Zwift Team Time Trial, Thursday

Zwift Racing League sounds great though, presumably will see the end of the bodgy self-timed starts!! Good to see Zwift themselves finally getting onboard with proper racing. Might need to reschedule the STW race series (if we’re still doing that when ZRL comes along) as it says they’re planning a team-based scratch race for Tues which will no doubt be popular with everybody including lots on here!

I’m in, didn’t realise I’d not signed up.

Not sure I’ll be up to much mind after Monday yesterday.

I am not feeling 100% so have withdrawn for this week. Hopefully will be back next week!

The race series sounds good, I’d have liked to see an ITT in it too with team points mind but that’s because I’m a masochist (and can’t draft)

Might need to reschedule the STW race series (if we’re still doing that when ZRL comes along) as it says they’re planning a team-based scratch race for Tues which will no doubt be popular with everybody including lots on here!

The race series will be finished by the time this starts I think. I was planning another series before xmas. Although we can have a big squad I think it is only 6 riders per week on the race series so will need to be fairly informal like the TTT is at the moment.

I’m available I think, coming back from London so its a bit random as to what happens, but should be fine.

I will enter for 7:40.

The tuesday race was a blast but I could not hang with the front bunch after about the 10th minute.

There’s lots of reasons why I shouldn’t be riding on Thursday, but as it stands, I’m still in. I may disappoint.

Good morning everyone. We are all set for his evening. Here are some details:

Our start delay is 4 minutes. Banner drop is 19:40, so we are off at 19:44:00. Comms on discord, if you are cut off just watch the clock and follow the bumblebee blob out of the start pen.

The start sheet looks like this at the moment:

@dangeourbrain

@phil56

@eat_more_cheese

@savoyad

@zilog6128

@haloric

That’ll do me, but there is still room for more. Join category A here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1068230

See you in the pen!

Well Tuesday’s results tell me zilog and I are the slowest riders in the group this week so I’m expecting great things!

Was this the very first TTT course we did or am I making that up?

Looking forward to it folks and I’ll see you tonight

LOL if you and Zilog are the worst, then i’m staying the hell at home for that day !

Hehe

Well Tuesday’s results tell me zilog and I are the slowest riders in the group this week so I’m expecting great things!

I am expecting pain, still feeling it in the legs from Tuesday!!

Good luck all – will be back again next week!

I am expecting pain, still feeling it in the legs from Tuesday!!

Today is the first day this week I’ve managed to walk up and DOWN stairs without having to use the hand rail to hold myself up. I’m very proud of myself.

Enjoy the R&R robbo

Was this the very first TTT course we did or am I making that up?

It was.

Awesome effort all. Both a sorry and a thank you as I think I might have gone a bit hard on the first lap but I needed that. That’s my best effort in ages.

Urggggh 🤮really tough course that. Every single little upslope and every team we passed (of which there were quite a few!) we seemed to be pushing 300-400W with very little respite before the next push!! As usual really thought about giving up in the last 6-7km but just about managed to stay in somehow 😀

Sadly dropped haloric (although great effort by Phil to try to get him back on, and then catch us up); might’ve been our fault as he was last and possibly we hit the gas to overtake that team when he wasn’t quite ready, or maybe just one hard push too many! I know my legs are going to hurt tomorrow!!

Wow – I could tell after the first few minutes I was not going to make it at that pace, just a little too hard for me. I suspect I was not fully warmed up either due to domestics, and could not respond when I needed it.

I was yo-yo-ing around and kept dropping off. Adam was subtly waiting for me a few times and then I got dropped as we hit that downhill into the other team, and Phil gave me a couple of pulls but really it was only a question of time, as I was not recovering.

I slowed down and was at 2k to go as you finished, got passed by two teams I think.

Still really enjoyed it, glad we had the numbers so I could fail with grace !.

Cheers
Ant

If you only lost 2k to us you did more than fail with grace ant that’s a bloody good margin for a solo!

Was good to have you along and I’m not sure we’ve ridden the TTT together before either. It gets a bit easier when you’re used to riding together as you tend to get a grasp of how they ride, be that spiky effort or constant power.

So long as you enjoyed it though that’s the important bit.

No shame in getting dropped. That was a tough circuit. Didn’t quite feel like I was at the races today. Normally in a TTT I don’t watch the Km’s to go, today was an exception. Last 5k was a tough ask.

You guys put a proper flyer in this week. Well done!

Nice ride. We finished in 52:32, ave speed 39.85km/h
That left us 148/434 overall and 81/144 in frappe.

I’ll keep saying this: passes are the hardest part of this event to get right. What’s frustrating was that we lost @haloric on the last real pass we had to make (there were a couple more, but both involved teams on the crossover part of the lap so about to “turn off” anyway) . Yes, @eat_more_cheese I was watching the km counter tick down towards the end. Why did it change so slowly when we were riding so fast?!

The entry is in for next week. 3 laps of the Reverse Hilly Course, so 27km.

I’ve put us in at 7.40pm again. Enter cat A here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1080949

I’ll keep saying this: passes are the hardest part of this event to get right.

If you don’t go so fast you don’t have to make so many. 😉

The 2 crossovers and the short circuit made life much harder in that respect yesterday. My team had a 12 minute wait in the pen so we’re starting only a few minutes infront of the 1st teams starting their 2nd lap. There were a couple of times where I called a slight slowdown just to hit a gap rather than get mixed up with another team.

Next week should be more straightforward on passing but the course is another one that will make group cohesion difficult.

At the risk of seeming eager, which I’m not, I am free tomorrow.

Big climbs are my nemesis, where my ramming-speed-at-the-bottom-die-at-the-top doesn’t work so well, so expect steady as she goes.

Great news @haloric. There’s still space for you – and for anyone else interested in riding this week.

Sign up to category A here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1080949

I’m not going to be able to ride for a few weeks because of Thursday evening family commitments. I do plan to return though, and I’ll keep putting in the entries, stalking the results and nudging this thread until I’m riding again.

I’m out for this & next Thursday unfortunately due work commitments. Was contemplating asking my boss if bringing the turbo to work was acceptable. Good for Tuesday night as it stands.

I am in for tomorrow, looks like at least 5 of us on the App?

@twisty are you joining us tomorrow evening as well to make it up to 6?

If I don’t make it out on the bike through tomorrow, is it okay if I join you guys for the TT in the evening.

Is it structured in terms of taking a pull at the front or a case of having a go when you feel upto it?

It’s definitely OK to join in @kirky72
Our strategy is very informal: Join the blob, do what you can. No structured pulls at all. And if you get dropped, an effort will be made to cajole you back on.
Have you ridden the TTT before? The logistics at the start are weird. I’ll explain them properly if you need.

I’ve only done a solo event before.

I’m not going to make it this evening sorry folks, had to head to Cambridge this morning and can’t see me being home before 9pm

@savoyad – Adam, do we have a team for this evening?

Yep. We have a team and a start delay for this evening.

Start delay is 6 minutes. So in the pen by 19:40 and we are off at 19:46:00.

The start list at the moment is:

@phil56

@zilog6128

@haloric

@robbo1234biking

Plus, I think @kirky72 might join as well. I’ll do detailed instructions in the next post.

There’s still room for more if anyone else is interested: sign up to category A here https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1080949.

OK @kirky72 there’s a small amount of hassle involved first time. Full info is here: https://wtrl.racing/ttt/TTT-Rules-and-Info.php

But basically:

1. Enter the event. Category A here: https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1080949

2. Attach yourself to our team by tagging your “rider name” in zwiftpower. Go to Zwiftpower –> Zwift Profile –> Settings and then add (STW) to the end of your rider name. [if you don’t have a zp account, you need to get one…]. you don’t need to change anything in zwift itself, just zwiftpower.

3. Get on a road bike and dress up as a bumblebee. Do the same in the game as well. Then join the event by the event start time. So 19:40 tonight. But that’s not our start time…

4. The start: when it says GO, you MUST NOT GO! Stop pedalling entirely – you need zero power so you don’t roll forward – and wait patiently in the start pen for our start time. Tonight that’s a 6 minute wait. So we’re actually off at 19:46:00. Then, you can go!

5. Comms (including a countdown to our start) are on the STW Voice channel on discord. Here: https://discord.gg/qyeruR – it is possible without (just join the group as everyone rolls out at the start time) but it’s better with.

I think that’s everything. If anything is unclear just post in here and you’ll get an answer…

It’s not necessary to be in team colours but it is helpful when passing (or being passed) to be in the same.

I’ve found that if you change your kit when you are *in the pen/event*, it changes for you on your screen, but not for your team mates, they still see you in the old kit, so go bumblebee before entering the event is preferable.

It’s also very easy to pedal by mistake with muscle memory whilst waiting for the start time, I tend to get off and do some mild exercise/eat a donut whilst waiting.

3 C’s and B tonight then. The 3 C’s are very closely matched so hopefully we should be able to work together well to get a good result.

Will have to watch the ramp at the bottom of the KOM as you cross the bridge. The rest of the hill isn’t too bad but that is likely where we might split.

I might give this ago tonight if there is space for one more?

Only issue I’ve had before is I don’t think my profile is set up correctly so I didn’t count towards team results. Can someone confirm?

Just checked @tpbiker and I think you are fine. You counted in the results when you last did it on the 20th August. You aren’t in the STW team on zwiftpower but it doesn’t use that just the tag after your name.