Zwift Chat

[Del C]

This is what I'm thinking tonight ......

9-10 mins from pens to base of KoM. Take it fairly easy because the draft will be so large there won't be any massive benefit by blasting it.
9-10 mins on first climb. Push really hard even if it pushes me into the red.
1 minute descent. Spin legs to get rid of lactate acid
20-22 mins from base of KoM, to start and back to start of KoM. I feel working too hard here could be the deciding factor.
Second climb up KoM, 10-11 mins. Try to keep power high but don't give it my all until about 300 mtrs to go.

In all, about 52 - 54 mins of racing Easy

See you on the start line .... maybe Have a good ride @Del C

Moved to 17.30.

Got delayed

 

[Randyberlin]

With reference to my earlier post.
Question:
Have you had a bike fit and if so was it worth doing and did you experience any significant changes.

I had a custom steel frame bike built for me for touring. https://www.rodbikes.com it wasn't any more than a comparable off the shelf bike but a big difference in comfort.

 

[steverob]

With reference to my earlier post.
Question:
Have you had a bike fit and if so was it worth doing and did you experience any significant changes.

I have had a bike fit, but it was when I bought my current bike, so it's probably not fair to compare my performances on two different bikes, one of which I was properly fitted for, the other I wasn't - I was just using my best guess at how it should be set up.

However I will say that on my old bike I did used to get twinges in my back when doing particularly long rides, but thought that was just par for the course. After the fitting on the new one, where the guy did change some things I thought were probably okay, I noticed that I no longer got those pains. Of course that then encouraged me to ride further, which causes a whole different sort of pain, one which no bike fit could ever get rid of...

 

[<Tommy>]

I think I’m top 100. Just posting because if I die now I want a 10/10 excuse score!

 

[JuhaL]

Road bikes what i have owned i have noticed that over time geometry is been change, especially seat tube angle. My current bike Cervelo S3 bottom bracket is more center than my previous bikes if i take a look frame triangle. That's why i need to change my seat post where is no setback at all. I think it's good idea to go bike fitting these days if you don't find bike where the geometry is same as old bike.

 

[Whorty]

Hopefully I complete this race too. Not feeling it but I think this is my window of opportunity this weekend. Hopefully it’s not a bailathon... Good luck Del and Carl!

Cracking time @<Tommy> You must have been flying!

 

[Whorty]

You'll be WAY faster than that. My best times (three previous attempts at the climb, plus one descent) are as follows, and remember I'm a 95kg Cat D and was doing this either on a TT bike or on a road bike in no draft mode, while today's ride is double draft I believe:

10 minutes for the flat section (done at about 2.3 wkg) - so you'll probably get about 8 mins, taking it easy maybe nearer 9.
13 minutes for the climb (done at about 2.6 wkg) - just over 10 minutes is probably right for you here as my excess weight is what's slowing me down.
1 1/2 minutes for the steep part of the descent; admittedly I did put down some pretty big watts on the top half, as I was aiming to get the 100km/h badge, but I freewheeled the rest - let's say you're about the same time here.
10 1/2 minutes for the flat back to the start (at 2.1 wkg); I've only done this stretch once and took it quite easy on that occasion - would be surprised if you go much over 9 minutes.
And then the flat and climb again, but let's add on 10% to your time from the first go, as your legs might be feeling the burn by then - so that's around 20-21 minutes
Grand Total: 49-50 minutes and that's a conservative estimate - could get much faster if you're lucky with the draft or if the second ascent goes better than expected.

My final time was 51:39 (@peterob ). Beaten by Dean by 30 odd seconds and Steen by a minute. Tommy had washed, had his first pint and was on his way home before I crossed the line

I had a good draft on the ride and averaged 3.1 w/kg for the whole ride. Had legs been a bit fresher I may have knocked a bit off the climbs but not sure I had much more to give My breakdown was:

8:18 from pens to KoM start
10:36 1st KoM @ 261 watts (vs my PB of 9:22)
10:09 Top of KoM back to start banner
8:24 Pens back to KoM
11:15 2nd KoM @ 235 watts

Looks like I lost time on the final climb Pretty happy with that time overall though as close to what I expected.

 

[<Tommy>]

Cracking time @<Tommy> You must have been flying!

Thanks mate 👍 How did you do? I think I saw deano in the race too?

I didn’t feel like I was flying to be honest. My legs felt very heavy from the warm up. I been up and down stairs a lot this week at work and maybe it took its toll. But luckily they didn’t get much worse as the race went on and my second time up the hill was quicker than the first so that’s a good sign I think. I think I could probably find a bit more power normally and I was probably a bit sluggish up the hill. So I think my time will be shot down at some point soon. @Pistol Pete. Get the spreadsheet whirring before the time gets beat please amigo! 😁

43:44

 

[LBHIFI]

Well done on the FTP increase @Joffey

In answer to your question it's different for everyone individually really. My experience going back a few years was some really big improvements initially - which I tended to find came in sudden leaps rather than smoothly actually - but your improvements will inevitably slow down or stop at some point.

Personally I've never done a training plan at all and only a handful of workouts on Zwift ever. I've only ever done the evening races on zwift (on Bkool before that) and then outdoor road or mountain bike rides when I can - but no specific "plan" or training. There's lots of people I know who have had big fitness gains and trained very succesfully for big real world cycling events just doing races on Zwift/Bkool and not much else. Others do enjoy and feel they get something out of the structured training plans though - I've nothing against them I've just never felt motivated to do them, but i'm not ruling it out. I find racing motivates me to push myself harder than anything else which is why I think it has been good for me.

I'd say do whatever you enjoy, and what motivates you most to keep exercising, whether that's racing, workouts, doing training plans - or a mix of all.

Same here. Massive gains (and weight loss) the first years just riding the bike without any plan. Now it's a different story (after 11 years). Finding gains now is not happening just by riding the bike. Also the age (54 years) is a factor. Staying at the same fitness level as last year should be considered a success.

So I'm trying new things now. I've had success with Todays Plan increasing my FTP with 10 watts 2 years ago, so I thought I would try that again this year. This time, however, I've tried to throw in a massive amount of zone 2 (look the other way Tommy :-) before starting, with the intension to be able to do 2 of these workout plans.

 

[Whorty]

Moved to 17.30.

Got delayed

Wondered where you'd got to ... hope you had a good ride

Edit: Just saw your time .... you blew me away Certainly put me back in my box

 

[JuhaL]

Wondered where you'd got to ... hope you had a good ride

Edit: Just saw your time .... you blew me away Certainly put me back in my box

Derek probably use your plan . Anyway, very good ride today, from all of you.

 

[<Tommy>]

look the other way Tommy :-)

😁

I think I’ve somehow become “mr anything but zone 2”. My house in London is actually inside zone 2 so perhaps I should start turning my anger to zone 3 instead! I think bob lives in zone 3 actually so that works quite well 👍

 

[Breedon]

51:07
I wasn't going to race, as I've never riden the course before I was going to use the time to do a recon but I got carried away, then Carl put out his position which was 375th and I was 410 so the possibility of catching him up the final climb was to much to resist with a mile to go I put the hammer down.

Great ride loved it, I might even do it again this time racing 👍

 

[Del C]

49.21 for me @peterob

Really pleased with that on a tough course!

 

[Del C]

Wondered where you'd got to ... hope you had a good ride

Edit: Just saw your time .... you blew me away Certainly put me back in my box

Cheers Carl.

First time I've ridden that course. It's a tough climb but if you can dig in and get a rhythm going its doable. I was also lucky and got into a good group on the first descent that stayed together all the way out and and back to the second climb.

I'm sure that helped. It was the opposite of Stage 3 where I got isolated on the descent and where I'm sure I lost time.