Zwift Chat

[Whorty]

Exactly that. We started with 55 riders and 40 were within 10s of the winner at the end.
For me it was an endurance ride. I got a new 45 minute season best power of 204 Watts. But I didn't have much for an effort at the end. Hence my 28th place. I'm better at the points races. looking forward to next week.

I couldn't race last night, but our team captain said it resulted in a 40 rider sprint to the finish. Does seem a bit dull, even for someone like me that likes a sprint finish!!

It's why i like the Innsbruck course - the Legsnapper is just long enough to create gaps and make the race interesting without just making it a w/kg race for climbers or a dull sprint finish after a 40 minute procession.
Not sure if I can race next week either, but out of interest, what's the course? Is it points?

 

[13 rider]

I couldn't race last night, but our team captain said it resulted in a 40 rider sprint to the finish. Does seem a bit dull, even for someone like me that likes a sprint finish!!

It's why i like the Innsbruck course - the Legsnapper is just long enough to create gaps and make the race interesting without just making it a w/kg race for climbers or a dull sprint finish after a 40 minute procession.
Not sure if I can race next week either, but out of interest, what's the course? Is it points?

Double span spin in NY .points 1 sprint and 1 climb per lap basically halfway over each bridge

 

[alex_cycles]

Double span spin in NY .points 1 sprint and 1 climb per lap basically halfway over each bridge

3 laps for C/D, 4 for A/B. FTS and FAL on all segments as usual
But at least we're back to predictable powerups

 

[Whorty]

View attachment 805938

3 laps for C/D, 4 for A/B. FTS and FAL on all segments as usual
But at least we're back to predictable powerups

That looks a challenge - I may be having my hair cut next Tuesday


I'm most definitely towards the bottom of Cs at the moment, I can't see myself contesting any of the FAL or FTS points. Will be a game of hanging on and seeing how many finish points I can muster.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

The Yumezi Grit races are quite fun this week, even if I'm suffering more than usual on the climbs, as my numbers have dropped since early February.

On Monday I tried using my stage 5 SL8 and Princeton Wake whites, stupidly forgot to recover after the lead-in climb while stupidly thinking our group could catch back up with the leaders, blew up and took just over 42mins to complete.

After looking at the race data, I thought maybe my stage 2 Crux with Zipp gravel wheels would be worth a try, but I didn't plan to try it so soon afterwards on Tuesday! Treated it more like a TT, going relatively harder on the tarmac drag and harder still on the dirt climb, steady on the flat and recovering on the descents.
Just over 2mins quicker!

Starting to wonder if the correct bike depends on your climb ability...
As a heavy pen D racer struggling to do ~2.5W/Kg up the climb section, gravel bike might be the right choice.
But the better your climb ability, the more likely the road bike is the better choice.
Or something!

 

[alex_cycles]

Starting to wonder if the correct bike depends on your climb ability...
As a heavy pen D racer struggling to do ~2.5W/Kg up the climb section, gravel bike might be the right choice.
But the better your climb ability, the more likely the road bike is the better choice.
Or something!

That does make a certain amount of sense. It's not going to be a question of "one size fits all". Certainly the faster you are the more that aero helps and weight matters more over 6% climb (or something like that)

 

[alex_cycles]

That looks a challenge - I may be having my hair cut next Tuesday


I'm most definitely towards the bottom of Cs at the moment, I can't see myself contesting any of the FAL or FTS points. Will be a game of hanging on and seeing how many finish points I can muster.

Don't forget in this ZRL format you get FAL points for all positions. Not just top 10

 

[mjd1988]

Don't forget in this ZRL format you get FAL points for all positions. Not just top 10

Yeah I think I played this badly last round. Got a few podiums then dropped and got a low overall score. Forgot it had changed to a more overall score

 

[alex_cycles]

Yeah I think I played this badly last round. Got a few podiums then dropped and got a low overall score. Forgot it had changed to a more overall score

This is where being greedy for the almost worthless FTS can bite you if it costs you a position in the front group. Those 10 points for FTS 1 can be more than made up in one or two FAL efforts without killing yourself.

This next week I think I will be aiming to stay front group up those climbs. It will split up like it did on The Classic.

 

[alex_cycles]

Hard race. Points aren't published yet but I think we got third as a team.

View: https://www.youtube.com/live/nQc_YqJJj0s?si=0g2_NGm6CQ1nK2wO&t=341

 

[Whorty]

Hard race. Points aren't published yet but I think we got third as a team.

View: https://www.youtube.com/live/nQc_YqJJj0s?si=0g2_NGm6CQ1nK2wO&t=341

Your race looked brutal, well done.

My current zFTP is 209 watts, which is 2.4 w/kg. Given the profile and effort required on this course later I can see me getting dropped on the first push to the sprint banner. I'll be looking around to see who's wheel I can suck for the remainder of the race

 

[alex_cycles]

Your race looked brutal, well done.

My current zFTP is 209 watts, which is 2.4 w/kg. Given the profile and effort required on this course later I can see me getting dropped on the first push to the sprint banner. I'll be looking around to see who's wheel I can suck for the remainder of the race

A few did get dropped on the first sprint, but we still had 40 of 54 in group one by the end of the first lap, I think. Group shook down to 20 on the next lap and then mostly stayed together until the climb on lap 3.

We ended up with third today and second in the League, which isn't bad at all.

 

[13 rider]

I got dropped on each climb and sprint and managed to get back on just before it kicked off again and got dropped again rinse and repeat . As a team we were 3rd but tied on points with another team so we targeted nicked points of them in an attempt to keep 3rd forgetting the team in 5th who it looks like they jumped both of us 😭 they got 4 riders in the top 12 . Are caused wasn't helped by losing our best rider just after the start with a power cut at his house

 

[steverob]

I didn't even know who I was going to be riding for until the last minute - it kept on changing depending on how many people on various teams were dropping like flies and who needed a sub the most! Eventually ended up on the Turtles, meaning I was riding against @Whorty who was on the Urchins (who I'd ridden for a number times in the past).

Got dropped on the very first sprint/climb and crossed in 44th (out of 53) and thought that was pretty much it for the whole race, but it turns out that a lot of people knackered themselves out on that first lap and I started to pick up places at each banner from there on as I overtook a number of other riders (44th > 33rd > 29th > 28th > 28th > 23rd). The group I was in eventually caught up with Carl's group at the start of the final lap (they'd been 40 seconds up at one point) meaning that we were now battling for as high as 20th place.

And somehow, I managed to win that sprint! Still not quite sure how, as I only managed 5 w/kg, but I guess that a combination of me jumping the gun when no-one else expected me to and a lot of tired legs on other riders, meant I got it a little easier than it could have been.


View: https://youtu.be/9U3wxKoGlf0?si=3mDE501pSOVG3WvP&t=2630

Team finished 4th on the night, with the Urchins beating us by a mere 10 points to take 3rd.

 

[Whorty]

I didn't even know who I was going to be riding for until the last minute - it kept on changing depending on how many people on various teams were dropping like flies and who needed a sub the most! Eventually ended up on the Turtles, meaning I was riding against @Whorty who was on the Urchins (who I'd ridden for a number times in the past).

Got dropped on the very first sprint/climb and crossed in 44th (out of 53) and thought that was pretty much it for the whole race, but it turns out that a lot of people knackered themselves out on that first lap and I started to pick up places at each banner from there on as I overtook a number of other riders (44th > 33rd > 29th > 28th > 28th > 23rd). The group I was in eventually caught up with Carl's group at the start of the final lap (they'd been 40 seconds up at one point) meaning that we were now battling for as high as 20th place.

And somehow, I managed to win that sprint! Still not quite sure how, as I only managed 5 w/kg, but I guess that a combination of me jumping the gun when no-one else expected me to and a lot of tired legs on other riders, meant I got it a little easier than it could have been.


View: https://youtu.be/9U3wxKoGlf0?si=3mDE501pSOVG3WvP&t=2630

Team finished 4th on the night, with the Urchins beating us by a mere 10 points to take 3rd.

That final sprint I was convinced I was going to blast past everyone and take the 'win' (well, 20th place haha) - legs just had nothing I went from planned hero to zero in 2 pedal strokes. I knew my legs were shot, but I thought I might have had at least 30 seconds left in them - nah, zilch haha

Your group did really well to catch us as we were still working hard on the climbs and racing. We could see you gaining on us but we could do nothing about it.

A great workout though - I really need to start racing more as 1 race every few weeks is not improving my fitness. I'm still stuck at about 2.5 w/kg in races with a puny climbing ability.