Zwift Chat

[Whorty]

I just want some of whatever these guys who suddenly increase their average watts by 50-60 watts overnight are on - I've tried beetroot juice and can confirm it's not that

ha ha, i tried beetroot juice too, and apart from thinking I'd had a bad case of internal hemorrhaging I didn't see any real benefit

 

[Whorty]

From what I'm hearing these problems with riders over Cat are even more an issue in the C/D races - not surprising really because they're half the distance, so even more likely to be very fast and see people going over Cat limits at the pointy end of things. Poor old WTRL are probably getting bombarded with queries and complaints!

It's always a problem in the C/D races, far more so than in B I'm afraid. It's so easy for a B to sit in for 99% of the race, then sprint for the win, or as is also common, ride the whole race at 3.2 w/kg which true C riders can't do. We saw this in the DBR and IRL races .... we'd get a rider winning every race with ease even when pushing within cat C numbers, then when they accidentally get bumped to B they'd suddenly be racing at 3.7+w/kg showing that they were always B riders.

We just got used to it, learn who they are and try to just sit on their wheels and make them work Almost impossible to stop.

 

[bobinski]

I just want some of whatever these guys who suddenly increase their average watts by 50-60 watts overnight are on - I've tried beetroot juice and can confirm it's not that

You too then? I am trying the beetroot shots. The first visit to the toilet is always a shock...

 

[Del C]

I think I may have recovered from last night.

Well I’m proud to say I’ve ridden in a ZRL Division 1 B team. Nobody is going to take that away from me. I mean WTF is a guy in his 60s doing there?

I was absolutely determined last night to get off to a good start. My aim was to try and stay in the lead group to Libby Hill, where I expected to get dropped but at least I’d then benefit from nearly a lap of drafting and I’ve not been too bad on the 3 hills recently so I was hoping that approach would at least drag me up the finishing list.

I nearly got it right. Came out of the pen as hard as I could pushing over 400W and holding it. Bloody well had to as the 16 A cat riders in our race clearly hadn’t turned up for a social ride and the pack was off at an incredible pace.

I thought I was going to get gapped, but I dug in. I thought of England, the Battle of Britain, @<Tommy> ’s rousing pre-race speeches, @bobinski’s knee and other great comebacks, and then I thought I should just concentrate on racing, dug in even harder and bridged the gap that was just starting to appear. Got into the pack and was up around 50th place out of 125 for a while.

It was tough but I was holding it and feeling determined. Then , between the 6 and 7km marks, a little split appeared in the group and I was just the wrong side of it. Not sure why it happened, but once it did I just couldn’t make it back on. Maybe a bit of sticky draft, possibly the effort I’d put in to get back on at the start, but it was over.

I got into a 2nd group and we stayed together to the base of Libby Hill. The group split again and I ended up in a group of 3 which I lost near the top of the Govenor Street climb, I then rode solo for the whole second lap. I was stuck 8 seconds behind 2 other riders, and that gap barely changed until we hit Libby Hill again. From then on I lost about another 25 seconds on them and came home 121 out of 125.

Summary. Positives are I gave it everything. Threw the kitchen sink at the start and then never let up even after losing the main group and then getting isolated on Govenor Street. Short term power figures better than they’ve been for some time.

Downsides? Overall time was crap. Frustrating to put so much effort in and then realise if i’d been in an easier race and stayed in the draft I’d have probably taken minutes off my overall time, I can better understand the experience of some here who’ve moved up to A Cat and take a beating. Still, I’ve got another 2 months of this and I’m going to make the most of it.

 

[bobinski]

I think I may have recovered from last night.

Well I’m proud to say I’ve ridden in a ZRL Division 1 B team. Nobody is going to take that away from me. I mean WTF is a guy in his 60s doing there?

I was absolutely determined last night to get off to a good start. My aim was to try and stay in the lead group to Libby Hill, where I expected to get dropped but at least I’d then benefit from nearly a lap of drafting and I’ve not been too bad on the 3 hills recently so I was hoping that approach would at least drag me up the finishing list.

I nearly got it right. Came out of the pen as hard as I could pushing over 400W and holding it. Bloody well had to as the 16 A cat riders in our race clearly hadn’t turned up for a social ride and the pack was off at an incredible pace.

I thought I was going to get gapped, but I dug in. I thought of England, the Battle of Britain, @<Tommy> ’s rousing pre-race speeches, @bobinski’s knee and other great comebacks, and then I thought I should just concentrate on racing, dug in even harder and bridged the gap that was just starting to appear. Got into the pack and was up around 50th place out of 125 for a while.

It was tough but I was holding it and feeling determined. Then , between the 6 and 7km marks, a little split appeared in the group and I was just the wrong side of it. Not sure why it happened, but once it did I just couldn’t make it back on. Maybe a bit of sticky draft, possibly the effort I’d put in to get back on at the start, but it was over.

I got into a 2nd group and we stayed together to the base of Libby Hill. The group split again and I ended up in a group of 3 which I lost near the top of the Grosvenor Hill climb, I then rode solo for the whole second lap. I was stuck 8 seconds behind 2 other riders, and that gap barely changed until we hit Libby Hill again. From then on I lost about another 25 seconds on them and came home 121 out of 125.

Summary. Positives are I gave it everything. Threw the kitchen sink at the start and then never let up even after losing the main group and then getting isolated on Grosvenor Street. Short term power figures better than they’ve been for some time.

Downsides? Overall time was crap. Frustrating to put so much effort in and then realise if i’d been in an easier race and stayed in the draft I’d have probably taken minutes off my overall time, I can better understand the experience of some here who’ve moved up to A Cat and take a beating. Still, I’ve got another 2 months of this and I’m going to make most of it.

Del,
I am glad the tale of @bobinski's knee was of assistance
Sounds like a tough ride mate. Riding solo when dropped is so demoralizing too.
My watts are still an average of 25w down compared to 6 weeks ago. That didn't matter too much amidst a big group on the falt but began to tell on each of the climbs where i was a fair bit slower than my best times. I am hoping i make some progress there as the series develops.
You riding the TTT tomorrow?

 

[Del C]

Del,
I am glad the tale of @bobinski's knee was of assistance
Sounds like a tough ride mate. Riding solo when dropped is so demoralizing too.
My watts are still an average of 25w down compared to 6 weeks ago. That didn't matter too much amidst a big group on the falt but began to tell on each of the climbs where i was a fair bit slower than my best times. I am hoping i make some progress there as the series develops.
You riding the TTT tomorrow?

Yes your knee got me through my darkest moments!

Yes I’ve signed up for some more punishment.

I take it you’re signed up too?

 

[Norry1]

My write-up....

This WTRL league has certainly generated a lot of excitement and I was looking forward to the race. I had charged my Garmin, earphones and phone and re-booted by router earlier to try and eliminate any “technicals”.

I started warming up around 7pm and joined the race as soon as the starting screen appeared. I then did the usual trick of logging out and back in, so I could carry on warming up in Watopia whilst “reserving” my spot near the front of the race. It looked as though many people were doing the same.

We had our usual pre-race banter on Discord and then we were off. I started at my usual 380W and quickly found myself in 100th place (of 124) which was further back than I wanted. By 1:30 it felt like it was plitting and sure enough a group dropped off the back. I was in 80th and still in the front group, but breathing very hard.

4 minutes in and I'm still in the 80's and finding it impossible to generate the speed to move up the pack which is rolling at 30mph and getting concerned that the pack will split again in front of me. At the first sprint, around 6 minutes in, the pace goes up even higher and the pack is strung out. People are being shelled behind me and then I see the split happening a few places in front of me. I don't have the reserves to put a sprint in to catch the front and even if I did, that would have destroyed the rest of my race - so in about 75th I settle into a smaller group of about 12.

The pace settles into something much more sustainable and my only hope was that the fast start would mean that loads of riders get shelled from the front later and we can sweep them up. It seemed unlikely enough would get shelled that we could still get into the top 30 (top 30 get bonus points) but you have to hope. As we approached Libby Hill, I could see on the mini-map that the front group was shattering which looked promising for us.

By the 23rd Street spint I was 64th and 56th by the end of the first lap. At this point I spotted @Brendan Parker who was 13 seconds up the road in a small group. i knew I had to chase him down because the last race we did together, he beat me in the sprint to the line, plus.... well he is a Cyclechat Splitter

I'd done okay up the 3 hills but then our group blobbed back up again and we caught Brendan's group of 3 after the 2nd sprint. Our enlarged group stayed together until Libby Hill and whilst I knew I wouldn't be scoring points, I wanted to treat the race as though every place mattered.

Nothing much happened on the last 3 hills apart from a lot of pain, max heart rates and laboured breathing - and then it was that nasty finish slightly uphill. I pushed as hard as I could and came in 56th which I felt wasn't a bad recovery although non-scoring.

In hindsight I wonder if I would have done better if I'd sprinted off the line and really bust myself to stay nearer the front - I'm not sure I had much more in the tank and I also think I may have blown up if I did.

The rest of our #23 team did awesomely and it looks like we'll be in a good position - just wished I'd contributed more to it.

Onwards and upwards!

The video is attached but not much use to you guys as you were all up the road


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sk8KyFerXA

 

[Del C]

My write-up....

This WTRL league has certainly generated a lot of excitement and I was looking forward to the race. I had charged my Garmin, earphones and phone and re-booted by router earlier to try and eliminate any “technicals”.

I started warming up around 7pm and joined the race as soon as the starting screen appeared. I then did the usual trick of logging out and back in, so I could carry on warming up in Watopia whilst “reserving” my spot near the front of the race. It looked as though many people were doing the same.

We had our usual pre-race banter on Discord and then we were off. I started at my usual 380W and quickly found myself in 100th place (of 124) which was further back than I wanted. By 1:30 it felt like it was plitting and sure enough a group dropped off the back. I was in 80th and still in the front group, but breathing very hard.

4 minutes in and I'm still in the 80's and finding it impossible to generate the speed to move up the pack which is rolling at 30mph and getting concerned that the pack will split again in front of me. At the first sprint, around 6 minutes in, the pace goes up even higher and the pack is strung out. People are being shelled behind me and then I see the split happening a few places in front of me. I don't have the reserves to put a sprint in to catch the front and even if I did, that would have destroyed the rest of my race - so in about 75th I settle into a smaller group of about 12.

The pace settles into something much more sustainable and my only hope was that the fast start would mean that loads of riders get shelled from the front later and we can sweep them up. It seemed unlikely enough would get shelled that we could still get into the top 30 (top 30 get bonus points) but you have to hope. As we approached Libby Hill, I could see on the mini-map that the front group was shattering which looked promising for us.

By the 23rd Street spint I was 64th and 56th by the end of the first lap. At this point I spotted @Brendan Parker who was 13 seconds up the road in a small group. i knew I had to chase him down because the last race we did together, he beat me in the sprint to the line, plus.... well he is a Cyclechat Splitter

I'd done okay up the 3 hills but then our group blobbed back up again and we caught Brendan's group of 3 after the 2nd sprint. Our enlarged group stayed together until Libby Hill and whilst I knew I wouldn't be scoring points, I wanted to treat the race as though every place mattered.

Nothing much happened on the last 3 hills apart from a lot of pain, max heart rates and laboured breathing - and then it was that nasty finish slightly uphill. I pushed as hard as I could and came in 56th which I felt wasn't a bad recovery although non-scoring.

In hindsight I wonder if I would have done better if I'd sprinted off the line and really bust myself to stay nearer the front - I'm not sure I had much more in the tank and I also think I may have blown up if I did.

The rest of our #23 team did awesomely and it looks like we'll be in a good position - just wished I'd contributed more to it.

Onwards and upwards!

The video is attached but not much use to you guys as you were all up the road


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sk8KyFerXA

That video was like a facsimile of my ride.

The start was nearly identical. I could feel the same sensation as last night, pushing big watts and yet still sitting down around 90th and hoping I could get a bit further up to avoid any split. I did get to 56th as I said in my report. Whether I paid for that when the split came I don’t know.

I thought my split had happened around 6 to 7 kms, but watching your video I think it was almost in the same point as yours between 6 to 7 minutes, coming off the roundabout after the second sprint, except the second group I got into was a bit smaller.

I’m guessing the reason was that we both got caught behind riders who didn’t contest the second sprint and that caused the split ahead of us, as in both your video and my race I couldn’t see any obvious reason that the split had occurred.

 

[bridgy]

That was such a fast start last night because of those early sprint points on offer

Is now a good time to mention that in the next ZRL race there's a 5-6 minute climb with KOM points at the top, which starts after just 2km? Another "fun" start to look forward to

 

[mjd1988]

That was such a fast start last night because of those early sprint points on offer

Is now a good time to mention that in the next ZRL race there's a 5-6 minute climb with KOM points at the top, which starts after just 2km? Another "fun" start to look forward to

I know, with a further Kom later on as well, which means lots of short term power folks will have their finish line at the top of the first Kom. It's going to be horrendous, don't you love it?

 

[Norry1]

On the plus side - my weight is back under 11 stone after a week's non-drinking so I'm about to update Zwift with a new weight of 11 stone (70kg). I've added a video to my ZP Profile for transparency. Might help with that hill in the next ZRL race

 

[bridgy]

On the plus side - my weight is back under 11 stone after a week's non-drinking so I'm about to update Zwift with a new weight of 11 stone (70kg). I've added a video to my ZP Profile for transparency. Might help with that hill in the next ZRL race

I'm so jealous...

 

[BurningLegs]

I weighed in at 61.0KG this morning. Currently 63KG on Zwiftpower...

 

[Joffey]

I weighed in at 61.0KG this morning. Currently 63KG on Zwiftpower...

View attachment 555011

Impressive progress - are you following a plan or just eating less and cycling more?

 

[BurningLegs]

Just cycling more. Never been on a diet and don’t plan to! You can see where I had a month off the bike recently...