STW Zwift Race Series 3 – Winter

Thanks everyone for joining in tonight. The final results of the Series and the crowning of the STW Race Series Champion!

Stats for the race series:

Average finishers: 55
Total distance travelled: 7,945.5km
Total metres climbed: 83,140m

These are provisional in case I have made any mistakes. Please let me know.

Cat A:
1. crazyharry
2. benman
3. DrP

Cat B:
1. kirky72
2. J-R
3. dangeourbrain

Cat C:
1. oopnorth
2. v7mfp
3. neilarn2

Cat D:
1. lewisdeacon
2. jmd12

Overall Race Winner (with handicaps)
1. mjhes2
2. slowpuncheur
3. drew

Sprint
1. nixie
2. paino
3. funkybaj
4. Straightliner
5. kirky72

Green Jersey Race
1. nixie (42)
2. paino (36)
3. benman & straightliner(6)

Final standing for Repack Ridge:

1. slowpuncheur
2. driley
3. J-R

Series Top 3 (including sprint/fastest lap points) Best 5 points counts
1. w00dster
2. kirky72
3. J-R

well i enjoyed that more than i have anything else over the last few weeks, felt ok through London, missed the front group so tried to practice my rubbish drafting with the group i was with and for me I had to concetrate hard to stay with the group I was with. Felt ok on the climb, not 100% but best for a few weeks but was surprised I had been up a bit quicker in Oct. I’m hoping that this is start of getting back to 100%. I’ll be there for the next series until lockdown is over at least, I may still have time to race but I have to do dads taxi to the track so my son can run on a tuesday, I tend to try and run as well, I’ll see what happens.

Robbo many thanks for organising a great series.

If there is an issue with crazyharrys numbers it wont affect the top 3 as they all finished above him in the points this week.

So that was odd for me – and really at a loss to explain what happened but looking at the data I think it is only fair that I volunteer for a DSQ. I am not going to lie – it is frustrating as overall I felt strong and had a strong race but there was a bit in last half – pretty much from the PRL Arch (after Trafalgar Square) to the bottom of the climb (basically where I had my breakaway from the lead group) where initially I thought I felt phenomenally strong and found a good rythym but the longer it went on the more I thought… “this can’t be right” – I was knocking out 5W/kg and barely breaking a sweat. Looking at the data for a 5 mile strech I was averaging 330W+ and a 140HR. The first part of the race – up to the sprint – and the last climb was definitely all me. The climb was back to normal – Still averaging 330W but 163HR which seems much more realistic.

After the race I dropped in to NYC to test it and it all seemed to be working okay… so cannot explain what was going on.

Having said all that – and to make a case for the defence – I have been very hit and miss in this series mainly because in parallel I have been following Zwift’s Active Off-Season training plan. Don’t know if any of you have tried this, but it is a 12 week training plan and has 5-7 sessions a week, at least 2 of which are usually over 3 hours long. I had been sticking to it religiously so had been coming into these races fatigued. Last week was a prime example – had a great start, felt strong and then basically blew the proverbial gasket and faded badly from lap 2 to the end. Last week I remembered that a/ I was not a full time pro and b/ I am not 25 years old so a training plan without room for recovery was probably not a great strategy. Also conscious that I made great improvements last summer riding 2-3 times in the week and 1-2 days at the weekend, I decided to knock the plan on the head and ride when my body felt like it. As a result I did come into this race feeling in a better condition than I have ever – really well rested – but 330W/140HR good? I doubt it!

Well raced @benman – you still nearly caught me even with my dodgy data.

What a great end to a great series. Our big group (widely known as the Robbo group despite him yo-yoing off the back a bit!;)) worked really well and reeled in @chipps and @tomnavman largely thanks to the restless @itsonlymelee who, true to form, attacked us about 75 times. I knew I had my work cut out when he attacked the group after about 8km! It felt like a proper race today. I attempted a couple of counter attacks up the rises but with such a big group they were never going to stick. I thought they might at least tire Lee out but sadly not. He shot off like a rat up a drainpipe once Keith Hill started to bite whilst I passed @danielcbaron and his soul half way up and rolled in behind @trolo1234 who also flew up the hill. A tough finish. The results will be interesting…

@crazyharry Meh..keep the victory dude…
you’re a strong rider and made a legit breakaway… looking at your figures you seemed to be pushing 4.4w/kg for several minutes to make the gap….
Not beyond the realms of man…
It’s not like my 1500w surges my old crank PM used to make (ah, my sprinting hey day…!)

Despite a ruddy early start tomorrow am, I’m sat here all warm, drinking by myself…
I really feel happy and that celebration is in order!

Something about STW/Zwift/this race series…. I’d echo the sentiments that it’s brought us together to chat..race… socialise….

I really never realised the importance of all that, especially during this **** hard lockdown times…

Yeah, I’ve probably spent close to £2k on my zwift setup!!! But it’s worth every penny!!!!!

DrP

Forgot to say, there was some great banter about snapping stems along the way. Made me chuckle.

As usual that was tough and felt like I could get spat out near the start then the legs loosened up a bit. I really needed to shake off Woodster and try and put a big gap between us. So I tried early in to fracture the group by hitting the first mini climb hard but only Savo came through with me and I figured with a group still containing Ben, nixie, Phil and DrP amongst others we would soon get caught so eased off and concentrated on rejoining the chasing group.

I convinced myself again that Nixie would go for the max sprint points then keep the hammer down along with whoever followed him to form a break so I tried to make sure I was up there. I may have grabbed second behind Nixie but depends if a later group went through faster.

I think the tactic may have worked but Gary powered through as well and may have grabbed a few with him, from there he never stopped and opened up a gap that our group as strong as it was couldn’t reduce, in fact he expanded his lead until the climb.

I hit the start of the climb hard and then realised it wasn’t the start proper and was followed by a flat/downhill section which allowed the group to come back together. More wasted energy.

Then on the climb proper myself Ben, DrP, Savo and Woodster played leap frog for a while before things settled down and Ben got away followed by Savomy. DrP and myself gradually caught and passed Savo and I tried my best to open up a gap on Woodster was for a while tantalisingly stuck at 10 seconds. I was struggling with headache and near vomiting and unable to stick to a steady power output so just surged when I could on and off, DrP was doing the same so we just kept passing each other. He timed a surge better just before the gradient dropped off and popped past me, I tried to chase him down as we squeezed out our final bits of energy on the long drag to the KOM banner. I couldn’t get quite close enough to benefit from any draft so missed out by a second or so. If I couldn’t do it after he’s everested two days ago I’m not sure when I will.

Really pleased with the series regardless of the final results whatever they may, been typing this for so long I haven’t seen robbos leaderboards. Never would have thought I would trouble the top bunch on the road results without what used to be my helpful handicap. So to finish the series with consistent top 5 on the road finished in 4 or 5 of the races is something I wouldn’t have thought possible in the first series.

congrats robbo for coming up with a format that has enthused so many of us and made for some friendly but competitive races during these boring times.

Ride on.

Amen DrP…amen!

Really helped this year getting to virtually know many of you…STW zwift rides in whatever form have been a major light in a dark year…thanks all and especially Robbo for his great contribution!

Tonight was horrid, I presumed everyone was cruising with me just clinging on until I saw Robbo say “This is relentless”….which was a small comfort. Felt a bit pants again and nearly sacked it off a couple of times just because I felt empty. Ended up on the climb yo-yoing with Robbo who put in a solid push with about 300m to go, but I just didn’t have anything to give.

Robbo, as always this has been so good. Been feeling proper crap since Christmas but having this to drag my ass off the sofa on a Tuesday has kept me going and motivated. It’s a big old job to keep it going, so thanks.

And I’m glad they got that avalanche cleared.

Well, thanks Robbo for organising, but I had no idea what happened tonight…

Got on the turbo with plenty of time to warm up & had no energy – even during the warm up. I felt quite light headed. Ended up running into the house & grabbing a packet of Clif Bloks and ate the whole lot. I don’t think it made much difference, but perhaps a psychological boost.

Off the start I couldn’t get any power through my legs & was spat out the back in seconds.
I couldn’t get my heart rate up – normally I average about HR 163-166 but I was struggling to get it much above 150. Average HR ended up being 153 and I just couldn’t generate any power. The graph along the bottom ended up mainly blues & greens, when normally it would be a lot more yellow/orange.

Weird. Maybe I am just tired??

Bit of a damp squib from me tonight. Body/brain feels a bit ruined after the last few days of non stop battling with the kids. Can always tell from the warm up how I’m going to race…was struggling even to put out 250W. Didn’t bode well.
Stuck the plan of going for the sprint, forget about the rest of the race. Wasn’t too bothered in missing out on the lead group, given the warm up I just found myself trying to find my legs with @dangeourbrain and others. Gave it everything for the sprint, with only a poxy feather for help. Smashed my knee on my bars to start, but found myself over 1000W for 5 secs so thought I stood a good chance, alas, @Nixie put in a strong sprint, pipping me by a fair chunk, so cap doffed. Well done on the green!
Very surprised to reel in Phil & Nixie. Hope the calf heals @phil56. Thought I’d give it a bash up the hill. Got passed by Martin but the time to @J-R & @munkeymadness was coming down rapidly. Maybe another 100m vertical and would of made the catch!
Anyway, another awesome series. Thanks Robbo, hopefully by feb I’ll have knocked off a couple of kilos. Just need to put the biscuits down.

Echoing many others, thanks to @Robbo1234biking for organising and to everyone involved for making it competitive and fun wherever you are on the road. The fact we can chat about it on here in the run up and post-event is brilliant and has added fun to the Zwifting experience.

Sorry to hear that @stumpy01, maybe you just need a rest as you have been pushing it recently with the workouts etc.

Dont forget this is our workout recovery week (yeah that’s going well Robbo after tonight!) So take advantage and have a few days rest…see how you are after that.

Well, that was hard. The ‘fast amateurs’ chase group pace was relentless through London and I mirrored my real life self of not being good at riding in a pace line… Stayed with them, though, despite Daz’s suicide attacks. 🙂
And then the climb… I’d never ridden that before, so wasn’t sure how long/steep it would be. Both, it transpires. I was surprised to pass Daz on the climb (seeing as I can rarely do it in real life) but found it super hard and lost a couple of places on the climb. Suddenly had a second wind in the last 3km and held off my chasers after that.

Finished very sweaty (despite an ‘ambient temperature’ bike room) and shaky… Cheers Robbo and all! Great fun – once it’s over.

I find it really interesting to see the wattage figures quoted… we really are a mixed bunch (with regards to power curves) aren’t we…

There’s no way in hell i could make 1000w on a sprint… my max is, on a good day, prob 750-800w…. and that’s on a sprint practice interval. I wasn’t ANYWHERE near that today… i think my sprint MAY have touched 600w!

Yet I can push out 250W all day long…and I guess peak at 400w on a climb… flat curve boy here!!!

Top stuff on those beastly figures @paino !!! @nixie – what was your sprint wattage?

DrP

@andeh that was the slowest race I have ever done up that hill. It was like two tortoises keep passing each other!

@stumpy01 could be a combination of coming to the end of the training block and the racing – enjoy the rest of the week as recovery!

I felt pretty awful for the majority of that! There was no where to hide. The string looked like it was going to snap so many times in the fairly big group that I was in – once we hit Surrey the string snapped for me and I immediately dropped of the back. My climb sounded similar to w00dster – couldnt get any rhythm at all and was standing up/sitting down etc.

Still enjoyed it in some strange way though!

Just like to echo what everyone has said, cheers robbo for sorting out a great series. Always look forward to a Tuesday evening, especially through the Winter months.

Spot on race today, thought we had a good group around the 35th placing. That was one hell of a lead-in to Keith Hill, sometimes hard to stay with group on flat, but kept in there ready for the climb, which was brutal after being on the limit for 50 mins beforehand.

Cheers everyone for some hard racing, roll on the next series!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QPxMGqez2VsN-4mD17f90t06NzqSLMMoGe4cUEK1E3U/edit#gid=677451142

Forgot to link to the spreadsheet!

I had to laugh at this from intervals.icu assessment of my data…1hr11mins of recovery and then 20seconds of work…

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Echoing the others – thanks Robbo for organising this. It’s been a high point of the week for the last six weeks and a bit of structure when everything else seems to be chaos!

What a horrible race though. I thought there’d be a chance for a cruise on the flat but no way. I was struggling to keep up with the pack and was half dropped a few times. It went on far too long. Then the hill was hideous. I loved every minute of it (well looking back, anyway).

That was bloody hard that hill was a killer at the end good,group all the way round but split on the hill. Well done to all the winners. My best race of the series 3rd in Cat C well chuff roll 23Rd Feb.

thanks to Robbo and the powers at STW for organising and getting Zwift to accept us a proper club.

cheers

Neil

Robbo looking at the result sheets you might have got cat c the wrong way round once the handicaps have been added apologises if I’m wrong.

well done woodster, I thought I had to make up 30 secs tonight didn’t realise it was a minute, likewise for jr thought that was 45 secs for some reason but was much more and edged out by 3 secs. Would have made no difference to the overalls anyway as I needed a max points plus sprint points. Never could have happened. I was thinking chasing savo up the hill, this bugger has 2 minutes in the pocket over me. I guess that’s the feeling Phil and nixie have most weeks.

also congrats to Ben on the GC, consistency personified, well done DrP for 2nd GC and again amazed and overjoyed to somehow have had crept into third GC overall. Probably thanks to the misfortune of Phil and nixie tonight but I’ll take it anyway.

Amazing little contests at all different parts of the group.

Anybody up for for easy flat ride with sprint laps next Tuesday in the gap?

@stumpy01 and @robbo1234biking I wonder if there is something in the fact you’re on a recovery week after a fairly heavy 6 weeks or so. I must admit as soon as I turned a pedal tonight I thought it would be a ‘jour sans’ but the warm up routine sorted me out. I must have been OK as my FTP got an 7w gain. Can I duck the ramp test on Sunday now please?

It’s been a pleasure riding with and against you guys. One of the things I love about bike riding is how your partners become adversaries (and vice versa) and you have to think on your feet, knowing the skill set of each rider. The fact is, this is a really well run race series, enjoyed in the right spirit. I think a lot of IRL clubs could learn a thing or two from @robbo1234biking. Kudos to you.

Anybody up for for easy flat ride with sprint laps next Tuesday in the gap?

Still at the “no chance” phase I’m afraid 🤣

Thanks Kirky.
I’m a realist, the points is good but the real race is on the road. I’ll never keep up with a fit healthy Nixie, Ben or Phil, but it’s been great having you, DrP, Adam and JR as my real race. I’m not quite as quick as you guys so it’s a real push for me to improve my fitness.
I’ll probably miss most of the next series as want to do a block of structured training and dieting ready for the summer. May even motivate me to race outdoor again should the season happen….

Anybody up for for easy flat ride with sprint laps next Tuesday in the gap?

@kirky72 subject to timing I think I could be convinced to do Dan flats or the like

Another really amazing series @robbo1234biking – I really enjoy these (even when I’ve had a bad race) and actually already waiting in eager anticipation for the next series! It has been been truly brilliant and loved the company and the banter.

@DrP Very decent of you. When you look at the graph it is realistic for all but 5m/8km upto the bottom of climb. So still pleased with the bridge :-), and I think that was me an not dodgy data (certainly felt like it was me!). Agree with you on the sprints -if I can crack 800W I am chuffed – don’t bother trying to compete any more but just stay in contention so I am not too far behind once the sprint is over. Really went for it in the last race, and it was pathetic 😀

Thanks Robbo. That was a great series! Delighted to get some points too. Dropping my ftp to something more realistic made the difference. Garmin told me it’s dropped again to 295, but I’ll need to try to do a ramp before next series.

Was a rare privilege to ride with nixie and Phil for a bit there, before they stormed off again.

Thanks to my group…you pulled me along. Tried to outsprint paino, which was never going to happen, but wasn’t so far off. Thought I’d managed some sprint points but there must have been some strong sprinters behind.

Watching crazyharry speed off down the road was humbling…I’m going to assume it was all legit, as it’s a better tale that way. Well ridden!

Climb was tough. Loads of guys were closing fast but I knuckled down and limited the losses. Chipps was coming up fast for a bit but I can only assume he ran out of steam. I got passed by 3 or 4 (Rolo, itsonlymelee, and fellow Scot m.howlett included), but managed to keep them in sight, just about.

Roll on series 4!! Hope my fitness comes back a bit. Could do with that extra 15-20w on my ftp that I had way back in series 1!

@DrP 1080W was my max today, although I did have the climbing stem on today. Schoolboy error. Can’t see any data in ZP for the London reverse, and the power graph shows constant 935W for 10 seconds, which is balls. Definitely 1000-1050W for 5 seconds. I put out 11.3w/kg over the 15secs, Nixie walloped that with over 13w/kg! Wattbomb.

It was like two tortoises keep passing each other!

It was painful. I dropped off the back of the group before the bridge and felt fantastic at the bottom of the climb….for like 2mins. Like you I just couldn’t get comfy, legs dead, no consistent power at all. Yuk.

@drp I was over 1200W for at least 5s. In fact I think I set all time PBs up to the 35s range. That explains why I crashed so hard after the sprint. My HR had recovered and legs could probably have stayed with you all but my breathing rate was spiking alarmingly every time I tried to get back.

I didn’t feel great in the warm up and early part. Had a few digs to try and break things up but really on I was trying to stop people get to comfortable rather than attack properly. It took a while to recover from the sprint effort and I was annoyed that I had let the group behind close the gap. The dig out of the underpass was when my legs switched back in. From then on I felt progressively stronger again. By the hill I was feeling strong so glad a real tilt at it. Was really happy to take 90s out of the two ahead and then put a big gap into them (I forget who). I ramped it back as I closed the last 5s then hit a feather as I passed (sorry small bit of mind games).

Getting to the top I think I had the third best climb time which if right I’m really pleased with. However the thing I am most pleased with is intervals.cc telling me it thinks my eFTP went up (still under the value I submitted for this series). The graph has finally turned a corner upwards 😃. Add that to the best ever sprint power I’m in a happier place tonight dispite loosing the front group.

Thanks again for the series Robbo. It’s been brilliant. Looking forward to the next one (hopefully with a returning form).

oopnorth

Sorry to hear that @stumpy01, maybe you just need a rest as you have been pushing it recently with the workouts etc.

@oopnorth – Hey ho! It’s just one of those things. I have struggled on a couple of the races & I need to look back & see if I had a similar thing happen then – it was just weird; my legs were battered but my heart rate just wouldn’t go up. Every time I really pushed, my HR would climb slowly but I just ruined my legs doing it and had to back off. Like I was hitting a rev limiter.

I’m pleased that you didn’t have to drop back to support me!! You’d have been bored silly 🙂

robbo1234biking

@stumpy01 could be a combination of coming to the end of the training block and the racing – enjoy the rest of the week as recovery!

@robbo1234biking – yeah, I did wonder if I was just getting tired but it’s not like I’ve been smashing out 5 rides a week, so I dunno. And with the easy ride yesterday morning, I should have been rested.

Like I say, I’m gonna look back through some of my previous rides because there have been other evenings when I’ve felt I just haven’t been there as I know I should be.

But – enough whinging!!
What another great series – many thanks for organising the whole thing.
I echo the sentiments of many above regarding the race series as a whole – the chat, good hearted nature of the whole thing & it being something to look forward to, in what is otherwise a pretty dull week…
Wicked! Nice One….

Congrats to those at the top of each cat, to @w00dster on the overall win and @benman for th GC 🍾.

Hope your leg recovers quickly @phil56.

Thanks Robbo for organizing. Another great series.

Really enjoyed tonight’s race. Managed to keep with a group for the entire race rather than my usual mess up of ending up solo for at least 15km. As a result felt like I had a lot in the tank when we got to the climb so managed to stick with the faster lads from our mid race group. Looking forward to the next series already 🙂

It was painful. I dropped off the back of the group before the bridge and felt fantastic at the bottom of the climb….for like 2mins. Like you I just couldn’t get comfy, legs dead, no consistent power at all. Yuk.

@andeh – I saw that. You disappeared up the climb and I thought I’d not see you again. I was feeling absolutely dead but seeing that gap to you and Robbo creep down was a good incentive to keep pedalling. I feel guilty now, but I enjoyed it.

Enjoyed that tonight, was nice to ride in a bigger group for most of it. I smuggly thought we were going to chase @Crazyharry down before the climb, but he kept pulling away from us. He must have been hiding his light under a bushel (or however the saying goes…)

Thanks for sorting the series Robbo, its been a great variety of races.

Happy with the GC win, as it became apparent early on that I’m not a sprint or points contender 😂

Shout outs to @nixie @phil56 and @drp for some consistently close racing!

Hope you heal quickly @phil56, we need you for Thurs TTT!!

P. Liddington you’re also a bad man for drafting me on the sprint 😜

@Straightliner Ha! It wasn’t intentional, apologies. ZwiftPower is however showing my best 15s and 30s ever, so I’ll take it 😀 Maybe next series I’ll bother with the sprints.

Just had a dig into my Zwiftpower figures to see how doing the series has helped me get my fitness up: (second/last race figures)

FTP: 230w/257w
20min: 248w/263w
5min :258w/288w
1min: 301w/316w
30sec: 361w/349w (sprint came in the middle of a big push last round so didn’t go for it)
15sec: 401w/409w

So that’s pretty much improvements across the board for me, would look even better except I wasn’t on Zwiftpower for race 1. Race 4, the crit, was the one where I made the biggest gains. The heart rate figures show I was basically on the redline the whole way round and it definitely felt like it. So overall it’s been a really good boost to my fitness and motivational levels through the dark months. As everyone else has said, massive thanks to @robbo1234biking for organising this.

Now I just need to hold onto it ready for the summer!

I’m happy with 12th overall and Top in class C in GC. Has been a splendid series.

The final race was a tough one, did best part of 25km with @n0b0dy0ftheg0at
, felt like he was trying to drop me all the time, so had to dig deep all over the place.

Then got caught by the group behind, which took the sting out of things for a KM or two, before the final climb. Which was some painful stuff.

Many thanks for sorting it all Rob, oddly looking forward to the next one already 😀