Thats me!

got dropped from the front group in more or less the same place both races, start of lap 3 (did the earlier 4 lapper as well that scaled won!) on the downhill section after the sprint/lap marker, strange as im 83kg, Guess i need to work on downhill peddaling with the neo, need to shift down and fight the urge to coast probably, once there was a gap i couldnt bridge it – but by lap 3/4 and 3/6 i had enough time on anyone behind to cruise home, was only passed by 2 in the second race, held their wheel for half a lap or so when they escaped on the same downhill, group behind closed me from bout 40 seconds to sub 10, but i had my eye on them and did enough to keep them behind

see you got a cup for 5 minute power at 4.1w/kg well done on that, and well done scaled for winning the 4 lapper

yeh, I saw scaled as I went on to warm up, pedaling slower than would hold you up in real-life – that was obviously straight after a race.  Then the daft sod turns up in “my” race 😀

That 6 lapper was pretty quick for the last couple of laps. I had nowt left for the sprint. I really need to get some intervals in.

dirtyrider – well done; was a hard race, that.  I’m very happy with that 5min figure as that’s where I’m lacking (shorter durations of higher effort)

Got my 2nd ever cross race on Sunday so we’ll see how that shapes up in real life (likely with a hangover)

… as for losing power down hills, I used to get that a lot when I first started.  I used to have my “difficulty” set at 100% and that made it really hard to get power in when going downwards (you could tell who was on a dumb trainer as they’d struggle up the hills but catch back up down the other side, just because they were on smooth power output rather than grunting up hills and then not being able to gear up fast enough on the downs)

dirty, you’re not Dan as in “beer and dan”; stw’s first celebrity couple, are you ? 🙂

What trainer diff do you use now then? I’d agree racing on a dumb trainer is easier, smart trainers are more fun though & I guess make the training more “real world” useful.

I’m about 2/3 usually – if it’s a ded steep hill (bloody rare for me) then I go to about half as I don’t have the gears on the trainer to cope with that

dirty, you’re not Dan as in “beer and dan”; stw’s first celebrity couple, are you ? 🙂

ummm no? ive been here since more or less day 1 although theres been a few forced hiatus’ over the early years 🙂 whats it been 18-19 years? remember chipps showing people a copy of issue 1 in the queue to get in Bike01  at the NEC maybe, had a 5 year break in the middle maybe, barely rode, its mainly this thread i post on, dip my toes in the others but theres no mikewsmith in here so its a quiet sanctuary ;o)

i do have the trainer set at 100%

https://www.facebook.com/inthepens/videos/178072566391977/

Podcast on trainer difficulty.

I’ve only been here since about 2002 when we got our first internet service at home.  Noob really

ill give the podcast a listen cheers,

Didn’t make the race I’d planned this morning, so instead did the 1 hr FTP test. Was good to get some hard numbers, FTP has dropped 10-15% since my accident, unfortunately puts me right on the border between C and B (3.182 W/Kg). Have to do some training I think. I assume the FTP test doens’t take into account gradient to alter effort.

was going to do the 10 lap LaGuardia tonight, but im knackered so didn’t,

listened to the podcast, makes sense, i guess i should dial it back a bit for races that have downhills im getting caught out on, like yesterday, but leave it at 100% at other times

Just seen on Zwiftpower on your rider profile we now have

“Nemesis and Victims”

People who’ve beaten you or you’ve beaten regularly…. Kinda cool.

Must admit i recognised the first guy right away.

Its a nice new feature. Might need a little tweaking though as team members feature heavily in mine!

they wouldn’t do if you’d not bailed on us 🙁

Splitter 😉

Hats off Weeksy!!! That was hard….

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=103006

That was me on the limit! (and a bit more than)

Strava tells the story – Av HR 177 with max @ 193 & 20% in Z5 over 183 – Not good for a fat 42yr old biffa…

I’m a long way from the version of me that could race in B and get a place.

Back to training I suppose, shame I cancelled it.

Sunday evening and what did I get myself into. I noticed the fire and Ice tour and decided I’d like a go at the Alpe. Didn’t have time for a warm up so just jumped in and started nice and steady up the volcano KOM as a warm up. The start of the Alpe is a shock as it’s very steep for the first few Kms, I thought it was going to beat me. I was riding with another rider who most likely was using a dumb trainer as he shot past on every corner just for me to reel him in on the climb again. I was chasing down a couple of B riders that were about a minute and a half ahead of me at the start of the climb and also watching another B who was 20 seconds down and at one stage closed to 3 seconds before dropping away again. I caught and passed the other 2 B riders at about corner 3. One tried to go with me and little does he know that one kick on the pedals would have broke me. I managed to gap him by about 5 seconds at the top.

My target for the climb was the hour. I just missed it by 23 seconds but could go better I think. My power figures were about 20w down on threshold for each of the segments between corners, nice feature that. I’m a long way down on Pantanis time though!!

I’ve not looked at my HR but I was cruising along happily, I seem to hide a lot better than you and barely took a turn on the front. It was only on the final lap about 2km at the most from the line it became anything tough for me, I pushed on up the climb, then sat in on the down bit into the roller coaster section. Then as we caught the other 3-5 riders it all went a bit nuts. I went a bit earlier than I wanted but if I’d gone late, it would have been too late.

Enjoyed that lots though, zwift racing is brilliant

23s! Damn. I think I’d have cried lol. Great effort though.

At least the 23 seconds means I’ll try again! If I’d beat the hour I might not have come back. I’ve never tried that route before so didn’t know what to expect.

Dutch corner is a lot further into the climb than it seems in TV.

Ive gone from 1:11:33 in April to 54:33 in October, keep at it, the more you ride it the more you learn how to ride it and times tumble – equipmemt makes a difference as well, Trek Emonda & Lightweights is quickest

Dutch corner feels a long way on the way up but seems close to the bottom on the way down! I’ve been up twice now and definitely want to do it again. It’s strangely addictive. Bet you smashed the hour next time.

I’m not so sure I’d smash the hour, maybe take a little chip out of it but that might be all!

Stupidly I entered wbr flat reverse this evening. Said I’d take it easy but of course that didn’t happen, Iegs were in bits by the end, I think a rest day is called for.

I never thought I’d look forward to getting onto my turbo trainer.

I never thought I’d look forward to getting onto my turbo trainer.

It’s weird isn’t it… I now sit here and plan particular things around races that suit me…

I’m still very much enjoying Zwift.

Did the Kiss beginner C & D race last night. I’ve been trying the races for about 6 weeks now and that was the first  time I’ve managed to stick with the main group. So much more enjoyable and engaging! Since I’ve started at it I’ve gone from around 2.6w/kg to 3.5w/kg. It is strange to look forward to a turbo session! Really  liking Zwift, the odd glitch aside. My power froze last night for a couple of minutes which was handy except when it went uphill and I got dropped big time.

Not sure I have it in me today, but it’s a decent field in the 4:10 and I like that. But it’s hilly, which I’m rubbish on due to weight and my legs are not my friend.

Hmmm

How about over 800 entered for the GCN race at 7pm! 3 laps of NYC.

Might try and do it.

I now sit here and plan particular things around races that suit me…

I’ve also started doing that. Spend too much time looking at the event list trying to decide which one to do!

Last night was the GGCC race series event of the Watopia figure 8. Been a while since I’ve raced over those hills (other than at the end of a three sisters loop) so was interested to see how I went. Quite a big field but only around 10 A’s (one other from BRT). A and B grouped together at the start though I tried to force a high initial pace which did cause a few (mainly Bs) to drop off coming up the ramp out of the subsea section. This race was always going to be a story of the two climbs. The first knocked a few more off the back but for the most part the lead group stayed together, if a little strung out. We all closed back up again on the flat and stayed that way till climb two. I had been hiding a feather for the last 20k and used this on the first sharp bend to attack. It work nicely until it ran out at which point I was caught and passed. However the effort had fractured the group wide open now. Four or five pulled away from me by a few seconds up the hill. I dug deep at the 300m mark and went hard to keep the gap down as much as I could, then as they relaxed over the top kept my effort up and TT’d back onto a wheel before the significant downhill section. I only just made it though (the wheel I caught was the other BRT rider to whom I was very grateful of the tow). This effort resulting in my best ever five minute power (5w/kg :D). Before the bridges the six of us had closed up again and I managed to catch my breath and calm the heart rate down. The pace to the end started to ramp up again from the hill after sprint bridge and resulted in a longer sprint home. It ended surprisingly close for such a long ramp up. I just snuck bronze though think on the road that was fourth.

All in all very happy with the result (more so as I have a slight cold) and the PRs up both climbs. https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=103066

Well it went ok in the end considering.

I went off at a reasonable pace and grabbed a smallish group on 1st climb. Put in a decent climb and hung in with a bunch. Then settled down for a long bit of flat. Through the rollers we all stuck together and then over start line into final climb there were 13-15 of us. We hit the climb and it splintered, I was sitting at 350-360w on it and holding my own but 4 riders pulled away from us. As we created the Kom we were 2 X 4s and about 7s behind then. The next 2-3km is flat and rolling, I sat for 1.5 km of it then powered 400w on a -1 section, soon closing to the guys ahead and gapping my bunch, first time I recall bridging a strong gap. I then sat on the descent and did the odd turn.

Into the final 3km I kicked a bit on the way out of the tunnel but got a response so waited it out. 700m to go a guy jumped us with 8.5w/kg, couldn’t match that but beat the others and we’d pulled out 25s on the guys behind

75/221 or so on a hilly course, happy

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=103235

Sounds like a good race. Congrats on the class win as well 👍.

I think 1000 riders might be a few too many for a flat race :0/

Most of the first lap was one big elongated blob which I couldn’t see the front of although there may have been a group of As further up the road for all I know. Splits started showing after the climbs half way round and mostly in a static group by the end of the lap.

Had to hop off the turbo as I noticed the skewer was loose just before the finish line but held the group and then stupidly lost the front end of it along the flat bit by the lake.

Last lap used a feather to ensre I held the front end of the group and any splits up the steep ramp half way round and got another one for the final sprint. Ended up 4th I think in the group of about 20.

Initially upgraded to a B then downgraded as just scraped in the cat limits and was given 3rd. Now bumped down to 4th :0( Saying that all 3 above me are listed as Bs on their profiles. And 3rd pipped me in the sprint of my group to add insult to injury.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=99708

Not strictly zwift but, I’ve had an evening with the foam roller.

There were a few points tonight where I’d rather have done 10 laps of volcano ccw

Great work Tom, nice stuff…

First race for a week or so.

Team Italy Gladiators race .. fast start as usual, so sat in with the front group just trying to hold on. Seemed to be a group of about 10 up first climb about 7km in .. then most turned off and only me and another rider left out front with the pack about 20 seconds behind, and 25+km left. The other rider dropped off about 5km later so had to solo the rest of the race. I think the rest has done the legs good, because managed to stay out front and win the race … putting over 2 minutes on the chasing group.

The upgrade from C to B isn’t fun. Decided to enter the WKG chop this evening, handicap races are a bit better for me as the starts aren’t just as fast. I was feeling great and sitting in the first third of a big B group when my avatar (being an old git I hate that word) decided to turn off the wrong way. Race over.

Just had an email (and subsequently signed up for) the CVRcade beta (starting 1 dec I think). They’re parting ways with Zwift & have come up with their own platform. Seems more focused on “real” racing, with wind, line choice & crashing (!) apparently. I doubt it’ll be anywhere near as polished as Zwift (at least initially) but will be interesting to check it out…

I imagine there is a fair bit of money to be made with the likes of Zwift. And I guess it’s only a matter of time before others get involved to get a slice of it.

the races are 95% of what I do on Zwift. I recently started riding the Alpe Du Zwift course because that allows you to target specific times or power thresholds for sections … the other courses if not racing I find almost as boring as a standard turbo session.

i will look into the CVRcade; I wonder what it will cost in comparison to Zwift … and more importantly, how many will join to race.

They are trickling info about CVRcade… currently talking about it being free to download/play but having “microtransactions” similar to how some conventional computer/mobile games have gone. Having said that I read on a forum post where someone had a dig around & found some T&Cs which mentioned “paid accounts” so who knows…

If it is free that will ensure it’ll be popular no doubt (unless it’s totally crap)! Even if I end up sticking with Zwift though hopefully this will encourage them to up their game in terms of features/support for racing, there are loads of things they could do that would make the experience so much better!

there are loads of things they could do that would make the experience so much better!

For example ? I love the racing and not sure how they could make it any better.