Zwift Chat

[bridgy]

Not a night to forego the warmup, does make sense as a strategy I guess

It didn't work immediately as we managed to close them down but I guess it softened us up enough as two of them got away shortly after on one of the climbs. To be fair they were a much stronger team than us - it was a good workout!

 

[bridgy]

So we went to Derby Arena last night. There were about eight boys and eight girls, and the session was from 6pm to 8pm. I'm super proud of how Andrew did, in spite of him being one of the least confident riders there. It was very much an introductory track skills session, and I think he was unnerved by how twitchy the bikes handle at low speed on the bumpy infield concrete. He got up to riding on the pursuiters' line, but I think he was a bit freaked out by the speed and other sensory goings-on (he's autistic), so wasn't prepared to ride fast enough for the bike to become stable or rideable on the banking. He had a little bit of a tumble (he wasn't the only one), but got back on and stuck with it. I don't think it would be fair to say he'd fallen in love with track cycling, but we'll have a few confidence-building rides in the lanes before the next session, which is in three weeks' time.

Thant's great Tim! Do they use fixed gear bikes for the kids? Even that can take some getting used to if they've never ridden a bike without a freewheel before, let alone everything else. It's great to give the kids the opportunity to try that out though!

 

[Legs]

Thant's great Tim! Do they use fixed gear bikes for the kids? Even that can take some getting used to if they've never ridden a bike without a freewheel before, let alone everything else. It's great to give the kids the opportunity to try that out though!

Yes, of course they're fixed!

One of the best bits of riding I saw all evening was when one of the kids pulled his cleat out of the pedal, but managed to slow the bike down sufficiently with his other leg to to get down onto the cote d'azur and the infield to clip back in.

I used to commute on fixed and it was a pain pulling away from traffic lights to synchronise clipping in while the pedals were turning - but it's easier to trackstand on fixed than a freewheel!

 

[Whorty]

I know all/most zwift races start hard, but I've never had a start like this Ladder race earlier tonight!! Chill out guys


View: https://youtu.be/RiXJfpoY3TI?si=BxKfpmwUPNw-Hys3

I've not done a ladder race yet, can't get my schedule lines up, but as a tactic that was pretty spot on. Brutal for you guys on the receiving end, but clearly pre-planned by them and executed pretty well.

 

[Norry1]

I know all/most zwift races start hard, but I've never had a start like this Ladder race earlier tonight!! Chill out guys

One of the things I noticed since I started back doing Zwift races is that the starts are nothing like as hard as they used to be. Maybe I am in lower pens, but I find most starts almost comfortable.

 

[bridgy]

One of the things I noticed since I started back doing Zwift races is that the starts are nothing like as hard as they used to be. Maybe I am in lower pens, but I find most starts almost comfortable.

100% agree - generally definitely not as hard as they used to be. I'm assuming with time everyone's realised they don't have to go QUITE as hard as they used to assume! That's why that race last night stood out!