How do you judge how much you can “hold” as it were? By wattage or heart rate? Or both of course.

Trying to get a better idea of how to judge the same for myself.

In racing experience or bloodymindedness.
If it’s a C only race I know I can hold the front and dictate the pace if needed.
If it’s an all category I know I can hold the front group generally for ~ 10 minutes which should shake out most of the other Cs then see where I am at that point. Less fun than C only races.
Never got round to a B race and I’m downgraded again for now. FTP drop tonights test but that’ll come back soon enough as I’ve been ill for 5-6 weeks.
Plus I’ve reclibrated my Dorito to the number on the bottom tonight after my test so I’ll hopefully have gained 30 watts ;0)

Did stage 7 earlier, still catching my breath!

There were 140 of us in D, I tried to go hard from the off, but not bonkers, thinking there’d be loads of drafting to be had, which there was. After 2 or 3 minutes I got over the initial surge and was happy to see me around 35th. Then, the connection fell out from the turbo, not for very long, (seems like ages when you’re stationary and people whizzing past) but enough to blow all the hard work, by the time it re-connected and up to speed, I was in 90th. Bugger. I spent the rest of the race trying to catch people, sit in for a bit then go again, put a bit of a spurt in up the KOM hill, but the last hill before the line was a killer, not done the course before so didn’t know it was there, assumed it was a flat finish. Finished 60th/140 which I was happy with considering the start. – 10th/36 on Zwift Power so far.

^^ Oh man, that would have done my noggin in!

I’ve been lucky and never had a dropout that I can remember.

Great recovery though.

That was fun.

Couldn’t sleep so got up just before 2am and decided to spend a “quick 5 minutes” tracking down a really annoying clicking/creaking noise from the turbo trainer/bike.

Over an hour later and I think I might have got it…. After stripping the turbo apart (ish) and cleaning, lubing and greasing everything. I’d taken the rear hub apart recently for some work so I was hoping it wasn’t that. Didn’t seem to be the qr/ interface either.

I’ve a Wahoo core and it seems to be where the pivot for the folding legs are, though I’ve already stripped it apart once. Done it all over again and put some oil on a rubber bumper as I’m suspicious that might have been causing it all along…🙄

Stage 6 tonight and I had better not bloody hear it again. Off to try and sleep again. Night all!

Was on the bike first thing this morning and planned to do “Road to ruin” but realized I hadn’t unlocked that one yet being level 5, so I decided to hit the mountain instead.
Beasted myself chasing people, lots of pain especially in the top section where it got steep, I was pushing hard because I wanted to complete the full course before I needed to get ready for work.

Completed it, gained a level and some gloves 🙂

Zwift said my FTP has gone up from 239 to 269, does that mean I now have to race in C in future? In Zwift power it says D but still has my 239 FTP, I just want to make sure I’m in the right category and not disqualified. I was bad in D, I’m definitely going to be at the back in C haha…ouch!

Zwift said my FTP has gone up from 239 to 269, does that mean I now have to race in C in future? In Zwift power it says D but still has my 239 FTP, I just want to make sure I’m in the right category and not disqualified. I was bad in D, I’m definitely going to be at the back in C haha…ouch!

Race in whatever Cat your profile shows, if you break the limits you’ll soon find out….

ZP won’t update until you do an event.
Divide FTP by weight in Kg and if you are over 0.2 above Cat D limit and you want a result to count move up.
If it’s just over race until you get upgraded. As long as you don’t smash the limit your result will still count even if it results in an upgrade.

Cheers Weeksy and Tom

Oooooh. Big hitter day in Richmond race today. 4:15pm.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=325157

Short one and as we know mostly flat, so suits me fairly well…. Sadly there’s a small false flat just as the power goes up on last lap with 2km to go on this layout, which is where i usually end up blowing it.. But i’ll have a pop and see what the day brings.

Anyone else fancy some fast C ?

You signed up to Zwiftpower too?

Yes, the results seem a bit fairer on ZP. I really don’t understand why Zwift don’t enforce the cats in races. Seems counter productive to allow people to win who clearly should be in the next cat up.

Boredom is the biggest problem I have on the turbo, the racing seems to hook me in, so I just need to concentrate on what I’m capable of and not get too hung up on final position or other rider’s stats.

Might give the 6:10 Stage 7 a go tonight.

Zwift and Zwiftpower are not directly linked.

It’s all a bit daft in many ways. Yesterdays race had only 2 of us finishing in C on Zwiftpowoer, but we were a group of 10 on Zwift at the time. So it’s all a question of how you race, how much you care and whether it’s just for fun. Me personally, i race just for the tactical fun of racing, the fun of trying to hang with faster guys and the way in which that pushes me harder.

I really don’t understand why Zwift don’t enforce the cats in races.

because they have paying customers. zwiftpower don’t.

As we seem to have picked up a few new people on this thread a couple of things to joing.

Zwiftpower team https://www.zwiftpower.com/team.php?id=756
Strava Club https://www.strava.com/clubs/STWzwift

Couple of things I’ve noticed on ZP.
Team rankings. https://www.zwiftpower.com/team_rankings.php
We were flying high in C last week when it appearad but I’m hemorrhaging points now from no racing so we’ve dropped about 8 places.

You can now click a ranking button which gives a suggested race ranking by category if you are points chasing. Top left on events page.

Going to try and race either the longer Kalas race at 7pm tonight or the TDZ race just after. If I have the time. Slowly feeling my way back in and not expecting miracles.

probably doing the 2010 Zwift stage 7 race in C’s to drag that ranking down a little further…

I’ve joined, hopefully won’t drag the rankings down too far.

Couldn’t really have done any better than that.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=325157

Sat in the lead bunch all the way through, then with 3km to go a guy who didn’t even make the ‘unfiltered’ list kicked off the front, i thought he may have been able to hold it as he was sitting at 4.7w/kg, so i jumped on his wheel just in case, took a chunk of effort out of me. But i then settled in again. During the last 2km we have the false flat and i held the bunch, so coming into the hairpin i was sitting in 6th place in the group. As it all went nuts i was just hanging in with 450w for the last bit, i took 2 guys, but got pipped on the line by 1… Every time i looked on the right of the screen all the numbers were orange, so more than 10w/kg… I expected to lose more places at the line.. but all in all, a decent result.

Great effort Weeksy!

Nice!

Crumbs, that felt a tough effort for 129th! Still best 20 min power of 224W since owning a power meter so every cloud …

Looked at the course. Looked short, then looked at the elevation…

Nice one weeksy and guys!👍

I did Stage 7, 6.10 tonight. Not ridden Yorkshire before. Don’t remember much flat or downs… Seemed all uphill.

Horrible, horrible.

Felt like I was going backwards by the end of the first climb, attrition by the second and general illness by the third.lol Probably the hardest I’ve gone in the Tour races. Zwift would seem to agree as it’s upped my ftp from 228 to 237.

Tried to hold/catch some wheels on the last climb but heart rate was tickling 180odd and I can’t hold that for long.
Could almost reach out and touch the two riders in front of me (so it seemed) cooking near to the finish but they might as well have been a mile ahead. Noticed a guy behind me upping his watts toward the line and I gave all my bandy legs had left to keep the gap. That wasn’t pleasant but it was just enough.

I think I’ve missed Stage 1 so need to ride that “on catch up” next week to finish the Tour.

73 out of 171 on Zwift.

14 out of 52 on Zpower.

I’m doing that charity/social ride Saturday evening where they are trying to break the 10,000+ riders record I believe. Anyone else?

Lol now you know why I’m very very specific about what rides I do

^^ indeed! I like climbing in real life but I can just bimble along on the mtb and just stop when I want.

Nice endorphin rush now though, along with rubber legs. However for the first 15 minutes after the race I was thinking “never again”.Lol

I think I prefer longer races. Those short/ intense races are not for me I think. At the moment anyway.

I’m deffo a short power kind of guy. I’ve done ok in 35-40km races but I need to really come into then fresh and that’s quite rare.
But I do have to start easing off for the Belgium trip in 6 weeks

Sounds like this afternoon’s races went well, congrats guys!

I joined the 1810 stage 7 race last minute from the Android Zwift, unfortunately it put me in A, I had dead legs from earlier workout, I didn’t have time to swap to my 4iiii as power source and topped off with forgetting to turn either of my fans on before getting on bike…

Dropped within seconds of the start and then tested my heat adaption for the next ~24mins while averaging 280W on a solo ride to the finish.

Turning the fan on during the cool down was absolute bliss! 😆

^^ lol, you make me look organised!😅

19.10 Stage 7 for me.
It went as expected for a short punchy route. Off at a sprint and then just holding on.
I managed to hold on to front group till the last long climb at 8km in – started stringing out quite a few of us then. Eased up a little bit knowing there was a group 3-4 seconds behind and with 5-6km left there was no way I could hold them off on my own.
They caught me towards top of last climb, so I sat in as they passed, and we caught up most of the other strung out riders within a KM or so … came in at 34th B rider on Zwift Power.

I was expecting to be pushing my best watts on such a short punchy race. But just under 10w down on my last 2 races. Towards end of another busy week in work so guess I am tired. HR went to 170bpm within 24 seconds and stayed between there and 179bpm for the 20 minutes the race lasted.

First race in C for a while. Not quite DFL but felt like it. Should really eat dinner more than 20mins before and get one the bike more than 5mins before…

Fair play

HR went to 170bpm within 24 seconds and stayed between there and 179bpm for the 20 minutes the race lasted.

I would actually die.

First race in C for a while. Not quite DFL but felt like it. Should really eat dinner more than 20mins before and get one the bike more than 5mins before…

Only time I’ve been sick on a bike is on Zwift and I’ve pushed myself pretty hard at altitude more than once. It’s too easy to just crack on, thinking it’ll be fine.

Zwiftpower down?

Bit late reply… But working ok here.

I’m doing the Team Italy Sub 2 social ride tonight at 5.30pm.

3 laps of volcano flat I think. Optional sprints and third lap is basically full on.

Nice bunch of guys on there too.

Really enjoy those team Italy rides.

The sprints surrounded by a load of others trying to beat their PR,or just the person next to them is something to behold.

It does help to know where the sprints begin mind you.😄

It’s that charity ride/event tomorrow. Not done 3 consecutive days of Zwift so tired legs tomorrow I reckon.

Kalas 2 laps London 8 last night. Longer than normal races and I’m down on power compared to November.
Held the main group comfortably until Box Hill albiet in 30th to 40th. The big group exploded on the hill as expected and crested with a small group running 21st.
Work together but not very hard back to Box Hill where we split the small group rapidly with me trying to get on terms with the single rider who escaped. Can’t quite pull him back and joined by 2 more. Just about hold onto them before the bend as it flattens but not quite on them and can’t accelerate enough over the KOM or up the last steep bit. Solo chase to no avail although pass someone else just before the line. Well ahead of those behind.
Good race and happy with the performance although I’m expecting to get better quickly!
16th in C
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=325199

Great result there.

I couldn’t begin to hold the watts you did for a race of over an hour!

Or for far less if I’m truthful.Lol

It’s all relative.
Everyone complains on feeling unfit if they are down on power to where they used to be, while evryone looks at them going I’d love to be as powerful as you on a bad day.
Optimisitic it’ll be back up in 4 weeks if I can keep healthy and consistently riding now.

Stage 7 TDZ for me this morning. Went in Cat D to see what would happen, went off a bit fast and was feeling a bit sick on the first climb, was doing it fasted.

Let the front group go and basically TT’d it for most of the race with a couple of others coming through and then dropping back at various parts of the route. Strength came back and was hitting around 290/300w. Went as fast as I could up the final hill to the finish but lost a place or two, finished 20th on zwift. ZP had me at 6th but has now put me into unfiltered again.

Can someone explain the unfiltered thing, ZP still says cat D but I’m sure I may have to move up to C as I averaged 2.81w/kg I have a heart rate monitor, cadence and speed, is it because I’m on a dumb trainer or just the category?

Zwiftpower says an average of 2.49w/kg over my events so far so I guess I’m just in D still as it hasn’t put me up.

Just need to see why I’m unfiltered for my races…

Have you refreshed your profile in ZP @oop north?

I did another 100k ride this morning, they absolutely destroy me. 2.5hrs on the road is a breeze. 2.5hrs of constant effort on a turbo is a different matter. My legs are in shreds!