Team BKool CycleChat

[RickB]

Frustrated or what - lost my session with 1.7 miles to go. I think I' ll have to get my internet connection sorted before I carry on with the leagues.

I'll work out an approximate finishing time for you and approve the stage. You were so close after all!

Yeah the drafting seemed to work really well at that speed and we seemed to get quite good a keeping it together. I seemed to hit a couple of Randys little wormholes during the flat riding but just waited a bit for you two to catch up. At the start of the big hill I hit a bigger one and it could have helped me by 30 seconds or so. Anyone else hit wormholes out of interest?

No wormholes for me I'm afraid. Funny seeing you shoot up the road every now and again though!

Bards, Bards, Baaaarrrrrds. Who in the heck thought this was a good idea

I should change my name to Begbie cause who ever came up with that is defenitely SickBoy

Rick thanks for the encouragement. I needed it as the legs had gone bang
Wolfie I'm sorry you dropped off, I was begining to close you down and thought I had someone to aim at

Going off to reconsider my actions tonight a la Major Clipton 'madness, madness'

Apologies for the pain!
Didn't realise when I picked the stage just how brutal the final 5km would be but it's turned out to be an epic stage. Proud of all who tackled it!

can i just say a big thanks to who ever sent the message of encouragement halfway up that bleeding hill , i had my headdown and just saw a fleeting glimpse of it . i tried to pep it up a bit but i was red lining and had nothing left to give - but it was nice to see !

That would have been me.
Like to hang about and give some encouragement as I know how it helps me (thanks Monte! )

 

[Bonno]

Wowcha!
Had a rethink and went with the controlled start (had to smile when Bill shot off like a bullett!)
Tried to bridge across to the leaders but got stuck in no mans land.. could see them down the road!. Was going to try and ride with AlanNWCC but thought best to try and get a lead on him before the big climb. Unfortunately I only got just over a minute on him by the hill and he came flying past and dropped me for another couple of minutes!
I got inside the hour, which is what I was aiming for, and Veteran3 fastest time..Happy Days
Well done to the lead group

 

[BILL S]

Apologies for no ghosts tonight. Had a session with them added but it kept starting the session without warm up so had to abandon twice.

Was turning the weather function off too but it ignored that also. Non idea what was going on!!!

Could only get it working without ghosts.

I did wonder where the ghosts were, but I'm not sure they would have helped or hindered. Possibly depends on what speed they were doing on the flat and also I'm not actually sure that drafting ghosts works. On one section back there as soon as you passed me my power output at exactly the same speed dropped by 40-50 watts. I don't think it's like that with the ghosts.

 

[RickB]

I did wonder where the ghosts were, but I'm not sure they would have helped or hindered. Possibly depends on what speed they were doing on the flat and also I'm not actually sure that drafting ghosts works. On one section back there as soon as you passed me my power output at exactly the same speed dropped by 40-50 watts. I don't think it's like that with the ghosts.

Not sure bill. I did a fair bit of ghost drafting on Monday and it definitely made a big difference. Maybe you don't get drafting assistance to counter your wormhole superpower!

 

[RickB]

Must make mention of AlanNWCC who was chasing me down on the hill. He pulled back masses of time and another 50m and he would have had me!

 

[bridgy]

I did the race...but not quite with you all! I joined the ride when it appeared at 7pm, started the 10 minute warm up and it just suddenly started! So I just went with it, but I must have joined someone else's ride and not the real chain gang!

Still, my time does appear to be showing and that's another bkool lesson learnt!

I will try and do the Saturday re-run and get it right next time!

 

[BILL S]

Wowcha!
Had a rethink and went with the controlled start (had to smile when Bill shot off like a bullett!)
Tried to bridge across to the leaders but got stuck in no mans land.. could see them down the road!. Was going to try and ride with AlanC but thought best to try and get a lead on him before the big climb. Unfortunately I only got just over a minute on him by the hill and he came flying past and dropped me for another couple of minutes!
I got inside the hour, which is what I was aiming for, and Veteran3 fastest time..Happy Days
Well done to the lead group

Thanks Jonbon and well done to you too. I had a bit of a laugh at myself about my start as it was happening and wondered what everyone must think of me treating it like a one mile sprint. I think it was just instinct taking over before I got myself under control and rested for the others to catch up.
Not much fun having Irish Al right behind you and to be honest I was expecting him to pass me on that hill too.

 

[Goldwolfie]

I'll work out an approximate finishing time for you and approve the stage. You were so close after all!


No wormholes for me I'm afraid. Funny seeing you shoot up the road every now and again though!


Apologies for the pain!
Didn't realise when I picked the stage just how brutal the final 5km would be but it's turned out to be an epic stage. Proud of all who tackled it!


That would have been me.
Like to hang about and give some encouragement as I know how it helps me (thanks Monte! )

Rick - Thanks for the offer, but I need to sort out my connection as my last few longish rides have bombed out, so best to leave as is to be fair on the others - especially the boxers who I could see closing me down.It was good to have some competition at the back.

I' ll have another go and use the wife's laptop rather than my tablet.

I won't be around for Saturday's rerun as I'm of to New York, but I' ll aim to get a ride in over the weekend, after I have recovered from tonight's effort.

Actually the New York Stadium in Rotherham to watch the Wolves.

 

[Roleur1]

well I clearly have a lot to learn. Was on the sim on the stage at 1900 all sweaty and ready to go, found the session on the leagues tab, described as december chaingang loaded and pressed start bang on 1900, but without the 10 minute warm up - it went straight into the ride...billy no mates....no one else on it. What did I do wrong?

Then my HRM chest strap packed in so no HR data on Bkool or my Garmin

The still very dubious about watt readings. I rode most of the route at 400w but getting some wild watt readings later in the ride and was able to ride up the last hill at 23mph in 50 x 16. resistance not very hard....
Begining to think my four year old recently repaired laptop running windows 7 isnt man enough to handle the sim.

bit naffed off & starting to think this is one big white elephant.....keep the faith....

 

[RickB]

I did the race...but not quite with you all! I joined the ride when it appeared at 7pm, started the 10 minute warm up and it just suddenly started! So I just went with it, but I must have joined someone else's ride and not the real chain gang!

Still, my time does appear to be showing and that's another bkool lesson learnt!

I will try and do the Saturday re-run and get it right next time!

well I clearly have a lot to learn. Was on the sim on the stage at 1900 all sweaty and ready to go, found the session on the leagues tab, described as december chaingang loaded and pressed start bang on 1900, but without the 10 minute warm up - it went straight into the ride...billy no mates....no one else on it. What did I do wrong?

Then my HRM chest strap packed in so no HR data on Bkool or my Garmin

The still very dubious about watt readings. I rode most of the route at 400w but getting some wild watt readings later in the ride and was able to ride up the last hill at 23mph in 50 x 16. resistance not very hard....
Begining to think my four year old recently repaired laptop running windows 7 isnt man enough to handle the sim.

bit naffed off & starting to think this is one big white elephant.....keep the faith....

Guys, apologies are due as it sounds like you jumped straight into the rides that I was starting alright but I had to stop then as something was badly wrong. Like you say - No warm and straight in to the race. Had to reset the session without ghosts to make it work. Sorry about that but really no idea why ghosts were upsetting the warmup!!

 

[bridgy]

An OK Rick, no problem - it's actually reassuring that it wasn't something I'd done wrong! I did have a load of ghosts to ride with!

 

[Roleur1]

its one of those things..no apology necessary! ....but was the modus operandi right? be on the sim @1900 then press go? does it hold all riders to start at the same time or does each rider begin the ride when pressing go and it relies on the timing of the button press?

 

[Roleur1]

what setting are best on the settings page?

 

[IrishAl]

Must make mention of AlanNWCC who was chasing me down on the hill. He pulled back masses of time and another 50m and he would have had me!

Thanks for the mentions Rick, Bill and Bonno. I tried to hang with you boys in the first few miles but knew i was in the red so had to back off. Jon bon shot past and i had to let u go too. I dont know why but on the flat and downhill sections i cant get my power anywhere near my FTP yet my HR is into zone 5+ and u boys kept pulling out the time gap. I got u down to maybe 30s at the top of the lump in the midddle of the race but was cooked again on the flat / dowhill bit and your gap opened to over 2 mins by the bottom of the big climb. I knew Bill would hold the gap easy but i was praying that the rest of you would blow up on the hill but alas it wasnt to be. I was surprised jonbon lost so much time as you had closed jn on the others on the climb before.
And rick well done you held the gap on me at 50s for most of the climb even though i was on the rev limiter the whole way up. One last spurt towards the end got me a bit closer.
It was interesting watching Runar pass bill near the end. I might as well have done it on my own. Even strava didnt recognise that i was racing u boys.

Great race.

 

[BILL S]

its one of those things..no apology necessary! ....but was the modus operandi right? be on the sim @1900 then press go? does it hold all riders to start at the same time or does each rider begin the ride when pressing go and it relies on the timing of the button press?

Roleur, the confusion for you is that you looked for the ride in the Leagues tab when actually you needed to find it in the Live tab. Then you would see us all on thee start line and know you were in the correct race. If you don't see the other riders on the line then you're not in the right place for the chaingang race. Its totally different for the Mountain Goats and you would usually find your ride for that league under the Leagues tab.