If we are talking CX (rather than XC, which I don’t know much about) then come to the central league – the vets race is rammed, I’m 56 and look like one of the younger ones. I’m also getting pasted by older riders, but also beating younger riders (on a good day!).

That was fun.

We finished 4m30s down on the A, erm Other team, 62nd out of 135 in Frappe so far.

Thanks to Brian for shepherding us through, we could probably have knocked a few seconds off if we had let you pull us more on the first lap, but I think it worked well overall.

Shame to have a few technical glitches, Andrew who dropped out the back and then shot right through in his alternate universe, and Robbo near the end.

Hard to tell how hard we are working individually, I felt we could have gone a little harder from about 7k out, rather than save for the last 500m, based on what I know of Ivan and Robbo from the Paris ride, which seemed much harder to me, but I would rather be within my limits in a team than blowing hard and out the back.

If we could hold a consistent w/kg going up a hill we could be something to contend with !

We got a bit out of shape in the rollers at one point, if was like the bermuda triangle.

Thanks all, Ant

For me, where we go wrong is not slowing enough when there is a gap, and hoping Phil can pull the sufferer along.

When there is a gap at the back the whole team needs to go into 80% cruise mode, whilst the rider rejoins, or a stronger ride helps out by going back, but the main team must reduce effort considerably, otherwise the dropped rider has to put in monumental effort and is drained when they do get back.

Usually the gap has grown too big before the team slows.

I would like to see more comms from those at the back calling the pace (myself included), so that we get earlier notice of the issue. Just one word commands like ‘cruise/go’ would be enough to head off the gaps and indicate when its safe to ramp up again.

I’ve tried to call that in the past, but not felt that the group has slowed quickly enough to slow the gap. Just my 2c, last ride we were pretty much on it, still loving it.

@kevt – the GO was said, we were not one big blob, several riders were off the back afaics, but its very hard to make a starting blob happen.

If you didn’t see it, check you don’t have group messages turned off, that has caught me out a few times, normally after a software update.

Personally I would rather see a cruise at say from 2.0 to 2.5w/kg max as the starting speed or an absolute kmh, which would give people a change to catch up and modulate speed. 100w is often quoted, but you just end up yo-yo-ing around from front to back if you try that, and then you panic that you are off the back, and then you are off the front again.

Got surprised out by the first lap sprint that happened in exactly the spot I had predicted it would, which made me doubly surprised, thrice cross.

Not even 600+w could get me back on, so then I met up with the mid C self help support group. We spent 5 laps looking at each other. Tried to help with the odd breakaway but that was stupid ‘cos I was actually already on my limit, and barely holding on some of the time.

Let my drafting bonus too late for the finish, but got new best 1m,5m and 10m powers, so must have been trying.

Great series, thanks Robbo, looking forward to the next one, and the WTRL league…

For info: https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/news/london-marylebone-bicycle-racks-upgrade

Wow – thanks for that, how did you find that out ?

So glad we’re forced to register with them to get a tag, but they don’t mail that info out – at least I haven’t had any.

Haven’t been to London since April.

Last time they did this I turned up on a Monday morning and all the bikes were in a big coral at the end of the platform, and the new racks were empty apart from three or four bikes. The coral was not being monitored in any way, you could help yourself to any bike.

Mine was not there, had to get the station manager to complain that they had cut my bike off the rack and it was now gone. He said, show me where it was, so we go back up the platform to the new empty racks and mine was there, the lock had been cut off, but put back on the empty rack.

Hey ho.

When the jawbones aren’t working right, its more this…

re: comms

I have ‘push-to-talk’ set on Discord, which means no transmitted sound unless you are holding the button, and I use a separate phone for it. I think it works pretty well with practice.

I use jawbones headset to be berated by Phil, as it means I can listen to music on normal inner ear headphones and have my head vibrated when I’m lagging. It feels like Phil is actually inside your head.

Hmm, maybe I wasn’t subscribed, how embarassing, anyway I am now.

I’m a middle of the road C I think.

Wait, what, did I miss a memo ? have I fallen off a list ? I thought I was a regular now.

I thought I was already entered for this week, and I’m up for the WTRL league when it starts.

Can’t keep up with this forum on a hourly basis !.

Apple TV 4k for me – zero problems with and it lives in the shed with an old 2nd hand wide screen tv. Phone for companion/discord/music.

It takes about 20 seconds from power on to zwifting, and it has zero fettling required.

If you can wait a few months there is a new one in the pipeline, and that will have even better graphics on zwift (eventually) or you can get the current one at a reduced price, which is currently less than £200 with a warranty.

Just the number of ‘my pc crashed/updated/failed at the critical moment’ messages in zwift should be enough to turn a sane man away from pc’s.

There was a limit with the number of BLE connections, but now more than 2 can be done through the companion if you need to.

The graphics will not be as high res as a good pc – but they’ll be better than any cheap laptop.

> Compared to haloric who put out a nice consistent power throughout.

The red line is the red line. The engine needs changing before the next race though, the pistons are seized this morning, and the chassis could lose 9kg and still be borderline to make the team.

Thanks all, just about made it through, was getting the first signs of cramp with about 6K to go so happy to get to the end, thought I was going to be forced to limp in.

That ride had best 20mins effort at 284w, best ever at 285w, so I’ll take that.

I do often raise an eyebrow when Phil says ‘this is downhill’, and its dead 0% on my screen, or ‘its downhill’, therefore more effort.. but he is what makes us go so hard !.

Enjoyed it again, will enjoy it even more when I can walk normally.

Ant.

Only the first 4 across the line count, the team can be 8 I think.

It’s very good practice for consistent efforts. The rules are simple, do what Phil tells you when he tells you, mostly don’t start pedalling until it’s our launch time.

Phil is very good at coming back and shepherding, and Discord is very useful for grouping up and also so that you can declare yourself dead / mechanical / I’m popping out, I may be some time etc.

Ultimately, no-one is taking it madly serious, you finish or you don’t, its just another type 2 fun variant.

There is another thread for the TTT.

Ready to roll, signed up.

Also not going to make it, was looking forward to it, instead I am out in the actual real world riding in the actual woods with an actual real light on my head for a change, probably cold waiting for someone to fix a puncture, if I remember how these night rides work..

Enjoy.
Ant

Managed to hang on with enough encouraging !, thanks all.

Sorry we lost retrorick, he was right with me as we approached that group, not sure whether he got sucked into it or lost power. Big groups rock, we need to get to 8.

There is a ‘push to talk’ setting on Discord which I find quite useful. I’m currently wearing two sets of headphones – bone conduction for music and inner ear for Discord, plus a sweat headband and glasses – must look a right mess, but still loving it.

Currently 34th out of 112 by the looks of it, nice work.

Ant

Not sure what it all means but I’ll add to the record:

Age 56, RHR: 42, RecentMax: 183 (blame this event). Overnight: low 30s says my watch, 91kg

I don’t think you Zwift name is relevant to the results, only the ZwiftPower name is relevant. Hence they do not have to match.

You will see lots of people in the event with no tag (because its the Zwift name on screen).

https://wtrl.racing/ttt/TTT-Rules-and-Info.php

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.

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.

nothing to see here

Got proper dropped at the start I was waiting to help the boss get back on after his slow mis-start, could have done with a bit of time/warning to get back to the group, but they were long gone, full power just put me on the back of the lastish group. Shit happens. Spent the whole race chasing one person/group or the other.

Watched oop north try to do a bike swap whilst rolling down hill – which isn’t possible on some devices like ATV, so that cheered me up for a while, but he soon came storming by, and I got a drag with weeksy there for a while.

I though I would be the test case for MTB swap, as I was right with oop north at the time of swap, so we must be fairly similar. One he had passed I didn’t see him again, so thats the answer for me.

Then Robbo also came storming by on mtb, even though he must have started quite a long time after us. Got a short drag there for a while. Then cat and mouse with N.Arnold – who I think was steering/zig zagging either on purpose or by accident, but I couldn’t get any drag there so stayed behind, managed a break for home with about 5k to go.

Lesson learnt – stay with the blob at the start whatever happens.

As a newcomer to STW I have to say that it’s been great fun to race so closely with a large group. Most Zwift races (and as level 36 I’ve done a lot) are very impersonal affairs, and this series plus the forum plus the ttt make it much more interesting, and something to look forward to.

There are too many variables to take it seriously – I dropped 45w when I changed to a top of the line trainer two years ago and it’s taken me until now to get back to the same level.

One thing that could improve the experience a lot for me is if all you guys under 91kg would stop telling me what your weight is, because that’s getting old real fast 😁

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

Turns out it was all a dream.

I was running the zwift app on my laptop to get at the FTP value (which you can’t get through the website, thanks zwift) when all my actual riding is done on apple tv.

I foolishly thought that the ‘your best’ figures were for my account, but they are ‘your best on this device’ – my laptop figures are from a ride I did about 2 years ago before I got the atv, the atv has a 20min of 285, which is inline with ZP FTP and the auto-updated profile figure.

Now all I have to do is work out how to get that 11 minute handicap down..

I’m pretty sure that any ftp test would be less than what I actually get in a race.

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.

If you are hoping to grab a lapping group as they pass, you can also swap your view to head on, so you can see the relative speed and length of the group as they approach from behind – you need to ramp up in plenty of time, because as they pass, if you get it slightly wrong it hurts to catch up.

For the avoidance of doubt – I can’t make it as my regular cyclocross group has scraped up a team, so I’ll see you on the road.

We are team Radish (don’t ask), wave as you pass, I think we go a bit slower than STW went last week, and I haven’t ridden since last thursday either, so there will be creaking of bones – have a good one

Ant

My best time is about 27 mins I think, on the stoopid badge that has you start at the bottom, ride to the top, where the badge starts, then ride down and back up again.

Having done that, I have to say I’m really looking forward to not being there tonight.

Can’t make it – have a great ride !.

@ivandobski – hills are the death of teamwork !.

I hope I didn’t contribute to the dropping out – for whatever reason I cannot hold a consistent pace up a hill, the technique that works for me on short hills is to hit them very hard at the bottom, hold it as long as I can, and then cruise at the top until we regroup, eg on the rise out of the tube line I was first over the top whilst being one of the weaker riders in the group overall, but I got some recovery time.

I’ve found that on group rides if you are rider who comes over the top last you do not generally get any recovery – because everyone is kind of waiting for you, and that leads to you being dead after the hill and struggling for a while.

I prefer to go harder initially and get a little recovery time.

Better obvs would be to organise and agree before hand to give the last over the top riders some recovery time if they need it before the pace goes back up, that way you know you are going to get back on without immediately getting dropped again.

One other thing is that we were never lined out very often, which is the most efficient use of effort, but very difficult to do. You need to have a nominated line order and a 2m gap, so everyone knows where they should be. That takes practice at lower power levels before you can do it at higher levels.

That said – last night was probably the quickest I’ve ridden – so what do I know !.

There is a way of warming up in the pen – but its not for the faint of fingers:

See ‘keeping warm’ here:
https://wtrl.racing/ttt/TTT-Rules-and-Info.php

I’ve seen a number of riders coast through the start because they weren’t in the pairing screen somehow.

Personally I get off the bike and stretch/yoga like for a while.

Thanks for the ride – right on my limit I think.

—
Ant

I will try the discord server, but normally just end up transmitting my fan noise, so will keep my mike off when possible. I’m expecting a team leader/ responsible adult to shout a name to go on the front, either Ant or Haloric whichever comes to mind, unless there is some other system !.

As a larger lad I will suffer on any rises, but should be able to get back on.

Team kit ?.

ZP being down is possibly due to the seamless integration with Zwift coming in to play…

I’ve completed a time trial with the wrong tag and they have allocated it to the right one after a post race e-mail – they seem pretty laid back about it all.

Will there be a discord channel ? Last link I can see has expired.

Ok, registered/entered – Ant Mitchell (ccxl) will change tag to STW.

If there is a space I’d like to join – my usual team are spread far and wide this week.

I’ll try and register…

That was great fun – I got an 11w ftp increase out of it !

Please don’t settle for go-from-the-start – the road position makes such a terrible start for some and not everybody actually starts at the same instant – as an apple tv user I’ve been in meetings where there everyone has a 50m head start and you can’t get back on, a rolling sub 2.0 until someone says go is much fairer

Sounds good, count me in.

Ok, I give up, how to send a PM, clicking on the username redirects me to the home page.

Followed on zwift via companion.

Anyways, 92kg, 270 ftp via zwift auto calculate, zwift: Ant Mitchell (vCCXXL)