Zwift, my journey, my weight and my fitness.

13:30 for Paris circuit race ?

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1179155

I go with a towel next to me on the workbench, along with a gym mat underneath to mop up the massive puddle. I think on an average Zwift race i drop 1.5kg in sweat.

I’m not the only one then! It’s more the phone issue I have, and the sweat drips turning it off etc. I might try a buff as a head band and see if it helps or just makes me overheat more haha

I use a buff rolled up as a sweatband as it stops the sweat getting on my glasses. I also have a microfibre towel on the bars in case I need for the arms and I wear fingerless mitts as otherwise the bar tape become disgusting!

How did it go @weeksy? ZP looks like you won the sprint from the 2nd cat C group on the road?

Did the UI work for you? I raced in NY earlier and I had no rider display, and everyone else in the world stayed visible.

I go with one towel on handlebars and stem/headset, which stays put but can nudge up over my garmin (or your phone @oopnorth) if necessary, and then another towel loose on the bars to wipe myself with. And a mat on the floor.

1. Rubbish mate. 1st lap i found hard… but hung in. Onto lap 2 and the kick up after the line, rubbish, didn’t have it, no HR and no legs.

2. Nope, no other riders on my list. I could see them on the road, but nothing in the list.

ZHR Up & Down Race (B) 18:30, Volcano after party job, bleurgh, that was a hard!! fought hard to stay in the front group round lap 1, pace settled, an A went off the front at some point end of Lap 1 beginning of 2, stayed away for a bit, came back in, but then there was some chatter in the text and it went mental for about 500m before the little kicker where it flicks right up the outside of the volcano, people shelled everywhere including myself, but that was the tactic i guess, was too far back to get up near the front before the rise which i normally do just to give myself a fighting chance, settled into a group of 10 until the Volcano KOM, but i was gassed and giving away 5kg on most, got gapped at the beginning and gave up a bit, but with about 800m to go i had a couple 5 seconds back and 1 about 10 seconds in front, did a decent effort of 378w av for just under 2 minutes, including a big kick at the end to pass who i was chasing

kids came home just in time for the last 2km and were in pieces laughing at me huffing and grunting, indoor races are so glamorous

10th

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1179225

some number comparisons

Neo v Quarq AXS 50/37

1 Min – 424w v 440w
5 Min – 334w v 337w
10 Min – 315w v 325w
20 Min 298w v 304w
30 Minute – 295w v 300w
59:30 (Race length +6 seconds) = 281w v 286w

https://analyze.dcrainmaker.com/#/dcc/92781a18-18af-4888-71c9-6bb6f8a66e09

Great effort that mate, nice job.

Anyone going the Academy workouts, you are going to love #7…one word…brutal! 3 hard sets that get harder as you progress and just when you think it’s over, a full 4 minutes at zone 5 to finish you off.

My legs had gone at the end, plus the lungs…the hardest yet I’ve done. I won’t be doing that again…ever!

I did that last night and whilst it was tough I didn’t think it was too bad. It frustrates me that they jump from big watts to tiny at times so that it’s hard to drop or gain in the time frames though.

To be honest I find the ZA workouts a bit easy and tend to come off them feeling underwhelmed.

Hi Is this the right spot? Brought a Kickr Snap to help with lockdown Cardio and now using Zwift . Set it up on Monday .. and its a bit good . Training in my house no distractions at any time I like . Put 60 miles on in the first three days and will be back on it again in a bit . Need to sort a few things out with the set up – have a question.

Im currently using my laptop but have an iPhone 11 which I have ordered a hdmi out and bar holder .. I intend on hooking that to a wall mounted TV – How long roughly would the phone last and can I use my Bluetooth headphones at the same time or does that fubar things ?

2nd’ly I’m a leisure rider if truth be told not an athlete – whats the best way to get the most out of this – I did a quick 30k on watopia for the first ride, 20k yesterday morning on Innsbruck yesterday pm did an SST training for just over 40k.

Would like to improve my fitness

Any hints tips observations and directions very welcome.

Can’t believe I didn’t do this earlier – Just now need to renovate the basement for a permanent home for it all

DOn’t know about with Apple, but if i mirror my screen on Android to Firestick i then cannot do music as well on my phone through a BT speaker.

There’s no answer as to ‘what’. Some prefer training, some prefer riding, some prefer racing, it’s all up to you.

Thank you for the reply !

@makkag follow @dangeourbrain if you are interested in a Sunday Hills ride. This week is 8am Dust in the Wind. Its a bit like a club ride but we wait for people. There is a STW race series on Tuesday evenings (there is a thread for that) and a TTT on a Thursday evening if you fancy joining in some racing.

The issue with using the hdmi out from your phone is that you then can’t use the companion app.

I assume using the laptop is a pain hence the move to the phone but I’d consider finding a cheapo zwift phone purely to run the companion app, Spotify and discord and have your iPhone plugged in to the wall at the same time as the hdmi using one of the dual hdmi/power adapter things.

To be honest I find the ZA workouts a bit easy and tend to come off them feeling underwhelmed.

@mrhoppy Then you must be well fitter than me or there is something wrong with my setup…I was proper dying on this one, although I admit the others I haven’t found too bad, nothing like this one.

@oopnorth, I think it’s what you are used to. I’ve been doing a bunch of crit races so 8 minute sessions of over unders with easy rests between is way less intense. The ramp at the end stung but I considered finishing the Alpe when it was done (I’ve been doing ZA sessions up the Alpe to get towards the Tron).

Crit racing I’m holding around FTP as a baseline with sprints on the climbs/shut down breaks. It’s like that session wound up by 20%.

I went out for an hour, the first 20 mins being in the local woods where my lad and his mates go jumping. I’m not as good as him as you know, but i do need to try and keep my hand in, so was messing about there, i still need more speed for one particular jump to land where they are… they’re crazy fast on it. Mrs Weeksy has been abusing me since i told her “You went to the woods to practice where our 12 year old plays??? ” “errrrm, yeah 🙂 ”

I then finished off with some scenic riding, that’s about 3/4 of a mile from my door, top picture is over towards Didcot/Harwell, bottom one is on the way to Goring

2020-11-12_11-36-43 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

2020-11-12_11-36-38 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Ahh that makes sense. I’ve not done any crits yet, so I probably don’t have that constant sprint power, which kind of also shows in the weekly STW races.
Something I need to build on and get involved in the Crits at some point, but I’m sure I will just be making up the numbers at first.

Thanks again for the replies – Laptop not a huge issue just less kit to plug in and get running if i wanted a blast as set up in the spare bedroom atm – but do have some old phones lying around so maybe another option. Sunday will be a bit early for me I think and hope it will be an outdoor ride day – give me a few weeks to get used to this and get a bit of my fitness back up and I will join in – found and followed – seen the STW bit and added to my name Dean McGarry

Thanks again

im sure the starts are getting harder!!, 375w for 2min10 before any semblance of it settling down

18:15 Seaside Sprint race, just hard hard all the way, kept getting + power ups which is no good when everyone else was on feathers, kept to the front of the group on the little climb into the volcano so didn’t get dropped, and i thought the course finished on the seafront, but was on the sprint line, the short sharp right strung it all out for the downhill run to the sprint line, got caught too far back and it was just a loooong line of riders, nearly gave up as i was right at the back, however decided to sprint, and here’s a lesson, always pedal through the line, looked to pass 2 right on it

i got 3rd in B, +2.800 behind the winner, should have been up there for the win, the downhill run in to the finish suited me

4th was +2.801 !!! a literal knats cock
and 5th was +2.868

good racing

great job !

Picked up my Kickr Snap today. First ride with this and it feels like the resistance isn’t changing much.

My bike has a Quarg power meter,should I be using the Kickr or power meter to control the Kickr?

I use kickr fe-c on both power and controllable.

But I don’t have a power meter

Legs still feel OK after last night so going to do a lunchtime crit. Anyone in for 12.30 futureworks race? It is only 6 laps so short sharp and fast. I have entered C but only 3 riders so far!

As the race is so short I can prob keep my power up above a C as it should take less than 20 mins – should I be entering B or will I get pulled back by the anti-sandbagging feature? Have only done a couple of crits so dont really remember the course!

I’m not sure i even know how to ride and make power any more so taking 2-3 days off.

My legs clearly don’t like how i’ve been riding lately. I’ve only had 3 days off in the last 25 it seems… So, the legs are saying no.

Go on weeksy you know you want to…

I really need to try a crit sometime but the times are all wrong for me…or they are 12 laps which I’m not sure I want to do for my first one.

My legs were also good this morning which means I should have gone harder last night! So I did an Academy anaerobic workout this morning to destroy them properly.

Legs still feel OK after last night so going to do a lunchtime crit. Anyone in for 12.30 futureworks race? It is only 6 laps so short sharp and fast. I have entered C but only 3 riders so far!

Looking on ZwiftPower it’s 10 laps??

I was thinking about doing a ramp test today but may try a crit instead if the timings work for me.

In the companion app when you sign up it says 6 laps for C – it will be a surprise how long it is!

I might give it a go, I’ll see how I get on with work this morning.

I’ve not done any kind of high intensity stuf for months so this will probably kill me off!

IT does indeed seem to be 6 laps… Sadly it’s 6 of the dolphin not the Bell layout, but yeah i’ll ride with you Robbo…. at least for some of it.

Legs feel hammered from last night effort but I might try a poodle beforehand and if they loosen at all, I’ll jump on the crit with you. I’m just about still a c in zwiftpower and it’s likely to be a quick race anyway.

LOL it will be quick for Robbo.

Weirdy in last nights race i couldn’t use my lowest gear at all, i just couldn’t drive the pedals. My overall performance was way way down on what i’d have hoped… So we’ll see if it was a bit of a glitch in me or see how badly i need some time off.

Damn you Robbo 😀

Will give it a good go – might die on my arse and find out my legs feel awful lol

I can’t see anything othr than a win for you Robbo.

It could be interesting because it’s an anti-sandbagging race so could be easy for people who are actual Cs to shatter the threshold and end up getting the dunce hat.

Do you start the sprint before the hairpin at the end or after? Where is the best place to go.

How does the anti-sandbagging work, will it let me enter the C cat despite being a B?

yes but you may get dunce hat which slows you by about 33%

Right, I’m signed up for it…

So long as I don’t miss the start!

Top race. I needed something decent as a PU for the last hill, set my PR on it but not enough.

Just managed to beat Robbo after he died and slowed in last 800m. But couldn’t catch the lads in front of me.