Much more satisfied with my performance this week. Took quite a lot of focus through the undulating sections. Being at the heavier end I can happily draught at the back at 3 W/kg whilst everyone else is doing 4. A moments hesitation as the gradient goes up though and the gap starts growing quickly!

Not sure if the hills were just smaller and less steep than last week or I managed to avoid overdoing and blowing up this time but nice to get to the finish all together.

Thanks all

Wow @w00dster, hope you managed to recover. Maybe I just need to push myself harder…

I thought the order was great, gave a good target. Just didn’t have the legs to make a second pass!

Thanks for the encouragement @Phil56

Not the course to be the one with the lowest w/kg! Got gapped when MoreSTW came back through at the bottom of that climb and just faded away in my attempts to get back on.

Thanks for towing me round team and apologies for being the pace limiter. See you all next week (for something nice and flat?)

Snap @Nick, good effort. Did the same aiming for under an hour, Strava says 57:06 for the Alpe. Well pleased!

Couldn’t decide if the group draft was helping or the sticky draft was hurting. Took the lead in pretty relaxed so overtook over 300 people on the way up the hill (most by the first corner). Both motivating and annoying when you stick to them

I joined on an MTB as hadn’t changed from Tuesday. Swapped whilst in the pen and the bike changed for me, didn’t feel any harder than usual so assume it just didn’t update the graphics on your screen. I’ve missed Phil’s excellent race control the last few weeks whilst in the other team, love it.

I have a weeride on an old 2006 26 inch rockhopper (far to small for me by modern standards but oh so “chuckable” as was the trend). Serious cowboy legs fitting round the seat. Not tried the Yepp but it looks like it clamps on further forwards and is less square so can’t imagine it would be worse than the weeride.

Fastest time will come from holding back on the flat then giving it everything up the hill. Extra power on the hill gives more speed than on the flat as speeds are lower so less aero drag.

My best 5 minute effort yet up the first hill only for @savoyad and @kirky72 to mercilessly crush me as I faded near the top. Then boom you were gone. Thanks @munkeymadness for the tow for the next 2 laps.

Good “fun” as ever. Sadly don’t think I am going to be able to make any more but I live in hope/fear ;-)

Quick scan of peoples numbers on Zwiftpower (https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1313968) and the handicaps throw up some slightly strange handicaps. Not sure if this is the handicap method, the length of races people do on Zwift and how close they get to an FTP test or how up to date the FTP numbers are.

oopnorth gives v7fmp 1:30 on handicap despite almost identical power numbers and v7fmp being lighter

Phil gives me 1 minute for his extra 35 W, I give a lighter Kirky72 50 seconds for my extra 7w

Don’t mean it in a negative way, it was great fun last time, appreciate all the organisation. Looking forward to desperately trying to cling on to the front group up the climb…

Used to be 30:29 but swapped the chainset to get 24:29 when I started towing my daughter in a trailer as well as 4 panniers.

Used all the gears on our summer camping trip to Mull. Have a triple so still have 44:11 top end. Looking at a replacement bike, wish they made a hydraulic triple 105 set of shifters.

Age 37
Garmin watch says 61 but sitting down it reads in the high 60s. Never been any lower even when swimming and rowing in my 20s. Max is 194

I didn’t really think the turns worked so well, at least from my point of view. @robbo1234biking called it flawlessly for us, I’m just not sure it is the best approach with quite a mixed team.

I found 30s too short, it was too easy to pop off the front at the start of a pull, have to ease off and then only end up usefully on the front for the last 10 seconds before the next persons pull.

I think my first TTT was that course when I was one of the slowest in the fast group. Back then I used the flat to go as easy as possible in the draft. Then barely hang on through the rollers at max effort before another recovery on the flat. With the rotations I think we end up exhausting the smaller and slower riders on the flat before we even get to the hills. And if there is a bit of a split caused by the dropping back the higher wattage riders cant get everyone settled in behind them before their pull is over.

Thanks all, my legs are still cooked after Tuesday. By lap 2 I was just trying to cling on to the back. Maybe it’s time for one of those rest weeks people with training plans talk about…

Logged in last minute, put on the light weight wheels then go go go. 1 minute into the Epic KOM I realise why it has seemed oddly reasonable so far – still got my weight set for my wife from her having a go on Zwift yesterday.

Quit out, reset weight, then a lonely time trial to the top. What a wally!

Cheers Robbo and everyone who took part. It has been a great source of type 2 fun.

@woodster maybe aim for +-20%, seemed to work for me, ftp 290. I was aiming for about 350 on the front but then I’m definitely no climber so that course suited me.

https://zwiftinsider.com/speed-tests-ttt/ looks at how much you can save in the draft. And how much quicker taking turns really pushing on the front then recovering is.

Also just having more people in the pack makes it easier to drop into and recover so even if everyone doesn’t hit the front it still makes it easier for those that do.

Really enjoyed that. Knowing the hill was done with gave me the confidence to do some proper turns on the front. Turned into a full on interval session.

Still get surprised just how much you can ease of in the draft if you wind down the power slowly. Ease too much at once and you just drop off the back but do it slowly and you seem to stick.

Great racing. Really tough hanging onto the first big group on the climbs but a great group to be in. So glad I got 2 feathers!

@robbo1234biking new FTP of 290 W explains the pain in my legs. Thanks again for organising

Sorry for the drop @mrhoppy. Saw you drop back so I dropped of the back to offer a tow back on, then you disappeared again. Don’t think I saw you again in the ride list after that.

Thought we settled into quite good group after we finally separated from that passing team. My coms are useless for road captaining after the start. Don’t know how Phil does it all so effortlessly!

Finally started fast enough! I like the flat

zwift hates me and wont even start, sorry guys

I’m in!

If that did space for a last minute maybe (Looks like there is) then I’m a maybe for tonight.

Looks like handicaps didn’t get sorted with the rest of the columns

Also, thanks Robbo for organising

The start felt like glue for me despite doing 400+W from the go. Not sure why Zwift lets people at different times, nothing like seeing riders coming past while you stay still.

@snotrag I think some of it is getting better at the Zwift draft. I found the TTT very helpful at learning to keep a constant even power and stay in the draft. If you start to fall back you then have to put lots of power in to catch back up then seem to overshoot, ease off to fall back into the group only to pop out the back again, then repeat until broken.

I was in the group with Zilog cruising along at 200 W for the second part of the flat section.

Not yet managed to hang onto the faster group I want to be with off the start yet so maybe I’m talking nonsense

Cheers all! Just can’t catch the faster B’s on the start despite going for it. Next week it will have to be full on sprinting off the line for me

Good race, somehow felt easier than the last few. Working internet definitely helps! Even managed a couple of turns on the front.

@scaredypants I was mostly tucked in at 250 W on the flat and then it was interval training up the hills at 320-350

Anyone know how to improve your cornering on Zwift? Every corner I would drop to a couple of meters off the back. Not sure if I subconsciously ease of as the corner approaches or I just need to level up my skill tree…

I’m in. If you want a “3xB” A team I’m happy to be in the slower team as last race pushed me just up into B. Exactly the kind of B you don’t want to be counting!

@robbo1234biking Can I get an invite please. 85 kg, 280 W, I Martin on Zwift

I’m probably out anyway this week. Just not quite recovered from a cold.

https://spanish.stackexchange.com/questions/17809/why-is-the-cycle-race-called-la-vuelta-a-espa%C3%B1a-not-de

Sorry all, internet was all over the place. Thanks for waiting and the tow Phil. Will try and test out running a cable before next week

I’m in if that doesn’t make things awkward

Sorry all, internet went down at the start I think. Really annoying. Could see lots of riders in the pen but nothing from discord. Clock on my laptop is wrong (thanks work) so missed the start. Hope you had a good one.

Nothing quite like Phil calling the final sprint when you still have nearly 4k to go…

Course of two halves for me. Chilling at the back on the flats as the step up in power required to pull on the front was just too high. Then full gas though the woods, didn’t seem to be any let up on the downhills as the rollers forced a gap if I eased off at all.

Thanks for a good ride, might have to start doing some training if we keep this up!

@paino sounds like a solid plan

https://www.bestbikesplit.com/ suggests that based on a normalised power of 278w I should do the flats at 270w the hills at 310-320W and the downhills at 200w

Although it doesn’t know about the draft so likely would be faster going even harder on the climbs and easier on the flats whilst being towed along.

If we go for a faster and slower I think I would rather be the slow man in the faster group. Being dragged round legs screaming trying not to let everyone down is what makes the TTT appealing for me.

Odd I know!

Thanks all, really enjoyed that. The team aspect properly makes you push. Now just need to make up for a summer of doing nothing and get those numbers going up.

I’m keen if you have space? Not ridden much for a while so no idea how long I will last https://zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=1373150

ERG mode would work fine as it just adjusts the resistance based on your current wheel speed to make you produce the required power.

Racing and most group rides don’t use ERG mode, only solo/group training sessions do.

I think you would have to try it with the gearing you have and the power you can create. There is a free 7 days trial.

For racing I have found putting the difficulty fairly low means you don’t have to change gear very much so can concentrate on putting the power down evenly and not get caught out with a gear change going up/down hills. It does remove some of the realism but makes it easier to get good results.

For sprint finishes probably going to be hard to hit big watts without gears