I’m on a Neo so no calibration worries

Sneaky D cat win for me last night. I’ve always been hovering round the border between C and D, but my previous turbo was a bit more generous with the power figures than the Neo, plus I’ve put on a couple of kilos. Add to that a lack of racing over the last year or so, and Zwiftpower had me as a D so why not take advantage of it 😉 3 laps of Gotham Grind – supposedly flat but with a 10% kick which got me on every lap! I realised that I mainly seem to ride New York on workouts so didn’t have a good feel for the ups and downs of the course.

Anyway, I went off hard and got into a group of mainly Cs. I held onto them until the first time up the 10% when that group splintered, then stayed with the back half of it until about the second time up it when I realised I was working a bit too hard to get round the full distance so backed off a little, rode solo for a while then jumped onto a pair who were just behind me until the third time up the kick. At that point my legs died and I soloed into the finish as best I could. 4th D on companion app but 1st on Zwiftpower 🙂 Average power bang on 2.5, and I wouldn’t have been last in C.

I was absolutely broken at the end, but a good workout and I think I’m safe in Cat D for a short while longer.

Sounds like you have the tactics spot on though, its a hard thing to judge at times, the when to hold, when to pin it, when to wait/ease…. It’s my biggest self-criticism on Zwift as a racer, I go off with the A/B lads as i’ve got decent 1st minute power, then hang in with them and see what happens. Often i die, badly…

This afternoon, i’m thinnking/planning my tactics, what i do, how and when etc… A bit serious for some virtual racing i admit 🙂

The biggest problem with Zwifting at the moment is people who shouldn’t be racing in specific Cats. I saw a race last night and the first 4 Cs in the Companion App results had 4.5w/kg. Now in a Zwiftpower context they don’t matter, they’re kicked out anyway. But you don’t necessarily know that when you’re trying to chase people in the actual race, but they’re already a dead man walking in a Zwiftpower context anyhow.

That’s definitely something that could be improved for Zwift races, an easy way of seeing who are registered at Zwiftpower. And then if the race requires real power data and/or heart rate monitor data, an easy way to see if a rider is complying with the race rules.

My cycling has fallen off the rails again due to this lurgy (or variants of it) I’ve had for ~2.5 weeks, besides the commutes, that are usually taken very easy. Several times I’ve thought I was on the road to recovery, to then feel quite rough again. With the extra weight I’ve no doubt put on due to lack of activity, I should be safely retreating from the 3.2W/Kg boundary.

Only way around it is to run the live data and either click through to their profiles or make a decision on their current power outputs.
If you can see the screen properly while dieing.

I’ve tried that yeah Tom, it all goes wrong when you miss a kicker/surge though and end up dropping 2-3s. Especially if it’s full draft, that’s then game set and match.

My other pet hate is stupid fast Bs who drag whole groups up from behind. More than a few times you’ll get dumped from the A/B group a certain distance in (usually 10-12km for me) and you’ll have a minute on the Cs…. but then a B appears on the front of their bunch at 4.5w/kg ! They then hold that for the rest of the race and drag the whole group back to you…. Where were they for the first 12km ? Why did they decide to come at 4.5w/kg now instead of 20 mins earlier ? I just don’t know ! 😀

Hi TomL,
I wasn’t on a TT bike, just a normal bike. I’ve only used Zwift about 4 times so didn’t really know what I was doing to be honest.
A little bit of reading seems to suggest that I don’t benefit from drafting, as my wattbike doesn’t have a resistance unit able to interact with software. I guess the pro is described as a dumb trainer, it connects to the device (ipad and zwift app), records my power and cadence and overall ride, but it can’t adjust my gearing based on the application. For example, I have to watch the right hand corner of the screen and manually adjust the gearing for the % of climb that I am on.

I thought it would have simply been that the speed would increase for the same power output, so in effect I could take it easy but my speed would maintain with that of the group.

Was weird during the race, when trying to bridge across to a gap I’d have to put in a serious dig, then I expected to be able to get the draft, but instead I had to maintain that effort to stay with the group. Wondered why I was still getting dropped and was putting out more power with a higher w/kg.

Will do a bit more reading and experimenting, I might be misunderstanding the info.

It’s more a fine balance of control. I don’t think it ever just get’s easier on any turbo but you can in theory drop the watts a little. You have to be careful as it’s easy to get dropped or put on too much and get spat out the front.
If you don’t get in a decent size group you lose loads of time. I lost about 20 seconds down the Volcano the other week as I just couldn’t get onto the back of a group of 4 over the top even though I was pushing over 200 watts all the way down.

Yeah wOOdster, the draft doesn’t actually effect the resistance you feel like say a downhill does. It just changes how much power your avatar needs to maintain a certain speed.
I always find the back of the bunch requires more effort than the front so when you catch back on- try and ride right through and off the front. Then as the others pass, you should be able to sit in for less watts.
It feels pretty realistic!

I always zero my PM each and every time and check the tyre pressure for my Snap. I only spin down if something has changed ie if I’ve moved it all for some reason or changed tyre or what have you.
If I was running the Snap solo with no PM then I would probably spin down about once a week or so as it’s permanently set up.

It looks like it’s one of those New York perimeter courses this evening for KISS. Which means I will be shelled from the mixed bunch in pretty short order!
Fingers crossed I’ll end up in a small but useful chase group and get a good race out of it. The other week in this course I attacked with 8 miles to go and held threshold to the finish! May need to see what the legs are like first!

I only spin down if something has changed ie if I’ve moved it all for some reason or changed tyre or what have you.

Mine gets moved after every ride as it lives in the corner of the garage, not where i ride. I also release the tension after each ride. (I have it marked so i know it’s the same each time)

Yeah, then I’d probably ride for 5 mins, unpair from Zwift and do a Wahoo-app spin down each time 👍🏻

Oh my, I don’t know whether to cry, puke or just keel over and lie down.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=235231

Watopia figure 8 race, so a bit hilly for me.
Went off in reverse which surprised me and I hung where I wanted up the first hill and through the rollers, over the bridge sprint I held my position and yes, we got to the climb and blam, out the back. But picked up 3 new buddies at the top and down the far sIde we collected 3 more, it’s then flat for a fair bit so we held together and hit the last hill, again, a bit long and steep so I mostly got dumped out of the group, but with 1 guy with me and 2 from behind we had a small group, which grew as we picked up 2 more who were not as fast as one of our lads.
Down through the water tube bit and we’re catching 2 more, on the kick out we catch them at 800m to go. I held off on the sprint, 300, 280m go go! I did my best but 280m lasted a lifetime! Battled to the line with a C who beat me by 2m. According to Zwift we’re same time but he had me by a fraction.

Great race, hard finish, I honestly really very nearly three up after it. I’ve been struggling with a reflux issue lately and this nearly blew me out of the water!

Well done Weeksy, close to the podium then.
Do all B’s and C’s start at the same time or is there some sort of grid system? My race yesterday just had a large group warming up together – no idea if that was just C’s or everyone.
If you’re going to do a race on Thursday would be good if I’m in the same one – will give me a chance to ride with someone and see how the drafting/tactics work.
Even though I was bumped to a B our w/kg and total average watts don’t seem to far apart.

I’ll pick up a heart rate monitor at the weekend, but how do I prove my weight? Just wondering why my height and weight are marked as red in Zwiftpower.

Woodster they are marked red because in that table your height and weight are the lowest, highest is also marked, see the chap at 109kg and 196cm. It doesn’t mean Zwift doesn’t believe you 😀

Time for a time trial tonight following last nights worst ever climb up the Alpe 🙂

@w00dster depends on the event. Some you sign up to the correct cat and each is in its own pen. Sometimes you go together, sometimes there is a gap between each cat. Sometimes it’s like seperate events and you never see the other cats. Then there are the ones with only e cat where ZP sorts it out afterwards. I’ve also seen all cats on the map at the same time but only the cat you registered in shows in your nearby riders list (you can still draft the other cats though :)).

Anyone watching 6 day London on Eurosport. They are now showing a Live Zwift race from the velopark, 5 laps of La Guardian.

Silly question guys.

I’m not racing but just freeriding every other day. Just upped out to 20k from 10 a couple of days back. Working hard but not enough to make me feel totally dizzy and sick.lol I’m “Finbod STW (D-)” on Zwift btw.

Anyway!

When you get a ride on during a ride how do you easily and quickly reciprocate? Feels ignorant to not return it.

Running Zwift on pc with a BT keyboard in front of me. Also have Companion running on a tablet in front of me too. Companion usually running in Map mode.

Easiest way to return a “ride on”?

Thanks guys and sorry for the daft question!

Well! I don’t always win 🤣

Bit of a catalogue of errors mind you. I jumped on with seconds to spare and couldn’t select the big chainring! So did the whole race a bit under geared. I also left my bike set as the MTB 🤦🏻‍♂️

Didn’t even make it to the first kicker with the leaders and ended up in a group of 8 or so after a while. Sadly the effort was taking its toll and when another split happened, I couldn’t go with them which probably cost me the race.

Another guy asked me to ride together so we eased off a bit. I asked him if he was a B and he said “no, C usually” so I stayed coy and said “ah brill- let’s work together then!” Whether he knew I was playing him I don’t know but we shared the work.

We let another guy catch going into the last lap which was a mistake on his part. Because then it was non stop attacks. Eventually I got a gap on a descent and worked hard to stay away. 295w/3.1wkg average so similar again but 312 NP!! That shows how hard the first lap was for me and why you shouldn’t ride a mtb in crit races 🤣

Bronze 🥉

Sounds like it’s time to upgrade to the A’s?

🤨

(To be fair, the last A race I did- I beat you and got 🥉 🤭)

But no! I can’t even win C 🤦🏻‍♂️

@poopscoop I think if the rider is close by then the ride on icon appears next to their name far a short while. Otherwise find them via the companion app.

@crosshair It is possible to change bike mid race. See the latest post on zwift insider. You have to come to a full stop but in your scenario the gain would have been worth it.

Thanks Nixie. Yeah, during the mid race lull it would have definitely been worth it but to be honest, the real race was already long gone. It was all a last minute cock up anyhow so happy to file it under ‘Meh’ and move on 👍🏻

some ex display bargains on Evans

Neo 500 quid
Flux S – 220 quid
theres a kickr snap on their eBay store for £275

https://www.evanscycles.com/offers/ex-demo-ex-display_c/bike-accessories-category?sort=-price_inc_vat

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wahoo-Kickr-Snap-Smart-Turbo-Trainer-Bicycle-Cycling-Ex-Demo-Ex-Display/123948746934?hash=item1cdbebc8b6:g:yn8AAOSwgV1drwdD

nixie

Subscriber

@poopscoop I think if the rider is close by then the ride on icon appears next to their name far a short while. Otherwise find them via the companion app.

Thanks mate.👍

So had my first ever race in the Cat D as I’m really slow!

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=235819

Pleased with how it went considering shortly after the start I had to unclip and stop my iMac from restarting, which must have cost a good twenty seconds plus.

Think a couple more weeks of structured training (and eating) still required though.

You’ll get there once you get the race tactics and don’t have to jump off. Losing 20s is a game changer as you’ll never see that group again. So you did well matey.

Thought I’d do a double as the Dirt Cup was only short tonight.
2 laps of NYC perimeter. Hard but not silly start as usual. Thought I’d put the hurt on up the steep climb as you turn back up the map to see if it shook anyone out. Split the large group and over the next section it obviously hurt a few as we shed various riders including 2nd place in the league and a previous race winner. Couple of out of category riders and Bs we’d picked up on the 2nd lap blew me and a few more out over the climb on lap 2. Almost clung on but I was maxed out at the top and couldn’t stay with them. Ended up with only 1 other C and a few Bs with 30seconds on the next group.
Won the 2 up sprint going long as the Bs went onto another lap. 3rd in the end.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=235842

30 minutes later and a sinlge lap of Innsbruck short lap. Not sure why as no way I could hold on to the start or have much over the climb and nothing in the sprint :0)
48th…
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=235860

Losing 20seconds to a group is basically unrecoverable unless you’ve just been noodling round. Next time you’ve learnt to ensure the computer is going to play ball and you’ll hold onto the group at least.

11:47am for the ZHR Cat C today for me. Yesterday off, so will have a bit of a race today. Why not hey 🙂
Picked this one as it’s C only, so in theory a bit more fair/equal. Doesn’t mean i’ll do much better, but at least I’m hopefully racing Cs

Hit a wall about 8km from the end. First laps, cruising, then laps 4-5-6 were going OK, the little kick to the line i had to push on to get up with the lightweights, then end of lap 6 into lap 7 i just had nothing at the top of the hill. I was then dead and cooked.

I’ve been having some issues lately with an eating problem, so my reserves are limited, the good news is, my weight has dropped from 15st 3 to 14st 11 in a week LOL.

I did the dreaded weight of truth a little while ago, knowing full well I’d be heavier than the ~81.4Kg I was two weeks ago before getting lurgy and consequently only doing gentle commutes as my only exercise besides deliveries, while still regularly tucking in to my favourite snacks of chocolate raisins and cold-x buns… Up to 83.6Kg, heaviest I’ve been for almost three years. :/

Thought about doing that 1145 race, but more than anything I’m mentally tired today and lost track of time, going to have another coffee and then set the turbo up for the first time since 11th Oct to see how I feel.

Been a bit busy the past few evenings to ride. Without the threat of getting dropped in a proper race, I don’t have the drive I had a couple of years ago to come home tired and then want to smash myself on the trainer.
Still, in a bid to salvage something out of the week, I’m planning to do a Pretzel this evening. I’m hoping with 3h of Dance Anthems to listen to and a belly full of chocolate from a binge earlier, I’ll get round feeling a bit better than the other week. Will definitely have at least two bottles lined up!

so, after having half term off the bike due to 1 or 2 (3/4) factors during the week and only having done 1 ride the week before i hopped on this afternoon and was sort of dreading it,
2:15 5 lap reverse classique, forgot about the long lead in, 7.7km, however the race was slower than i expected, and someone in the comments actually mentioned this, ramped up a bit when we started lap 1, then ramped up for the last couple, i was anticipating some long range attacks, so kept towards the front of the group, 2x A’s went off toward the end of the 4th lap, tried to go with them, got to within about a second but couldn’t get on, id dragged everyone with me though and we soon reeled them in, or they eased off, started kicking off with 1.5km to go, no mad sprints just a big increase in power, it eased with 1km to go and i was still with everyone, 400m to go and everyones going for it, no big sprints though, everyones just hammering for the line, i couldn’t have done more, hr hit 196 at the end,

anyway, i won B on ZP (2nd B on the App) and was 4th overall (7th on the app but 2 above had no HRM) – only 1 A and 2 A+ above me in the rankings and only a second in front

best race I’ve ever had hands down maybe, and it couldn’t have come at a better time motivationally wise

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=238579

Nice work! The rest did you good 😉

I plodded around the Pretzel yesterday. Finished a couple of minutes quicker than a fortnight ago but some of that was due to forgetting to change the MTB back 🤦🏻‍♂️
I averaged more power up the epic KOM but was a few minutes slower. So once I got back down to level ground, I switched out to the Tron bike.

A combination of chocolate and Maccy Dees meant my legs felt great! And the extra bottle helped too.

I was most pleased with my climb up the reverse Epic KOM. 296w for 25 mins, 2h into the ride. I kept expecting to die but HR stayed sub threshold and the legs kept turning. I also had to thrash out a quick finish too as I was unsure what my original time was and had to make sure I beat it!

As I said last time- it’s a pretty handy tool that can trick you into a 2h45 turbo session! Although, you could probably do as many calories in a 2h TR SST workout.

Good work there guys!

After a day of chopping kindling up went to go for a bimble on zwift and the monitor has packed in.

LG 42″ telly off of the used market is kaput. No power no standby light.

Before I replace it……is this likely bad luck or do TVs not like the cold. Garage is dry but unheated.

11:20 6 Lap Volcano Flat Circuit

smashfest up the front with the A’s & top Bs’ the mere hint of a rise and i was almost out back for 3 laps, finally got spat out mid lap 3 when it goes up the switchbacks, 4/5 B’s got dropped as well, were 4 seconds up the road from me and 1 other, i couldn’t bridge it and it sat at 4/5/6 seconds, only chance i thought i had was on the downhill out the volcano if i gassed it and they eased, which is what happened, managed to get across, dragged the other with me, nice group 7/8 of us, hoovered up a couple of lone stragglers, lap 4 and the pace dropped right off allowing me to recover for a bit, was still having to work hard up the switchbacks and into the volcano, ramped up for lap 6 but not too fast, ticker started running down from 0.4km out, was priming myself for a sprint then it reset at 1.3km to go !!! 1 tried to go off the front but the group was too big for him to get away, i cannot sprint at the of the flat races as its almost a TT effort, so just wound it up for the last 500m,

3rd in B, 1st managed to stay with the back of the A’s

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=239764