Zwift Chat

[Legs]

Now to the fjords!

So my workout wasn't as tough as I expected - I even ramped up the workout difficulty to 110% for the last couple of efforts because they were only 20s and there was a lot of rest. I've found that my heart rate drops much quicker when I rest my elbows on the handlebars, close my eyes and think relaxing Enya thoughts during the rest periods. Maybe sticking some tribars on my Zwift machine with a nice, high setup would be beneficial?

In other news, I levelled up to Level 26 last night, so I've bought the Canyon Speedmax, which Eric Schlange reckons would make me a whole 5s faster on a Tempus Fugit TT than my current Cervelo P5! Exciting times!

 

[CXRAndy]

I've found that my heart rate drops much quicker when I rest my elbows on the handlebars, close my eyes and think relaxing Enya thoughts

Great tip

Im gonna try that on my next IRL ride into town

 

[bridgy]

Something's come up for tomorrow @<Tommy> so I probably won't be able to race then after all. Might sign up for the ZHR Hare & Hounds race tonight at 5.30pm (B's start at 5.41) instead if you or anyone else fancies it? It's repeated at 7.30pm if you do want to but can only make the later time - I'd prefer the earlier slot but might be able to be persuaded!

 

[Whorty]

Something's come up for tomorrow @<Tommy> so I probably won't be able to race then after all. Might sign up for the ZHR Hare & Hounds race tonight at 5.30pm (B's start at 5.41) instead if you or anyone else fancies it? It's repeated at 7.30pm if you do want to but can only make the later time - I'd prefer the earlier slot but might be able to be persuaded!

I was looking to ride later, the 5:30 would suit me (but in C cat). Need to mow the lawn first, but should be good

 

[bridgy]

I was looking to ride later, the 5:30 would suit me (but in C cat). Need to mow the lawn first, but should be good

I'll be looking out for you Carl 🧐

 

[Whorty]

I'll be looking out for you Carl 🧐

I'll have a target on my back

Just signed up to C ... with 2 other C riders, and an A rider I think we all know he'll just go off the front on his own and 'win' the C race

Edit: a few more C's there now. And a D has signed up to the A group ... maybe our 'D' riders should follow suit?

 

[Legs]

So who's still up for the British Triathlon event tomorrow evening? I'm in, and I'm on my tod trying to catch a Dutch pair by the look of things!

 

[steverob]

I'll have a target on my back

Just signed up to C ... with 2 other C riders, and an A rider I think we all know he'll just go off the front on his own and 'win' the C race

Edit: a few more C's there now. And a D has signed up to the A group ... maybe our 'D' riders should follow suit?

I was tempted to join you in this to give you both a D to chase down, but I'm still a bit knackered from the weekend and all the travelling, so I decided I wanted a shorter distance and opted for a 6 lap Crit City anti-sandbagging race instead. Which is ironic, because sandbagging would be exactly what I was doing - trying to spend only just enough energy to win without going over power limits!

And I thought I'd managed it too - won the sprint, overtaking someone with 100 metres to go and holding off another behind me on the line, only for the results screen to show me in second, two and a half seconds behind the winner. Admittedly I was really only watching my avatar and the power numbers at top left and wasn't paying attention to the leaderboard on the right, but I did not see anyone in front of me.

Went back to review the video footage and it looks like this guy did 10+ w/kg off the front on the final climb and got such a huge lead that he was always at least one corner ahead (or sometimes was obscured by PR confetti or a power-up being deployed) and so couldn't be seen. He had about an eight second lead by the time the downhill started and then pretty much freewheeled to the the line, probably to make sure he came in under the power limit (not that I can criticise that) and that's the only reason why the result looks close in the end.

Strangely enough, his ZwiftPower profile shows he has three results above 2.5, yet he's still only listed as "Almost C". And he mainly does races like this that last less than 20 minutes, almost all of which he wins. Very odd.

 

[bridgy]

Oh right, so THAT'S what a proper zwift race feels like 🤢😖🥵

Well done @Whorty - I was fighting the demons in my head telling me to quit from 12km out!! And I was properly done at the end - got dropped from the park with 2.5km to go. Just managed to dig in at the end to hold of the As though

 

[Whorty]

Oh right, so THAT'S what a proper zwift race feels like 🤢😖🥵

Well done @Whorty - I was fighting the demons in my head telling me to quit from 12km out!! And I was properly done at the end - got dropped from the park with 2.5km to go. Just managed to dig in at the end to hold of the As though

Cheers Paul. We had a good C group going and I didn't have to do much work apart from on the climbs so I still had some left in the legs when you guys caught us. I gave it my all on that final climb and managed to get over the top with the group - got outsprinted by one C rider, and just my luck he is on ZP too so I came second!

Nice workout.

 

[<Tommy>]

Sorry I missed today’s shenanigans I’ve had a bit of a busy day. I’m away this weekend too so I’ll race tomorrow but hopefully we can resume hostilities next week @bridgy. In the nicest possible way of course!

Legs, bob, Michael, are you guys determined to race the hare and hounds even if the field stays small? I think I’ll look for a bigger field event unless it improves but I’ll have the house to myself so I’m flexible time wise.

 

[bobinski]

All the races seem to have small fields perhaps because of the wrtl tt series. Will check tomorrow to see if this changes.

 

[mjd1988]

Well done guys! Sounded like a good one

@<Tommy> I'll miss tomorrow as I'm at a wedding but hopefully will make it next week

 

[Legs]

I’m not keen on doing a solo chase in the H&H, and I think Mrs M has committed me to another evening of porch erecting. I’ve tentatively entered the 17:30 Anti-sandbagging race at Downtown Dolphin though.

Enjoy the wedding, Michael!

 

[Marino.g]

Fascinating read for us older cyclists.
Very detailed and a lot to digest.
Thought -provoking book to the health implications and the effects of endurance and prolonged high intensity cycling has on the mature cyclist.