Zwift Chat

[<Tommy>]

Imagine Froome, Bernal, G. etc. saying to their lower ranked Ineos teammates "Nah, we don't wanna do the Tour de Outer Mongolia . You just go ahead and do it, and then we'll do some other random races those 3 weeks."

Maybe I'm overthinking it...

Fixed that for you 👍😄.

Happens quite a lot on the pro tour I believe

 

[Brusgaard]

Fixed that for you 👍😄.

Happens quite a lot on the pro tour I believe

Yes, the top ranked riders don't want to do (win) some unkown races, nothing special about that. Except some of them use them for training and help their lower ranked teammates to maybe a win. Happens quite a lot on the Pro tour I believe.

But if they decline doing the Grand Tours, I think they can kiss their (and probably the team's) sponsors goodbye.

 

[Whorty]

Yes, the top ranked riders don't want to do (win) some unkown races, nothing special about that. Except some of them use them for training and help their lower ranked teammates to maybe a win. Happens quite a lot on the Pro tour I believe.

But if they decline doing the Grand Tours, I think they can kiss their (and probably the team's) sponsors goodbye.

To be fair to this race series, all cats have some pretty powerful Zwift riders ... may not be the TdF, but to contend any stage you'd have to be a blinkin strong rider in your cat.

I've raced quite a few Zwift races, and the smaller ones I've held my own, even getting on the podium ..... but not in this series! Some real beasts in this league - but as they say, to get faster you need to race those faster then you So glad you invited us to this league and I put myself out there against some great Zwift racers

 

[<Tommy>]

Yes, the top ranked riders don't want to do (win) some unkown races, nothing special about that. Except some of them use them for training and help their lower ranked teammates to maybe a win. Happens quite a lot on the Pro tour I believe.

But if they decline doing the Grand Tours, I think they can kiss their (and probably the team's) sponsors goodbye.

Let me know when you’ve arranged our sponsorship deal and we can carry on this conversation 😄

Like I say don’t over think it guys...Glad you’re enjoying it. The good thing about zwift is there’s always lots of options. Maybe more people will join the next one.

I still don’t completely understand the team aspect of it but it sounds like you’re all having fun 👍

 

[<Tommy>]

But as they say, to get faster you need to race those faster then you

Hopefully it gives you the motivation to move over to B cat 👍

 

[Whorty]

Hopefully it gives you the motivation to move over to B cat 👍

I have the motivation ... what I don't have is the numbers I need to average 250 watts over 20 mins, and I can't seem to get higher than 245 in a race. If I could just hold a steady power with no surges, I'd be ok I think, but it's the crazy starts, puts me in the red early and I can't hold the power then for the whole 20 mins.

I'll get there eventually

 

[<Tommy>]

I have the motivation ... what I don't have is the numbers I need to average 250 watts over 20 mins, and I can't seem to get higher than 245 in a race. If I could just hold a steady power with no surges, I'd be ok I think, but it's the crazy starts, puts me in the red early and I can't hold the power then for the whole 20 mins.

I'll get there eventually

To be honest you’re on the right road when you except you have to keep on chasing the shadows of faster riders until you can live with them.

For me that works anyway. I wouldn’t not try and stick with the front guys for the sake of trying to pace a race. I’d stick with them as long as possible until you pop. And then next time try and last a bit longer. Do you really care if you come 100th or 150th in an online race? If you’re feeling like you’re going to pop the chances are lots of the people around you feel the same. There’s no way around that. You just got to work through it. Sooner or later you will find yourself at the front when it’s all calmed down. And it gets easier after that.

that’s my 2 cents anyway 😄

 

[Brusgaard]

So glad you invited us to this league and I put myself out there against some great Zwift racers

Glad you enjoyed it. The reason I chose this series was that it was the same time of day as the Tuesday meet ups, hoping that everyone doing those would be up for real races instead of the meet up ITTs. Also, some of us still do the Bkool Chain Gang Thursdays and would not be able / fit to do both a Zwift and Bkool race same night.

As said, the feltet.dk site is about pro racing, and as such I thought this series might attract some different (read: outdoor) riders than the usual indoor "specialists" goups on Facebook. Corona probably helped in that regard, as the Pros are now confined to their houses in more and more countries.

 

[Whorty]

To be honest you’re on the right road when you except you have to keep on chasing the shadows of faster riders until you can live with them.

For me that works anyway. I wouldn’t not try and stick with the front guys for the sake of trying to pace a race. I’d stick with them as long as possible until you pop. And then next time try and last a bit longer. Do you really care if you come 100th or 150th in an online race? If you’re feeling like you’re going to pop the chances are lots of the people around you feel the same. There’s no way around that. You just got to work through it. Sooner or later you will find yourself at the front when it’s all calmed down. And it gets easier after that.

that’s my 2 cents anyway 😄

Exactly what I'm doing ... pushing as hard and as long as possible to stay with the main group before my legs and/or lungs give up. Doing workouts too to try and condition me to the race scenario ... but Rome wasn't built in a day, so progress is still ongoing

 

[BurningLegs]

I see your point, @<Tommy> but race strategy isn't always about holding onto a wheel. It's often about accepting your weaknesses and playing to your strengths. @Whorty is probably the shining example in our group of an effective pacing strategy that often sees him starting slower than others in Cat C but finishing stronger.

If the objective is to get strong by racing then sure, hold onto the wheel in front at all costs. If the objective is to get the best result possible then a pacing strategy is surely more effective.

 

[JuhaL]

Outdoor season opened. So sunny as the weather was and thermometer show nice readings i was overestimated the weather, it was a mistake to wear summer mitts. Anyway not bad over 40km ride and Garmin shows 211w avg.

 

[<Tommy>]

I see your point, @<Tommy> but race strategy isn't always about holding onto a wheel. It's often about accepting your weaknesses and playing to your strengths. @Whorty is probably the shining example in our group of an effective pacing strategy that often sees him starting slower than others in Cat C but finishing stronger.

If the objective is to get strong by racing then sure, hold onto the wheel in front at all costs. If the objective is to get the best result possible then a pacing strategy is surely more effective.

To be honest I think we’re talking at cross purposes bud.
I didn’t say race strategy was always about holding onto a wheel did I? What I was talking about is the process I took to hold onto the front group from the start and how I got there.

I think what you’re talking about is finishing as high in the results as possible (?). I don’t disagree that there are lots of race tactics and I’m no expert! But yes, we were talking about getting strong through racing.

 

[<Tommy>]

Something to kill a few minutes

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/mar/27/tour-de-france-quiz-cycling-greatest-race

 

[JuhaL]

Something to kill a few minutes

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/mar/27/tour-de-france-quiz-cycling-greatest-race

Didn't went pretty well 6/15

 

[bobinski]

For the record i haven't raced recently coz i was on a training plan on SF for my now aborted trips to Nice and Flanders and now Majorca. Also, i suspected many of you were simply treating them as Z2 exercises and only Del has proved me wrong