Zwift Team Time Trial, Thursday

Since early in lockdown, we have had a STW forum team in the WTRL Team Time Trial each week on Zwift.

Until now it has been organised via weeksy’s epic zwift thread, but I think it’s time to give it its own thread(s).

We ride at 6.30pm each Thursday. It’s designed as a mixed ability event, and everyone is welcome to join us. Our usual approach is to favour teamwork and finishing together rather than going faster at all costs. We are usually a mix of B and C riders (so “latte” or “frappe” class in the coffee-language of the organisers) but we’ve also ridden with As (so “espresso” in WTRL speak). Whoever signs up each week we just ride in whatever class that puts us in.

This week it’s 1x 25km lap of RGV on the new French Map.

To join us this week
– enter category D (regardless of your usual category) here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/991230
– append “(STW)” [without quotes] to your Rider Name in Zwiftpower settings. So you do need a zwiftpower account.

There is masses of official info here: https://wtrl.racing/ttt/TTT-Rules-and-Info.php but do just post in this thread if you are interested / have questions / enter and want more detail.

Yeah i’ll come play matey. Form is OK at the moment, not amazing, but not terrible.

“see” you tomorrow folks.

Is there space for me? C cat rider.

I’m tempted to join tomorrow, although if it is really hot I’d have to bail as I don’t have a cooling fan

@robbo1234biking said

Is there space for me?

Absolutely. I can see you on the start sheet already. I’ll post full practical info tomorrow. The race itself is self-explanatory. But getting to – and leaving – the start line is a faff that needs explaining. Watch this space!

@twisty said

I’m tempted to join tomorrow

Excellent. If you do sign up, come back for the info I just promised robbo sometime tomorrow…

Here’s the info for this evening. Event start is at 18:33. Our start delay is +10 minutes, so we’re actually off at 18:43.

The start list looks like this at the moment:
dangeourbrain B
savoyad B
weeksy C
zilog6128 C
robbo1234biking C

Theres’s still space if anyone else wants to join in. Category D here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/991230

Some details (robbo1234biking, in extra detail for you today!)
– dress up as a bumblebee. make sure you are on a road bike, not a TT bike (the whole point is the draft…)
– join the event (“enter the start pen”) before the event start time, so before 18:33
– when the start says “GO”, DO NOT GO! At this point, you must stop pedalling (so you don’t roll forward) until our team’s actual start time, which today is 10 minutes later, so 18:43. If you must pedal (e.g. to keep your power meter awake) go into the pairing screen. All the way in. Even apparently paused in the menu you’ll roll forward if you pedal.
– at our actual start time, someone will shout go. At that point, go. It’s self explanatory after that. Ride with the group.
– the “hardest” part is often passing or being passed by another team, as the sticky drafts get tangled and you get dropped. be aware
– for comms, we’ll use discord (for chat beforehand, shouting “go”, cajoling me back on when I fall behind, declaring tech issues etc). Join the stw server here: https://discord.gg/UxHekd We use the STW Voice channel in there. Push Tt Talk is best, otherwise all everyone hears is panting. If it fails/cuts out etc, it’s still possible to do the whole thing without – at the start, just go at exactly 18:43/when you see us rolling off. It’ll be quite thinned out by 10 minutes so easy to see today.

I think that’s it.

See you in the pen.

wow, late one….

Legs will be OK here for the flat, expect me to struggle on the hill as always.. I know you say it’s flat, but it’s called a KOM, so must have some uphill on it 😛

Wow this is a bit more involved than I thought it would be. So I’ve signed up for zwiftpower and registered for the race.
What kind of setup do people use for discord? I use rollers which limits my ability to be pressing buttons while riding.
I usually Zwift just with my phone but I might be able to get a laptop set up.

I just use a Bluetooth headset without* push to talk and hope I’m not sounding line a crank caller. I have dropped the sensitivity mind so need to remember to speak up a bit!

*I’m hated for this no doubt but I can’t easily reach my keyboard to hit a button for discord

Legs will be OK here for the flat, expect me to struggle on the hill as always

it’s always hard work! expecting the pace to be slightly less relentless with no Phil though 😉 (hope so anyway as not Zwifted for 3 weeks now!!)

– the “hardest” part is often passing or being passed by another team, as the sticky drafts get tangled and you get dropped. be aware

the key is to ease off slightly when being passed to let them get ahead (as you aren’t supposed to draft other teams). When we’re passing other teams it works best with good comms so that everyone puts the power down at the same time rather than 1 or 2 storming through and the rest being caught out!! Ideally the last rider accelerates first, then the others can react & we all go through together. Again communication is really key here.

Likewise if anyone is struggling, make it known and the rest can slow down/regroup. (Unless right near the finish maybe and they don’t mind being dropped). We need 4 over the line so that only allows one drop-out our mechanical!

I don’t discord, i listen using it but any comms outgoing i do via keyboard.

OK should all be sorted. have joined the Discord channel. Which voice server do people use?

What bike? I have tron so can use that or a more aero package?

I don’t discord, i listen using it but any comms outgoing i do via keyboard.

yeah that has worked ok in the past, just need to keep the eyes peeled for messages!!

I always use the Tron bike for everything. Make sure yours is a different colour to mine lol (yellow) (it helps if we can identify the other riders easily, since we’re all wearing the same tops!)

Anyone else not getting Discord working ?

Discord is working for us

Bemused then. Couldn’t get it working then was on phone to a mate and managed to be pedalling at start time. All in all, a disaster sorry lads

No trouble weeksy. Discord stopped broadcasting me with about 2 mins of the count to go 😐

Good effort though folks. That would be a good commute route I think though it seems to roll slowly. I guess to simulate the “pave”

Yeah good ride all. Really struggled in the last 5km cos of the heat I think, but couldn’t bail as Twisty had dropped out 🤬 🤣🤣

Thanks for the ride guys, sorry I had some issues towards the end.

Here is my shonky setup

Cheers all. Enjoyed that (kind of!). The last bit of that course is like a V02 max workout with a quick spike uphill followed by backing the power of on the downhill. Thought we stayed as a group pretty well seeing as there were a couple of newbies!

Here is my shonky setup

Outdoors?! Burn the heretic!

Thought we stayed as a group pretty well seeing as there were a couple of newbies!

It went remarkably well in all, the lack of a real hill meant there were very few instances where I zipped off the front and it certainly seemed to be holding together nicely and everyone kept on the gas to the end too. Not sure why but after the first k or so I found it much easier for judging when to put the power back on to catch the group than usual too,much less yo-yo than normal.

I think there’s been a bit of practicing going on whilst I’ve been away 😉

As I understand it we came in 51st out of 125 in the Latte section.

Not a bad result, good consistent splits too.

That was a good ride. The hill wasn’t really a hill. But on the other hand the “flat” bit was, as robbo1234biking says, sometimes hard work especially towards the end. We stayed together well. Thanks robbo1234biking and twisty for joining us, you slotted right in nicely.

We were indeed 51/125 in latte, and 254/433 overall.

The entry is in for next week, Thursday 6.30 as usual. It’s 42km of Out and Back Again (which we have ridden before).

Enter category D here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1003086

I’ll post that info again after the weekend.

Cool, I am in. That was actually the 1st time I’d ridden any of the French routes so didn’t know what to expect but yeah, that KOM was nothing!

Quick plug for this week’s TTT: Thursday, 6.30pm, Out and Back Again.

All welcome to join us. The start list isn’t up yet, but I can see 5 of us already on the companion app. So there are three places still available.

Sign up in category D here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1003086

I cant make this week I am afraid as we are getting a few days away. Will hopefully rejoin you next week.

No start times yet, but a quick bump for tomorrow’s zwift TTT.

Tomorrow, 6.30pm, Out and Back Again.

Sign up to category D here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1003086

I’ll be back later with our confirmed start time.

Our start delay this evening is 12 minutes. So join the event by 18:33 and the sweatfest will begin at 18:45.

Don’t let anyone borrow your fan today @dangeourbrain.

Today’s line-up as it stands is:
dangeourbrain
phil56
savoyad
twisty
zilog6128

Still room for reinforcements. Cat D here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1003086

See you in the pen!

Don’t let anyone borrow your fan today

I might even borrow a spare from the office today

I’m at Brands Hatch today and won’t be back in time.

Cheers for this evening folks. Pleased I had my fan back!

Any chance of an invite for discord as I left the server in the process of trying to figure out how to close the app

Great ride all. Ta for dragging me round. Flatter one next week please 😂

Discord link:
https://discord.gg/QDh6XP

I’ve had a tough week and wasn’t sure I’d finish that, but boy that felt tough even at a slightly lower effort due to my tiredness and someone else’s cramp in a 4 man 2nd team.

Made it though, and pleasingly our 2 club teams take up 7 of the top 10 places – 2nd to 8th – in B cat.

Ta for the invite.

I don’t think I’ve ever ridden half of that route before, it’s an odd one!

Ah, it’s seems I’ve been bumped to cat A so I think I may have scuppered us.

Looks like 81st of 101 in Frappe, would have been 21st in latte. Sorry.

Congrats on the upgrade though!

Well done Brian!

Ta, but it doesn’t feel like it needs a well done, it feels like it should be a commiseration!