Zwift Chat

[Spartak]

Only a short ride in the real world today but a significant one....

My youngest daughters first ride on drop handlebars, she's always loved her flat barred Islabike but sadly she'd outgrown it, so she tried out her older sisters now redundant drop handlebar red CX Islabike, after a few wobbles she was off...

 

[berty bassett]

Fwiw I personally think grab the fastest group you can , it tends to slow a bit after the mad start and you can hide in the pack rather than have to make a load of effort at the end - but who knows 🤷‍♂️
Whorty does seem to have good race tactics maybe he will tell you

 

[<Tommy>]

Fwiw I personally think grab the fastest group you can , it tends to slow a bit after the mad start and you can hide in the pack rather than have to make a load of effort at the end - but who knows 🤷‍♂️
Whorty does seem to have good race tactics maybe he will tell you

Probably splits opinion between short term results vs long term gain doesn’t it.

The game I play every race is hang on as long as possible. In our league races I push as hard as possible rather than sit in. And in bigger zwift races I stay at the front as long as possible.

This is definitely not the answer to getting the best possible race finish position in the short term. But I think it depends what your long term aim is.

 

[<Tommy>]

Only a short ride in the real world today but a significant one....

My youngest daughters first ride on drop handlebars, she's always loved her flat barred Islabike but sadly she'd outgrown it, so she tried out her older sisters now redundant drop handlebar red CX Islabike, after a few wobbles she was off...

View attachment 635012

👌

(Elbows could be more bent, not sure how aero the jacket is etc etc 😄)

 

[Norry1]

Not updated you all for a while but it's all gone Pete Tong and The Beast looks unlikely!

https://joffeyblog.wordpress.com/2022/03/12/training-diary-week-10/

I feel for you mate.

Take the positive - your FTP is showing an increase. Just give it a couple of weeks and then if you feel like it, get back to it. Ref losing weight, you might want to focus on food quality rather than just taking pounds off. If you're training hard and eating well, the body normally reglates weight itself.

 

[Randyberlin]

I feel for you mate.

Take the positive - your FTP is showing an increase. Just give it a couple of weeks and then if you feel like it, get back to it. Ref losing weight, you might want to focus on food quality rather than just taking pounds off. If you're training hard and eating well, the body normally reglates weight itself.

Good luck on your race Norry.

 

[Peter Salt]

Not updated you all for a while but it's all gone Pete Tong and The Beast looks unlikely!

https://joffeyblog.wordpress.com/2022/03/12/training-diary-week-10/

Sorry to hear about the latest developments. Still loads of time to go but if you decide to let the Beast go this year I could be tempted to do the 262

Are we putting TOW times up here? I’m going to try joining today if anyone is around.

I think most of us are treating it as recovery/zone 2/XP boost.

What is your current FTP and how are you measuring it? I ask because your W/kg on Tuesday were very similar to mine and our times were within half a minute of each other. We're also within a couple of kg weight of each other.

I completely agree about the racecraft thing. I'm wondering if I'd have been better served digging deeper at the start to hold onto the faster group for longer, rather than going all out on the final climb. No idea of the answer. I suppose time and experience will tell. Fewer options this week on a flatter course though, I think.

Golden Cheetah tells me 225W for a 20 min. split. Best 60 min. is 219W. All splits/results are from minimum ~50 min. races. I don't do crit races and/or FTP/ramp tests.

Results from Tuesday aren't very representative as me and @BurningLegs practically pootled around for the last 10-12 minutes with an occasional sprint to see who's better at it.

 

[mjd1988]

What is your current FTP and how are you measuring it? I ask because your W/kg on Tuesday were very similar to mine and our times were within half a minute of each other. We're also within a couple of kg weight of each other.

I completely agree about the racecraft thing. I'm wondering if I'd have been better served digging deeper at the start to hold onto the faster group for longer, rather than going all out on the final climb. No idea of the answer. I suppose time and experience will tell. Fewer options this week on a flatter course though, I think.

It is almost always worth holding onto front (or the furthest forward group you reach) for as long as possible.

Only exception is if the group behind is huge and likely to catch them, or else going into the red so much that once you are dropped you can't latch onto the second group. Even so you have to remember constantly that when you feel you can't hold on any longer, you know the second you are dropped people will ease up and you'll be dangling behind them for ages!

In the last race the first climb was fairly devastating so pretty hard to hold onto anyone to be fair.

 

[<Tommy>]

TOW stage 1:

51:48
24th on ZP

I got dropped from the front group in a spot in titans grove where I wouldn’t normally expect it but it’s a decent reflection of where I’m currently at.

Are you racing this series whippet? Michael? I see Paul had a dig at it yesterday.

 

[CXRAndy]

Pete needs about 20-25W ontop of his current level to be superquick. Its not going to happen very quickly, due to Pete's a newbie to cycling. I reckon a summer of ever increasing endurance rides will see a nice big jump come next winter for Zwift racing.

 

[mjd1988]

TOW stage 1:

51:48
24th on ZP

I got dropped from the front group in a spot in titans grove where I wouldn’t normally expect it but it’s a decent reflection of where I’m currently at.

Are you racing this series whippet? Michael? I see Paul had a dig at it yesterday.

Started race 1 as a zone 2 effort but for bored after 25 mins and bailed to join a race.

Was actually a good example of someone holding front group, unfortunately it wasn't me: guy who won beat all b's by 2 mins after bridging to a group of 3 a riders. Mind you he solo bridged a 12 second gap but he has a top 95% 1 min power (for all grades) so he's basically a super B. I tried to join him in bridging but soon realised he was going to be putting out 9w/kg for quite a long time!

I've joined the same race last couple of weeks - very fun as it's a mass start with about 15 bs and 4 A's and it takes a while for a group of as to form with lots of attacks

 

[Peter Salt]

Pete needs about 20-25W ontop of his current level to be superquick. Its not going to happen very quickly, due to Pete's a newbie to cycling. I reckon a summer of ever increasing endurance rides will see a nice big jump come next winter for Zwift racing.

Very generous, Andy Taking it one step at a time, also testing positions and saddles while at it.

Oh, by the way: Some progress on the bike fit front. After visiting a few places and emailing a number of 'fitters' I think I've finally found one guy that really seems to know what he's doing. Will definitely use him once I exhaust all other options. Popped into his shop earlier today to buy some arch support insoles, he asked me to take off my shoes and without measuring said 'you're left foot is over a size bigger so you're probably having issues with your right knee'. Then measured my flippers and I kid you not: My left foot is 1.5 EU size bigger and I never noticed it. He didn't charge me anything, and said he doesn't have insoles in my size but told me where to get them online and explained what size - so naturally I paid him and ordered into the shop. Will try a shim on the right now.

 

[berty bassett]

TOW stage 1:

51:48
24th on ZP

I got dropped from the front group in a spot in titans grove where I wouldn’t normally expect it but it’s a decent reflection of where I’m currently at.

Are you racing this series whippet? Michael? I see Paul had a dig at it yesterday.

I hadn’t even looked at it to be honest - if it’s playing tomorrow I might give it a bash first thing

 

[JuhaL]

I hadn’t even looked at it to be honest - if it’s playing tomorrow I might give it a bash first thing

Tomorrow start stage 2. You can ride stage 1 tomorrow only if you wake up very early in the morning.

 

[alex_cycles]

Golden Cheetah tells me 225W for a 20 min. split. Best 60 min. is 219W. All splits/results are from minimum ~50 min. races. I don't do crit races and/or FTP/ramp tests.

That's interesting. My 20 minutes is virtually identical at 226 (both on the road and on Zwift). 60 though is only 200. (Possibly due to a bit of focus on 10 mile TTs - or maybe just need to work harder on endurance).

Results from Tuesday aren't very representative as me and @BurningLegs practically pootled around for the last 10-12 minutes with an occasional sprint to see who's better at it.

Your recent race data on ZP suggests ~3.1 W/kg IS fairly representative, so I'm confused by that. Having said that, nothing is static and if your weight keeps coming down and power up, it won't be long before you're in the Bs