Zwift Chat

[Whorty]

That's because of all the downhill, the drafting (it would have been daft of you to try driving on the front!), and the fact that you seemed to give up a bit after Michael and I dropped you.

I suspect that if you did a 20-minute climb (especially without drafting), you'd put out solid B numbers, Carl.

Agreed .... when we do the Innsbruck climb, at 30 mins, I'll be squeaking into B numbers for sure.

I tried to bridge across to you both when I lost your wheel, pushed at c.4 w/kg for about a minute but couldn't close the gap. That pushed me into the red, so I sat up a bit to conserve some energy as I knew the KoM was fast approaching and I needed to get up there without blowing up. Had the KoM not been there I may have pushed a bit longer to bridge, but legs and lungs were on their limits.

Next time

 

[Peter Salt]

Ride with the pace partner(s) for an hour or so. Will help you gather both XPs and drops quickly.

This is great advice @Peter Salt ..... the C and D pace partners are usually flat courses, big groups, you fly along. Keeps you at a nice steady pace, but also will let you practice drafting other riders which is a key technique in races.

Cheers, cheers. I've done a few rides with the D one already. Will maybe try the C guy on Friday and see how much I can earn

 

[Whorty]

Cheers, cheers. I've done a few rides with the D one already. Will maybe try the C guy on Friday and see how much I can earn

C rider, if you can hold 2.5/2.6 w/kg you'll be fine and fly along

 

[steverob]

That was a great effort to make it back across and beat me at the end Steve. I was Donald Ducked from early in the race and only realised near the finish that I’d forgotten to turn on my fan hence why I was overheating and drenched in gravy.

When you and Joffey were 20+ seconds up the road I figured I wouldn't catch either of you without a draft, so I started to think about saving energy and consolidating 10th place. Then I remembered it was a GC event where every second counted so kept up the pace - even if I couldn't catch at least I'd prevent the time difference from growing any more.

I then got lucky with Joffey dropping you at the top of the KOM, you clearly having nothing left in the tank, me having you just far enough out of reach up the road to act as my carrot to chase and finally getting a decent power up at the lap banner - even with all those in my favour I still only bridged the gap with maybe 500 metres to go - 200m of which I spent on your wheel recovering, the rest trying to sprint clear!

 

[Del C]

Yeah definitely. You kind of have to accept not everyone walks away with a prize each week. But if you can motivate yourself by trying to gradually over time reel in the guy ahead of you in the standings then it’s really good motivation.

We used to do a different league amongst ourselves every month to be fair. It’s kind of where the likes of me, lee, Paul, bob, andy etc cut our teeth. No categories just trying to catch the bugger in front of you each week! It’s my favourite thing to be honest. I get why people like the cat system ans I’m not knocking them for it. But I think it’s more of a hindrance than help in some ways.

I used to like the spreadsheets that @peterob did for those leagues as we had scratch results as one table and then mini Cat based leagues as sub-sets of the results.

I though that was the best of both worlds. One single race where we all started together and where the on the road battles took place, and then the mini cat leagues in the results, so that you could battle it out for that prize. I can remember pushing like crazy in a race when I was a C cat to try and stay ahead of @Whorty @BurningLegs and @mjd1988 in the mini league table for C cats. It was also the first time I got sledged by @BurningLegs as he was starting to catch me on the KoM. I worked like **** to make sure I got to the line first!

 

[<Tommy>]

All the talk today just shows how good the leagues can be don’t they! I agree with a lot of what’s been said for what it’s worth even though I haven’t ‘liked’ all the posts.

Honestly I think abandon the cat system for these races. I know what you’re saying Del. But I think it also causes unnecessary division. The cat system zwift implement is so flawed anyway. I know I bang this drum a lot so apologies for that… but! I do talk as someone who started near the back of the grid. So I do think I’m qualified to preach the benefits of not sitting in separate categories.

 

[Del C]

All the talk today just shows how good the leagues can be don’t they! I agree with a lot of what’s been said for what it’s worth even though I haven’t ‘liked’ all the posts.

Honestly I think abandon the cat system for these races. I know what you’re saying Del. But I think it also causes unnecessary division. The cat system zwift implement is so flawed anyway. I know I bang this drum a lot so apologies for that… but! I do talk as someone who started near the back of the grid. So I do think I’m qualified to preach the benefits of not sitting in separate categories.

Hey @<Tommy> That’s fine. I was just saying what worked for me. I liked it as there was a race and then races within that race which I thought added to the fun.

I agree that the cat system is flawed. The Autocat system WTRL used for the Classics series was better. I don’t think the cat system was really the same issue in our races. I just saw it as a way of giving riders of similar ability the chance to battle for an extra prize.

Anyhow, that’s just my personal view. I thought I’d sling it in to the debate for comment.

I‘ll join a race if the date works for me regardless of the format, but as I can’t ride each race at the moment, then my views or opinions should naturally take a back seat to those who ride regularly.

 

[Peter Salt]

So, have we agreed on the 2nd stage? Let's send out the invites before people start saying they forgot

 

[berty bassett]

I would just like to say that the cat thing sucks for people like me , it stopped me racing with people I like to race with and rarely won against and that was the main reason I went elsewhere
Because of swifts sizeist attitude it means if I try to keep up with B s , it throws me into A where I have no chance -I only just keep up in B
But that’s just my 5ps worth

 

[straas]

I feel the ranges are a bit too large aswell, bottom of B cat (me) I often finish over 5 mins down on the winners.
It's good to have something to aim for I suppose!

 

[<Tommy>]

Anyhow, that’s just my personal view. I thought I’d sling it in to the debate for comment.

Someone as opinionated as me Del, cannot afford to begrudge other people their opinion! 😄. It’d be great if you could join us again and my opinion is no more valid than yours.

Totally get where you’re coming from to be fair. I can see why it’s nice to be in a mini league where finishing say 10th still gives you the opportunity to finish top of a table. But yeah. I just think ultimately it’s proven to be divisive. I spent a long time just chasing the guy in front of me. And those mini battles, for me anyway are better than saying the guy in 12th gets a gold. The first race I did on bkool I was around 14th or so. The guy behind me was called alfiegooner. I only remember him because I was determined not to lose to an arsenal supporter. The guy who came 13th. That was berty who won the race last night 😄

Again, I know I can sound very preachy at times. I am well aware of that. So just to say this is just my opinion. And I race with you guys whatever the format really.

 

[Peter Salt]

For what it's worth, I don't care about categories. I care about having fun in these races and that's most definitely happening.

I will focus on the personal battles with riders that are better but not miles away, like the group I kept up with for 15 minutes yesterday Before that bloody hill

 

[Joffey]

That's that settled then. GC format and no Cat Tables

On to the next agenda item: Where the bloody hell are we riding next Wednesday?

 

[Legs]

The cat thing is weird. At the top end of B, the flat races are dominated by the big riders for whom 4w/kg means 340w, and the hilly races are dominated by 55 kg riders doing 250w at 4.5w/kg. That’s not to say that it’s easy for an 85kg rider to put out 4w/kg, but in any large enough population there will be some and they will rise to the top and eclipse the 70kg riders, who get upgraded before they have the chance to win in B.

 

[Peter Salt]

That's that settled then. GC format and no Cat Tables

On to the next agenda item: Where the bloody hell are we riding next Wednesday?

I don't know the routes. Only done a handful. Was the original idea Tempus Fugit? Someone said that it's there and back so I'll be able to see just how far back I am