Zwift Chat

[alex_cycles]

You know it's been a hard race when you get an FTP upgrade 😁 231w now . 7th over the climb got outsprinted by someone who dropped a 10w/kg sprint after the climb 😵‍💫 .Did the downhill with 2 riders from another team got the impression 1 was leading the other 1 out for the sprint as he sat on the front at decent power ,I went for the sprint from behind and they didn't respond and I got fastest through after 8 riders but it went down after that but scored a few that grovelled to the finish for 8th but looks like 5th on points . Spoke to the 2 other riders and they had forgot about the sprint 🤣.
Oh and by the way I was quicker up the climb than Alex so I claiming victory

So you reckon you won last week's Smash race 2 even though neither of us showed up? (Nor did anyone else LOL ).
I was shockingly crap on the climb. I did that climb at 3.7 in just over 20 minutes two years ago. I think i was 5 minutes slower today

Looks like I got 9 points for FTS and 20 Kom points for 5th place which puts me 2nd on GC tied with 3rd place and 3rd place in the sprint cat . Next week looks complicated with a ITT with sprint points then a point race to follow

Excellent. Doing well. Keep it up

 

[13 rider]

So you reckon you won last week's Smash race 2 even though neither of us showed up? (Nor did anyone else LOL ).

Yes 🤣🤣

 

[Norry1]

No its a Stages SB20, I have had it a couple of years, I have compared its accuracy with some Assioma pedals, while not identical they were not far off, I have just put them on my outdoor bike, I think another comparison is needed.
I was knocked off last August resulting in a four days in hospital with a fractured skull, I have been on Zwift 5 or 6 days a week since then, this can be attributed to a rise in my zrs score, but todays figures are a bit insane, I have achieved some good results in the Strava 70 to 75 year category but there are people quicker.

I have power pedals and I swap them onto and off my road bike and turbo bike - so long as I remember to calibrate each time (and amend the crank length) it means I get power figures I can compare indoors and out. There is clearly an issue with your Stages PM so it may be worth doing the swap.

It is a bit of a faff but not too bad.

 

[Venod]

Actually @Venod I just looked at your power graph on ZP and it looks like a classic "sticky watts" situation:

Delving deeper into my ride analysis, I found this interesting article on Sticky Watts, both my Stages bike and Assioma pedals are both event based meters, so its something I am stuck with.{no pun intended}

https://zwiftinsider.com/sticky-watts/

 

[Venod]

You might be able to request Zwift discard that ride from your stats and put your ZRS back to where it was,

I emailed Zwift, they have deleted the power curve for that ride (whatever that means) they returned me to cat B, but they can't set my zrs score back to pre ride numbers, what they can and did do was set my zrs to zero (with my approval) since the reset my lad completed a short ride under my profile, I am now a D cat, with an ftp of 127, happy days.

 

[alex_cycles]

Final Friday smash of the season...

Race 1. 1 lap of Downtown Dolphin. No draft.
https://www.zwift.com/uk/events/view/5406002

Race 2. 15.2km of Scotland Smash (same as next week's DRS race 2)
https://www.zwift.com/events/view/5406012

 

[alex_cycles]

I emailed Zwift, they have deleted the power curve for that ride (whatever that means) they returned me to cat B, but they can't set my zrs score back to pre ride numbers, what they can and did do was set my zrs to zero (with my approval) since the reset my lad completed a short ride under my profile, I am now a D cat, with an ftp of 127, happy days.

We're changing your screen name to Sandy until you work your way back up

Glad they sorted that out for you. It's one area they are pretty good at.

 

[Venod]

280W FTP (at 70kg) would put you amongst the very best 70+ cyclists in the world.

Funny you should say that, I have just been analysis my Vo2 max.

A max of 66 at age 73 is extraordinary, elite, and world-class, likely placing you in the top 1% or higher for your age group. This value is comparable to highly trained endurance athletes decades younger and is well above the "Superior" category for 70–79 year olds, which is typically >37–42

 

[alex_cycles]

Funny you should say that, I have just been analysis my Vo2 max.
View attachment 803502

A max of 66 at age 73 is extraordinary, elite, and world-class, likely placing you in the top 1% or higher for your age group. This value is comparable to highly trained endurance athletes decades younger and is well above the "Superior" category for 70–79 year olds, which is typically >37–42

Is it real, or is it based on dodgy data? It may not be possible to answer that easily.

Have you had your VO2 measured at a lab or is this figure from Garmin Connect included your recent elite level Zwift ride data?
Obviously none of us have any way of knowing that. All my Zwift data goes to Garmin Connect, Strava, Intervals, so if I needed to have a ride that I had saved nuked on Zwift I'd have to go and delete it on all those other sites too. Tedious


66 IS extraordinary though. I think most 40yo would be ecstatic with 66.

 

[Venod]

Have you had your VO2 measured at a lab or is this figure from Garmin Connect included your recent elite level Zwift ride data

It is from Garmin Connect, but prior to that exceptional ride, its gone down since that high figure its now at 55.

 

[Venod]

I have run a comparison between my Assioma Pedals and my SB20 trainer, it was a workout so constant pedalling, this shows the Assiomas reading higher than the SB20.

Another comparison ride with Miguel shows the SB20 way above the pedals, but I recorded the pedals to my Garmin Edge, and in the Garmin Connect app the power matches the SB20, I think its all down to how Zwift records power from Event based power meters as mentioned in the link in my earlier post.

Its a minefield.

 

[alex_cycles]

It is from Garmin Connect, but prior to that exceptional ride, its gone down since that high figure its now at 55.

55 is not crazy. My best ever on GC is ~53 (which was at age 52 or 53 I think)

 

[bridgy]

Some graphs from the actual TT portion of this mornings ride, any advice or thoughts welcome, as you can see @ColinJ my cadence for the TT portion of the ride was over 100 rpm

View attachment 803380

View attachment 803381

All I would say regarding your power profiles is for whatever reason you do seem to have a lot of dips to zero watts, suggesting you stop pedaling and then start up again a lot. I wouldn't say this is a normal pedaling style and if your equipment suffers from sticky watts this style of riding will make that problem worse, as opposed to constant pedaling.

You can see all those sudden dips to zero watts on the power graph you've posted but it's even more noticeable on the next ride you did:

As you can see your power is going on/off, on/off constantly. Compare this to my power graph for my last race - while there are peaks and troughs as I go over climbs (which match the terrain profile) the only time my watts are zero is where you see the line go right down at the very end - until then I'm never at zero watts as I'm pretty much always pedaling:

If you've got equipment prone to sticky watts, AND you ride in this on/off style you'll make the problem way worse and are getting misleading power numbers. That riding style alone would get you DQ's from a lot of race series with or without the addition of the sticky watts

 

[13 rider]

Well I discovered doing Alex Friday smash after doing a hard ladder the night before is not a good idea 🤢. Legs felt bad in the warm up and never improved . 1st race the 1 lap all out TT I think I was 18w down from last week so I knew I was in trouble for race 2 . 2nd race Scotland smash .I hung on over the Clyde kicker and out of the city where the unknown rider Joe attacked and I couldn't quite close the gap as he eased off Alex stuck the knife in and kept the pressure on B@#£|_d 😁 and the elastic broke . At one point I was 48 secs back but kept riding as Alex got dropped by Joe and ambled round got it back to 4secs before Alex woke up and put a dig in to break my resolve but even if Id caught him he would have dropped me on the kicker
Not looking forward to next Tuesday going to be a tough race if you go full in The TT before

 

[Venod]

That riding style alone would get you DQ's from a lot of race series with or without the addition of the sticky watts

Unfortunately that is my riding style, I find I can produce more power by spinning quickly rather than than pushing in a higher gear, in that TT I averaged 113rpm, if Zwift wish to DQ me for my riding style then so be it, I pay my subscription and will use Zwift to enjoy it, a DQ won't change my enjoyment, I am not riding for the glory just to keep fit, I wouldn't be too upset if they banned my from Zwift, there are plenty of alternatives. It's just a pity they can't improve how they handle the power from Event based power meters.