Team BKool CycleChat

[gbrown]

Ok I've made the adjustment. I'm not to sure about how I'm gonna look this light. I will do a pot molle warm up like normal then join the insanity shortly after. It is an all hands on deck start this time I take it.

One other thing that crossed my mind:
Would it be a good idea to have a neutral zone at the start of a race where the leader cannot exceed 20 kph followed by a shorter zone at 30 kph.
The aim of this is to promote larger groups forming rather than people getting immediately distanced by the from the standstill software anomalies.

I guess the plan is to start a warm up at 8pm and everyone joins during the 10 minutes. When the countdown reaches zero, everyone goes off. That's one of the advantages of Handicapping by weight.

Hopefully everyone should be evenly matched, but I'm not sure how to avoid the typical "Bill" starters flying off, but would be better if we could.

Don't forget to change the weight settings in your Profile, half way down the first tab, before the race (and change them back afterwards, I guess).

I'll post the weights in pounds as well as Kg for those who use imperial measurements.

Geoff

 

[gbrown]

I really like the idea of this or something similar.

We need a short neutralized section, with a maximum speed of something like 25 kph (this would help any KICKR users as well), but how to police it?

I guess we could designate a lead out guy and I could dock time from anyone who passes them before a certain distance?

Any ideas?

 

[AAAC 76C]

We need a short neutralized section, with a maximum speed of something like 25 kph (this would help any KICKR users as well), but how to police it?

I guess we could designate a lead out guy and I could dock time from anyone who passes them before a certain distance?

Any ideas?

Can you not create a split at 0 meters to X meters and call it neutral zone?
The split will therefore just mark the true start
Any splits should show up in the results and so 'offenders' will be visible.
I think in general folk would abide by the 'rules' regardless but the idea is to remove the ability to do the jump start and limit the effectiveness of a sharp acceleration thereafter.
I feel its a bit of a shame sometimes that us faster guys distance some of the other up and coming riders and hence don't give them the opportunity to join our 'chain-gang'.
However not being an expert in the on/off style of riding it may be that once the neutral zone is completed you can still wind up your speed quicker than the SW adds resistance.

In addition adding splits at other appropriate points (climb/descent start & finish) could give us all the opportunity to compare how we all fared against each other on the various sections.

 

[CXRAndy]

It would be interesting so see the likes of AAAC use a kickr on a recent course. It should have some descent percentage climbs to see if it really is so different. I have gone some 10 minutes faster on the last leg compared to when I did last time on my kickr. I do feel fitter stronger but not 10mins worth. AAAC would be ideal cos he doesn't use the saw tooth method to generate power.

 

[bridgy]

Although it may help the kickr users with that weird slow thing they do at the start, I think the sudden acceleration from 20/30 kph as soon as the neutral zone ends will be much the same as a standing start for bkool users

 

[gbrown]

Can you not create a split at 0 meters to X meters and call it neutral zone?
The split will therefore just mark the true start
Any splits should show up in the results and so 'offenders' will be visible.
I think in general folk would abide by the 'rules' regardless but the idea is to remove the ability to do the jump start and limit the effectiveness of a sharp acceleration thereafter.
I feel its a bit of a shame sometimes that us faster guys distance some of the other up and coming riders and hence don't give them the opportunity to join our 'chain-gang'.
However not being an expert in the on/off style of riding it may be that once the neutral zone is completed you can still wind up your speed quicker than the SW adds resistance.

In addition adding splits at other appropriate points (climb/descent start & finish) could give us all the opportunity to compare how we all fared against each other on the various sections.

It's too late to add splits to the league. I might be able to add splits when I start the session, but they would not be there for anyone who did the session at any other time.

 

[LBHIFI]

Pah, it will only take you a few minutes at that weight!

Be careful cycling near young girls, it's a well known fact that after a certain age men become invisible to young women, so they might cycle into you...

If she starts before me then that's ok - that would mean that I caught her .
As for the weight race, I think you're right. I calculated a race time between 15 and 18 minutes, so that would probably not interfere with my real world race plans.
Now all I need is to find someone to take care of the kids, as the wife is working night shifts tomorrow.

 

[<Tommy>]

Can you not create a split at 0 meters to X meters and call it neutral zone?
The split will therefore just mark the true start
Any splits should show up in the results and so 'offenders' will be visible.
I think in general folk would abide by the 'rules' regardless but the idea is to remove the ability to do the jump start and limit the effectiveness of a sharp acceleration thereafter.
I feel its a bit of a shame sometimes that us faster guys distance some of the other up and coming riders and hence don't give them the opportunity to join our 'chain-gang'.
However not being an expert in the on/off style of riding it may be that once the neutral zone is completed you can still wind up your speed quicker than the SW adds resistance.

In addition adding splits at other appropriate points (climb/descent start & finish) could give us all the opportunity to compare how we all fared against each other on the various sections.

This would get my vote

I think bridgy is right in that there will still be a sprint start at the end of the neutral zone but I think the increased resistance, and people being slightly more organised might be a bit of a leveller. How much of a difference this actually makes to the result of the race could obviously be zero but it'd be interesting to run different variations of it to see. You'd have to expect people to still be split by ability/form but at the least it should make it easier for groups to form.

 

[gbrown]

I guess we could designate a lead out guy and I could dock time from anyone who passes them before a certain distance?

The obvious candidate is @JLaw as using a KICKR he can't accelerate at anything other than a slow pace!

We could try and ban anyone from over taking @JLaw (if he's joining in tomorrow night), until after a certain distance, but very hard to police. A gentleman's agreement, perhaps?

Looking at one of the recordings, it took 0.1 mile (0.16 km) for him to get to 20 mph (32 kph), with a lovely gentle acceleration.

We could set a split at, say, 0.15 miles (0.24 km) and say no-one overtakes him until after the split? Then any mid-week runs are done against his ghost. Any rider passing him could be penalised and adjusted. If Jlaw is up for lead out duties?

Geoff

 

[bobinski]

This would get my vote

I think bridgy is right in that there will still be a sprint start at the end of the neutral zone but I think the increased resistance, and people being slightly more organised might be a bit of a leveller. How much of a difference this actually makes to the result of the race could obviously be zero but it'd be interesting to run different variations of it to see. You'd have to expect people to still be split by ability/form but at the least it should make it easier for groups to form.

I think Bridgy is probably right too. I think we all want to make it work as well and will temper our starts to make do so. It's getting exciting

 

[Soarerv8]

The obvious candidate is @JLaw as using a KICKR he can't accelerate at anything other than a slow pace!

We could try and ban anyone from over taking @JLaw (if he's joining in tomorrow night), until after a certain distance, but very hard to police. A gentleman's agreement, perhaps?

Looking at one of the recordings, it took 0.1 mile (0.16 km) for him to get to 20 mph (32 kph), with a lovely gentle acceleration.

We could set a split at, say, 0.15 miles (0.24 km) and say no-one overtakes him until after the split? Then any mid-week runs are done against his ghost. Any rider passing him could be penalised and adjusted. If Jlaw is up for lead out duties?

Geoff

You are the boss Geoff if thems the rules very happy to follow them. Won't be doing this one live sadly so will just set whoever is the lead as the ghost for my re run and just hope that they appear

 

[CXRAndy]

@RickB

Are you still about updating the league.?

Has it fully finished now, be nice to see where I ended up? .

 

[gbrown]

I've setup a League session with a Point of Interest at 0.1 miles (0.16 km) marking the end of a Neutralised Zone. If @JLaw is taking part then no-one is to pass him until after this point, otherwise we will set a speed limit before the start.

I have also added KOM point at the top of the first and second times up the climb.

Don't forget to alter your weights (I'll post Handicap weights again shortly), and join the warm-up, which will start at 8pm, so race proper should start around 8:10.

If the start goes wrong before it reaches 5 minutes left, I'll restart the session, otherwise race on, so try and be in the session with at least 5 minutes to go.

Don't forget the neutralised zone, so no top gear sprint starts, hopefully we'll pick up the pace steadily over the first 0.1 mile,

@JLaw if you can join us on your KICKR, you can lead the way and build up your speed as fast as the KICKR allows, no-one should pass you until you reach the target point (or 0.1 miles if that doesn't show up).

Geoff

 

[bobinski]

Geoff,
All sound s great.

Now, excuses I have been up since 3am with my youngest so assuming I stay awake until 8pm I doubt I will be near my best. I will try and last though because I really don't want to miss out on this inaugural event

 

[gbrown]

Tonight's Handicap Chase is a special Handicap Climb with adjusted rider weights to equalize Watts/Kg

Session is password protected, password is chase (type h twice if help screen appears)

Course is Merry Harriers (x3) - http://www.bkool.com/profile/detail/618501?durationType=DISTANCE&lapCount=3

I will start the warm-up close to 8:00pm BST (UTC+1) to ensure the race starts around 8:10pm BST (UTC+1).

Everyone taking part should adjust their weight to the allocated value before entering the warm up, preferably with at least 5 minutes to go.

Weights are generally reduced, in some cases considerably, to achieve the target Watts/Kg, so speeds should be higher than usual. The main part of the session should not take more than around 20 minutes, and in any case less than 30 minutes, to avoid changing Fitness Levels. Anyone taking longer than 30 minutes would be advised to discard their session without saving.

The Start (for everyone) should be between 8:05 and 8:10, when the warm-up ends.

Once underway, there is a short neutralized zone (0.1 miles or 0.16 km) to avoid taking advantage of the lowered resistance at start, where no-one is allowed to overtake @JLaw (or if he is not present, you must gradually increase speed to a maximum of 20 mph (32 kph) until you pass the 0.1 (0.16 km) point.

If anyone else wants to take part, please can you let us know here and we can work out a weight Handicap from your FTP power value or similar.

Geoff