Zwift Chat

[Norry1]

Good luck all

 

[bridgy]

Cheers mate, shame you can’t join us of course.

Genuinely wish I could- you might be telling me I dodged a bullet later though!

 

[<Tommy>]

Anyone want to play spot the Tron? 🤦‍♂️ 😄

That’s about as good as it got really. I was going up the last hill and I look at the power and I’m putting out more than the people around me but I was the only one on the Tron and in the end they drifted away. Well maybe I beat half the group but I couldn’t sit on the front in the end. Maybe a DQ for me too, my HRM died.

Crazy race. Off the start the pace was relatively slow but I couldn’t see the gravel bikes. Then me and Michael go through the sprint and it’s like suddenly all I can see is gravel bikes! But I got stubborn and the bastards couldn’t shake me on the first climb. So now I’m thinking survive the second time up and it’s game on for the last climb. But then after the 2nd climb I really felt good. Honestly I was thinking “let’s f#ucking have it then d!ck heads you in some pain now boys!!” But like an complete idiot I sprinted for the final sprint points. And then literally straight away afterwards my legs said “whose the d!ck head now eh d!ck head?!!” And turned to complete jelly….

And that was it really….

Well done everyone 👍👍👍! That’s that league done eh! I’m really interested to hear how other people faired and the tactics you all used in the end.

 

[mjd1988]

Well done @<Tommy> and a cracking series from the whole team, and CCC as ever.

I had a fun race, tried to stay with the front group but just kept slipping back and kept being in small groups between 25-35.

Personal favourite moment; a group of two teamates broke free 2nd lap, caught them on 3rd, counterattacked as they latched and one of them struggled to get on for a while then elastic totally broke and he lost a few minutes.

 

[straas]

I think gravel would have been best for me retrospectively.

First time this season I've found it reasonable to keep up with the lead group, but then completely dropped on the climb.

Got into a small group, basically coasting round until the climb where it was survival mode again.

Think if I'd been on gravel the road would have been harder but I would have managed much better with a group on the climb.

Strangely my screen wasn't showing laps like usual, did anyone else have the same? I just had a progress bar for the whole race.

 

[Peter Salt]

Well done everyone. Interesting race on an interesting course. What are the final standings?

 

[steverob]

I think gravel would have been best for me retrospectively.

First time this season I've found it reasonable to keep up with the lead group, but then completely dropped on the climb.

Got into a small group, basically coasting round until the climb where it was survival mode again.

Think if I'd been on gravel the road would have been harder but I would have managed much better with a group on the climb.

Strangely my screen wasn't showing laps like usual, did anyone else have the same? I just had a progress bar for the whole race.

Everyone in C who tried to do the whole race on a gravel bike got absolutely hosed (there were a small handful in the pens, but none from CCC). If you couldn't change, then it was defintely best to go aero for the entirety as the course was 70-75% tarmac.

Personally I did switch at both climbs (C only did 1 1/2 laps unlike the 2 1/2 for B ) and I maintained my position from the bottom of the climb to the top - overtook the same number of riders that overtook me. Now that doesn't sound like a good reason to switch I'll admit, but you have to know that I am a heavyweight rider who climbs very poorly, so I would normally expect to lose 5-10 places on a long climb like that, so switching did have a positive effect for me.

Except I almost cocked it up on the second lap by hitting the Escape key once too many times and nearly ended up quitting the race! Managed to get back in - you'll see when I get to post my video later.

 

[Joffey]

My legs hurt.

Swapped from aero to gravel then back to aero then back to gravel and ended up 25th. I’m not sure if it helped or hindered as riders were everywhere but with my limited fitness I don’t think I did too bad.

Was really impressed with Carl romping up the climbs and also every member of the team tonight who performed brilliantly.

We had Jeff as DS (lucky sod) and it was like having an American commentator - it was great

Well done to both teams this season, roll on 2022!

 

[Joffey]

Well done everyone. Interesting race on an interesting course. What are the final standings?

I couldn’t stand. It hurt too much

 

[steverob]

Here’s my video from last night if you wish to relive the horror! Having said, I didn’t find it as bad as I had been fearing and actually set new power records...


View: https://youtu.be/xvkwfTS_FdI

* Watch as I sprint to close the gap to the front group in the early stages only for them to slow down almost immediately and let most of the riders behind catch back up anyway
* Watch my vain attempt to go for the sprint arch and then my realisation that I’ll still only get 20th at best so I bail to save my legs
* Watch my bike change on the second lap almost completely end my race prematurely!

 

[Aleman]

My video can be found >>>here<<< if you want to see some super slick bike changes ... which is pretty much all that was interesting from my perspective 😢

 

[bridgy]

Well done everyone. Interesting race on an interesting course. What are the final standings?

The B-Cat Team Splitters came 7th in the race and finished 9th overall (out of 17)

The C-Cat Team CCC came 8th in the race and finished 4th overall (out of 13)

I had to laugh at the two teams DQ'd from last night in Team CCC's league - one for fielding one too few riders and one for fielding one too many! They should have come to some sort of arrangement!

 

[Aleman]

One thing I have just noticed, was that in the analysis of my bike changes my times were pretty consistent 8 seconds to slow down and 1 second to change bike and start moving ... obviously overall time lost was a bit more than this once you include time to get back up to full speed. hoever the third switch at the start of the KOM looks as though I had changed bikes before I came to a stop.

I think I hit A at about 52:22, obviously I came off the power just after the turn onto the gravel, but you can see that I start pedaling at 52:26 ish before I appear to come to a stop. ... GPX funnies, and Tax Neo Averaging the power over 3 seconds I guess

 

[<Tommy>]

I reflected a bit on last night and I think I’m being a bit lazy with the way I prepare for races. I don’t think my decision to ride the Tron was a bad one with the info we had. But I didn’t make any provision for changing bikes, didn’t practice changing bikes, I didn’t even buy a gravel bike… one guy was one place ahead of me going into the final climb on a Tron. He changed to gravel, and then overtook me again to place one ahead of me. So not really an advantage. But anyone who started on gravel or changed before the first climb would of had a distinct advantage in the end. The pace just wasn’t quick enough on the flat to give the Tron any edge and I really should of given myself the opportunity to adapt in the race.

Really generally I’m being a bit lazy. I only knew the sprint was after 5km because I bumped into Joffey warming up and asked him… I didn’t look at the course at all. If I had of I would of realised the finish was at the top of the climb (I assumed it was at the bottom of the descent so that caught me by surprise abs maybe cost me some places). Or that there was actually a bit of a lead in to the climb after the sprint which allowed some recovery. My HRM died halfway around because I hadn’t charged it… On top of that to be honest I don’t even know what some of the power ups do!… does that steam roller flatten the gradient, make the road smooth, or do both for example

This waffle is mainly for my benefit, as a way of cataloging some of the things I need to work on. But maybe other people are guilty of the same (?).

Shame there’s such a big gap to the next season. Hopefully we can race together at least once a week in the interim. And then next season we should all be in better shape and in better routine from the get go.

 

[Aleman]

Steamroller makes non tarmac roads like tarmac for 30's ... it's devastating used properly ... See my video at about the hour mark where my opponent uses it to great effect to leave me in his dust