Sorry still yet to read up on the Solaris, not contacted as until payday I can’t offer anything yet :lol:

Cheers @kryton57 – although I suspect it will be a while before I can do anything other than go in a straight line on it haha.

Hoping they have a payday flash sale @jeffl :)

@gravesendgrunt – Tunbridge Wells, aim is to make use of bedgebury forest?

@chakaping – I’ll read up on it, looks a nice bike!

@jeffl – yeah I was intending to use the BC discount and buy vouchers via corporate website (10% off). The bokor is 680 at the moment, has it been lower?!

@sirromj – food for thought, cheers. I’ve also never ridden a FS before :lol:

@brassneck – will check it out thanks.

@wooderson – that’s a bloody good endorsement!

@thisisnotaspoon – I’m going to take my entitlement to dismiss a brand, I don’t wish to advertise their products. :)

@tom13 – will add it to the list, cheers!

Haha not crazy, just principled :lol:

cheers for the links/ideas

Sorry @weeksy Can’t even entertain the thought of riding one, that’s one thing I won’t ever compromise on. Even if it was £250. :)

@weeksy – after my London road fiasco I vowed never to touch PX/On one ever again :lol:

cheers @superstu I’ll check that out.

@matt_outandabout didn’t even consider FS!! Ta

Subbed a workout for a race, carrying a lot of fatigue as I’m trying to cram in 3 intense workouts into 4 days as away at the weekend. Worked a lot and couldn’t sprint at the end, think that just about sums up the race but it was in line with expectations.

HR was crazyyyy high throughout, looking forward to a few days rest now!!

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=88428

Gave you a ride on Robbo, keep at it :)

Why not fit wider bars to it and a shorter stem, then give it a try? Would cost £20/30 to give you a wider upright position closer to the Parkwood?

@weeksy Swinley? I think it’s called. When I get a MTB sorted which is after one of my bikes sells :lol: Probably next month hopefully :)

Rest day might help you get up the hills quicker @weeksy :lol:

BTW planning a day out in the forest near yours with the Hillingdon gang if you want to come and laugh at the lack of MTB skills I have, the shoe will be firmly on the other foot :)

Try and have some rest days guys :lol:

Sticking to TR workout plan at the moment, but may dabble in a race on Thursday night – BRT 7:20pm if anyone wants to join.

@blader1611 Thanks! I’m sure you could easily keep up with me @leeroybrown didn’t have an issue :lol:

Thanks guys, hard thing now is to lose the 4kg and gain power!

I don’t think “easy day” is in your vocabulary sir :lol:

Ramp test is very good as it only takes 20-30 mins and you can get on with cycling after it – very quick recovery compared to the traditional 20 min test.

111km on a turbo, I’ve not built myself mentally up to that and probably won’t!! But fair play if you can/do!

Been playing around with my saddle height as since changing saddles it hasn’t felt right. Confirmed with the age old heel on pedal method and measuring saddle thickness. Needless to say I’ve ended up moving the saddle up 13-15mm. What better way to test this setup quickly works than a 25 min ramp test.

FTP history

28th July – 280

19th August – 293 (saddle changed between tests)

6th September – 311 = 4.2w/kg

Very happy with that, now to just shift those few kgs and I’ll be back to a mid hitting A racer :)

Training will sort that, but it’s always a fine balance between losing weight and maintaining/building ftp. Eat your veggies :lol:

Disaster this evening, someone pipped me across the line: https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=82688

i put far too much effort in versus the rest of them :(

Cheers guys!

@nixie I was doing 14-16 hours a week on the bike – I took a career break :lol: I also seem to respond well to training and my “natural” unfocused/pottering about/not taking cycling seriously ftp seems to be around 300-315 which at my normal weight puts me at 4.3-4.5w/kg.

Hoping that’s the case anyway, like I said trying to rebuild for the second time this year isn’t going as well as I’d hoped, these 4kgs aren’t shifting quickly :(

I did a race last night for the first time in a few months, been busy getting married, diy’ing, work is demanding and the lure of food & alcohol was too great.

So a couple of weeks of dossing around on the bike and gym 5 times a week (rowing/running/weights) I’m currently sitting at 74.4kg with an FTP of 293w so 4.4kg heavier and 46 less watts than I had before getting married (4.84w/kg) This has been a HUGE mental challenge as I already rebuilt my cycling after buying a house in Dec and not cycling for 2-3 months coming from nearly 5w/kg…..

Anyway I joined a race last night on the Innsbruck “flat” course, a firm B rider (3.9w/kg), I chose A’s to avoid controversy.. I’m pleased to announce I didn’t come last and outsprinted the group of 6 or so riders to the finish line :)

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=82177

I’m on a trainer road plan but will mix it up with Zwift races and I’m going to swap a road bike for a MTB (voodoo bizango/Bokor) if I enjoy it I may even try some XC races lol. See you on Zwift!

Couple more podiums over the last couple of days.

I think Zwift racing is like the wild west at the moment, I got destroyed by a cat B earlier – he kept throwing attack after attack:

:lol:

Zwift racing as much as I can to keep my legs in the game over the next few weeks :)

Flat/crit races are my favourite as they’re the most realistic to the real world IMO.

Im only racing to maintain some fitness & I’m not allowed to race outside until after our wedding in 3 weeks as I’ve gone passed the broken bones healing stage :lol: After the honeymoon I’m planning on getting back on TR, if ZP isn’t back then Zwift may get cancelled…

Half day at work today so hoping to get a race in later, see what’s flat :)

Did the WBR 6 Laps Classique Flat Race last night. Legs felt really good even without a warmup. Decided the race was mine for the taking so I pretty much controlled it, kept the pace high for the first 2/3s and just sat with people up the incline as is normal on that course. Then I let a guy get away and then would bridge to him knocking a couple of people of each time, then I opened up the legs attacking in random places all over the place. Soon enough I’d whittled the group down from 15 or so to 3 and pretty sure they were hurting :lol: Finally I launched an attack from behind at the the top end of The Mall and no one could latch on :)

Havent gone into a race feeling that fresh or arrogant for a while haha.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1651518668

Did the WBR Road To Sky Climbing Race the other day. It was brutal! Not only is it the Alp Du Zwift but you’ve got to get there too, via the Epic KOM! Had I known the profile beforehand I might have had second thoughts….

I’m too fat for the win here at 72kg, the winner being 56kg?! Anyway I’m happy with the result from essentially a 68 minute threshold test…

https://www.strava.com/activities/1643704624

All a bit meaningless without Zwiftpower though!!

@weeksy – “We’ll need to get Crosshair and NathB racing again.”

Think I may restart, getting married in 4 weeks or so and dare not risk another Hillingdon crit :lol:

@scaled – kind of saw that coming sorry! I guess it’s hard to benchmark if you don’t race road bikes outside too?

(Congrats on the baby)

It does show you can’t take zwift racing results seriously unfortunately, it’ll always be a game/motivational tool not a sim.

General update from me:

– Swapped the Tacx Vortex for a Elite Direto – much quieter and feels much nicer on the bike too, both feel and general position (was never convinced the block riser was the right height) plus I can move my arms left and right to turn :)

– I did a free trial with trainerroad – and wow I’ve never experience pain like this before, it’s brilliant!! I started in the speciality phase skipping all the base so it threw me right in at the deep end! I’ll be using this to train with and zwift to log miles as Zwifts plans look lacklustre in comparison!

– My FTP is up to 335w (4.8w/kg) – which I’m incredibly happy with as it’s off 0-6 hours of riding a week since end of Feb after 2+ months off the bike. My weight is fluctuating between 68-72kg as my diet is all over the place. It seems coming off a keto diet has boosted my cycling tenfold, but clearly it’s done some remarkable stuff in regards to my ability to fat burn on the bike. Will be returning to the diet in base phases of cycling for sure.

@TiRed How punctual are the skiing club from leaving the circuit at 5pm? (they have it booked all afternoon until then).

I’ve got lots of deer experience from Richmond park :)

@weeksy – They look like they were racing? :lol:

When I was heading to hillingdon in full kit on my racing bike I was drafting boris bikers, grannies, buses and got a large tow from a e-biker for a few miles.

@scaled –  Those numbers are fantastic, chapeau. Out of curiosity what setup are you using for power, trainer or pm?

What CH said to be honest.

Felt much safer in that race than I ever have in a 3/4, mentally I kept reminding myself that no one here has just bought a bike and turned up to race. :lol:

I’m in between another large diet change so wasn’t expecting amazing things, very happy to just stick with the bunch!

I’m aiming to do the anti-clockwise races, so will skip next week and have a look at doing the week after. Partly because I hate clockwise and also it’s a huge effort to get there and back (5am start and 10.30pm before I’m even home again).

Did a crit sim earlier. Very realistic in terms on how a crit bunch reacts to other riders, ie negatively people are left to hang out to dry.. No one, including myself could make an attack stick so we all just sat watching each other building for the sprint. However a guy got away with 2km to go and we all thought we could bring him back (was only 7s ahead)  with less than 750m to go and the guy still 5s ahead I lost my bottle and went for it. Dragged a guy along with me and he pipped me at the line.

3rd place and I rode so lazily that Zwift power recommend I move down a cat haha..

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=59520

Not very active on here at the moment but been keeping an eye on this thread.

If we were talking about road racing with hills I’d say losing weight would help, but in a crit I really don’t think it matters. It’s all about sub 5 min power and recovery rates for me, particularly at Hillingdon.

It’s been a logistical nightmare but Ive just signed up for Tuesday nights race in the 3s, hoping that the extra effort to get there (stupidly early train to work and then cycle from central to Hillingdon) will encourage me to do more work in the race.

Ultimately my goals remain the same as always;

– don’t cause a crash

– don’t crash

– don’t just be another number in the bunch

– don’t nath (get stuck in and not sit on the edge)

see how that goes :lol:

So the no carbs thing didn’t work, it’s really hard to get back on it!!

Lined up for the KISS race at 8pm feeling fairly positive, only had 2 mins warmup due to train delays though. It was London loop reverse so up fox hill, and it’s really not far from the start line. About 2/3s up the hill I was with the lead bunch then bang, my stomach went into cramp spasms. Spent the rest of the lap with two other guys but then going up fox hill again one of them seemed to launch a wattage bazooka and was suddenly 30s ahead before I knew it. Tried to attack the other guy while keeping the pace as high as I could tolerate but he just sat on my wheel and went round me on the sprint.

Highly disappointed, back to Keto diet tomorrow with a really bland diet to see if I can get my stomach back under control, it’s come at a time I was really making cycling progress too :(

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=57584

“Nath- amazing how fast your fitness has returned. You should be well pleased”

cheers CH.

Results: https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=56924

Although I must confess I cheated a little bit, no I didn’t reduce my height/weight or even use the vortex instead of the 4iiii power meter. I was fuelled by carbs…. Been in pain all week with my stomach (stress induced) so I decided to have a few days on carbs as it wouldn’t hurt and to reset. Seems to have done wonders for my cycling, but I’ll be back to no carbs tomorrow.

FTP was 284 in Feb/March at 74kg, Thursday night KISS TT took it to 310 and Saturday nights race saw it up to 312, strava is predicting 324 at the moment and it’s normally bang on. I’m currently 70.4kg so looking at circa 4.5-4.6w/kg, well happy with that if it’s right…

@paton this isn’t a thread on professional racing :lol:

I hear @Tired has some good news!?!

Just did the KISS TT, longer than expected as I didn’t read the description properly. Cartwright was on the start line so I knew that 1st place was gone, unless he had a mechanical :lol:

Music on, head down and pedal was the tactic. Result was 3rd and an FTP boost from 300w to 310w @71kg. There was loads more starters than the results show?! https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=56376&sid=b52d246db4186f661b5af0c5e4434fe4

Also with various updates etc I decided to track my Tacx Vortex power against my 4iiii (which matched a stages). The results:

Vortex – 333w average- https://www.strava.com/activities/1531648233

Power 327w average (chop the end off) – https://www.strava.com/activities/1531621907

Pretty damn close!

Thanks, bit miffed I was only 1.7s from 1st :lol:

LCHF is working for my stomach, energy levels and general happiness. However it’s killed my top end cycling and my HR is wildly up on what I’m used to (around +10/15). Starting to experiment with 50g carbs 30 mins before a race to see if I can revive some top end. It’s a bit disconcerting seeing my HR at 180 just keeping with the bunch where normally it was 160-170.

KISS TT tonight if I get back in time to see where I’m at under my own steam.

Hopped onto Zwift last night for a race, after chatting with coach Shutler who kindly provided some googled advice, I was armed with 50g of carbs. :)

Chose the KISS race at 8:05pm;

No big hitters meant it was an 6x London Classic absolute crit simulator. The curve balls were the “hill” and passing the other bunches, had to be really careful you weren’t following a C/D wheel as they swamped us right until the small hill. My intention was to be as lazy as possible and use my 50g of carbs carefully, unfortunately I followed a duff wheel on the second lap? up the hill then had to bridge to front pack. Meant I burned up some of my legs for the sprint. But I think with a PU (I didn’t get a single one in the last two laps) and more concentration I could have been on the podium?! I ended up with 8th though.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=56171

Workswell

flyxii

hongfu

dengfu

ican

imust

velobuild

just off the top of my head :)

Well done @crosshair thoroughly deserved!

When I work out logistics and hopefully win my battle with southeastern trains I’m hoping to join you on Tuesday nights 3s.

Raced last night instead of doing a workout, just to see/gauge where I’m at. Picked the Greater London loop course x2 forgetting it was up box hill.

Anyway stuck with the A’s until 1/2-3/4 the way up box hill where people were getting dropped like flies. Soldiered on with a couple of other guys until the sprint finish for 9th. Not too bad.

My heart rate though is crazy high at the moment, it was at Hillingdon in Saturday’s race too! Maybe more under overs to get it back down leaving some more in the tank?!

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=54739

Haha ace @steve_b77

@weeksy – It’s health over BC points for me. I’m Trying to come off “omeprazole”with this diet. I just need to keep at it until I find the sweetspot to enable me to have the health benefits and get BC points. This week wasn’t a representative example of what I can do in a Ketosis state.

I’m going to crack on and do some Zwift racing soon to experiment – it’s a lot cheaper!!

Stats wise I test at 300w FTP and I’m now 71kg.

Not a million miles away from peak 337w@67kg…(not going below 70kg this time)

Sounds like you’re doing very well TiRed!!

I raced on Saturday, first time in many months, it was a bit of a disaster….well not a crash sort of disaster but still not great…

I’m on a Ketosis diet and had been in Ketosis up until the work week from hell (talking some 9am-2am days..) and 0 cycling. This all ended with 4 pints at the local on Friday… knocking myself out of Ketosis. Poor planning meant I was in a rush to get from Tunbridge to Ealing for the cars MOT before the race. So I accidentally fasted…

What this meant was I turned up with a body wanting to burn carbs that didn’t exist in the quantities required…

The race itself was a real struggle, talking 185bpm just to stay with the bunch (210 cap), the number of riders were too high for that circuit!! Every corner was swamped and it was really hard to move up/find a gap.

Ended up being in tailgunner position or 3/4 back for the majority of the race, but this was kind of offset by the sheer volume of riders…

So then I got dropped for the first time ever in a race!! 52 mins in with 3 laps to go and absolutely no legs I tried to get my monies worth… Found a gap in the bunch on the only spot there ever was one and attacked hard, talking from rear to front of a 50/60 rider bunch. Got myself about a 10ft gap and then blew up haha.

Pulled off to one side and rode the last lap with a chap who I think had followed my move but also blew. After chatting to him for a the remainder we managed to see the ending as we cornered and then we sprinted against eachother for effect. :)

Nutritional lesson learned!!

Just started running again as it’s one of the only pieces of equipment I understand in the gym (supporting the other half by going with her)

One thing I have just bought though is a Milestone Pod, only used it once so far (9pm and knackered but wanted to test it). Got some very good information about my running technique out of it, plus I am able to use Zwift with it (making running more interesting for me). Hoping it will give me some nicer stats next time when I’m not half asleep.

Here’s what it can do if anyone’s interested:

Tired, you’re literally the last person I would have imagined Zwifting haha.

I did the dirty last night**: https://www.strava.com/activities/1493187444

**Took a lot of effort to do that at the gym ha.

P.s. This seems a bit of a “bargain”?? https://www.athleteshop.co.uk/elite-direto-smart-b-trainer-power-mtr-interactive?utm_source=idealo&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=idealoUK&utm_content=20190-5RWKOBQTNRCGS&kwd_id=20190-5RWKOBQTNRCGS

Did the ADZ on some weird block bike earlier.

46:54.49

Paced myself weirdly, not sure I’m in a rush to repeat but shall see.