Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

I do get your point. I’ll race next Tuesday without it and use Bluetooth on phone. But today I knew I’d not last just by my warm up, my HR even then was 10bpm higher than it should have been. So whilst I was watching the HR in the race, it was only a matter of time before I dropped. You could see it lap on lap as I slid a little further back in the bunch until I was last man in there each corner and hanging in.

First ride on Zwift with my new rocker last night! Didn’t actually feel massively different (have a Neo which has a bit of lateral flex anyway) although definitely felt it in my abs/obliques after and also shoulders/arms so some extra stabilisation going on! Possibly cost me a few watts but if it makes for a better workout then all good.
Might have a go at a crit later if time allows, not actually done any non-STW races for weeks now!!

not actually done any non-STW races for weeks

I said to robbo yesterday that some of now have “shadow” power profiles from his race series different to our zp numbers. Suppose you do the TTT, and the Tuesday night race, there’s not necessarily oodles of extra time for normal zwift races left…

Possibly cost me a few watts but if it makes for a better workout then all good.

The question, then, is if we do a race (wholly hypothetically) where I somehow have to get a minute clear of you, will you be using the rocker or not? I really think you should. More seriously – what did you get? Branded extravagance, DIY thing, somewhere in between?

Suppose you do the TTT, and the Tuesday night race, there’s not necessarily oodles of extra time for normal zwift races left…

yeah, I’m certainly not about to hobble myself by doing one the day before an STW race 😃 Possibly a short one tonight though, probably something at the weekend too seeing as the forecast is awful here!

The question, then, is if we do a race (wholly hypothetically) where I somehow have to get a minute clear of you, will you be using the rocker or not? I really think you should.

haha yeah will be using it from now on. It’s really heavy, and getting the turbo set up straight on it took a while, I’m not moving it now 😂

I’ve been a member of the DIY rocker group on FB for ages. I do posses the necessary skills (i.e. I know someone with a big flatbed CNC router who could cut it out for me if I designed it 😃) but it was a question of realistically when would I find the time to do it? Probably never! So when someone posted last week about the Lifeline one on CRC which is currently on for £225, I looked around and saw loads of positive feedback then just got it ordered up! You could build one for less of course, but factoring in the time/faff it seemed pretty reasonable – the ones I’d been looking at online from small manufacturers are £350-400+

Jeez that Zwift Academy workout is tough! I’m done in! The last few sessions are real leg burners.

Some improvement to be had, but these should help.

One down, seven to go….

I am doing the workouts but not actually doing the workouts. If you run the workout but dont put it in erg mode you just ride to the terrain and ignore the workout text. I then do a TR workout or freeride and then you still get the credit for the workout. You have to complete 75% of the time but it doesnt matter about how many stars you collect. You still get the credit for completing the stage. Easy way to get the kit!

The workouts this year are definitely focussed on filling in a power curve for their assessment for a pro contract. I think they have gone more and more that way each year.

That one was very focused on the RPM’s, running at 90 and 100 for most of it. The benefit is that its helping me in my quest to improve my rpm generally. I used to just spin around 75 to 80, now 90 feels more natural.

85 rpm in the rest sections felt slow 🙂

Hi all, quick Zwift question on ‘trainer difficulty’. As I’m currently recovering from a shoulder injury, I’ve swapped bikes on the turbo, as my Tempest has a far higher front end than my old CX bike (and the CX bikes needs a new transmission and I’m not feeling the love to spend money on that!)

I’ve gone from 53/39 and a 11-32 cassette to 40 front and 46-12 at the back. A quick test suggests I’ll be in the bottom three gears a lot of time.

Is a simple solution to increase the trainer difficulty by say 20% so I need to use more gears? Apparently there’s a bit of a downside in terms of power smoothing but honestly I’m not really bothered. I’d rather not just hammer my cassette!

I don’t want to change transmission components as I’d need to by 11 speed (CX is 10) and I only intend to use this bike until my shoulder is better (3-5 weeks according to physio).

I run a 40T and basically use 3 gears, but it’s not an issue to ne

Yeah it was you I was thinking of Weeksy when I posted.

I’ll give it a try for a week or so and see how it goes before messing about with trainer difficulty. It only takes an hour or so to swap cassettes/pedals/etc over. Worse case I’ll stick the front of the CX bike on a lump of wood!

I’ve not messed with my settings as I’m not finding it an issue. Well, unless I run it on Bluetooth then I need 1 if not 2 more gears

I’m all ANT connected so should be okay.

Are there still STW social rides? I’m a bit out of the loop?

The Zwift Academy workout 1 is nails.

Hurts doesn’t it Ivan?? Hope they aren’t going to get harder as it progresses…eek!

@Alex – social rides tend to be the sunday hills ride, races during the week. There are also virtual commutes some mornings if you are able.
Keep an eye on the zwift meetup thread on the forum. Always things on each week.

Small ride report from me. Been a while. Jumped on the Oh crit race this afternoon. Crit you say, that’ll be flat then, 50k, no problems. Wasn’t flat though was it. 400m of climb in France, first climb straight out of the pens and a stacked field. That did not go well.

For once I’d had a good 20 minute warm up and didn’t go too crazy from the off. Then the hill set in. The pack was quickly stretched out and despite being near the front by the top the pressure stayed on a break formed. I was in no man’s land behind the second group. That meant keeping the effort on down the hill, first catching another soloist and then with them closing the larger group ahead before the aquaduct Kom.

The lead group were out of reach by now and our group settled down, sadly too much as the third group caught after a big tow from one rider. I did a few good pulls but then sat in for a bit before the second climb.

The second climb again shattered my group. This time the gap over the now third group was big enough that they weren’t coming back. We were just 19s down on two that had dropped off the lead group and slowly caught them over the next 10k. There were a couple.of attempts to solo off the front one of which I had to pull the pack to close down as no one else seemed bothered.

Onto the final climb to the finish. I got it very wrong at the start and lost the draft. Somehow got an extra wind though and overhauled most of the group as it fell apart on the gradient. Came in 30th which I think was a good result given the field.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1096117

Top class field there, nice one

@oopnorth – thanks I didn’t realise that thread was still going. Virtual commutes could be good. Get it over with early in the day!

I’m doing 12:45 crit city in D with Figg if anyone else fancies it. I’m just doing it for the ride and will drop out on last few seconds if we’re up at the pointy end.

I’ve entered that in B weeksy – you may well pass me 😁

@Alex it tends to be myself or Robbo doing the commutes with others joining when they can. We sometimes do a couple a week but it has been less lately with everyone returning back to work.

Usually 6-45am starts.

Follow me, craigpin opp north on zwift, plus Robbo1234biking, if you haven’t already and we can send invites.

Due to the deluge yesterday and windy morning I decided to do another zwift race this morning. Plus needing to jump to level 33 I picked a race with course badge I haven’t done and should have enough xp to get me there. So 43 mile 2300ft big foot hills , Newbury Velo at 10.05am. I stuck with cat c for now as there’s no way I’m going to live upto my recent stats that have been achieved over 45minute races for what looked like being 1.45/2hr race.

Very tough just due to the length of the race with a few tough climbs here and there. I managed to get in a decent group to start with once the frantic start died down and actually managed to advance a group on each of the longer climbs rather Than dropping a group like I used to do.
Finished 8th on the road and 5th in zwifpower 30 secs separating 3rd to 8th due to a tight sprint finish, 1hr 52 2.9w/kg 234w winning A was 1hr34 B 1hr 39. I don’t get how the 2nd place B only averaged 186w?

reached level 33, unlocked and bought the Venge s works just in time for Robbos season finale.

Have to say I’m really glad that we haven’t been racing over such a duration in the series I’m not sure other than a sense of achievement it’s not overly enjoyable.

well done for sticking with a race for that duration, kirky 🤪

I did a bit of sandbagging today – started warming up for a B cat crit-city race but really not feeling it and was sweating like a racehorse at 150w
Ducked out & joined weeksy & figg in the Ds instead and then failed to do a u-turn before the line so finished the race. I assume there’s no penalty other than being booted off the results ? Weeksy, did you do the same ?

Yeah I rolled off, we both get kicked out. Sadly, so did Figg, so he’s in C next time. I enjoyed it lots though and was a good workout without being too crazy

Feeling better for Tuesday then weeksy?

Just did ZA workout 1, holy balls that last 8 minutes was tough!! But disappointed in my final “FTP” that Zwift gave me at the end of the session….shouldn’t be as it’s pretty close to my FTP from a ramp test (263 on the ZA one versus 261 on a ramp test).

Feeling better for Tuesday then weeksy

Yeah thanks mate, I’m about as good as I get at the moment anyway.
Debating tactics, bike choice (real and virtual) but as we know, thus one is longer than I usually ride so planning when to go, when to hold, when to say enough is enough up the slight inclines etc.

Well I just got sucked into racing the Academy group ride, it was meant to be a 45 minute recovery ride…I averaged 3w/kg for the 45 minutes

When the hammer goes down i just see red and follow.

When will i ever learn?? Haha

Sadly, so did Figg, so he’s in C next time

err “congratulations” to him (?)

Is he on here – don’t know the username if so

Well, they then updated it to 95% figures and he got the class win.

He posts on here as Crust and races in Robbos series too.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1097757

I’m sure he will post later, but i was chatting to him after the race and really appreciated your help. It was fun as i kept checking you had him, then when i was sure i was kicking on at the front and dragging our group up to the next bunch of riders, then again, again… As long as you were there i was able to drag the pace up.

Great result

I did enjoy you heckling that lad on the front of our group !
You must have a better setup than mine – no way could I type & pedal

Lol he kept using his power ups at the wrong moments.
I’ve just got my laptop keyboard in front of me. It wasn’t too bad today as plenty of chances to recover and type etc. Even though I was pushing on at times, it wasn’t all the time.

Last few days have given me some doubts about Tues and whether I try the road bike or stick with parkwood. With the parkwood I know everything about it, what gears when I’m strong, or when struggling, etc.

Just attempted my first official zwift race in a while, what a load of nonsense. B group, double draft. Spent first 10 minutes hanging off the back putting out well more than ftp, then thought there is no way I’m holding this for an hr, so binned it off.

For those that have been racing in the robbo series, you’ll know I’m not an awful rider. I’m a solid b, probably verging on an A. Yet I couldn’t cope with today’s pace in a double draft event.

starts still as nuts as ever then ?

I binned my first race for ages today (should be a B – nowhere near A) & went into D instead. They started pretty damn hard in the D class, god knows what B was like (and the C race had a quicker overall time than B – crit city so the “larger” rider favoured, I guess)

Aye i get that… absolutely.

In the Crit race i did pacing Crust today.
16 out of the first 20 on ZP were DQ
16 out of the first 20 on ZP were DQ… Crust won right on the limit for 95%

If you also add in that many are not on ZP, it shows how daft it can be at times. You really get to become good at reading Zwift races and letting people go sometimes. You’ll see them in C sticking out 4w/kg and think “nah, you’re not staying in the results”

Thing is half the fun is battling aT the front, trying to attack, defending an attack etc etc. Ie the racing element. When you are either just absolutely on the limit, or have no idea who you are racing against, it makes the whole thing a bit crap.

I use to race in c, I found it alot more fun but it was still tough and I only won one race ever, which just so happened to have a steep climb at the end. But If I drop back down c then that’s just going to cause the same issues for the genuine c riders as I experience now.

Basically the zwift system doesn’t work as is unfortunately.

Agree mostly… but i’m not sure what the actual answer is until the pre-check riders before entering the races.

They do have a series or two with Auto dunce hat… if you’re destroying the limits you get ‘slowed’ by the system so they get dumped out.. it’s not foolproof, but it’s a start.

Zwift Academy workout 2 is…. poorly designed.

Sprint intervals which are ok in themselves but the way it drops your power to next to nothing then you spend the first half of your sprint at 130rpm and about 130watts before the turbo catches up and you can actually get some decent numbers on the board is a bit shit.

I’m sure there’s a knack to it but I tried erg mode, regular mode etc and it was still overpowering the resistance until way into the interval.

Ivan – are you running it in a low gear (on your bike) ?
Supposedly that allows erg mode to control things better

No, I generally have it in the highest gear – worth a try next time though, cheers.

Yeap definitely should be in a low gear for erg mode. Small ring in the front and a couple off the lowest at the back for me.