Zwift Chat

[steverob]

I think it's the new flat route, so about 20km (12 miles?).

Looking on the Tour of Watopia sub-site, they have stage 5 as being "about" 18km / 11.2 miles, however I thought that was unlikely, as it means someone without a current Zwift subscription could complete the stage with the 25km a month free allowance, and they've never allowed that in the past - note that all the other stages are around 30-40km.

However this distance was first listed when the new desert course wasn't officially open yet, so it was always a possibility that it could be changed nearer the time. At one point, ZwiftPower did list the stage as being about 37km, which suggests two out and back "laps" of the TT course plus the ride from the pens to the start line, but now that has disappeared from their event listings, so maybe they've had a change of mind?

 

[CXRAndy]

I must have a play around later to see if I can get the power data from both the Bkool and the Assiomas for the same ride. I guess if I use the Bkool paired to Zwift and then the assioma pedals to my garmin I can get both .FIT files and then put them together in excel. DC Rainmaker has a tool but it costs a few $$ to run.

I agree that you have to take zwift with a pinch of salt and use it to improve your own performance as theres so many ways to deliberately or accidentally cheat (weight, height, calibration, motor doping). I have joined a group in Facebook called Zwiftransparency where you can upload a video of your weight and height just to prove at least that side is right. I've updated my ZT passport with a few IRL strava sectors that some of you might have ridden on...links might not work but you can get them from my ZT passport in the signature if you recognise the sector. I see a few of you have done some of these climbs.

Mallorca, Spain - Puig Major climb from Soller - “Puig Major 10km Climb” - 6.3 miles @ 6% - 00:37:12 - http://bit.ly/2GKsbOJ
Mallorca, Spain - Sa Calobra to Coll dels Reis - “Sa Calobra to Coll dels Reis (official)” - 5.9 miles @ 7% - 00:36:43 - http://bit.ly/2LaC7Xq
Mallorca, Spain - Pollenca to Formentor view point - “Cap Formentor to 1st view point” - 2.0 miles @ 6% - 00:10:02 - http://bit.ly/2W8lFbi
Tenerife, Spain - Los Christianos to Teide - “Teide” - 20.3 miles @ 6% 2:35:35 - http://bit.ly/2V8MY92
Calpe Region, Spain - Parcent to Coll de Rates - “Coll de Rates official” - 3.7 miles @ 5% - 00:22:38- http://bit.ly/2PyZ84Z

Your Vilaflor, Teide segment is pretty good sub 1 hour, mine is 1hr10 last November. I dont know if you were going hard to set these times and the segment ive high lighted is a latter segment so fatigue will reared its head probably. The tour guide I go with has sub 50 for that segment- hes a local though

 

[CXRAndy]

Looking at the courses, when Lee beats Paul its a hilly route and flat when Paul beats Lee

 

[berty bassett]

Looking at the courses, when Lee beats Paul its a hilly route and flat when Paul beats Lee

i'm screwed

 

[JuhaL]

i'm screwed

Deep analyze is virtue of this forum

 

[Whorty]

Planning a go at stg 1 again today at 5 o'clock. See if I can gain all those 3 seconds that I'm languishing behind @CXRAndy

Not enough other riders so failed to improve time. I knew i was in trouble when I was leading the front group through Ocean water tunnel!! Was doing quite well up through the Jungle climb, but lost the group I was in in the last few hundred metres (I got stickied to another guy who lost the group wheel and then .... poof ... they'd gone). I dragged this chap out of the jungle climb but we were losing time on the group ahead, and there was a group chasing on, so we had a rest down the KoM and once the group caught us we stuck with them until the end. Watts up on my fastest time, yet I was 1 minute slower - just goes to show how important that draft is.

A good workout though, so worth the effort

 

[IrishAl]

Your Vilaflor, Teide segment is pretty good sub 1 hour, mine is 1hr10 last November. I dont know if you were going hard to set these times and the segment ive high lighted is a latter segment so fatigue will reared its head probably. The tour guide I go with has sub 50 for that segment- hes a local though

I was there in August and it was sweltering so I was going as hard as the heat would allow.

 

[Milzy]

I’m trying to have a steady week as it’s TDY on Sunday. I’d like to do a ramp test at some point too. Plus I need to be at work more this week. So much to do & so little time.
Will we get invite for Thursday?

 

[CXRAndy]

I was there in August and it was sweltering so I was going as hard as the heat would allow.

Tenerife bike Training tours generally end late April and they move onto mainland Europe to continue events in Spain and France

 

[steverob]

Found out the hard way the perils of doing a ride in a make-up week - there's a lot less people about to draft off! Both my previous rides have had over 600 people in them, while this one had just 80.

Knowing I was likely to end up doing my usual solo ride - too fast for a slow group, too slow for a fast group, stuck in the middle on my own - I tried my hardest to stay with a reasonable sized pack (which included a fellow CycleChatter) off the start line, possibly pushing a little too hard at times to keep in the draft, but managed successfully until the Reverse KOM, at which point I knew I was soon going to be toast if I tried to keep that pace up and went back to my usual levels.

Watched one small group go by without being able to catch onto their tails, but held on to the next one coming through and stayed in there for the majority of the rest of the ride - basically again until the KOM at which point the whole lot of us split up completely. Myself and two others stayed reasonably close on the descent, but I ended up losing them in the Esses and just cruised to the finish on my own.

However I did beat my previous best time for the Figure 8 by almost three minutes, plus nearly came in under 50 minutes which was my original aim, one which I probably would have been able to do in a bigger field. Final result: 50:28

 

[LoneRider90]

@bridgy Thanks for pointing that out, stupid really why not test all combinations at an avg size avatar/ power rating etc?

I found a GP Lama video and he linked to the Zwift Insider blogs which came out not so long ago detailing fastest frames and wheels which was much easier to understand. They were split into climbing frames, climbing wheels, flat frames, flat wheels and TT.. again really easy. It also said use climbing for the big hills such as Alpe, Epic KOM and Innsbruck and everything else for flat/ rolling. Again super simple... If I'm climbing a brute of a hill then go climbing set up, anything less than that basically go Tron.

New target, back on that Tron bike climbing - I'm at 58%. If I can nab the lightweight wheels on the way then great but I have the Canondale Evo and ENVE 3.4 wheels so I'm covered there. To get better on flat before I get Tron go light aero wheel, then full aero plus some filler wheels as I get there the drops and levels are adding up. Throw in Venge S-W and the Cervelo P5x TT bike to 'level out' I need to get from level 23 to level 45 and from roughly 350,000 drops to a cool 5,000,000! Easy!

tldr: Does Tron bike for flat and/or rolling plus a designated climbing set up for the biggies fit your thinking? I'll link to those guides tomorrow night, they're pretty good reading!

 

[Specialeyes]

Found out the hard way the perils of doing a ride in a make-up week - there's a lot less people about to draft off! Both my previous rides have had over 600 people in them, while this one had just 80.
...
However I did beat my previous best time for the Figure 8 by almost three minutes, plus nearly came in under 50 minutes which was my original aim, one which I probably would have been able to do in a bigger field. Final result: 50:28

Bloody good effort Steve! And you're right, you would definitely have been under 50 minutes in a bigger group, if nothing else than by virtue of the constant draft.

It was great to see a fellow CCer at the start, and it was really lumpy with just 80 in the group: every climb reduced that initial cluster we were in into a series of smaller groups that would just about coalesce in time for the next climb to smash us apart again. That made the whole ride into a series of short efforts to get back on and recover. So in that respect, it felt more realistic. My normalised power was 3 watts higher than my first go (281/278), but overall I was 56 seconds slower at 44:36.

In good news, it got me the quarter-level of XP from level 41 to 42, so the L45 disc wheels have got a little closer!

 

[bobinski]

For those of you after Norry's glutes:


View: https://youtu.be/ifyvJgfvaQM

 

[Whorty]

For those of you after Norry's glutes:


View: https://youtu.be/ifyvJgfvaQM

That hurts just watching

 

[JuhaL]

That hurts just watching

Yes it does. Especially that side plank, i need a jack to support my hip up .