Zwift Chat

[Legs]

Did another Bologna TT today, for the first time in a few weeks. I’m not sure I haven’t forgotten how to go really deep on the climb - I think I need to do more Gorby workouts. Intervals.icu has given me an FTP bump to 308W - I’ve been doing workouts with order to 312W recently, so that might explain why they’ve felt so tough!

Still, surprised to only be 18s down on the best time I did during my ‘purple patch’ in March - 16:50 at 327W.

 

[Norry1]

I've been staying at friends for a few days so not been on t'web.

Great to see their new place in Devon but not great prep for ToC. F'kin cockerels waking me up at 4:26 both mornings, eating crap, having a couple of beers each night and only one ride - and that was on Monday when I was supposed to have a day off

Not managed to chat to my coach yet either so a bit in the dark as to what I should do the rest of this week. Will probably have some intensity today (maybe throw in a short Zwift race) and couple of hours Z2 tomorrow.

 

[alex_cycles]

I've been staying at friends for a few days so not been on t'web.

Great to see their new place in Devon but not great prep for ToC. F'kin cockerels waking me up at 4:26 both mornings, eating crap, having a couple of beers each night and only one ride - and that was on Monday when I was supposed to have a day off

Life gets in the way of cycling sometimes. I'm due a whole week out of the saddle starting about a week from now. Not looking forward to it. I suppose I SHOULD be looking forward to the mini-break, but that's not how the world works is it?

Having increased my CTL from 55 to 65 in May I get to throw that away with a week off. This time last year I was peaking at 82
But hopefully it will be good recuperation and repair time.

Not managed to chat to my coach yet either so a bit in the dark as to what I should do the rest of this week. Will probably have some intensity today (maybe throw in a short Zwift race) and couple of hours Z2 tomorrow.

 

[steverob]

Great to see their new place in Devon but not great prep for ToC. F'kin cockerels waking me up at 4:26 both mornings, eating crap, having a couple of beers each night and only one ride - and that was on Monday when I was supposed to have a day off

Well, your preparation for the ToC is still probably better than mine Martin!
(yes, I know you're in the Race and I'm only in the Sportive, so I don't really need to prepare to anywhere near the same degree, but you know what I mean)

Having had nearly two months where I've barely cycled, I've finally started to feel like my old self again and have begun to put together a level of form where it actually feels worthwhile me attending the event; only for my bike to then crap out on me

Four punctures total across the long weekend's rides (three sudden, one slow, both wheels affected) were not a good sign, so checked my tyres and they aren't in a pretty state - all sorts of lumps and gouges out of them, meaning anything even remotely sharp is easily able to work its way in and do damage. So it's off to the LBS tomorrow for a new set, although not the size or brand I'd usually go for, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

But at least it gave me an excuse last night to get on Zwift one last time before my subscription expires for the summer - pleasantly surprised that I was only 11 watts down on the FTP I set back in early March, which was the last time I felt good on the bike - hopefully I can keep that going.

 

[Norry1]

Well, your preparation for the ToC is still probably better than mine Martin!
(yes, I know you're in the Race and I'm only in the Sportive, so I don't really need to prepare to anywhere near the same degree, but you know what I mean)

Having had nearly two months where I've barely cycled, I've finally started to feel like my old self again and have begun to put together a level of form where it actually feels worthwhile me attending the event; only for my bike to then crap out on me

Four punctures total across the long weekend's rides (three sudden, one slow, both wheels affected) were not a good sign, so checked my tyres and they aren't in a pretty state - all sorts of lumps and gouges out of them, meaning anything even remotely sharp is easily able to work its way in and do damage. So it's off to the LBS tomorrow for a new set, although not the size or brand I'd usually go for, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

But at least it gave me an excuse last night to get on Zwift one last time before my subscription expires for the summer - pleasantly surprised that I was only 11 watts down on the FTP I set back in early March, which was the last time I felt good on the bike - hopefully I can keep that going.

Good news about the FTP. Hope Sunday goes well for you. May catch you there

 

[Norry1]

Done a brief Race Report from last Sunday. Strangely I didn't feel I had much to talk about from it. No pics yet either so far.

I had my first race of the year last Sunday (28th May) and bizarrely, it was the BMCR National Road Race Championships. The race was on the Welland Course, near Malvern which I’ve raced a few times before.

There were 54 riders on the start list and most of the “big guns” were there. I had three of them earmarked to follow should they go on a breakaway. My plan was to stay close enough to the front that I could follow moves but not so close that I started doing too much work. Coach Roy had set me one target and that was to follow these guys and ensure I was in the break.

We lined up and followed the race car for a neutralised start which seemed overly slow and then we were let go. I failed in my first part of my plan in that I wasn’t that close to the front so I couldn’t see all that was happening. We were going at a fair old lick so it was very difficult to move up.

A few breaks went but none of them included my “markees” so I was content.

It was a 16 mile lap and a 3 lap race. I set a PB on the first lap around 25 mph and I was feeling pushed but okay. I heard a marshal shout that the break had a minute lead at one point. Multiple break attempts went and I followed the one that had one of my marks in but it didn’t get away. We seemed to be reeling people in and I asked a guy if we were at the front of the race now. He said yes but I don’t know if that was correct or not.

The pacing became very start/stop which is reflected in my power profile which looks like a Polarised training chart. I did over 30 minutes in VO2 or Neuromuscular zones as well as over 50% in Zone 1 or coasting.

In the third lap I got near the front of the group and as usual got suckered into chasing guys down so after a bit I slipped back to mid-pack. The pace just went up and up and I didn’t really have a defined final sprint, it was more like a 40 second max effort with whatever I had left.

As we approached the finale, there was more jockeying and I was about mid-pack as we turned for the final kilometer or so.

There was a breakaway of 7 and then I think 27 in our pack. I came 22nd overall so about 17th in the group.

I was reasonably pleased with my performance as it was my first race of the year and it seemed (to me anyway) to be a high quality field. I will have to do better this coming weekend as I need to get in the top 25% at the Tour of Cambridgeshire if I want to qualify for the Gran Fondo World Championships.

I haven’t seen any photos from the event but I’ll post them later if any show up.

 

[Norry1]

I did the 12:10 Crit Club in the end, 62 Starters.

Made a rookie error - deployed my ghost 2 seconds before they remove it (300m from finish line) so it did me no good.

Came 4th (3rd on ZP) which I was reasonably pleased with.

View: https://youtu.be/MNKtmHpHlcs

 

[Peter Salt]

I did the 12:10 Crit Club in the end, 62 Starters.

Made a rookie error - deployed my ghost 2 seconds before they remove it (300m from finish line) so it did me no good.

Came 4th (3rd on ZP) which I was reasonably pleased with.

View: https://youtu.be/MNKtmHpHlcs

Good race that. Smart use of powerups - a bit unlucky with the ghost at the end - surely would have been a win, if it was the aero helmet. Knocking on the door of cat. B, very impressive

 

[alex_cycles]

Talking of Cat B, I've just done a cat B race - 2 laps of Innsbruckring for a laugh. I managed to hold onto the front group 1st time up and down the snapper. We were down to 7 and got a gap of about 6s on the rest. A couple managed to get back on but I got dropped by the fastest few the second time up the snapper and finished 7th of 17 starts (6th after ZP/HRM DQs). I think I did one place better than expected on Zwiftracing.app so might get a very small incremental improvement in rating. So far in B races I've usually taken a hit to my rating.

Hard work though. 20-minute power was 1 Watt less than best ever indoor (ZRL Sgurr semi-final). Intervals.icu has me at 108% for 26 minutes.
New PR on Innsbruckring lap and I was nearly 2 minutes faster than the winner of C though

View: https://youtu.be/YxlKs5rAXRE

 

[Peter Salt]

Talking of Cat B, I've just done a cat B race - 2 laps of Innsbruckring for a laugh. I managed to hold onto the front group 1st time up and down the snapper. We were down to 7 and got a gap of about 6s on the rest. A couple managed to get back on but I got dropped by the fastest few the second time up the snapper and finished 7th of 17 starts (6th after ZP/HRM DQs). I think I did one place better than expected on Zwiftracing.app so might get a very small incremental improvement in rating. So far in B races I've usually taken a hit to my rating.

Hard work though. 20-minute power was 1 Watt less than best ever indoor (ZRL Sgurr semi-final). Intervals.icu has me at 108% for 26 minutes.
New PR on Innsbruckring lap and I was nearly 2 minutes faster than the winner of C though

View: https://youtu.be/YxlKs5rAXRE

I could feel your pain when the other two riders, that you kept up with over the 2nd Legsnapper, managed to get back on to the front. Looked like there was just nothing more to give, you really pushed yourself.

 

[alex_cycles]

I could feel your pain when the other two riders, that you kept up with over the 2nd Legsnapper, managed to get back on to the front. Looked like there was just nothing more to give, you really pushed yourself.

I literally had no choice but to accept I wasn't able to keep with them near the sprint. But I had enough to maintain a decent gap to the guy chasing me. That then became the goal. Recover a bit and don't lose any places in the last 2km

 

[CXRAndy]

Life gets in the way

Certainly does. Spent my first stint do serious farm work, spent 20 hours in the tractor , 14 hours today using a power harrow. So slow, 3 kmh working speed

This is the small field. Expecting 100 hours of more time to complete harrow work!

 

[alex_cycles]

Certainly does. Spent my first stint do serious farm work, spent 20 hours in the tractor , 14 hours today using a power harrow. So slow, 3 kmh working speed
View attachment 692534

This is the small field. Expecting 100 hours of more time to complete harrow work!

What are you going to plant?

 

[CXRAndy]

What are you going to plant?

Flowers something like this. Returning the land to nature for 5 years, got to get it all done whilst weather is good

We are doing countryside stewardship.

The land has been neglected for since 2018, rock hard , we have to prepare a seed bed for seeding, power harrow, great implement but you can't whizz along like with some pieces of kit

 

[alex_cycles]

Flowers something like this. Returning the land to nature for 5 years, got to get it all done whilst weather is good

View attachment 692548

We are doing countryside stewardship.

The land has been neglected for since 2018, rock hard , we have to prepare a seed bed for seeding, power harrow, great implement but you can't whizz along like with some pieces of kit

That's quite some retirement project to keep you busy