weeksy
Subscriber
So, Friday, do we need 2 rides?

1 a bit slower and 1 faster?

I am on 8am-8pm tomorrow and Friday, so only able to ride Thursday.

Will have to try and make it next week if you doing Tuesday again.

There was 3 of us at front to start 3rd lap: Myself, Phil56 and somebody else I forgot ..

Phil56 and I put a little effort in to see who was what, and dropped the 3rd rider. From there Phil56 and I just kept tempo going with the occasional effort.

Yep – the Royal family is a nonsense institution that perpetuates centuries old privilege of a select few.
And what will make the farce even more silly is that after this crisis. We will be having a person who isolated and did absolutely nothing of benefit during the crisis – pinning a Honour/gong/medal on not a nurse who continued to work on the wards during this crisis, or carers who continued to care for vulnerable people with the virus .. but some chief executive of the NHS or Local Authority who isolated their families and themselves at the first opportunity.
This covid virus has again demonstrated there is a Them and Us in society.

tjagain
Subscriber
Mooman – he is a long way from that sterotype. Johnson he is not. Look at his background

Of course I know his background, hence why I wrote He looks .. not He is.

tjagain
Subscriber

I see him as a very good choice. My only doubt is how well he can connect with the public at large.

I see him as the very best choice Labour had – because what a very poor choice they had!

As Sir Keir Starmer he will find it difficult connecting with traditional working class Labour voters. He looks every bit the typical Oxford graduate sleazy modern politician, and was a staunch Remainer too.

ElShalimo
Member
Humans need interaction, a regular place of work with the mundane conversations over a coffee etc is good for your mental health

Yes – I struggling to agree with this too. Often the conversations/interactions in the work place can be bad for your mental health .. the office cliques, bitching & back stabbing could be avoided completely.

I’m in👍

So no off front; we stay together for 2 laps .. then final lap off leash😤

Will you be setting the tempo for first two laps Weeksy?
(So your saying we got to try and drop you before 1km from finish?)

Unless you will don’t already know ..

You can buy new blades for the clipper.
I got a ‘Balding’ replacement blade for mine; it is a very fine toothed blade that gives an almost razor short cut.

If I was after a new clipper I’d go the Wahl legend. It’s got the bigger motor which will likely last atleast decade as most of their motors do .. and longer adjustment for use on beards.

I dont think rollers are something i would want to use for Zwift races. I am confident on rollers, but riding them whilst going deep chasing a break is a clear recipe for disaster id say!

weeksy
Subscriber
Only 17 signed up for tomorrow which considering none of us are going anywhere at the weekend does slightly surprise me. But will be a decent ride and distance i think.

Out door ride for me tomoz; my Boris recommended one-a-day.

As for meetups next week; I am on 8-8 hours Mon/Wed/Fri until this corvid situation ends. So only Tuesday and Thursday evenings available for Zwift.

That sounds horrible Crikey.

I start my redeployment on Monday. Been assigned to a social work team arranging hospital discharges to free up beds.
8-8 hrs and at moment just the 3 shifts a week so can’t complain.
All but one of the 20+ cases allocated to me are covid positive .. all are very old, so this presents issues not just the typical issue of finding POC availability, but getting their families to support them too. You may be surprised how a lot of families think there is an endless supply of carers available.

benman
Member
Yeah it was good 👍

I was waiting for you to disappear into the distance in the last 5 mins 🙂

I made the mistake last time of assuming Alcock would go for the sprint to finish the last 30 seconds … and he didnt, so I felt a bit silly going off on my own. So made sure it was a sensible group finish this time.

Hopefully catch yous next time.

We had fun though benman?

Slowpuncheur – thats very generous, and thank you very much. But I can manage not wearing a HR monitor for awhile – my podium results are less frequent than the races that disqualify me for not wearing one, and I more concerned about my average watts than results if I am honest.

But big thanks all the same.

ZwiftPower is for those doing the races really.
Some races as said – no HR monitor then no result. But some races do allow you to result – my HR strap broke last week, and Amazon delivery not scheduled till May!!
So no HR till then. But I was disqualified in one race, but been shown in others .. podium places too; so I think HR is certain races only.

Me in too.
Bumble bee kit again I assume

Garry_Lager
Subscriber
I’m B by an arsehair on zp – 3.25wkg

Reckon I’ll be ok racing B on the flat – just need to swerve the hills.

You will be surprised how fast you will improve your W/kg racing the higher cat. Just force yourself to hold on that little bit longer ..
Good luck!

kerley
Member
Yes but in a supply and demand model there will always be more supply than demand for low skilled (due to the obvious fact that anyone can do it).

If supply dried up because the people moved to do more skilled work or just less people to do the work then the wages would rise.

Unless there is a supply of cheap labour to import.

Presently I am mental health social worker, but was in team prior to this in general social work team, so only commissioned POC not ever worked as carer.
I have on occasion helped carers during a visit .. so getting hands on experience is something I am looking forward to – and dreading in equal measure!

TJagain – simply put it needs to be viewed differently by all in society. All of us if we are lucky .. or presently .. unlucky enough to live to an old age; will need a care package of some sorts. If these people are disrespected by only paying minimum legally allowed then the cleverest and most motivated will look elsewhere that respects their contribution by paying more.
I will argue that the majority of carers are fantastic at their job, but there are others doing the job who are only doing so to fill the void until a better job comes along .. and these are the people who are unmotivated, probably hate their jobs, and this is reflected in the standard of care they give to our most vulnerable loved ones.

I am to be redeployed to buddy up with care agency staff providing packages of care. This is because the need to free up hospital beds will mean more POC required .. but there not enough carers now to provide this; add in those isolating too .. and we are very shortly in crisis. Hence LA are redeploying myself and my colleagues to fill the gaps in the care agencies ability to provide care at home. Unfortunately it’s wishful thinking because not many of my colleagues are happy to do this .. carers do a very difficult job which not many can do, so the pay should reflect this.

A good read is Rutger Bergman’s Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There. The title is misleading .. whilst I don’t agree with some points made – the point about JUNK jobs is spot on.

It amazes me that people refer to carers as unskilled.
It takes huge skills to go into a vulnerable persons home, and complete personal care for them whilst maintaining their dignity; plenty of people skills needed there.

Well we had an email today informing us that most of us social workers and OTs would be redeployed to either local hospitals to arrange hospital discharges or to care agencies to do personal care etc.
We were informed that our hours would change from usual 8:30am – 5pm to now cover 7am – 11am seven days a week including bank holidays.

Already those with children are stating they cant/wont do it – already those caring for older parents are saying the same – already those with health conditions are off anyways … will be interesting tomorrow to see who actually agrees to it.

w00dster
Subscriber
No idea where everyone was, I was getting my legs ripped off by Mooman and P.Alcock, 249 watts average, that was tough!

I had no idea where I was in the group at start. I think we were off the front of the group .. Alcock and I finished on 40.6km on the hour; what did the Weeksy group finish on?

wOOdster – it was a nice little session. When we were at about 40 mins I could see the powerful rider coming up behind us pushing over 300w with only 3km in his legs so assumed (correctly) he would be keeping it going for at least another 5km (correct again) .. so as we went past a group I pushed on to get on his wheel expecting you and Alcock would likely get stuck in a slow draft of the group … just trying to put little dents in yous; good fun!

Only skim read through the latest replies – so still nobody actually confirmed as having it then?

7pm is good for me too.

I tried RGT a couple months back – very basic to say the least.

Cant you just load a route on zwift, and then disconnect from interney? it seems everytime I lose connection I lose all other riders around me.

At the hospital my wife works, they had 3 wards for covid patients – they increased that to 5 today. The youngest person of the 31 patients she has to nurse is 61yrs old .. most very much older; so it looks like the old ones getting hit hard as expected.

Rustyspanner – glad your enjoying it. Forensics isn’t for everyone; I did a 3mth stint within a forensics team … Not for me though; because of the nature of the area there not a lot to do .. most boring area I have worked in.

Rusty Spanner
Subscriber
It boils my piss how some NHS staff miles away from from the front line are attention seeking on social media during this crisis.

I hope I don’t fall into this category, tell me if I do.

I assume only you can honestly answer that.

Being based at a NHS mental health hospital myself, and spending lots of time at various private and NHS secure mental health hospitals I know full well what trained staff are expected to do – and I also know what trainees are expected to do.

anagallis_arvensis
Member

I’ve only Zwifted 3 times! Never looked at power before. Weigh 71kg currently.

I’ll give a c a go.

As a reference; I weigh 72kg and race in B category. My last race was a flat 37km and I averaged 279w … in the 17km Stage5 race prior to that I averaged 292w. Whilst on occasion I have got podium finishes, these have typically been in slower races. When there is a good field of B riders I typically finish well outside the top 15.
Point to remember is that there are a lot of zwifters who are strong enough to race in A cat – but choose to race B to be at sharp end collecting cups. So they can sit comfortably just under the B cat limit, and them smash an A cat like sprint to finish.

No intention of having a go at you or anyone else on here TJagain – appols if it came across that way.

I went into garage to pay for petrol yesterday and was wearing my NHS lanyard (as advised because police pulling cars over to ask why out) person serving identified me as a NHS worker and tried to call me to front of queue .. I refused, but felt a huge fraud!

Will counselling be made available for these staff?

We have a psychologist allocated specifically for staff well-being at this time.

In our CMHT it’s very much shut down at moment. CPns still doing depot and lithium clinics; Duty desk has been unusually quiet and we are doing only emergency visits; this week I did not do any visits all week. Just telephone assessments and calling clients to check how they are doing.
We know this is not going to last much longer. The nature of our clients illnesses/disorders will mean it’s gonna kick off very soon, and because our team unfortunately has had the depressingly typical huge number of staff taking the 7-14 days off at first opportunity, when shit does hit fan it can be expected these same staff will very likely go off for another excuse then too which will leave the rest of us in very difficult situations.

My wife has worked the Covid wards since the first case in our area. She is only being fitted for a mask on Sunday .. she is working the ward today without one of course!

It boils my piss how some NHS staff miles away from from the front line are attention seeking on social media during this crisis. My neighbour who works in my team was on doorstep the other night milking the neighbors clapping .. my neighbour is in same team as myself, has had no contact with anyone with covid .. our team are pretty much shut down and isolated so at little risk.
Yet my wife, her colleagues and the other front line nurses & doctors are doing the job without the need to post Facebook pictures selling themselves as hero’s.

*Appols .. rant over

Then races can anyone recommend a hilly one and how do the categories work? It seems 3w/kg is okish, for me 3.5 stings and 4 is about top end for 30s.

Looks like you are a C cat. Pushing 4wkg for only 30 seconds suggests bottom to middle of category too.

If you only pushing 216w then unless your under 60kg I wouldn’t be expecting much in a hilly race.

Start with very short flat races to build power and stamina first.

tjagain
Member
Social care is the real problem – far worse than the NHS. round here they simply cannot recruit for socal care withthe wages and conditions so poor.

I would say NHS pay is OK but no more – and only once you have some service in

100% agree

Yes – definitely in the I Hate The Turbo cat ; but zwift is much better … It will get as boring very quickly if you just riding around the different worlds, but the racing is never boring.
You never know if your going to get a lazy group who sit up after the initial sprint start .. or if you find yourself in a too fast a group, but you too close to finish line – and too far from chasing group to sit up.

I have had Smarty for the last 4 months. £10 a month for 4GB .. I never use even half that, so only end up paying about a £5 a month.
No complaints from me; my wife has just moved over to them also.

Got invite thanks. But 5:30 too early for me. Not get home till 6pm

The keyboard cyclist here would be better off actually going for a ride than whinging about those who are actually getting their recommended daily exercise.

Mrs FD has had to tell a patient yesterday that more than likely they will not unfortunately be able to have their elective surgery, and the consequence of that is that if they are ‘lucky’ it means in a few weeks time they will end up loosing their leg, or ‘unlucky’ die. As a surgeon she has never had to tell a patient that before

My son is a surgeon, and also explained that necessary operations that over 75 year olds were getting as routine the other week have now been cancelled; so I guess they pretty much doomed!

My wife is an agency nurse; last week she worked what is now called the covid-ward, and today goes to a new hospital. She was had no testing to see if she is carrying the virus – in fact she was told because she is not NHS she won’t get it unless she becomes ill and her agency kindly offered to test her if she paid £200 ..

The people making the decisions safely in the background do not have a clue.