I know in a race you dont see other non-racers, but when you are just riding around do you see racers?

Not sure if they were racing or it was fast group rides but I have been swamped by big groups going passed me.

Did the three sisters today to get my vertical metres up for the Everest challenge. 900m put me at 43% completed. I was worried as the last time I did it both my calves seized and it nearly killed me but if seemed a lot easier today. It was nice for the confidence in passing a whole lot of people as well. Zwift even said I had increased my ftp to 218w so I am on the cusp of racing (and getting spanked) in the Bs. That was a surprise as I wasn’t flogging myself.

I am not sure it was a fair increase though as on the hills you are pumping out more watts anyway. Saying that they must makes some allowance for it as my best 20min is 229w which I equalled today.

Thanks for the ride on scaredy!

Just want to say thanks to all on Nye for the last 12 months motivation. You guys have helped push me along time and time again and it’s very much appreciated.
I’m planning a final 2017 ride at some stage of today, but unsure yet if race or pootle

+1 (except I have already been out in real life today and there is only 10 minutes to midnight here and in my current state there is no way I am riding anywhere)

Ok well my completely unscientific viewpoint is do the miles to get to your goal *

*I am on my 5th pint as I type this…

Scaredy I can’t believe I gave a ride on to an e-doper this morning
You’re correct – I wasn’t on it this morning
(oh, wait – is it you that’s in NZ ?)

Yep that’s me. 😉

I have been riding exactly 4 months today and coincidentally I have just clicked over 1000 miles on zwift. My real life riding is simply mountain biking in a forest next to where I live (although I did do 40k on the road on my mountain bike last weekend which hurt – no I don’t know why I did that either).

Zwift is simply fun for me. I am an endorphin junkie and zwift has allowed me to get my fix as I can’t run anymore. I am about 20w short of being a B so that is the target for next year. It will be interesting to see if I can make it without doing anything too structured.

Have a great Christmas and new year all. The great outdoors beckons here so there won’t be much zwifting.

Scaredy I can’t believe I gave a ride on to an e-doper this morning 😯 😀

And here I was assuming I’d have to start taking some…

JK & Larry – as weeksy says, put a “stw” on your zwiftpower team section

I have STW in my username as well (you can just edit that to read what you like; remember that swift shortens the first name to just an initial)

That gives us all a chance of spotting you. You could also put your usernames on here and we might be able to follow you on zwift as well (then out phones will tell us that you’re riding and we can randomly “ride on” when you think you’re all alone )

Thanks for the invite Scaredy. I have added stw on zwift power. User name is Mark Sullivan (the Kiwi one).

Cheers Weeksy. It always fun after you have finished 🙂

Great result in Bs by the way. I am (as I am sure are many others) waiting to see what ranking points you got 😀

Question: How do you know you have gone out too fast?
Answer: When Weeksy passes you after the first kilometre.

Despite nearly killing myself in the first k I managed to get into a group which only dropped me after two laps. Then rode with one other guy until another group caught us. I managed to stay with them to the finish. I did discover it is really hard to try and sprint when your trying not to throw up over the handle bars!

22nd in C which I’ll take especially as everyone ahead of me averaged 25 to 60 watts more than me. I could not have done anymore and I am still feeling shattered.

I might make an appearance in that race but I have just started the Everest challenge so it is not going to help me much climbing wise!

I won’t be able to keep up with the B’s either 😀

Looks like some excellent racing all round. I’d love to do a road to ruins race but I can never find one that matches the time I have available. As it was I rode around there this morning solo in a pb which felt really good. I really like the mix of up and down.

My claim to fame this week has to be getting a ride on from Eric Min, zwifts founder. Funny thing was I didn’t notice at the time as I had the football on at the same time and was watching that more than zwift. 🙂

Hi – new zwifter here. I just want to say thanks as I was inspired to have a go by this thread. It’s taken me a couple of weeks to get the technology working but it’s all sorted now and I’ve put in a couple of rides these last two mornings, and I love it!

I had planned to take it easy this morning, but I got to the bottom of the first hill segment on the figure 8 course so I thought I’d have a bash and see how quick I could get up there. I would very rarely do this IRL as I’m not great on the hills (107kg) but having the leader board and information about how long the climb is spurred me on to have a go. I surprised myself and finished 8th on the live board, albeit 1 minute behind 1st place. As pleased as I am with how I did on the climb I know I could have done better. I’ve got a feeling this could be addictive

Welcome Lucas. Yes it is definitely addictive and yes you often end up doing more or better than you expect. We can also guarantee it will hurt a lot at some point (if not most points). 🙂

It is always good to read what others are up to.

Good luck.

I wish his average was my sprint.

Actually I wish I had a sprint. 😀

Thanks I figured it had to be simple but I was too afraid to experiment in case I stuffed something else up. 😀

By the way normally as my laptop is at the low end graphics card wise I run on 576p. After the last update it changed itself to 720p. Looks a whole lot better and seems to run fine.

. A right break or a decent PU at the right time, suddenly you’re in a fast bunch but holding your usual power only, but you’ve then lapped 20s a lap quicker.

Keep enjoying it buddy!

Cheers Weeksy.

The PU was a problem. I got a feather before the race but for some reason it did not appear in the app. I can only just reach my laptop but then realised I didn’t know how to activate it on the keyboard. It taunted me for the rest of the ride 😡

That is a great result Weeksy!

I got off to a fast start but still got left behind by most. Got into a group of 4 and into the second lap we caught a bigger group. Stayed with them for a lap or so and then fell off the back. I TT’d the next lap and then caught another guy who I raced ( well sort of) to the finish. Curiously I was 81st in the results at the end and that is where I finished in ZP, 22nd overall in C. The group that dropped me finished a couple of minutes ahead.

Mixed feelings about the result. Quite pleased with the time. My recovery seems to have improved out of sight as well, at least I was not in the foetal position after the race for a change. I was almost bang on my ftp and improved my 5min and 1min average wattages according to zwift. Still have this nagging feeling it could have gone better though.

I was in the 17.05 as well. Flicked you a ride on at the start Weeksy. Just as well as that was the only time I saw you. More later when I can think straight.

I’ve just noticed on zwift power that from Friday afternoon it looks like you can race either London or watopia. Some of the races are at the same time e.g. 510 WBR three laps hilly on watopia and WBR four laps on the London classique course. Seems to be WBR races only at this stage.

Recovery is a major part of physical exercise so I’d suggest the rest days have probably helped you Weeksy. Especially since you race so hard.

I haven’t raced much lately partly because there hasn’t a race that has been on that has suited my time available, but also because I have realised I am not really strong enough yet to race consistently. The races I have done have just destroyed me.

My recent rides have been hilly efforts to try and work on this.

I am pootling around the road to ruins loop from the town today (well tomorrow morning for me) which I find to be a great work out with a bit of everything.

Being indoors I haven’t really bothered to do anything to my bike by way of maintenance. Although after reading piemonsters post I am wondering now if I need to?

I agree muggo it’s been brilliant for me as well. Far cheaper than a gym subscription especially as I am on it 3 or 4 times a week and I never want to do spin classes ever again!

Ah ok I hadn’t noticed I’d got 10 points for those.

What I really need is the red cross symbol ones. Usually I’m knackered when I get a power up in a race and I assume that PU gets a nurse to come around and make you feel better? 😀

What’s +10 points? I don’t think I’ve had that.

Weeksy, I did the one lapper race 2 weeks ago and did 17:20. I was in a reasonable group for most of that. Today I did 16:08 and was only in a group for the first 4k.

Edit: Just realised the race two weeks ago was London.

Did a WBR 1 lapper and it was brutal. Small field and I was 4th in B out of 5. I’d have got second in C (ended up being 3.12w/kg)! The A’s got DQ’d.

Started in a group and dropped after 4 k. Then rode with one other for the rest of the ride. I was struggling to hang on and was shattered by the finish. I absolutely went for it at the finish and was sure I had pipped the other rider on the line but Zwift claimed otherwise.

On the bright side I did a PB for the Watopia Flat lap by over half a minute.

Has anyone has issues with getting power ups? I did a warm up hoping to get one and got nothing. That is the fourth time out of five over the last three rides I have done where it has happened. The power ups come up but it stops on the blank option each time.

The other funny thing was the ride was advertised as London but when I logged on it was Watopia.

Great result Weeksy!

I am looking at doing a one lapper tonight. Should be fun in a “going to flog myself to death” sort of way.

Event and Race organisers will get the full suite of courses open to them.
Yay! More Richmond races

I have raced Richmond twice and nearly thrown up both times – oh joy 😀 😕

Even if they once registered, I bet loads of guys never check ZP.
In which case, they neither know nor care what a fuss they create

Ha yeah true enough.

Great ride scaled! Is ZP working at the moment? It seems a few races behind results wise.

I also see Andre greipel broke zwift yesterday when over 800 showed up for his ALS ride. Zwift still has a few growing pains to sort out

Perhaps there will come a time when you enter a race and the system assigns you a category based on previous performances. Not that I know how that could be done.

jk, my “race FTP” has gone up by about 0.5 w/kg in 10 months. Depends on how fit you are to begin but my guess is you’ll improve if you’ve not been on there for long

That is the plan. I haven’t raced enough to get a decent gauge of where I’m at yet. I’ll be reading your workout reports with interest.

I’m basically the same. Your aerobic capacity must be better than mine though since you are a decent B grader and I am an average C.

Wow you learn a lot on this thread.

I’ve had a poor week due to feeling incredibly tired for most of it. Although yesterday I did the road to ruins ride not expecting much and had a really good ride – go figure.

I have tossed up about doing something structured but at the moment still being relatively new to all of this, I am still seeing small incremental improvements anyway no matter what I do.

BTW scaredy I am a very similar vintage to you and my heart rate is almost identical to yours. My max is 170ish and the highest I’ve managed on zwift is 168. The difference though is if I go over 160 I am generally toast. My sweet spot seems to be around 150.

I really enjoyed reading what everyone has been up to lately. Some great results!

The music was selected, no other than the Mac radio (fleetwood variety). I was ready….

Mental as well as physical torture, nice 😆

Great stuff Nath, congratulations!

Your race report was a bit lacking though 😀

Looked like a great finish.

I need a plan B as holding until the hill is crippling my results.

Perhaps you should eat more pies Weeksy 😉

Well done STWs on the race!

Ha ha I eat plenty now!

I did a WBR 1 lap sprint earlier today. I went out pretty hard at the start and got into a reasonable group. The pace was on the whole way around. With a k to go I hit an aero power up and tried to get away only to be run down in the last hundred metres by 2 or 3 other guys.

My goal was to average over 210w for the race and managed 229w which I am stoked with. I also got upgraded to B grade for averaging 3.21w/kg which put me 13th out of 16. Seems a bit tough to me as apart from one other guy everyone else around me was averaging over 260w.

The mat can be anything. I use an old yoga mat my wife had. You could look at a rubber mat that goes under workstations. Anything will do.

My fan has a remote control so you can start it once you get warm without getting off the bike. I’d recommend it, if you have that option.

Hi Eugeo

Welcome to zwift!

The first thing I learnt was you need a fan as no matter how cold it is you sweat buckets. Likewise make sure you have a towel over your bike handlebars to use during a ride. It also keeps the sweat off your bike.

You should also put a mat of some sort under the bike and trainer as well unless you don’t care about the floor.

Good luck and have fun!

I’d say Weeksy the difference is that you were more relaxed on the 50k ride. The body can do amazing things if you don’t put it under mental pressure.

Top marathon runners are a great example of this. They all look like they are out for a Sunday stroll for most of the race.

I did the 2.5-2 7 social ride which ended up being nearer 2.9 to 3 for me. I was spat out the back just after halfway.

Yeah agreed. It’s interesting looking at the results that guys a couple of minutes ahead of me had similar numbers to me. Clearly they had a better start.