https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=2373598

Looking at the course profile on ZP it looks like we are going to finish with a downhill sprint so keep going past the KOM banner!

Stream for tonight. Not entirely sure I’m ready for it yet!

just looked at the course… wish i hadnt…. ignorance is usually bliss!

Will see you folks in the pen.

Looks like another Zwift update is being pushed out today (or it has been for iOs) so allow time for that to download and install.

I’ve just been updating my knowledge by looking at the zwiftpower link posted by Robbo.

I jumped on last night and there was a small update – again. Honestly, are there any other apps that require such frequent updates? Or maybe they just happen in the background and I don’t notice.

I’ll be a no show this evening.
Got an early start tomorrow and I need to buy some food for my dad.
I’ll try and watch some of Nixie’s stream.

I’m out, knee still giving me twinges and Im feeling very upset and fragile about it (at 36, I’ve never really had any kind of non crash induced injury before and it’s made me feel quite old!). Waiting till I can get it looked at before pushing it.

Enjoy 🙁

Had to uninstall and reinstall zwift to get it to update again. Oh well, it’s working anyway.

Currently going through the pre race lack of motivation, got a jigsaw on the go in front of the fire, could just stay in and do that ….. 😬

Ducking out tonight I’m afraid, still feeling on the edge of crap, so probably better to rest. Have a good run!

Good luck all 🙂

help Zwift won’t update. Has been going 10 mins already!

Try rebooting your computer, either that or a fresh install. Had to reboot mine twice last night after it updated to fix all the bugs!

🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🏆👍

I concur Nixie!

I’ll 3rd that! Great fun that, 50mins within ~3 watts of my FTP with all those surges, no wonder i feel like i’ve been through the ringer.

Nixie, fair play mate, that was some spectacular riding to keep away all that time, thought when we caught up with Savoyed we might have enough in our legs to chase you down but I don’t know about anyone elase but i couldn’t push the numbers you were for my turn on the front, let alone TTing that out. C Donnelly(?) had dragged Phil and I round for the first half of the race and I had to give almost everything just to hang on to the group. Once we caught Savoyed it seemed to calm down a bit then Phil dropped, he was going really well in ourt little group then must have had some computer issues.

It felt pretty cheap but I dropped a feather on one of the steep sections building up to the final climb and sav came with me, saw that Donnelly was 2 seconds back and figured that this was my finish line sprint with more than 8km to go. If i could get a few seconds here I could just try and hang on to sav for the place. From that point on i knew I wasn’t going to place any better than 3rd so figured i’d turn myself inside out for savoyad and give him a nice lead in to the final climb to see how much we could take off nixie. It felt like i’d hit a wall when I hit that KOM start line 😀 Donnelly took about 10 seconds out of me in the first couple of hundred meters of the climb so i still had to dig deep to get up the bloody thing in the end. Cracking race all round

intervals.icu says new 5 min power record for the season, 363w 😀

That was the hardest race of the season, glad it’s over.

I had recced it on Sunday, so knew the course had a bad hill at the start and at the end, with rollers all in the middle that could catch out the unwary if someone tried for a break.

The race plan was easy: Bury myself for the 1st climb and stay and stay with a fast pack to drag me around, then drop them as I sprinted up the last climb to victory. All that was required was to stick with the plan…..

It started well enough and I went over the top in the group about 5th-8th with R.obbo and S.Bach and managed to hold with them, very pleased with myself, part one of the plan acheived. Paul Tunstall, missed the gap early on but I managed to jump over him and stay with the 2nd group on the road.

All still going well. Next up the sprint. My homework and recce meant that I knew you needed to sprint before the sprint started on the uphill, as the sprint itself was short and downhill. I couldn’t remember exactly where it was but since we were running out of road I made a guess and timed it to perfection and beat the others in my group ( I think ). Part 2 of plan…. Check.

Unfortunately this is where the plan and reality parted ways, I managed to get dropped after 27 mins with about 7km to go, just before we headed back on the skyway for the last climb. There had been just too much pushing into the red,.

The group behind and staying away from them was all that remained, but they slowly reeled me in on the long climb ( booo ), and I didn’t have enough to even stay with them with Southside Johnny bringing in the 3rd group @ 9th, Paul Tunstall was there amongst others, so I finished 14th iwth about a minute to D.Riley behind me. I know that my 69 kgs didn’t seem to be any advantage tonight.

Suprisingly I didn’t get an FTP upgrade, on that I definitely feel robbed.

Anyway Thanks R.obbo and well done A.Barry for the win. 1 more to go, and its a hilly one, so well have to see how that goes

well what a disaster, lost internet after 8km so rode the rest by myself, no idea if my race registered on the results on not and if so where i finished, not even sure why i kept riding after no reconnection after a few seconds. ahh well all good training.

Thanks for everyone for taking part in the series!

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

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oxAKc92qCMD5s-Odc4kCjngmxE15jED9erVq0PKq5CY/edit#gid=1334036094

Dont forget that the best 6 points scores count. Next week is the Queen Stage with Climbers Gambit.

Also please vote for you favourite racer on the below link!

Racers Racer Poll
Ok here are the 4 nominations for racers racer

1. Savoyad – lighting up the front of the race with multiple attacks and keeping everyone on their toes
2. retrorick – For attempting to win on a MTB and looking inspired as he opened a 10 second gap
3. stumpy01 – FOr general good nature in spite of adversity
4. reluctantjumper – for shear bloody determination and always putting it on the table despite having to ride on your own at times

Voting closes next Tuesday at 23:00!

https://doodle.com/poll/7w7nn4t8ic9s7isr?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link

Race 5 – (Nearly) Everything Bagel

Overall Race Winner
1. nixie
2. savoyad
3. scaled

Overall Race Winner (with handicaps)
1. Paul-S
2. giggsmaster
3. drew

Sprint Points (NY Sprint)
1. Savoyad
2. yanboss
3. straightliner
4. slowpuncheur
5. Paul

KOM Points (NY KOM Reverse)
1. savoyad
2. nixie
3. karnali
4. scaled
5. phil56

KOM Points (NY KOM)
1. savoyad
2. nixie
3. scaled
4. straightliner
5. yanboss

Green Jersey Standings
1. paino
2. savoyad
3. straighliner

KOM Standings
1. savoyad
2. nixie
3. benman

Series Top 3 (including sprint/fastest lap points) Best 6 race points counts
1. Paul-S
2. J-R
3. drew

I have set up a GoFundMe for people who have enjoyed the series. This time around we are raising money for The Firefighters Charity which provides support to Firefighters and their families during tough times. This is a cause close ot my heart as my Dad has been a Firefighter for coming up to 50 years. My Dad was ill a number of years ago when I was pretty young and the charity helped by giving us a few days away as a family after spending a lot of time in hospital. They do a lot of good work for Firefighters and families supporting them through tought times.

https://www.firefighterscharity.org.uk/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/stw-race-series-fundraiser?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1

A TT was not my plan tonight. I attacked a little before the start of the hill to stretch things out, as well as give myself an easier run up hill one. The first climb wasn’t too bad and I didn’t need to go too deep to stay near the front. The super tuck and my higher weight closed Savoyd’s gap on the first descent. After that it was the two of us out front. I was hoping that we could work together to create a big gap but it didn’t go that way. A small no deliberate gap opened and I tried to keep my power low enough he could close but high enough that closing would be costly. Instead he dropped off. 18+k to go and no draft to be seen, great!

The gap to the group behind seemed to be opening so from then on it was attack up and over every climb. I was hoping the undulating nature would give a better chance of staying away this week and it did as the gap opened steadily. It started to drop as scaled and Savoyd broke from the chase group but by then I had 40s and was at the last climb. It was never going to be quick and Savoyd clawed back a decent chunk but in the end the gap was enough that I could roll to the finish line.

Another enjoyable race, thanks Robbo 👍.

Cheers Robbo, that was a bugger of a course had A nice group ant, blob and ogg plus 1 more  I think, we stayed together to the last climb then we all split up and I manage to catch J Donnelly before the end.

Thanks for organising again.

I absolutely hated that! It was surreal seeing everyone (and I do mean everyone) just bugger off down the first hill. Didn’t see a soul for the rest of the ride. Still tried my best though but blew up on the second KOM, had to stop to regain my composure for a bit before crawling over the top and to the line. Bit annoyed I didn’t make it under the hour but Strava says I got a PB up the KOM on the first time up it so it’s not all bad news.

1 more to go, and its a hilly one, so well have to see how that goes

Bugger. I’ll be at the back if anyone needs to contact me for any reason 😂

Ha ha! That was brutal! Ended up kind of in no mans land after the first descent. M Jenneson backed off to allow me to catch and I think we worked well once we found a rhythm.
We eventually caught R Kennerley & someone else I think (although it’s a bit hazy).
We ploughed on, rk made a break for freedom a bit too early. We reeled him back in again, but I was battered by that point. Once we got to the 2nd time up the hill I was smashed to bits and they both buggered off up the road.

That felt like the hardest one yet. We all seemed to stick together at a nice pace for a few minutes then all of a sudden it all fell apart!

Was with d.riley and another (sorry, short term memory bad but I have a mate called d.riley so that’s easy to remember!!) Lost them after a while and flogged myself to keep them in sight. Could see K.allen and m.jenneson reeling me in. Kept flogging myself though, I should accept the inevitable earlier and join the group so we can work together for longer, but I always feel like I’ve got to keep going!!

Really didn’t think I was going to make it, but a found a little something for the last climb.

Thanks Robbo, definitely a tough one tonight.

I was gapped a little early on the first climb and knew if I didn’t get in a group by the top then it would be all over. Luckily I managed to claw my way back to Robbo, Southside Johnny, I Martin, S Bach, Paul S and P Tunstall which gave us a steady group for the first half of the ride.

A couple of people dropped off through all the rollers leaving four of us to begin the final climb. It all felt a bit cagey in the early slopes amd then then broke apart after an I Martin surge. We ended up slugging it out to the top, which was rather painful.

Pleased to have finally got over my cold symptoms and have a better race. Well done to the fast group who were really flying tonight.

I didn’t have much hope of doing well in this race, having donated a pint of blood a few days before. So I felt pretty good to be hanging in with good riders in the front group like @savoyad. Even on the big glass climb I was surprised to be able to drop the group with the likes of @robbo1234biking and keep in a pretty fast group for the next lap.

Unfortunately by the time we hit the glass climb again Robbo’s group had reeled us in and I was into the red as the likes of Robbo, @djflexure, @straightliner accelerated away. Meanwhile the next group with @slowpuncheur and @jonnysartin were quickly eating into my once generous 1 minute lead and it was with relief I got to the top with just 15 seconds in hand.

Despite all that it was a great race and I’ll be on a red meat diet this week. Does anybody have some EPO spare?

Challenging but fun. #iamnotaclimber

Nice working with N Arnold, B Clark and J Donnelly (I think) for a while. Well done lads.

Not helped by having my trainer difficulty up at max (after having “controllable” connection issues and maxing it out to feel the gradients) I get every one of those 17% climbs. Also not helped by the fact I turned my fan speed right down during the frosty weather and hadn’t readjusted it back again. Hot and stiff 😆

Edit: Oh! New FTP up from 245 to (……………drum roll…………..) 246

Wow, well I’m happy with 2nd after the handicaps, didn’t expect that. Definitely worth while postponing going to Newcastle for work until tomorrow!

Though, it was another solo TT after the initial hammering for the 1st couple of minutes to stick with the main group.

I then tried to hang on to @haloric @neilarn2, but as soon as we caught @blobonastick they all disappeared up the road.

Fair play to @Ogg who nearly caught me on a couple of occasions on the last climb.

Another FTP increase to 199, cheers @robbo1234biking

That actually went better than I though it would. As a weightier rider I expected to lose a lot of time tonight to some of the riders I have been riding with for most of the series. As expeceted at the start I lost a bit of time but on the descent we seemed to be catching yanboss and JR in front and I pushed on. Was surprised we dropped slowpuncheur there, so I ended up in a group with JR, straightliner, yanboss, Paul and djflexure.

The group spread out a few times on the undulations but mostly stayed together with Paul hanging on well. Getting over that climb was key for you I think! Paul dropped of somewhere around the 20km mark I think.

then when we went back up the ramp to the raised section I was surprised that we dropped JR. Felt OK then but I couldnt keep the pace up the climb with the other 3 so came in 8th. Got a few points for my troubles and calwed back a bit of time on JR to stay 3rd in the GC.

Next week definitely doesn’t suit my skill set. Hoping to hang on to a decent group to get over the bridge and get the first part of the big climb done and then see what happens from there. Cant believe another series is almost over!

Routes for the next series have already been decided!

as per every week… that was a challenging ride, but enjoyable none the less! I spent most of the ride with P.aul, J.Sartin, P.Tunstall and A.Atkinson. Got dropped on the final climb… damn my 81kgs! But ended 13th on the road, and 4th after handicaps, so well happy with that.

As Robbo pointed out, there was 7km to do after the race to get the bagel badge, so cruised round and grabbed that. A good evenings work!

I had mixed feelings going into the race, part dreading it having looked at the profile and part exited as I had no idea how it was going to pan out after the first big climb. I managed to stay with the front group most of the way up the first climb and actually went over the top on my own, quickly realising it would pay to ease off and join the group a couple of seconds behind me. What then ensued is a bit hazy but I ended up in a small group with @v7fmp, @jonnysartin and @mahowlett amongst others.

Big thanks to @v7fmp for doing so much work on the front and @slowpuncheur when we caught up to him. I watched @nixie ‘s race feed last night and it made uncomfortable viewing seeing how much time they spent there. I only managed about three pulls on the front and had a few moments when it would have been easy just to let the elastic snap. Towards the end I was just trying to get my heart rate down to threshold before we hit the ramp to the last climb so I could put in a decent effort on it.In the end I was really pleased with my finishing position and feel that I’m getting back to my previous level. Intervals.icu would seem to back this up as my estimated race ftp now matches the one my handicap is based on and they increased my threshold heart rate by three up to 159bpm. Looking forward to next week now.

Enjoyed that – thanks Robbo. Missed a few weeks so great to be back. Not my best performance, got dropped by the leaders on the first climb (legs refused to go faster – I’m a bit of a diesel at present it seems) – peaked first KOM in the second group with 2 riders, but we struggled to get the pulls going on the front so I sat up and waited for Robbo’s group. I hoped that Robbo and I might be able to test the group through the undulating course, but most hung on. Probably didn’t get the balance right as it felt far too easy. I guess I hoped that I would have enough left to storm up the KOM, but that didn’t quite work out either. 1 min slower than my best time, god it felt steep. Ian and Jules powered off while Robbo and I slugged it out. Not looked at next week, but I’m sensing more climbing. Must try harder!

djflexure

….but I’m sensing more climbing.

Understatement of the series 🙂

Next week’s route looks interesting. Going to be blown wide open early on I think.

That course is nasty. I was primarily after points last night.
I went too soon on KOM1, paranoid about an imaginary @benman lighting it up somewhere further back (he wasn’t even in the race!). That left me cooked for a while after, and I had to choose between working with @nixie to open a gap and being fit for the sprint. I chose the latter (and looking at @yanboss, @straightliner and @slowpuncheur times I think I had to really).
So I settled into group 2 on the road with @phil56, @scaled and Chris Donnelly. @nixie pulled away pretty steadily round the park, and we really struggled to hold the gap at all. I thought the only way we’d catch him was a longshot – if we could get up onto the glass roads together and start hauling him in before the climb if he got tired towards the end. But he was just too good, and we didn’t manage to stay together anyway – @phil56 suddenly disappeared (dropout?), and then it kicked off when @scaled dropped a feather up the first glass ramp and he really upped the pace from there to the start of the KOM. Properly aggressive racing, perfectly timed, which dispatched Chris D. That big effort really helped me timewise, but @nixie was just too far ahead by that point. I think the KOM2 points brought me level (for the first time this series..) with @paino in the combined KOM+Sprint contest.
Amazing ride @nixie, you really paced it perfectly. And congrats on the handicap win @paul-s (as predicted by @retrorick…)

Disastrous race for me, wasn’t feeling great at the start, I’ve had bit of a cold the last few days so wasn’t expecting much, then as soon as we turned right onto the course out of the gates, my avatar swung to to the left out of the group and sat there on the other side of the road and out of any draft, immediately dropped and lost 2-3 seconds on the bunch, a massive effort for a minute or so to catch back on, then just as I started making my way through the bunch it did the same again, another massive effort and I got back on again just in time for the first climb :(, just couldn’t hold on at that point, really tried to keep, for the climb but was just losing more and more power losing more places and time think I was about 45 seconds off the lead group by the time I got to the top, carried on for a bit but was struggling to stay in groups as they caught and was feeling totally done in. Think I made it just past half way before throwing my toys and stepping off the bike. Hopefully next week will be better.

then Phil dropped, he was going really well in ourt little group then must have had some computer issues.

This exactly – after 30 mins or so having turned myself inside out up the first climb to stay with the front group (apart from Nixie of course) my PC just died – blue screen for a second and then dead as a dodo. I guess it must be the power supply or something.

I share you pain @mahowlett! After an IT/user error/cockup last week causing me to miss the start I was ready to hit this one hard. However, unlike most proper athletes, work and family life conspired to lead to a later than planned bite to eat which half way up the first KOM, started to perform a u-turn up my digestive tract. I could have dug in and called for a bucket but after missing last week and a chance of a decent overall position in the rankings, my motivation fell away as quickly as I did from @robbo1234biking’s and @J-R’s back wheels.

So, stuck in no man’s land with 30 seconds to groups ahead and behind, it was hardly the perfect scenario for my remaining goal – a decent sprint. Oh well, at least I have a PU – except it was the van! Just what you need riding on your tod. I suppose I have to be happy with 4th in that case. I sat up for the cavalry in the form of @v7fmp, @drew and @jonnysartin and we worked well to collect then drop @Paul-S and close the gap to @J-R. Not the result I wanted but it was good to ride with different faces for a change. Well done to @Nixie for what sounds like a well judged and executed win. If that was the starter for next week’s main course, I’m gonna need some Gaviscon:)

We have done similar to the course for next week before but slightly shorter. It didnt include a sprint stage and went up the other side of the KOM. Luckily I can avoid worrying about the sprint and look to cement my place in 3rd on GC. Everything else has gone by me this series – would be nice to get a decent points haul but I havent been great despite setting a number of power records throughout the series. Consistently racing with a faster group though so that is good. Need to avoid a large weight gain over Xmas for the next series!

as predicted by @retrorick

My clairvoyance classes are finally paying off 🤪.

I watched Nixie’s live feed to the top of the first climb. I thought Stumpy01’s comment about the first hill not being so bad amusing.

My dad’s shopping trip went well, the mince pies didn’t have a long shelf life on them tho 😭