Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

Me and my boy mouth. Home in time for bologna after all.

If anyone wants to laugh at me in now down for cat b in the sprint…

B is fruity! Danger is in the pack and at 403w average 2 mins in.

B was bloody hard! “Picked” the wrong wheel to stick with going up the last little ramp, the bunch split and I didn’t have t he legs to launch off the front climbed off the second bunch and finished somewhere on the middle of the two.

That was a damn good workout,. A smidgen over ftp for the full half hour of races.

14th all cats in bologna with an average 325w,could have given a bit more on the flat without popping my self I think but overall paced it nicely, pretty even around 80rpm all the way through. Always find the sudden drop in resistance as it levels off ruins my pace and bologna is terrible for that. Pleased with the effort though.

The sprint race was pretty good, pack settled in about 350w I guess. So long as I find one I could hold the front at 300W, it fragmented a little on the ramps but by and large the group stayed in one piece, had to chase down a couple of small breaks as no one else seemed interested. Things picked up with about 1k to go, front started pulling on at about 400,it split on the roller and I’d misjudged the kick and let my self drop back a bit far. Clawed back about 10 places in the last few hundred in the volcano but no way I was making the front by then. 29th on the road at 332w average in 12.05, fully 10 seconds back which I’d lost in the last 500m at most. 23rd on zp which surprises me, I’d have expected a lot more dqs looking at the w/kg in the first 25 places.

Still I’ve definitely earned Friday beer now.

Don’t think ZP does DQs for races under 20 minutes.

That would certainly make sense! Put it the top 30 riders there were 23 riders at 4.1 or higher in B. I’m 22nd in the w/kg listing at (high) 4.1 out of 37 B entrants

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Garry_Lager
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Due to the TT season finishing for me outside this was my first race on my own in Zwift for ages (I’ve still been doing the TTT with my team WKG) Happy with how it went considering I had next to no warm up for it (3mins 😂) Paced it well, set off fairly steady then slowly ramped it up as I chased down and passed others.

@bjj.andy.w
Did you do the 12 hr or is that another Andy W? V impressive result (in bad weather too?)
Yes that was me. I was over the moon with my distance and finishing position. Becoming the VTTA 12hr champion was icing on the cake !

I think you’ll go well Tom. I expect top2. I was tempted but mother in law is over so I best not and saving myself for fire road pootle at Swinley tomorrow while my boy is jumping.

As I was primarily after a fast time over a single lap it was infuriatingly slow. Basically was pushing the pace on the full lap or working back to the front to push it on. Got joint time with someone else which is enough.
Anyway nothing left for the sprint so got 7th. Pretty happy as feeling good and if I’d sat in would have been up there at the front in the sprint. Probably means I’ll over Cat limits just in a 20+ minute race. Will find out soon enough.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1108658

Bah…. 4th again…0.6s away from the win. It was going OK but the last 1.5 laps were brutal and fast, i was all in and had an aero, but had to use it at the top of the little incline or i’d lose the split for sure and be left behind, that put me back in the mix, but on the final run in i just fell a little short of the podium.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1118325

Happy yet disappointed.

@Weeksy, we need to try and coordinate events, looking at your results and your descriptions of how you do we’re at a similar level in Cat C. I squeaked a 3rd place in the same race on Monday with a whole 1w FTP upgrade too.

I generally ride daytimes as WFH and fit in with short flat races with as many riders as possible. I’m beginning to learn that the only way to get ranking points is either beat lots of riders, or very good ones, preferably both. I’d have needed a 2nd I think to get any points at all, maybe even the win.

I’ll be not riding tomorrow or Thursday as it’s TTT on Thurs evening. But sum, min, Tues, just shout.

What are these ranking points of which you speak?

Actually no, don’t tell me, I’ve enough stuff to get overly competitive about already.

Lol there’s a full league system. Ever race you get rankings points in the overall standings, or not. It depends who you do or don’t beat etc.

Race Ranking 426.73 pts in 10,238th
Category 386th

So currently I’m ranked 386th in C. I’ve been top 100 at times at my best

Today’s result got me
451.78 but as my rank is 426.73 I pick up nothing for that.

When you reach your ‘level’ as a rider it can be very very hard to get points in a race. In my last 30 races I’ve only scored points 4 times.

Monday lunchtime crit race should be doable for me at the moment. Another good crit race should see my ranking down towards 475 points ish. It’s a case of trying to balance having enough good riders to get a good ranking score but not so many as it floods the front end. That said I’ve had 1st, 2nd and 3rd in my last 3 races.

Got rubbish points for the 1st as some absolute donkey won it.

Race Ranking 540.19 pts in 26,612th
Category 14,185th
Age Group 8,643rd
Weight Group 10,604th
Team 13th
Country 6,400th
Best 5: 403.71, 497.22, 600.00, 600.00, 600.00
Minimum Category B 24 races
ZPoints 5,199 pts in 5850th

So that’s what that’s all about then!

12:20 on Monday it is then matey. Entered

Well well well, this is an unwelcome development – I never had any idea what this actually referred to or how it worked…

https://www.zwiftpower.com/rankings.php

Well, decided to get on the turbo and try out my legs after buggering up my hip in a bimble crash.

Rode with Desperate Dan😉 for a while and clocked up 15km with a couple if sprints thrown in as testers.

All in all my hip/ thigh feel pretty good, bit achy but not bad. Not going to try anything stupid but I think I’ll free ride every other day and start notching up the k’s and make sure my hip really is ok.

I missed Zwift.

I wonder if there’s any mileage in implementing a similar system for the next race series? Instead of time you get points for beating those who are, on paper, faster than you or lose points for finishing below “your” position.

50 riders
all ranked similar to the handicap system
+1 point for every position gained
-1 point for every position lost

There are no doubt multiple flaws in this but it might ease the admin burden?

that could work Ivandobski but its still mightily unfair on the cat a dragging the bs along for them to steal points over rather or likewise soem Cs tagging on with b group who on paper faster so they take points for beating them having enjoyed their draft.

only way to make that work is if each category or band of similiar level riders start in mini groups. against only works if there’s a reasonable amount of starters in each group. this could also work with handicaps setbon average race times from segmented category rides so you know what the gap should be roughly for each course by cat. then each cat cam work together to maintain or overcome an handicap and then form mini breakaway sprints for the standing and points split within the cat. should make it competitive and a bit fairer to each cat in their own right.

Is anyone raging the zwift Watts on a large oval single ring with an SRAM crankset?

Not for the first time I dropped my chain in a sprint today, and I belatedly realised the absolute black one I have is not actually narrow wide (FFS) – it’s a shiftable one. Just assumed all AB ones would be NW for some reason.

I’ve used the round Xsync sram ones before and they are solid – I can get one of those, but I quite like oval rings.

^^ Slight hijack on the oval ring question matey!

I’ve actually got an oval ring to go on the turbo bike as I use them irl…. Never fitted it though as it occurred to me that it might mess up the power measurement from the turbo?

I wonder if there’s any mileage in implementing a similar system for the next race series? Instead of time you get points for beating those who are, on paper, faster than you or lose points for finishing below “your” position.

still not really fair for the fastest rider who cannot possibly score for than zero 😂 2nd fastest rider can only score max 1 etc

I’ve actually got an oval ring to go on the turbo bike as I use them irl…. Never fitted it though as it occurred to me that it might mess up the power measurement from the turbo?

Think you would be fine there with hub power measurement on the turbo – it does affect the measurement of some cranks and pedal power meters though. Generally over-reads so all good 🙂

Depending on my current goals I generally pick races based on the points of the top riders in the category on the ZP entries. So if I’m chasing points then I’ll go for the biggest field with the highest ranked riders as winning an event against lower ranked people doesn’t gain you points. The result from that race might get utilised later though when the older events drop off the 3 month cycle. I’m currently losing a result a week so need an event a week to stop a base 600 point being in my average.
Did a B sprint race with club mates with dodgy turbos (in case they are looking). Held the front B group until the final drag up to the line on Queens Highway. Happy with that but still concerned I’m meant to be in B but haven’t done a long enough event or even turbo ride to confirm. I’ll stick in C for now as I’d have got a bunch of points in C but got nowt in B.
Similar power to last weeks sprint race but didn’t have the punch.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1118383

jumped back in over the last couple of weeks, mix of outdoor riding (hour plus long Strava segments) and Trainerroad Sustained Power plan since April, last few weeks ive been doing a longer outdoor ride (3hrs) or a 2hr Z2 Turbo session (Baxter+2) which seems to smash my legs, however i’ve done my best ever 20 min w/kg at 3.9w/kg twice in the last 5 races (and an outdoor PR at Dalby 1:45 for the red, best since late 2014)

race wise, had 1 cup, bronze, but those above me 4.1 and 4.3w/kgvolcano circuit ccw, same old story in Innsbruck, Leg Snapper just too steep for me to get over in the group, still managed to PR the volcano in an after party race

best was yesterday Kiss at Race Pacific 2 Lap Sand and Sequoias, i was sure i was going to lose the group on the climbs, however i hung in there 1st lap, 303w average to the flat on the fist lap, so was fast, thankfully the pace dropped right off on the flat and managed to recover, pace went up again, but again managed to stay with the group, but was that gassed i had no sprint, top 10 spread was only 3 seconds, but was late to jump and got 9th, happy with it as i managed to be up front

happy with where i am though, enjoyed the racing after 6 months off it

Nice one mate, great stuff.

Anyone else in for the Crit tomorrow at 12:20?

(and an outdoor PR at Dalby 1:45 for the red, best since late 2014)

Quick!
BITD when noone used Strava I held that up to about 2013. Did a 2 up 2 man SS TT in about 2:05 just to see how much people were exagerating how quick they could get round it (basically 1:30 was a bit of a fib unless they were am Elite level racer).

Keep intending to go back with gears and my now dead race bike but the motiviation to drive there and smash round it is low when I could just stay at home and do the same from the door.

Nice one mate, great stuff.

Anyone else in for the Crit tomorrow at 12:20?

Is that the 2x short race TTR weekly? Was looking at that – quite like the late Aussie one at 10pm Tuesdays but think I’ll get on this for a change.

Is that the 2x short race TTR weekly?

I doubt @weeksy meant that one. Can’t see what he did mean though…
I might do the 12:20 TTR today though (and its 12:50 hilly partner straight after).

First Zwift race in a while yesterday, did a weigh in pre race and had to add 4kg to Zwift profile😔 Entered one of the Zwift future works races with the boost power feature. Not overly keen on that tbh, bit too much to think about, went with minimum boost, charged it up each lap and saved it all for the last lap. Due to lack of ZP races ranking points had gone from 320 to 500, pleased with 2nd in B and a decent points haul.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1131581

Good racing savoyad – esp the NY one you looked strong to hold the front group up the hill.
Not ridden that before, and won’t be hurrying back tbh, but good to try it out.

Yeah, I enjoyed that, it’s nice having a familiar face in the pack. As and Bs together means it’s a good workout to stay in the lead group in the flat race. I was left for dust on the finishing ramp of that 2nd race though. It’s only short, but one moment I was on his wheel and the next I was crossing the line 10 seconds behind him.

I have done that combo once before, and I particularly like the course for the 2nd race, but robbo’s Tuesday series will soon mean Tuesday lunchtimes are out for a while.

So a new update today…keep it in mind and give yourself time before entering events.

One change…the new Canyon Aeroad bike just got changed. A bit more expensive in drops but also a weight gain, gone down from 4 stars to 3. So looks like no longer the fastest all rounder, that didn’t last long.
Back to the Tron for this week’s Sunday Hills…

One change…the new Canyon Aeroad bike just got changed. A bit more expensive in drops but also a weight gain, gone down from 4 stars to 3. So looks like no longer the fastest all rounder, that didn’t last long.

not sure there was much in it anyway vs. the Tron unless you paired it with the best wheels (which I’m not at a high enough level for yet!) but yeah, not surprising they nerfed as it was definitely OP (to use some gamer speak 😃)

Back on the Cervelo S5 for the non Tron guys ?

I have one of them in the garage too Weeksy! 🙂

To be honest I usually use the Tron anyway (it took so much effort to get it!), the only reason I use anything else is when Tron bikes are not allowed, or in a TTT so I can see my avatar drafting or not.

I’ve still never worked out how to enter to get the Tron so I don’t have it, despite having climbed more than enough for it

@weeksy Really?! I’d be gutted, it’s the only thing in the whole game worth unlocking tbh!! Just select the “Everest Challenge” from the menu like so: https://support.zwift.com/en_us/selecting-a-challenge-HJxhsIONB

Goddamit, decided I’d fire up Zwift for first time in ~2 months and it’s down!

https://status.zwift.com/