bit of deja vu – just noticed stage 7 of the TDZ is laps of the jungle circuit on a mtb…

I’ve done enough Jungle lately it feels, will be on the shorter route for sure!

@ivandobski – great! Thanks, I’ll take a look at them too!

So only a few days before Keith Hill afterparty! Any FTP updates or weight changes I need to know about before I publish the handicaps tomorrow evening?

Robbo I have gone up to 241.

I feel like my FTP has dropped about 40w does that count 😆

I’ve lost 50W and 20kg 👍😋

I’m about to make a curry with some very dubious looking/smelling chicken. Expect rapid weight loss starting tomorrow.

I’m working away next week, has anyone Zwifted from a premier inn? I’m guessing it might be considered a bit antisocial.

Not like there will be many guests this week.

@jamesoz Some of my TTT teammates ride from hotels occasionally…at 5am their time! The consensus is that ground floor room is best, but that’s way more important in the middle of the night than early evening I think. Premier Inn have that pro bike policy about welcoming bikes in rooms don’t they? I’d probably take my stuff and do it unless something in particular made it feel unreasonable when I arrived at the hotel.

It’s not that late in the evening and can’t see it being busy?! Ground floor room and you should be fine I think.

Do hotels do room service for food at the moment? You can’t go anywhere to eat so it’s that or something cold from a tesco!

I have no idea what to expect food wise, it’s my first bit of away work since the pandemic started. I gather I might need my Key worker letter on check in.
I’ll take the bike and trainer and play it by ear, the other concern is my colleagues. It’s normally the case you feel obligated to be social and have a few beers, although that’s not really going to happen unless we get some tinnies in and get curry or something delivered to one room.

No changes for me.

Just hoping the wi-fi doesn’t crap out. Might use my phone as a wi-fi hotspot from the start, although even that wasn’t infallible last week.

I’ve lost some of my xmas weight gain but can’t race next week anyway so no point in posting it now – I’d clearly have won it by miles though !

@jamesoz make sure to check the Aircon works and ask them for a fan. Hotels always have loads as windows normally don’t open much if at all.

Cheers, yeah a few years ago somebody in a very refreshed state permanently opened my hotel window during a heatwave. That someone was quite annoyed at the tiny amount it would open.

I got a refund at a Plymouth Premier inn as I went and slept in the van ‘cos it was cooler.

Robbo, think time has come to admit my fitness is going backwards. Could you please bring my FTP back down to 305 if it’s not too much of a pain to do. Garmin tells me it’s even lower but I’m in denial!

@robbo1234biking – I had a go at Repack ridge and got 8:21 / 7.5 stars. Sorry, no photo, I am currently suffering from the black screen photo “known issue” and haven’t been able to take my own photos for weeks.

I found it easily enough after a few km of Quatch Quest, and enjoyed it quite a bit – but I was very frustrated by the excessive sensitivity and not being able to adjust the sensitivity on my iPhone companion app. While riding there was an on screen option to re-centre the bars, but nothing for sensitivity. So also I enjoyed it, and was surprised to get 7.5 stars at the end, I wouldn’t do it again until I can find a way to adjust this.

I must say I am impressed with @slowpuncheur ‘s time.

I wouldn’t do it again until I can find a way to adjust this.

There is (for me) a steering sensitivity slider on the main options screen along with resolution etc.
Not sure if it’s for companion ap or the sterzo though.

@J-R I got lucky I think. It’s a balance of speed and accuracy and on mine I just decided to hammer it and managed to get 7 stars. Did it slower last weekend in 8.32 mins and got 8 full stars and 2 x half stars. I admit I’m braver in Watopia than IRL 😉

FYI. I’ve tried to screen grab the results that shows score at the end but be quick – it disappears bloody quickly.

I decided to try again and reduce the sensitivity setting in Menu/Settings. It was easier to keep on line and I thought I did quite a bit better, but obviously not: I dropped to just 5.5 stars which is the worst of anybody so far.

But I did get the time down to 7:41, most of which will be taken up paying for my poor riding.

@robbo1234biking – that’s my final score for Repack.