Viewing 40 posts - 7,481 through 7,520 (of 15,383 total)
  • Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.
  • weeksy
    Full Member

    I’m under that limit in every race, but this lot forced me to move up!

    With your figures you won’t be last.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    FFS, -3 on CVR… who’s bright idea was racing today lol.

    eemy
    Free Member

    Weeksy, as already said, you care too much about points. That said. I’m expecting plus points for my EVR race this morning. It’ll spoil my Christmas if they are negative. Curse you EVR!

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    weeksy
    Full Member

    LOL i don’t honestly 🙂

    I’m now in the situation where every race is going to be borderline for me. I went through a lull and lost a load of points, after that i went through a peak where it was great for me for a couple of weeks and now i’m in a place where every race is split between a couple of points either way, sometimes a plus and sometimes a minus. I can’t really affect or influence it any more than racing at my best and improving gradually, be that with racing skills, training skills or zwifting skills, it’s always going to be tight.

    I don’t lie awake worrying though. Promise.

    eemy
    Free Member

    Or you could fake your weight like some do………….just saying. Not encouraging.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    LOL i plan on not needing to fake it and actually dropping some after Xmas.

    uphillcursing
    Free Member

    Went for a ride with offspring this morning and felt I needed some more so I entered a 4 lap race. My goal was to get a my weekly total ks up and thought a few laps with the Cat D bunch would be a good way to do that.
    No warm up, and bang off they went. at least 10 of them off over the hill at 3+W/KG. Soon reel them in thinks I. Tortoise and Hare moment coming later. Rest of the Cat Ds went off in pursuit with me propping up the rear hoping a group would form. Not likely, one by one they blow up and dropped out with the front lot still doing 2.5, 2.8 and more. So I did a 15km time trial watching them pull further and further away till I got pissed off with it. Worst race yet. Sandbaggers, what is the point? All the legitimate Cat Ds killed themselves inside 3 kilometeres.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Its A strange one for sure. We see it time and time again, race after race after race, whether it’s Ds putting out 3.5 or C’s putting out 4+, it’s always several riders.
    I find it hard to grasp these riders are newbies every single day. So assume they must be aware of Zwift.
    Don’t really know the answers.

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    morning all (few)

    weeksy, much as I hate to say it, that cycligent system is an attempt at exactly that – scoring riders against their previous performances rather than a self-allocated grouping.

    Doesn’t stop the people doing it in their first couple of races but after that it’s better. Means you have to perform pretty well just to stand still in the tables though

    I haven’t done any of their races but actually reckon it’d be no better for me since, last I heard, I (and you) as a B sit in the top rank with nath and his speedy chums which again risks not knowing who to follow at the start. Race rank numbers might be a goer – they obviously know your predicted position since that’s how they allocate points. I might not chase an ex-pro up a hill if he had number 3 on his back in a race of 200 with me at 150 or whatever

    weeksy
    Full Member

    I wonder though how many racers are aware of CVR and ZP rankings. Could it be that we’re in the minority here and they just log into the Zwift app and race when they want etc? They may not care about their pending DQ/upgrade and just want to win on the road.

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    aye, you may be right but the cycligent system would still take care of them though

    ZP could do something similar, obviously, and auto-categorise riders either according to power from the last few races or using positions (haven’t they already started doing some sort of rankings ?)

    weeksy
    Full Member

    I can’t see ZP cats being that difficult to enforce within the various Apps, although it would require integration between Zwift and ZP.

    I think that for now, we just have to accept it for what it is and the pleasure that comes from racing who’s next to you on the road irrespective of who they are and how real their numbers are.

    I’m feeling a bit of a bunny rabbit in races now in B, with the foxes of C cat all hunting me. I still race of course at the same speed I did last week, so most guys round me are either slow Bs or fast C’s, mostly fast C’s. I’ll get there though over time and climb the ranks of B.

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    Oh, I agree – and I don’t really mind it (and TBH, I reckon fewer people go sandbagging in B anyway; if you’re really an A and want easy wins then C is the place for you to hide, sit in and then destroy the pack towards the end or up a hill). Forcing riders into cats would be a good start IMO

    I still think though, some identifier on a racer would be nice (I originally though of different coloured rear lights for each cat but that doesn’t tell how good or bad a racer is within their cat). surely zwift could add a number tag to people’s names or a race number on their avatar, though as you said that’d require integration with zwift itself

    forzafkawi
    Free Member

    I did a 4-lap flat race this morning and for the first time managed to get everything just about right. I didn’t go off too mad at the start but settled in to a group of about 10 riders going at my pace.

    I got dropped on the short climb at Whitehall on the second lap and really had to crank out the watts to get back on. I managed to recover though which was encouraging and made sure I didn’t make that mistake again.

    For most of the last lap I was at FTP but I managed to hold on to the group. The group was down to 6 or 7 I think by the sprint on the Mall and two riders got away from me but I managed to beat 3 others which was amusing.

    I finished top half of group C which suited me just fine and had a great workout. I just treat the races as an interesting way of training now rather than just sitting on the turbo. My average speed for the ride was the fastest I’d ever done including the 1-lappers which demonstrates to me the benefit of drafting in a decent sized group.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    That sounds like a great performance mate. Well done.

    forzafkawi
    Free Member

    Cheers weeksy. It’s my intention to race on Zwift once or twice a week on top of my existing cycling commitments, to see if I can’t get my FTP up to 3.2W/kg and scrape in to group B.

    uphillcursing
    Free Member

    Signed up for a four lapper of the London flat course. Cat D usual shenanigans going on from the line. Five from a field of about ten went off like trains. The results page had them at 2.9 to 2.7 W/Kg average.
    I rode in no mans land on my own for a couple of laps till I caught a guy on a TT bike. Managed a lap till he dropped out. There was another D a little way back so I slowed down to let him catch me. Got to be more interesting than being on your own isn’t it? When he catches me he really put in some effort, i suppose trying to get away from me. Managed to hang on a settled in for the last lap. Starts winding up from about 3.5 K out but I hung on till the last 300 meters when I was left like a bad smell.
    Enjoyed that one. Was not able to hold the wattages I could before xmas and I am not sure why. Maybe I have been doing too much. Maybe I am coming down with something.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    8000km done !

    Admittedly a decent chunk of that are optimistic Zwift Kms. But they all take effort.
    That’s a heck of a 2017 for me. Way more than ever before.

    Can I lie down for a month now?

    forzafkawi
    Free Member

    Well done weeksy! So far I have logged all of my Zwift rides using my Garmin and I usually find most Zwift rides to actually be shorter than my Garmin readings. That’s probably due to the fact that I start the Garmin when I start to warm up but the Zwift mileage is usually just the race itself.

    If that’s the same for you, you may find you have ridden a fair way longer than your Zwift miles may indicate.

    No slacking off now unfortunately as the New Year beckons! 😆

    blader1611
    Free Member

    I did the wbr 4 lapper this morning and with a field of 126 and a course i just dont do well in i reckoned on some big negative cvr points. I always get dropped by the A group on the long first lap so i was determined to at least get to the end of that still with them. In fact i got all the way to the end of lap 2 before the elastic snapped, ended up in a small group of 4 and just trying to recover but the pace was quite high. Legs kept turning to jelly again for short periods but i think that was because it was fasted ride plus getting rid of the lurgi. Not sure what position we were vying for but hung on and outsprinted them all. Turns out i was 7th in B group and 19th overall in the race so probably my best result on that course. The race was pretty fast looking at the stats, i finished with 283w avg ,3.5w/kg and np 292w. I removed my ftp score just to see what it would be in race conditions and it was 279w,my ftp test result was 310w.

    blader1611
    Free Member

    Well done weeksy on the mileage, thats going to be tough to beat next year.

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    Well done Weeksy!

    I’ve really got into Zwift now, loving the way you get the “hoops” to aim for during intervals. Popped out to do some scheduled sweet spot this morning:

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/21SHwFs]2017-12-28_01-23-41[/url]

    …and completed all that which I’m pleased about after the Christmas binge.

    zilog6128
    Full Member

    So far I have logged all of my Zwift rides using my Garmin and I usually find most Zwift rides to actually be shorter than my Garmin readings

    how does that work then? Surely the Garmin doesn’t know about the hills on Zwift which is why the rides are longer (assuming it’s only getting its input from your speed sensor on your wheel?) Or is the Garmin linked to Zwift somehow?

    blader1611
    Free Member

    Kryton that sweetspot training looks good, i think i will incorporate that in to my cycling plans for next year. Is that training with erg mode off? I do a weekly workout with MGCC crew and its pretty feisty but i dont really like the erg mode on function as it just tends to end up with you just using the same gear all the time.

    beej
    Full Member

    I reckon Zwift kms are 20% more than outside kms for the same time/effort. On a flatish course I can average 35-36 kph on Zwift, zone 2 power. Outside in flatish Berkshire I’d be doing 30 kph for a similar effort.

    Doing the mountains course on Zwift brings it closer to reality.

    I’ve 187km left to hit 12000 for the year – 4000 of those on Zwift.

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    Is that training with erg mode off

    It is yes, I only have a static trainer. You do need to workout your zones properly. SS is within 82% – 99% FTP, and I find that my indoor power reads about 12% lower than outdoor, so a little maths is needed to ensure your in the right zone if your training outside also.

    For competitive reasons, I’m not writing down that values I’m working to up there 😀

    Just to add agreement to Beej’s post – you can see on my screen shot the speed is 39kmph on a 1% incline. In reality I register about 34.5kmph at the outdoor-equivalent wattage.

    forzafkawi
    Free Member

    ow does that work then? Surely the Garmin doesn’t know about the hills on Zwift which is why the rides are longer (assuming it’s only getting its input from your speed sensor on your wheel?) Or is the Garmin linked to Zwift somehow?

    I’m using a Kinetic Road Machine trainer and consequently ZPower. As you say, the Garmin doesn’t know about the hills even though I change gear to simulate the gradient, my back wheel is still travelling faster than the equivalent Zwift speed on gradients. On the flat I’ve noticed the speeds are pretty close. I guess those of you using smart trainers your Zwift mileage will probably be a lot closer to reality.

    lunge
    Full Member

    So, hi, just signed up to Zwift, will be on it tonight with any luck.
    Newbie question, can you join any races/rides or do you need to be invited? And related, any particularly worth going for? Based on the website I reckon I’ll be around cat C but that’s very much an educated guess.

    eemy
    Free Member

    You can join any race (as far as I’m aware anyway)

    My advice would be to start with a 4-lap WBR flat race. Start fast, try and hang on for as long as you can. When you do get dropped try and latch on to the next group coming through. And most importantly – make your avatar look cool and pick a nice outfit.

    eemy
    Free Member

    8000km done !

    Well done Weeksy. I am currently 19 miles shy of 5,000 miles for the year, but have just had a glass of Baileys, so probably tomorrow before I can do it.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Don’t forget Eemy! I could accept not making it to a nice round number.

    forzafkawi
    Free Member

    make your avatar look cool and pick a nice outfit.

    LOL! Difficult to do with the 10,000 other newbs I just saw on there! 😆

    lunge
    Full Member

    There’s a “Team Italy presents BL Bicycle Line Race (A,B,C,D)” ride soon, might have a crack at that I reckon. Sound reasonable?

    blader1611
    Free Member

    I love round numbers so my mileage for this year so far is 4136.2 miles.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Why not lunge. Give it a whirl!

    Shandy
    Free Member

    I can’t get Zwift to pair with my Kikr through my laptop. I was running Zwift off my iPhone but the trainer wasn’t working properly and any time I went over about 120 watts the power reading was all over the place and the resistance just dropped away. I tried to use the erg mode on the phone but it wasn’t available, I’m not sure if this is a paid feature.

    Has anybody any pointers because I’ve 20km free left and I’m not in a rush to pay $15 to find out its still useless on the paid version.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    What are you using to pair? Ant+ dongle?

    StefMcDef
    Free Member

    About to pop my cherry on Zwift with an Apple TV and a smart turbo on the way in the next couple of weeks.

    Just checked in to this thread to find an absolutely terrifying array of jargon, acronyms and know-how.

    How plug-n-play is it? How long will it take your average dunderheid to get the hang of it such that you can actually enjoy it? (Assuming that even if you’re completely clueless it’s still more fun than plain-vanilla turbo sessions).

    lunge
    Full Member

    Just done the WBR 1 Flat Lap, enjoyed it felt like s good intro. Reckon I’d have done better if I’d have known the course too. This will get very addictive…

    piemonster
    Full Member

    How plug-n-play is it?

    Depends on what trainer you’ve got and how it talks to Zwift/Apple TV

    My set up is entirely Bluetooth so apart from calibration upon setup it was quite literally plug and play.

    Calibration on mine wasn’t much, direct drive so it’s just a couple of minutes via the manufacturers app.

Viewing 40 posts - 7,481 through 7,520 (of 15,383 total)

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