Well that didnt really go to plan for me. Felt good in the front group but just missed a small break on the false flat. Got to the first leg snapper and stupidly stood up – power dropped by about 100w and I was of the back of another group. Ended up in no mans land for the rest of the first lap and then ended up in a group with Paul and some others (memory is shocking on these things!).

Second two times on the leg snapper were much better and managed to get a small break each time but couldnt hold it!

Oh well onwards and upwards to next week.

The TT is on TT bikes next week. WIll be a much more even effort in theory!

I can vouch for the racing getting harder @oopnorth, everyone seems to be upping their game considerably.

Had a enjoyable race tonight, thanks to Stumpy and Dobski for dragging us round and the bit of banter!

@robbo1234biking I don’t know whether it makes any sort of difference, but on ZP it’s says I’m a CatC now instead of CatB.

Next week’s TT, how does that work? Is it a group start with no drafting or do we ride individually under the same event?

2nd in cat B! Some sprint points too! 37 points in a race! What on earth is going on?! Woohoo! 37 is higher than my total in the last series I think. It’s obviously not going to last. I should feign injury and retire early. Seriously Robbo, you do have my FTP as 305ish don’t you?

@neilarn2 you finished above oopnorth in the handicap race but he finished ahead of you on the road – I think! Unless I am wrong lol

Ok that makes sense cheers

@oblongbob yeh you had a good result tonight by the looks of it!

@snownrock The TT is individual start – I think we go off at 10 second intervals. Drafting is turned off so you cant interfere with each others races (although there is still the pyshcological impact of trying to catch and overtake someone. In an ideal world I guess I would be able to control the set of times and could do them in handicap order.

If you check your entry for next week you should see an individual start time if you click on the event.

@paino no just checked zwift power and had me back at correct weight of 66kg, my son had to use my account as his junior one was cancelled and is being reinstated so he had it set at 45kg, got on for my warm up adn realised but changed it and left zwift and re started to make sure.

enjoyed that tonight missed the elastic snapping to the front group but must thank crazy harry for all the work he did towing us round.

Robbo thanks for the sorting

Daft question, do we need to purchase a TT bike?

That was as “enjoyable” as ever!

I decided not to bury myself trying to hold onto a faster group as I knew I’d be dropped on the climb so tried to take it pretty steady.

After the first climb we had a little group being towed around by Giggsy which was much appreciated. On the 2nd ascent I wanted to ensure I got over in touch with the group as I didn’t fancy my chances of getting back on if I let a gap open so really worked the climb and got over with a bit of a gap. This meant I could grab a quick breather before Giggsy took up the pacemaking again.

At that point it looked like StumpyAllen(?) had popped with a gap of about 50m over the summit but he suddenly came flying past so rumours of his demise were obviously exaggerated.

Pretty much the same scenario for the final climb only this time I had a feather so went over with a good lead but knew I couldn’t sustain it so took it easy whilst Giggsy got back on.

Unfortunately I took it a bit too easy, he came flying past with a drafting power-up and I ended up having to work quite hard to get back on.

We then caught a lone rider whose name completely escapes me and drove it to the finish. I was pretty shattered at this point and didn’t fancy trying to mug Giggsy after he’d essentially towed me round the entire race so I sat out the sprint and let the two of them battle it out.

I’d like to think this was a classy move but, in reality, if I’d thought I’d had the legs I’d probably have had a go!

Daft question, do we need to purchase a TT bike?

No there is a Zwift standard one you are issued with. You can buy one if you want though.

although i think i need a new battery in my hrm, just sat at a constant 96bpm the whole race!!

@lewisdeacon – good effort on the ftp increase.

@J-R – nightmare on the rookie error! You can use the links that Rob should have sent to sign in to them all now so you don’t need to remember.

I felt like I had a good one. Managed to stay with Giggsmaster & Dobski until the 3rd time up the hill. Bit of a mistake on my behalf as I felt I had the energy to keep up, but let a small gap develop and then realised at the top of the hill that if I didn’t close it, they’d be gone on the downhill stretch afterwards; which is what happened and I then couldn’t get back in contention.
Good overall though!

Well done everyone, great race tonight! I found that course really tough, need to work on my sprinting and powering up shorter climbs. 9th on the road, lost a lot of places on handicap.

Zwift has slightly increased my FTP to 278 based on the race, so guess I need to declare that!

Ha ha, cheers @IvanDobski, there was me thinking I had a great sprint finish tonight…. 😂

You did well on the 2nd and 3rd leg snapper, I was struggling to catch up. Really had to put some effort in on the last ascent, then luckily had the drafting PU for on the way down.

Is there a handicap in the sprints? When I finished (in 57th, I don’t think with anyone behind me) it said I was second in the sprint with 23.14. Or was it missing a load of times, does it only show attempts in the last 30 minutes?

I actually enjoyed that, even though it was tough. Had a small group of me, Drysdale and Varey and swept up Snook and Navman on route. Made a bold attempt to attack on the last climb and then hold on to the finish. Thought I was going to finish 6th but got and blitzed on the sprint by everyone and ended up 10th 🤣.

P. Howell must have had his Weetabix. Seemed to start way back but stormed past us on the first lap and nearly took the win in the end.

Phew, I think that was possibly the hardest race yet for me, that hill is a killer. Nothing left in the tank at the end for the final sprint. Heart rate apparently was hitting over 200 on the first and second time up the leg snapper, I’m hoping that was artifact as my max HR normally maxes out at 167!
Great racing though and very enjoyable now it’s over. @snotrag that was me who gapped across with you but I can’t claim any credit as I was glued to your rear wheel the whole time. @oopnorth I managed to catch up with you but new I couldn’t help out with bridging across so sat up really when I realised the group were only 2 seconds behind us. Zwift upped my ftp to 238 from 232 but I’m already on 240 following my last ramp test so no change there. Nice that it’s finally caught up though. Big thanks to robbo once again.

@bails I think it only shows hte sprint times of those in the race. Winning sprint time was 20.357 and 5th was 22.5 I think. Are you on Zwift Power? Worth signing up if not as allows me to check times post the event

Well that was a baptism of fire 🔥 some very strong riders in that group.. some pulling 8 or 9 W/kg wtf!!

Anyhow managed to stay at the back supporting the rest of the field…you’re welcome🤣

New to the STW Zwift series so didn’t know what to expect. I think I finished 53th but can’t see a finish time, don’t know what happened there?

Think the challenge for me will be to finish each event…..

Sounds like you all had type two fun!

I was napping on the sofa. Hope to see you next week 🙂

@ivandobski

At that point it looked like StumpyAllen(?) had popped with a gap of about 50m over the summit but he suddenly came flying past so rumours of his demise were obviously exaggerated.

I messed up the climb and thought if i didn’t get back on somehow I would be stuffed for the rest of the race. I absolutely went for it, even over that small hump at the bottom of the descent and to my amazement caught you back up!
It took quite a bit of of my legs, but the pace seemed steady for a couple of mins so I had some time to gather myself!

@fieldy – you are showing on the results on the companion app and I have added your time into the results spreadsheet which is linked up there ^ somewhere!

Great fun. Second zwift race. All about the start isn’t it and being in no mans land really doesn’t work. Managed to pip Robbo over the line with a cheeky draft bus power up!

@robbo1234biking Top man! Thanks for organising 👍

Thanks Robbo. I was fairly fresh going into the final sprint section but was surprised at how well it looked like I’d done!

Yes, on zwift power: https://zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=3395441

I quite like that course! And I enjoyed the race. Leg snapper is lovely.
I rode well enough to stay with the front group but not well enough to be a protagonist. And I got tailed off in the finale and crossed the line alone.

@padkinson glided off the front quite early on. He was always just there, not a massive gap, but riding on consistently and never quite in range. Nice win. @holwellp came blasting across the gap mid- race, I thought he was paying for it, maybe struggling last time up the leg snapper but he pulled ahead in the end. And we really did gap @benman on that last climb and into the descent but he ground back on and still had enough left to contest the finish. @nixie absolutely hammered the sprint on lap 2, disappeared for a while.
I need some more watts to capitalise on getting in good positions.

Thanks @robbo1234biking once again! New faces (avatars?) and absent familiar ones made a difference to the race today. No two races in these series ever seem samey.

@benman didn’t seem his normal self.

I thought we had seen @holwellp off after legsnapper 2 but he was hanging on before blowing past us!

Got left standing at the start and had to fight incredibly hard to get back on to any kind of group. Worked up to the group with Robbo and NArnold eventually, cheers for good group work guys! That climb is just long enough to make you really want to kick back at the top but lost a bunch of folk the first time and again had to hit far too many watts to get back on. Sprint at the end with Robbo for very little gain 😀

Great experience for first time out and will try and make it weekly!

@nixie yeah I couldn’t really be arsed tonight to be honest. Got the day off work Thurs and the weather looks good, so saving my energy for a long ride.

Once the weather starts improving I soon lose my Zwift motivation 😂

That’s such a well designed course. The energy sapping long drag; the legsnapper is just short enough to encourage riders other than pure climbers; but that drag from there to the end is really tough to make a break stick. Our group whittled down to me, @mahowlett and @mossimus and we worked well on the last lap. I thought @mossimus was sitting on a bit and ready to pounce in the sprint so I went far too early for my own good, twice. In hindsight, I think we were all just done in.

Oh and @Chipps’ sprint didn’t look too bad from behind when he took off like a scalded cat on second lap (I think?). Thanks for the kind offer of prizes too.

Next week’s TT will be very different!

I’m amazed people can remember who they rode with so well. I specifically try to remember so I can mention them here, but I think my oxygen starved brain just isn’t capable of retaining names. They just fall out of my head almost instantly.

Crazy Harry, I think you had the moral victory there (well, moral 6th place). I was sure you’d hold us off as you’d basically powered us round the whole way and showed no signs of weakness. Felt almost bad as I cheekily sprinted past….almost😂.

@stumpy01 thanks – although I think with that and some weight loss it will push me into C, which means I will have even more chasing to do – still if it motivates me then its all good

@Chipps really nice to see this supported – its been a great couple of series that I have joined into and really been good for my mental health as I haven’t been able to get out and ride with others due to shielding.

I set of with the intention of hanging in the second group for as long as possible.

This turned out to be not very long at all, as Jack disappeared up the road in the 20-30 group, and I gradually worked my way back through the field, trying to hang on to passers by, including mbs, ivandobski, giggsmaster, stumpy01 until I found my moving buddy lewisdeacon who dragged me to the finish, and it seemed rude to compete to the line, so I cruised in.

Hoping to build up fitness again for the next one.

For reference that was the hardest start to any zwift race I’ve done yet! I thing working on 30 second max power then hanging on for 45 minutes might be my new workout:D

@oblongbob You’re welcome. Happy to to be your lead-out man!

Felt good throughout the race and thought I had the legs to hold out to the end, but as you guys started to close the gap I wasn’t sure exactly how far it was to the finish so resigned to being caught and letting the sprint finish sort us out. Trouble with that strategy is that I am a rubbish sprinter, and at I end I got fixated on a feature that I thought was the finish arch, but was actually about 300m further down the road. Saw you power off and thought you were going early, but it was actually perfectly timed.

A deserved 6th. I’ll take the moral victory although @Robbo1234biking ‘s handicapping doesn’t seem to have a morality factor 😄, which is very disappointing.

@slowpuncheur @mahowlett I was definitely not sitting in for the sprint, I was struggling to hang onto your wheels and feeling guilty for not taking a turn on the front. Thanks for towing me round the final lap.
Looking forward to the TT next week.

@slowpuncheur @mossimus I was definitely just hanging on too, that’s pretty much all I did all race, had a few goes off the front early in the race, but had nothing, I felt terrible practically the whole time. I was just desperately hanging on to whatever group I was in the whole way round. A shameful way to race, I hope I can do better next time. I deserved a worse result than I got this week.

Looking forward to the TT next week.

Really?!?!?! 🙂