I’ve been using https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07HFDXYXG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s01 for a few weeks, because I haven’t got ~£50+ to spend on an official Elite/whoever turbo mat. It’s OK, definite sound reducing improvement, but it’s not quite wide enough for the Direto’s left/right feet (height adjustable, so no issue).
It also doubles up as a lower back support when I’m on the PC, rolls up simple enough and the elasticated strap with carrying handle is easy to put in place, really helps my lower back on this upright Ikea dining chair after my old bucket seat pc chair died a while ago!
The Super Duper turbo mat is on offer at £15 at PX, a bit wider than my Amazon one, so all turbo feet will sit on it.

Had a surprisingly good TT event late afternoon yesterday, 1 lap of UCI Yorkshire. 50% slope feel in 50/16, into the red up inclines and then recover a bit of the descents, first 20min effort over 300W in ~10 months. My 4iiii must be broken, or the TT Tune-Up plan is doing something, hopefully the latter. 😆 https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=299457

@blisterman1962 find some interlocking children’s play mats, they’re usually a turbo’s-worth for less than a tenner, and you can either lay them under the whole bike to act as a sweat-catcher (but bear in mind that it drips through the joins!) or double them up under the turbo itself for more vibration absorption, and stick another yellow pages / big book under the front wheel to level the bike out. 🙂

Don’t bother with yoga mats when you can get an actual turbo mat from Decathlon for £14.99.👍

I’ve got one, folds rather than roles which I think is better if you need to store it away too.

Oh, 170 x 70 if that helps anyone.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/turbo-training-mat-170x70cm-id_8369937.html?

I’ve got the interlocking kids play mats in the loft. Kids don’t need them anymore so why not. Better than binning them and they are thicker than a trainer mat.

Race wise I’m having a bad spell. Moving, Christmas and too much booze from feeling down are having a bad effect. Add on some stomach bug issues and I’m getting very frustrated. Tonight’s 3r ultimate race was the perfect example. Dropped before the top of the hill from the pens. So frustrating. Months ago I was reporting decent attacks and solo breaks. At the moment I can barely hang on.

The rocker plate is interesting, first outing has definitely highlighted poor technique. Was rocking around so much from lack of smoothness there must be free watts there if I can improve it. Feeling sold on the concept though, makes a surprising difference to the feel of the bike under you. Out of saddle sprinting is going to take some work!

So, I’m a Zwift newbie. I’ve been using it since mid-December and I’m currently into my fourth week of the FTP building course and absolutely loving it.
I’ve seen other riders going past giving me ‘ride on!’ thingys, and quite liked that little extra bit of interaction, so downloaded the Zwift companion app for my phone, as the laptop is out of reach when pedaling. I’ve also just bought a terrifying looking thong, but thankfully I quickly realised that it’s the bike that wears it to catch all the sweat coming off me.
Here’s the problem. I’m a very large chap, and if sweating was an Olympic sport, I’d be a contender. The sweat catching thong thingy had a pocket on the top to slide my phone into, so I can see and use the extra stuff on the companion app, but last night I managed to pause the workout umpteen times, skip a whole segment, plus, I think I managed to follow around a dozen or so random riders just by sweating on them. I’ve tried to lower the sensitivity of my phone’s screen, (Nokia 6), but that doesn’t seem to do anything. Bjorn Borg sweatband? Anyone else found a workaround, or is this just a problem confined to fat sweaty Scotsmen from Bonnybridge?

I recently bought a bars mobile holder https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07MDZQLDG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s02 , after deciding the Tacx holder price increase to ~£25 was extracting the pee.

I’ve also got a cheap bar holder. It mostly keeps the phone out of sweat range (out of saddle where you are further forward sometimes gets drops on it).

First race back last night Team Italy Gladiators race.
Loads of French riders. And lots of bickering too reading the comments flashing up!
Super fast ride from start; I didnt even try to stay with the front group. I settled into a fairly large B chasing group from about 4km in. The group was mopping up riders for the next 4 laps.
Fitness is down the drain from the lay off. But managed to suffer long enough to finish mid pack of the B riders and ahead of quite a few A cat riders too. Finished around 5 mins 30 from the winner … some of those guys are really fast!

my phone just sits on the shelf where the laptop sits in front of me. It’s far enough ahead that it doesn’t matter… Very rarely as said, when up out of the saddle, i get a drop on the laptop, but it’s mostly around my feet etc i see the sweat.
I bet i sweat as much as you. 🙂

In a zwift race i can dump 2.5kg !

Regardless of phone location, I just can’t fathom how there is so much chatting going on during a race full stop!
I’m doing well just to keep my eyes pointing at the PC screen.
TDZ race round London last night for me – it’s been a while since I’ve tasted that metallic blood tang in the back of my throat….gave my FTP a decent boost though!

I’m a couple of months in and I’ve been really impressed with just how good Zwfit is as a training tool. I’ve put in a load of really good efforts recently when I just wouldn’t be out on my bike due to weather and childcare. It will be interesting to see the real world benefits once the days are longer and the big routes start getting ridden.

It’s funny in races as you get comfortable at a pace and HR.

For example, my max is 184bpm, but i can type and message happily at 175bpm. So for the first 3/4 of a race i’m usually fine for a bit of chat/banter

Not so much text chatting, but of late I’m getting relatively comfortable at sustaining a higher heart rate again, my last two Zwift TTs have been 170/186bpm and 166/185bpm avg/max over ~22.5mins and ~76mins respectively.

I see Zwiftpower have now retrospectively applied ranking points to the Tour De Zwift “race” event at London Classique.

First day back for a while so just quick Watopia 45 mins. Was fun, haven’t put weight on over winter lay off but have lost power. The Weeksy ride on is always a good motivator when you start going ,😁

LOL i was just looking for an event for myself later 🙂

A Weeksy ride on gives me an extra 5w on average. So doubling my current output.

Just about to do fittest race in about 2 years I think.

Innesbrookring (so) , 17k, D.

Excited but crapping myself too. Anything other than last I’ll genuinely be happy.

Done two SAS (spin and sprint) rides this week
40k with a fence travelling at 2.5 w kg
Few short sprints where the fence is lifted
Made what would have been a boring recovery week in TrainerRoad much better

God Damn it!

There are 5 of us in the final blob..place quickened just a little, nothing much…. Then we are over the End line ffs!

Thought we had another 1k to go! Legs actually felt really good but I didn’t even try!

So angry at myself. Must pay more attention to the mileage countdown and what the map icons mean. Ffs

Going to sulk now… 😡

You did better than me PScoop. Last night i got to 1km in a decent position, just had nothing to bring to the table !!!!

Zwift lists me 80th out of 120?

Can’t be right, didn’t see anyone behind me??

Its all a learning game Poopscoop. Next time you’ll know. Key thing to take away is your legs still felt good.

I did my first 100k on a turbo last night. Mixture of a 5k warm up, 45k team time trial (2 laps of Titans Grove) and the whole of the 3 sisters route plus a second time up the KOM. Legs were so stuffed by the end. Didn’t plan on doing so much but by the time I was half way up the epic KOM it seemed like a good idea. Did see a crazy rider up the epic KOM. They had nearly 150k on the clock and were still pulling 5+W/kg up the Epic KOM and the radio tower climb. Insane fitness!

Ive only done 50k so far. Just free riding.

Want to do the Alp Du Zwift next week, not ridden that yet.

Then im increasing my 16 miles every other day to a longer distance/ more height gain route.

Then… over coming weeks want to simulate the ‘SDW in a day’ by riding The Four Horseman twice. Want to ride the SDW irl this year so would be a good moral boost! It usually takes me 3 days, if at all!lol

Riding something like that on Zwift couldn’t be further removed from riding it outdoors if i’m honest, the time is just completely different, there’s less resting on Zwift, it’s just a completely different game. I’m sure it will help in a training context, but bears no relation to doing the SDW for me.

Zwift lists me 80th out of 120?

Can’t be right, didn’t see anyone behind me??

Register on Zwift power, your result will be better as they filter out all the ringers. (That’s the way I understand it anyway).

I’m still plugging away at the FTP builder, at week 9 now I think. My weight went up by 4 kilos but is on its way back down, most importantly the waistband is looser and legs tighter in my jeans.
Now I’m getting close to my start weight I might race again, being stubborn I refuse to change my weight in the app and hate cheating.

i did one of the Zwift tour innsbruck races last night. 52/208 according to Zwift, 9/40 according to zwiftpower.

given the top three places were 3.7, 4.4 and 3.2Wkg respectively, not sure anyone takes much notice of the categories in the Zwift tour races.

Four horsemen twice, ouch! It took me 1:40 to do 3 sisters last night, think it would be at least another 1 1/2 hours to add the alp in (probably more like 2). So finger in the air your looking at 8/9+ hours zwifting. I can’t even comprehend trying that.

In figuring around 10/12 hours to do 2x horseman. Yeah, it’ll be a challenge. I’ll be getting off to eat or top up the water bottles. Just like I would on the SDW. Won’t be taking loads of pics on the way though!

@weeksy

Yeah, it’s a very different challenge to doing the sdw totally agree. I tend to get a bit crashy on the SDW when I get tired. At least that shouldn’t be an issue. Lol It’s more of a personal “mind” thing… If I can ride 2x Horsman when it’s actually a little longer than the sdw and quiet a bit more climbing then it’ll be a big deal in my mind.

If I can do it it means my aim of riding the SDW in a day is possible at least, bloody difficult but possible. Start at dawn, off road lights fitted and hit Eastbourne after dark probably.😳

@jamesoz

Yeah, signed up to them already from when i dipped a toe into racing a couple of years back. Came last quiet a lot so gave up the racing for group rides/free rides. Had no real idea of the importance of drafting or anything back then. Now I know it’s crucial after all the free riding I’ve done. That’s really helped and I enjoy the free riding too.

Anyway, on ZP I came 17th out of 35 in D. Well happy with that. Probably my best result ever. Though could have been a little higher if I’d realised where the end of the bloody race was! Doh!

I’m doing the 10.10AM 3R race this morning.

22k on Sand and Sequoias.

This is the route I free ride a lot recently so at last I’ll know where the finish line is I think!😆

EXIT: Oh, can you carry in a power up from freeriding before a race, into the race?

I think I read you can?

Nope. Used to back in the day

Ah, cheers mate. Guess it does make it fairer.

Out on the new Whyte today? Weather looking good. Here anyway.

Nah, Whyte was yesterday, Zwifting at 8:10

Good luck if racing.👍

Was just a 2 hours social, but legs stopped play. Even in warm up pen I was struggling to find 150w lol. Did 30 mins and bailed out. Not sure why but a week if racing and Swinley has caught up with my legs, so got off and came in.

Your a machine but even machines need a rest occasionally.lol

Finished the sand and sequoias 3R.

4 out of 13 in D on Zpower. By far the best ive ever done and didnt feel like I was going to be sick/ get dodgey vision like I used to.

No thrilling sprint for 3rd…. I hobbled over the line on my tod 1 1/2 mins after 3rd place.

Got a new KOM too, no idea how i managed that.

Pooped.

Top job!!! Well done.

Thanks buddy. Actually getting quantifiable results with the fitness now. By no means “bike fit” yet but getting there.

I’ve been ‘grounded’ by my surgeon, am OK to ride but not outdoors, risk of crashing and derailling rehab!

How would I go about putting in some longer Z2 hours on Zwift, just pootle around courses by myself? Would I be better just watching some old races on the laptop and doing easy cadence drills on turbo?