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Ketty

Über Member
Location
Yorkshire
Enjoyed this race. I came 34th of 95 so just met my goal of finishing in the top third.

I started well and was in the front group for the first 15 minutes or so - but dropped out towards the top of the first KOM in Titan's Grove. As it's virtually impossible to get back on in Zwift I slowed to wait for the next group of about 10 riders.

We pretty much stayed together for the rest of the race - I felt I had a slight edge on the hills (Watopia KOM and Volcano) but didn't try to get away as no point going solo.

We were mopping up a few dropped riders as we went. As we approached Titan's Grove I was surprised to see @peterob slightly ahead and then he joined our group. My earphones seem to shut off so whilst I wa shouting to people on and off, I don't think anyone could hear me.

My plan was to stay near the front of my group up the final hill (Titan's Grove reverese) and put in a hard 2 minute all out effort to finish as I thought others may have better short term power.

This worked well and I was the first of our group to the line catching a few more stragglers as well on the way - finishing in 1:15:57.

Looking at the results I was surprised to see @bridgy only 2 places ahead of me - now I know why. Shame @Alongo time isn't showing as he was going well.

PS - looks like the power numbers are screwed up on ZP.
Looking in further detail at the 15sec/30sec/1m/5/20m splits etc they look low for my overall watts & watts per kg.

Will it correct itself or will it still keep me in C ^_^
 

mjd1988

Guru
Looking in further detail at the 15sec/30sec/1m/5/20m splits etc they look low for my overall watts & watts per kg.

Will it correct itself or will it still keep me in C ^_^

I'm afraid you will be well into B if they do!

Did you get an FTP upgrade?
 

Norry1

Legendary Member
Location
Warwick
Looking in further detail at the 15sec/30sec/1m/5/20m splits etc they look low for my overall watts & watts per kg.

Will it correct itself or will it still keep me in C ^_^

Looking at the numbers it seems they have taken about 80% of the actual average watts for some reason. Hopefully they will fix it at some point
 

Joffey

Big Dosser
Location
Yorkshire
I wondered how I got a new FTP of 272 but my 20m power was lower than my previous best :laugh:

I worked out my average 20m power to be more like 281 watts but ZP shows 275.

Anyway, if my calculations are correct then that's me in C for good. Don't know if that's good or bad :laugh:
 
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BurningLegs

Veteran
Don't think anyone needs to worry about cat upgrades stopping them racing in this series. I'm sure I read on WTRL that you can complete the series in the team/cat you start it in. 🙂
 

Ketty

Über Member
Location
Yorkshire
Don't think anyone needs to worry about cat upgrades stopping them racing in this series. I'm sure I read on WTRL that you can complete the series in the team/cat you start it in. 🙂
I'm happy being B for this series (and longer term) i just fancied having the odd race in C at the business end, best finish was 7th, was after a podium at least! :laugh:
 

mjd1988

Guru
Don't think anyone needs to worry about cat upgrades stopping them racing in this series. I'm sure I read on WTRL that you can complete the series in the team/cat you start it in. 🙂

There's a fair bit of controversy on the Facebook group about this. Lots of people who had been racing as A's then mysterious dropped down to b and have been upgraded straight away the first race but can continue on. People will take advantage of anything!

For what it's worth I think it's a good rule for the most part as it encourages people to race honestly longterm- its natural enough in a race series that some people will improve. Hopefully someone roots out the people who are obviously gaming it (I saw one team took 1st 2nd and 3rd with 4w/kg each in one of the c races; clearly an agreed strategy)
 

Joffey

Big Dosser
Location
Yorkshire
I see that the power values are in green or something that means they are all estimated - when the .fit files are processed they power symbol turns blue and they are based on your actual power.

There appears to be a backlog - 148 .fit files are waiting to be processed.
 

Norry1

Legendary Member
Location
Warwick
I see that the power values are in green or something that means they are all estimated - when the .fit files are processed they power symbol turns blue and they are based on your actual power.

There appears to be a backlog - 148 .fit files are waiting to be processed.

Looks like mine are now correct. Never knew about the green/blue thing :okay:
 

Del C

Veteran
Location
Horley
How'd you guys get on @Del C @Brendan Parker
Well first up I really enjoyed it. If the first race is anything to go by, the ZRL is going to be a great thing to be part of.

My result and time was a bit disappointing but I know exactly why that happened. I finished 107th out of 122 with a time of 1.23.29 In Pool B6.

It felt like a very fast race. That was the common view of my whole team and we had finishers at 5th, 11th, 40th and 97th plus one guy who suffered an Internet failure.

My problem was an old one. I didn’t start fast enough. I put in quite an effort to get back on to the lead group and only just failed but I didn’t quite make it and paid for that for the rest of the race. @bobinski and @Ketty ’s power figures are quite close to mine, but both came in 3.5 minutes faster than me. So there‘s a lot of gain to be had if I can finally sort this out - I’ll come back to that!

Anyhow, I settled into a second group at the back and then rode well. I never felt tired during the whole race and I really applied myself to make sure I did my best for the team from then on. Stayed with my group up and over Titan’s Grove then got slightly gapped on the first part of the KoM but was back on by the KoM arch and still going well.

I finally got dropped on the Volcano, but still put in a good effort, it was that others were just going better and I wasn’t passed by anybody on the climb. Descended solo which was also interesting. I had nearly caught my team mate who finished 97th at the bottom of the Volcano climb. I was 2 seconds behind him at the start of the Volcano, but he pulled away from me in a group and stayed with that group to the end, finishing 2.5 minutes ahead of me. I looked at the times at the top of the Volcano and the gap was only 45 seconds, so the biggest part of that gap was gained on the Volcano descent and final KoM.

I think if I’d been in a group on the descent I’d have probably taken at least a minute off my time.

By the time I hit the desert flats, I’d been joined by 2 other riders. One had a strong finish and rode away, the other 2 of us stayed together to the finish. I was still riding hard on the final climb and even did a PB on the run in to the finish line when I went early to try and beat the other guy I’d done the climb with, but he pipped me on the line. I was also aware of another guy closing behind me, so my final effort was also about keeping the gap between us and that worked out ok.

So, in summary, I rode well apart from my start. I don’t know if this is a physical issue/limitation or some sort of mental block that I’ve got. It’s not that I put no effort in, just that I didn’t quite go hard enough. And the fact I nearly got back on says that I probably could have pushed harder at the start and then sat in the group. I have been improving my starts and I’ve managed to get it right in some Crit Races where I’ve been well in the lead group. I’ll have to make sure I get the next scratch race start right.
 
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bobinski

Legendary Member
Location
Tulse Hill
Del, i didn't have the legs last night anyway but the difference between getting away with and staying with a strong group or being shelled is so small at the time but increases exponentially by the finish. My recent numbers and times up the climbs would suggest I should have been able to stick with the group up the first blip before Titan KOM and yet i couldn't. They finished 2-3 minutes ahead. It is what it is. Once shelled then unless you latch onto another group willing to work then as we know the time gaps get larger. There's always next time mate.
 

Del C

Veteran
Location
Horley
Del, i didn't have the legs last night anyway but the difference between getting away with and staying with a strong group or being shelled is so small at the time but increases exponentially by the finish. My recent numbers and times up the climbs would suggest I should have been able to stick with the group up the first blip before Titan KOM and yet i couldn't. They finished 2-3 minutes ahead. It is what it is. Once shelled then unless you latch onto another group willing to work then as we know the time gaps get larger. There's always next time mate.
Thanks Bob

You’re absolutely right!

Although I was disappointed with the result, apart from the start I was happy with how I rode. I felt strong, kept my mind on what I was doing and I didn’t give up when it would have been easy to do so.

Considering how I was feeling at the start of this year when I had to back off for my heart investigation, I‘m pleased with what I did. I wouldn’t have kept that effort going back in January. Just need to work on what you said!
 
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