Turbo Club - Meet Ups / Events

[<Tommy>]

Completely agree. I also think we (or at least I) went too hard on some of the early hills - I blame Lee as I was trying to keep up with him! In hindsight I should have held a bit back on those inclines and used the flatter sections to catch back up with the group - which wasn't too hard to do really (at least in the first half of the ride!). As I've said before I had my Zwift racing head on and was thinking if I lost touch that would be curtains, but its not quite like that in the real world.

Got the email many thanks mate

Regarding the getting back onto a group thing. I think it’s just dependent on how fast the group is going versus your own threshold. For example If the group is cruising at 25mph and you drop off the back the longer you take to make contact the harder it becomes. How long can you spend at 30mph or whatever before you pop? I’ve been spat out of groups a few times and found it super tough to bridge the gap.

I think the pace for the ride was generally slower than last year. So that made it easier to dance around a bit. But then I think we overcompensated for our slow start by pushing too hard in the middle. And spent much more time on the front of groups.

 

[bridgy]

Got the email many thanks mate

Regarding the getting back onto a group thing. I think it’s just dependent on how fast the group is going versus your own threshold. For example If the group is cruising at 25mph and you drop off the back the longer you take to make contact the harder it becomes. How long can you spend at 30mph or whatever before you pop? I’ve been spat out of groups a few times and found it super tough to bridge the gap.

I think the pace for the ride was generally slower than last year. So that made it easier to dance around a bit. But then I think we overcompensated for our slow start by pushing too hard in the middle. And spent much more time on the front of groups.

The reason why it wasn't too hard to re-catch the group this year was we weren't working together much as a coherent group - it was mostly just people randomly taking a turn at the front and when the situation dictated it, and riding their own pace with everyone taking a breather behind them. Would obviously be harder if you had an organised train of riders taking equal turns and pushing hard at the front

 

[<Tommy>]

The reason why it wasn't too hard to re-catch the group this year was we weren't working together much as a coherent group - it was mostly just people randomly taking a turn at the front and when the situation dictated it, and riding their own pace with everyone taking a breather behind them. Would obviously be harder if you had an organised train of riders taking equal turns and pushing hard at the front

Yes exactly mate. Not so much a Zwift versus real world thing, but more just dependent on the groups pace versus your own capability. Wherever that may be.

Next year....

 

[bridgy]

Yes exactly mate. Not so much a Zwift versus real world thing, but more just dependent on the groups pace versus your own capability. Wherever that may be.

Next year....

Well, yeah but the zwift vs real world difference is that there's also rarely any kind of coordinated turn-taking at the front of a group on there either, but the group still goes too fast to catch up with because of the way the drafting algorithm is set up.

 

[berty bassett]

Completely agree. I also think we (or at least I) went too hard on some of the early hills - I blame Lee as I was trying to keep up with him! In hindsight I should have held a bit back on those inclines and used the flatter sections to catch back up with the group - which wasn't too hard to do really (at least in the first half of the ride!). As I've said before I had my Zwift racing head on and was thinking if I lost touch that would be curtains, but its not quite like that in the real world.

you too ? i would have kicked myself at the end if my legs worked
usually i have a southerner on my shoulder telling me off - but one had a sniffle and one wasnt talking
glad it wasnt just me who i knackered up
in my defence i was only trying to keep up with young lanky
bloody futile that was !

 

[Norry1]

@berty bassett if you want a copy of this pic, PM me your email address and I'll send it to you. Tommy, I've sent you a copy

P.S. need to tuck those elbows in Tommy

View attachment 469770

Loving the pic.

Get closer together though - wasting draft

 

[Norry1]

Good pic! Not had a chance yet to look on the site at all the photos but will do so over the weekend.

Also not had a chance to look at my stats and see where it went wrong for me! The uneven pace at the start probably didn't help, but my HR during that time seemed very high for the relatively low power. Decided to take it easy for a while and utilise the food stops but still got bad cramps (never experienced anything like it ) when we hit the wind and had to soft pedal as much as I could for 30 miles. I did feel good though after the final stop (although legs seemed on the edge of cramping) and rode strongly to the end. Legs still felt good the next morning, so I'm not really sure why I struggled Sunday.

I'm glad I did feel strong at the end or I'd be less inclined to give it another go next year!

If you have TrainerRoad, their analytics makes it really easy to look at various sections and what the power, speed, NP, TSS etc were. I'm just doing some analysis of my race.

 

[<Tommy>]

Well, yeah but the zwift vs real world difference is that there's also rarely any kind of coordinated turn-taking at the front of a group on there either, but the group still goes too fast to catch up with because of the way the drafting algorithm is set up.

I feel like we’re in serious danger of falling down a big black hole of semantics!

My original point was that the difficulty level in catching a group is relative to how fast the group is going, and relative to how fast you are capable of going over the distance / time needed to catch up. There’s obviously lots of reason why the group could be going faster in either Zwift or the real world. But it results in the same thing.

You said:

“As I've said before I had my Zwift racing head on and was thinking if I lost touch that would be curtains, but its not quite like that in the real world”

But I think we can say that it is the same net result. But sometimes for different reasons

 

[bridgy]

Loving the pic.

Get closer together though - wasting draft

Think we were going pretty fast downhill at that point! #safetyfirst

With my superior elbows-in tuck giving me an extra aero speed boost, you can see I've just pulled out ready to whizz past Tommy

 

[bridgy]

I feel like we’re in serious danger of falling down a big black hole of semantics!

My original point was that the difficulty level in catching a group is relative to how fast the group is going, and relative to how fast you are capable of going over the distance / time needed to catch up. There’s obviously lots of reason why the group could be going faster in either Zwift or the real world. But it results in the same thing.

You said:

“As I've said before I had my Zwift racing head on and was thinking if I lost touch that would be curtains, but its not quite like that in the real world”

But I think we can say that it is the same net result. But sometimes for different reasons

Point taken!

 

[Norry1]

I have been looking at the Rapha custom kit....

I'd be up for that if we can get a pretty good view (or try) of sizing. I hate buying kit mail order and finding it is too tight / loose - especially expensive kit.

 

[<Tommy>]

Point taken!

Speaking of points. It’s funny the image you have of yourself on a bike compared to reality. Who knew my elbows were so pointy! I see your knees were tucked in like mine. Was your front wheel a bit jittery too?

 

[<Tommy>]

I'd be up for that if we can get a pretty good view (or try) of sizing. I hate buying kit mail order and finding it is too tight / loose - especially expensive kit.

If we did go with rapha it would probably one if the easier brands to work sizes out as it’s so readily available. But also the most expensive. Which might put some people off.

 

[bridgy]

Speaking of points. It’s funny the image you have of yourself on a bike compared to reality. Who knew my elbows were so pointy! I see your knees were tucked in like mine. Was your front wheel a bit jittery too?

No I don't really remember having a jittery front wheel this time despite the wind actually

 

[berty bassett]

Are we entering the grand condo early ?
Just had email - anyone thinking of doing it ?