Don’t be fooled by Innsbruck flat, it’s not, there’s a sodding mountain in it!

🙂 looks to be a sodding mountain in all the Innsbruck routes. Can’t wait to give it a go.

Just wanted to train really to start with, lost fitness due to MTB injury and won’t be back on that bike for 3-6months, so picked up a cyclocross to stick on the turbo trainer. Did the FTP test today, bloody hell, talk about sweat, first time on a turbo aswell. I saw there was a MTB training type course so will try that once I get over the shock of that FTP test 😉

<table class=”table table-bordered”>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Distance</th>
<th>Hrs</th>
<th>Min</th>
<th>Elevation</th>
<th>Avg Watts</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>18.2 km</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>44</td>
<td>438 m</td>
<td>109</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
I don’t think I clicked stop on the ride, realised it was still on 30mins later as it was only a 1h20m test.

Cannot see the results clearly in Zwift. Looking at the import into Garmin Max avg power 20mins was 174w, I have no idea what that is, time to read up.

Did the FTP test today, bloody hell, talk about sweat, first time on a turbo aswell.

Don’t underestimate how debilitating the heat is when it comes to performance. Apparently if you’re putting out 250w at the rear wheel, your body is producing 750w worth of heat and even with a powerful fan running it’s really hard to dissipate that effectively when it’s as hot as it is currently.

As I understand it, your body has mechanisms to stop you breaking yourself, a sort of internal governor. Plus it pumps blood closer to the surface of the skin to try and lose heat. That’s blood that’s not going to your leg muscles. Plus there’s a self-preservation mechanism.

Anyway, what I’ve been finding with Sufferfest sessions is that I hit a wall at around 45 minutes of intense work when the heat becomes overwhelming and the only way I can complete the session is by dialling down the intensity. In the cool none of these workouts are a problem, but throw in the heat and it all goes badly wrong…

… and in short you may find your FTP is higher when the weather gets cooler.

Five laps of Innsbruckenring tonight. Mostly a flat loop with a 50m gain ramp three quarters of the way around. I really liked this circuit. Took a while to settle by which point most of the As had gone. From the second time up the hill I was with a single A till nearly the end. There was a big B group we managed to keep at least 10s back. Lap four I sensed Iay have a chance to beat them as I could open a few seconds on the hill. Lap five really went for it and powered the last 3km home. Also took over a minute out of another B who had stayed with the As for four laps and got past them with half a km to go. ZP shows me as silver B which I’m happy with. Annoyingly the A I was with isn’t listed.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=75628

<div class=”bbp-reply-author”>weeksy
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Don’t be fooled by Innsbruck flat, it’s not, there’s a sodding mountain in it!

Amen

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Nothing race wise on so I did the UCI lap which was a grunt of a climb. Starts off fine at 5-8% with a few cheeky 10-12% bits thrown in when you don’t expect it. The one part that was a bit of a shock was that 8% climb around the back of the town. Not great when you have already worked hard up the hill!

Great course though and a solid 45-50min workout. I really liked it.

Yesterday i did a 4 lapper of the Innsbruck flat… With the lump in the middle 🙂  I ended up bailing just before the end of lap 3… I was dying and had nothing at all left. I think it was partly down to lack of racing lately, partly down to heat in the garage and partly just me being mentally weak a few times lol

Slightly disappointed in myself, but i was dead.

So today i joined the ZHR C tea race… This was the same course but 3 laps not 4…. It went better… Lap1 i was in the lead group of 10.. Comfortable until the hill and we kicked up and split the bunch, but in the next 2km we all bunched back up including catching a bloke who’d pulled out 10s+.

Onto lap2 we had 10s on the group of 6-7 behind and between 3 of us working on the front we pulled it out to 15s… but by the time we hit the lump it had been closed.. I wasn’t able to put out any more than 4w/kg on the lump so the group shattered and we were a 3… fighting for 8-10th overall…. Onto lap 3, 1 guy aid goodbye and bailed… so we were a 2…I honestly thought the other rider had me, we were chatting a bit as we were not really working that hard. 1 min+ behind the 4 in front of us and 2 mins ahead of the group behind now….  So taking it easy… Up the hill we paced eachother at 3.8w/kg and got up, then it got serious with trying to position.

I went early with an aero at 1km, but wasn’t there… They caught my wheel nicely too so sat there… with 0.3km to go i went a bit at 5ish… I hung on for 8th overall.

Due to not many signing up etc yet… i got a bronze, but was really an 8th 🙂

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=75761

Just done the Lutscher course and its a brute. First KOM i did in 20 mins which was pure torture. I finished the race in 2nd place overall but due to fat fingers i entered as a C rather than a B so got dq’d. I did however increase my ftp to 319w so i guess thats what a week off the bike does for you.

Did 4 laps of the ‘flat’ course yesterday as well. Enjoyed it a lot – I think it is a very good course but that hill is a bit of a brute.

First time on the course so didn’t know how long the hill was. Front group split on the hill and I got dropped. Tried and failed to catch them back up but a group of three of us formed about 20secs behind. Trouble was they just wanted to sit in my wheel so the gap got bigger and the 3rd group on the road started catching. Got a bit annoyed so I made a break for it, all the time thinking they would catch me back up.

But they didn’t – ended up doing three laps on my own and still enjoyed it. Even had a decent gap by the end.

Stupid never-ending zwift race! It was supposed to be KISS First Base, 7 laps of the volcano.

All started off perfectly with a gaggle of seemingly genuine Ds getting away then settling down around the 200W mark. I was having to put plenty in on the hills, but nothing too problematic.Then the laps and the distance to go stopped going down, if you were lucky you got one lap reduction for each two you rode.

I’m guessing that didn’t help the group stay together and at the end of lap 4 (actual laps) splits appeared and we were in two groups, with 5 off the front and me in the second group of 3. We stuck at it for 2 more laps,until a small acceleration got me a gap, though I think people were losing heart now.

Just closing out my 8th lap and the distance stuck again at 12.3km, enough’s enough and I called it a day.

Matt

LOL that’s a fair few laps of the Volcano at race pace ! Good work 🙂

Just about to start a 18:15(Aus time) race around the volcano. See how it goes today..

First Chop race last night.

Didn’t realise that there was only 3 cups up for grabs. I’ll probably work more next time but I doubt that’d have got me to the finish in a position to contest it anyway yesterday.

Good format and everyone seemed to be racing in category. C’s held together and I was comfortable for the first 2 laps. Caught by the B’s going into the tunnel and then couldn’t follow the front up the switchback climb. Kept together with 4 other Cs and waited too long to sprint. Couldn’t get back round the person who launched the sprint.

Zwift was playing up a bit as it looked like only 1 B was closing in but it was all of them.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=77222

EVR europe race last night on the brutal Lutscher loop. I didn’t really pay to much attention to the route layout (flat -> UP -> down -> back UP) so wen too hard on the climb thinking that was it. No you have to do it twice. Lap one I was staying with a couple of A’s and  B. Despite my heart trying to escape I kept up with them will the start of the second time up the hill. Had to rest then and dropped about 10s back. I clawed it back once but could not hang on and dropped back again to aroudn 15-20s. That left me as third B on the road which I was happy with. About two thirds of the way up I realised the B behind me was closing rather quickly. They came past quite quick and try as I could I could not latch on. I did at this point switch from spinning to out the saddle pumping and managed to start closing the gap down the the A-B group that had earlier dropped me. The Lutscher climb goes in flatter – steeper blocks. I was able to take 4-5 s out of the group on each steeper bit before falling back a little on the flatter sections. By 400m to go I was down to 2s but had nothing left to close that. Finished fourth B on the road but have a silver in ZP (https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=77288). The in game first placed B was a long way ahead so guess they were upgraded. FTP now up to 314W based on that race. Weight seems to be down to under 79Kg so probably time to update my Zwift profile.

Nice one Tom, goor to see the A group didn’t get you :D.

Been waiting a while for this one. Have been wanting to do Alp du zwift but wasn’t a high enough level so had to be during an event. Road to sky starting from the pier rather than the flying boats. Got a pb up the KOM during the warm up as I stuck with the two As. I stuck with them all the way to the climb and tried to keep the group pace up to give me a lead over the other Bs. I had 30s when everyone was on the big climb and the As had predictably disappeared. I managed to keep the average power up and the gap in place. The following group clearly tired more quickly as in the last 3k the gap opened up to 1m 30s. The As both dropped out at some point which gave me the overall as well as B win. So tired now!

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=78847

AweskAw work!

Back from holiday and looking to get working on the weight, so seeing a post on anohter Zwift thread that Eemy is racing short circuit tonight at 6:10pm i think i’ll jump in on that one with him. Short hard and fast, sadly with a kick up in the middle which won’t suit, but we’ve got to start somewhere. Nice gentle warm up first and then go play 🙂

Who’s having a crack then ?

I think i’ll go for the 17:10 greater london flat 2 lapper today… works quite well in timings etc.. So why the heck not 🙂

Quick question. I use zwift on ipad and i assume this is the reason why i dont get the little indicator to show me how close fellow riders are?

Just did a 4 lap of london classique with people who thought it was fun to do multiple attacks on every lap! It was pretty brutal in patches and Horseguards hill was used as a sprint track, my avg wattage for the hill was 497w, 523w, 556w and last lap 561w. I hung on and ended up in a bunch sprint but only managed 3rd in B, pretty tough racing lately.

What that hills not a sprint track? 😁

Nixie – i prefer it when the hills are used for a moderate upturn in speed rather than having to  nail it. To be honest i was at the pointy end with a bunch of Cat A’s so it was always going to be like that. I guess the attacks on the Mall were a bit more of a shock to the system as i try and recover there for the sprinty horseguard hill.

Yeah keeping up with As on that track is not easy. I can do it a couple of laps but normally by then I’m broken.

Had a fun race today, 4 of us in a bunch, 2 in B and 2 in C, the faster of them were pushing 4w/kg everywhere so I was hanging on. We dumped one guy 3.5km out, so we were 3. As we came out of the underpass, the 2 blokes hit 5+ and that was me done. They pulled away but I had 30s+ on guy behind and less than 2km, so was ok.

I’ve raced every day this week since holiday and enjoying it. Results, well I am doing ok, but now as well as zwiftpower says as most are not fully registered now.

Weeksy – results have been annoying lately as quite a lot of people i have been racing have been filtered out. I had a great race this morning, me and 1 other B were in with the lead A group. Pace really hotted up and i managed to stay with them and drop the other B by over a minute. The results showed him as dq and my nearest B was over 10 mins behind! Satisfying sticking with the A’s to the end mind you. Roll on winter for bigger fields.

Well I stupidly entered my first zwift race this morning, 3 laps of the flat! Entered as CAT D and got blown away by everyone! Looks like I averaged 1.8w/kg 146w. Strangley my sprint KOM time and wattage was pretty good, 4.2w/kg for 33secs.

I’ve mainly been doing the Gravel Grinder workout course which clearly gives you longer rest periods rather than none 😉

Height of embarrasment was the winner lapping me with about 30yards to go before the finish and I was going balls out trying to stop that happening 😉

Onwards and upwards!

Keyboard99 – well done and dont worry we have all been lapped before. Once you get used to the courses and tactics you will improve vastly.

Just did the Deutschland tour stage 4 and finished 6th out of 118. A very nice race.

Well i just got a pleasant/disappointing result. Did the UCI worlds course Austria which is very tough with a huge 20 min climb and then the crazy hill in the middle of Innsbruck. I was behind a couple of B’s on the climb by about 12s but managed to tempo them back by the top which was incredibly hard. Big 500w effort for the hill in the town and 1 B rider just left us all for dead so it was a race for silver. Just held off another rider to take SILVER or so i thought. Results show i didnt get any trophy coz i got bumped to A group as i finished with a 4.0w/kg avg, nice pleasant surprise as thats a pr but no trophy and the actual B winner was 2 mins slower.

Oooops. We all dream of being bumped to A…. well, i dream of being bumped up to B actually hahahaha.

I did plenty last week, but a weekend away with family means i’ve not done any for a few days.

Nothing suitable for the fat boys in laters racing, so i can see myself just cruising around this afternoon, which is probably a good idea as my legs are very very tired

Signed up for a 9 week training program. Had no real aspirations so picked one called gravel grinder for want of anything more interestingly named.

Three weeks in and never having actually “trained”, just gone out and ridden my bike for fun. What I have learned already is:

I like my cadence around 80-85 rpm and am not too happy with changes to that. Especially low cadence.

I don’t seem to like constant changes of pace. Seem to be happier holding a steady but higher wattage than switching up and down.

That having lasted this long I will most likely see it out.

Weeksy – most races today seem to involve a fair bit of climbing or you are stuck with that hill in Innsbruck. I wasnt too keen either and only did that particular race coz i hadnt done that route (turns out its just part of lutscher and Innsbruck so nothing new).

Well, that was my first foray into Zwift for a couple of months, I like the new Innsbruck flat course, that hill is just about perfect for me (with a feather!) I just fancied a spin on Zwift last night so jumped on a 4 lapper of that course not knowing what to expect.

I wanted to catch Bodyguard on the telly box so knew I probably wouldn’t get to finish whatever I started. Managed 3 laps and was still in the front group, I’d forgotten how hard on the legs this was, I’d not raced since ‘Ard Rock and was off sick on Friday with a pretty brutal stomach bug (I weighed myself post race, which is normally when i’m at my dehydrated lightest, I was 2KG heavier than I was on Saturday morning!)

Heart rate was stuck about 13BPM lower than i’m used to, 189max vs 204ish, putting that down to illness but I did get a nice little FTP bump from 327 to 334.

In the end the Mrs was still watching the end of the GrandPrix highlights, i could have finished the race!

Anyone else get annoyed that they don’t show the distance of the races on the Companion app? Seems like an easy thing to add and I can’t believe I’m alone in thinking it.

It is annoying and is possible. All WBR races show the distance so no reason the others don’t. Might be Zwift’s idea to get traffic to go to Zwift insider to look at route distances.

I also think it’s about time they just include the “warm up” distance into the race, as lets be fair, when has it never been raced! Road to sky the other day is almost 10km run in.

It’s a shame that Zwiftpower only has a fraction of the racers fully registered at the moment.

Today i did a team Italy race. 4 laps of the shortish Innsubruck layout.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=82152

It was SO much better a race than that implies.

15 in a group for lap 1, with me and 3 others kicking off up on the hilly bit, but then we were pulled in by the end of the lap.

Next lap (2) it was me and 1 guy… we went on the hill…. again pulled back late on… but the group had split to 10 now.

Lap3 it was 4 of us on the hill… again a group of 4 pulled us back…. Onto lap 4 we were 6 riders…  one guy went off the front about 5km out, putting 4+ out… we/I let him go…  On the kicker it was 4 of us…. we hung together and down the other side… I lost the wheel as i got my timings wrong to free-wheel. They pulled 3s on me at 2.1km out…. i hit the boosters in my legs, 400w+ for what seemed like forever ! i got back and we were a 4.. into the final KM it was cat and mouse, sitting, waiting, waiting. I went at 400m… I kicked ahead, not enough, tehy had my wheel.

I got 3rd in the group and 4th in C overall.. but it was a brilliant and involving race for sure. !

Great stuff… I’m sitting here 90 min later still shivering !

I’ve been seeing more showing up on ZP recently. I did the wahooligan super league race one tonight. It was a big field and loads (129) were on ZP. With gaps between each category there were no As to hang onto today. Predictably for the Innsbruck not really flat course the ramp was the chisel that split the pack up on each lap. I stayed with the lead split till the last lap when I missed the few who went early at the bottom of the hill. I bust my one minute power output to do it though and there was no let off down the other side. I was in the second following group at the end but stop sprinting at the wrong point (got confused by the banners) so ended up 12th. https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=82171

Was nice to be in such a big field and for so many to be on ZP.

I also did a 3 laps of London flat last week. Again a big field but the As broke away early with a few Bs. I was in the lead B group which had two straggling As. One of them gave us a good tow for long periods that helped us real I’m a good number of riders who dropped off the lead group. This was a good fun race, though such hard work. Finished with a long sprint, I got a bronze in the wash up. Literally took third on the line. https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=80893

Nice one Nixie. Good performances buddy 🙂