Zwift Chat

[CXRAndy]

View: https://youtu.be/IglpZPEVkH4?si=51aZhU3pu682Xho2

 

[alex_cycles]

View: https://youtu.be/IglpZPEVkH4?si=51aZhU3pu682Xho2

I don't do FTP tests any more. It's always struck me as odd to model it when you can measure it.
If you want to know what you can do for an hour, ride hard for an hour
I let intervals determine my FTP/CP according to my efforts. This is then used in the CTL/ATL chart.

I do much prefer, when considering power targets for a race, (if I have one - not often) to look at the power curve to see what I can do - and then probably set the target slightly higher. I'd normally only do that for an iTT though, as other races there is a premium to be had for sticking with group 1 regardless of the "cost". Once you're off, that's it, so hanging on for dear life is everything.

Something like the Alpe. If you want to do it in under an hour you need to hit ~3.1-3.2, so that would need a target (and in my case an incentive - people to chase).

 

[Legs]

TSS for me. My intervals.icu 'Fitness' is 35 now, which is higher than its been at any time since July '23.

I don't think that my HR zones are properly set up for intervals to interpret my running activities. I did two activities over the weekend; a 1hr45 half-marathon into town and back on Saturday afternoon, and a 45-minute TdZ race ride yesterday. Same TSS (70)! Admittedly the running was quite gentle, but most of the TdZ was only Zone 3, but still...

 

[alex_cycles]

TSS for me. My intervals.icu 'Fitness' is 35 now, which is higher than its been at any time since July '23.

I don't think that my HR zones are properly set up for intervals to interpret my running activities. I did two activities over the weekend; a 1hr45 half-marathon into town and back on Saturday afternoon, and a 45-minute TdZ race ride yesterday. Same TSS (70)! Admittedly the running was quite gentle, but most of the TdZ was only Zone 3, but still...

There's a couple of different ways to set up the HR zones for running on intervals. I'm told "time in zones" is best for cycling (although I use normalized TRIMP - I have power meters on my bikes so it's largely irrelevant), but I don't know about running. Zones probably works if you have accurate RHR, Max and threshold set.

 

[13 rider]

Bad weather has forced me back racing again , stage 2 Shimano thingy on zwift on outer Scotland ,330 to 450 ZRS so I'm mid pack , Was hanging on right from the start, made a big effort up the Clyde kicker to stay with the front group which resulted in a massive blow up on the next kicker and in an instant the front was gone . A lone straggler past me and I wasn't recovered enough to grab his wheel ,was eventually joined by 2 others and we picked up some stragglers and 5 of us crested the kicker together and amazingly I won the sprint for 25th place on the road 😁, 21of 28 on ZP .The racing app had me predicted to finish 20th so not to bad of a result , might be tempted to do other range which would put me a the top of cat so I might not get dropped , ZRS down 1 point

 

[CXRAndy]

I've got stage 2 and final stage of Tour de Zwift this week

 

[Venod]

Finished the TDZ ultimate challenge, 18 rides, enjoyed most of them, wasn't keen on the climbing stages but they had to be done, I do prefer these group rides that turn into races rather than actual races.

 

[alex_cycles]

I've got stage 2 and final stage of Tour de Zwift this week

Think I'll be doing the final TdZ today and the Epic Race on Saturday. I've enjoyed the TdZ rides quite a lot this time. I quite like the idea that you can start easy with little or no warmup and then have people to catch for the whole ride.

Shimano was fun yesterday (but I know you saw that one )

 

[steverob]

I've also enjoyed the TdZ for similar reasons. No matter what pace you decide to start off at, you will eventually find yourself in a group of sorts and then the second half of the ride is inevitably spent treating that as a race for 30th / 300th / 1000th place (delete as applicable).

 

[Venod]

I was looking through the routes to see what I haven't ridden, London 8 loop came up, so a steady ride round,
I was surprised to see it was my second best time, first time was from 2016, must have been when Zwift was free, and no route badge on that route.

 

[CXRAndy]

Shimano stage 2. Managed to stay with leaders till entering the city on the last lap- more mentally crumbling than physically. Salvaged a little pride, catching a rider in front and out sprinting him. I also tried a simple feature on Sauce, that I never knew existed. If you tap on the group circle, you can see individuals power/draft benefit. It was useful to see when my opponent was laying down the power and how much

RS leapt forward by 1 despite average result. My HR indicated I was working pretty hard

Clip starts Clyde kicker showing me catching rider

View: https://youtu.be/5b2qf14GSAY?t=1993

 

[Peter Salt]

Did the Hardknott Pass earlier today. Wasn't feeling great - software launch at work so already did a 40h week despite it being Wednesday ... But managed a bit over 12 minutes and it didn't feel like a 100% effort at the end. No chance of being another 40-45s quicker though - even well-rested and in form, I think.

 

[alex_cycles]

If anyone wants to race DRS on a Wednesday morning 1045, it's starting again for 7 weeks from 26th Feb. I can find you a slot on a team.
https://www.dirtracingseries.com/season-roadbook/

There will be evening slots for EMEA too.

 

[Legs]

I have a Zwifting window on Wednesday evenings around 17:45-18:30, so I've been doing a short race then over the past few weeks. I do the Alpha workout (what used to be called Leg Openers) on Wednesday mornings, which is a good way of prepping for it. The Cycling Weekly Club 10s are quite fun, but you can never tell on the ZCA where they're going to be until just before the race - this week was showing London (Box Hill finish), but updated to Bologna (up and down) some time yesterday afternoon. The races are run as mass-start TTs, with drafting turned off.

I'd done Bologna back in November - the effort's a bit different from the 8km races in that you've got to save a little bit for the push to the line, but you get a tiny bit of recovery on the descent. I got under 17 minutes on the Bologna TT section last night - had it finished at the top of the hill, I'd have been close to my PB - but really suffered on the way to the line!

Couldn't quite face doing this again this week (having done a good effort last week, I wasn't sure I could match it yesterday night), so I did the Mountain Massif trio of events instead, at 18:00, 18:20 and 18:40. Three 3.1km scratch races, on Mountain Mash, Sea to Tree and Hilly Route. Even with a bit of rest in between, the fatigue of VO2 efforts catches up on you, and in the final event I could only manage 2:07 up the Hilly KOM, which still got me over the top in first place. Highly recommended.

 

[CXRAndy]

Finished Tour de Zwift

Decided on the biggest course Shisha something

I decided to treat it as a Z2 group ride. There I was happily cruising along in a small group around 150th place. Then we came to the two big climbs, I could see a long line of groups in front on the mini map.

I was suckered into pushing hard up the climbs. I managed to catch a rider who left our group at the start.
Something very satisfying chasing down lots of riders😄
I gapped him by 45 secs on the descent, but on the last climb he ate all the gap and beat me by handful of seconds to the line