Zwift Chat

[bobinski]

It would of had to of been one hell of a sprint. I finished my race 3 days ago!

Aren’t they the only sprints you win? 😉

 

[Breedon]

Looking at 6pm tomorrow, but I'll see how my little legs feel like.

 

[<Tommy>]

Aren’t they the only sprints you win? 😉

Still dining out on that one eh mate

 

[bobinski]

Still dining out on that one eh mate

Taking a sip from a glass of sparking as I type 👌

😁

 

[IrishAl]

I've got club race duties tomorrow evening in the 7.40pm 3R race. Leith Hill after party- designated domestique to chase down any break away attempts. I'll probably get a good kicking in the lead in, so if that happens I'll jump into the 8pm TdZ group ride.

 

[IrishAl]

I finally got around to some analysis of my Neo2 v Assioma's. THis was the first ride since I remembered to oil the chain
I'm trying to upload the data into ZwiftPower for a dual recording analysis but running into some issues with file size etc. The data below has been extracted from Strava and Garmin Connect into .tcx files, transferred into GoldenCheetah, dataset moved into Excel, and then charts created after some manual synchronisation of the data .

Next test will be in work out mode with ERG on with 2 minute steady state at various power settings.

Exec Summary
All in all very close, apart from the Neo2 sometimes slow to respond to some of the peaks.
A high level averaging for the full ride:-
Assioma - 287w
Neo2 - 280w (-2.5%)

400s to 600s

1000s - 1200s
`

3 second averaged power data: 240s - 300s

 

[<Tommy>]

I finally got around to some analysis of my Neo2 v Assioma's. THis was the first ride since I remembered to oil the chain
I'm trying to upload the data into ZwiftPower for a dual recording analysis but running into some issues with file size etc. The data below has been extracted from Strava and Garmin Connect into .tcx files, transferred into GoldenCheetah, dataset moved into Excel, and then charts created after some manual synchronisation of the data .

Next test will be in work out mode with ERG on with 2 minute steady state at various power settings.

Exec Summary
All in all very close, apart from the Neo2 sometimes slow to respond to some of the peaks.
A high level averaging for the full ride:-
Assioma - 287w
Neo2 - 280w (-2.5%)

View attachment 502256
400s to 600s
View attachment 502257
1000s - 1200s
`
View attachment 502258
3 second averaged power data: 240s - 300s

Interesting stuff Alan. You think the fact the assioma are single sided makes much of a difference to your test results?

Just thinking out loud but I wonder if it will ever be a completely level playing field. What does everyone else think? I guess if a race required everyone to use the same pm : turbo trainer then that would reduce the variables. Between variation in pm’s and weight doping I’m not sure how seriously anyone could take online racing.
Probably doesn’t matter to us so long as we take results with a pinch of salt. But if there’s money involved it normally changes things.

 

[IrishAl]

Interesting stuff Alan. You think the fact the assioma are single sided makes much of a difference to your test results?

Hard to say Tommy. Without knowing exactly how they work a duo would maybe introduce further error?

Just thinking out loud but I wonder if it will ever be a completely level playing field. What does everyone else think? I guess if a race required everyone to use the same pm : turbo trainer then that would reduce the variables. Between variation in pm’s and weight doping I’m not sure how seriously anyone could take online racing.
Probably doesn’t matter to us so long as we take results with a pinch of salt. But if there’s money involved it normally changes things.

I don’t think online racing or even people sitting in the same room on the same make of turbo trainers could even be considered a level playing field. Weight and height doping is a bit of a joke at times. And then there are the people knowingly racing on a turbo with unrealistic data.
Some of the BRT folks I race with in fairness have stood down from racing when it became apparent that their pm data wasn’t accurate - one guy winning lots of cat A races, bought a new turbo and turns out his sprint was nothing like what he thought.

At least with the live races like the nationals finals etc one can cheat the scales so at the elite level we can know it is a good as it can be with the limits of technology.

As embarrassing as it is I’ve gone to the lengths of posting the live height check and live weigh in on the Zwiftransparency Facebook group and will gather outdoor power data this summer. We can all do our bit at all levels of the sport to up the confidence levels. I want @BurningLegs to give us a live weigh in to qualify for cat B

 

[berty bassett]

I personally don’t think online racing will ever be 100% right but at the same time I don’t care that much , I know the people I want to try and beat and have a laugh with

 

[bobinski]

I personally don’t think online racing will ever be 100% right but at the same time I don’t care that much , I know the people I want to try and beat and have a laugh with

This 👍

 

[LBHIFI]

Stage 4, 48:02 for me.

I was actually doing fine until the first climb. I was at the foot of the climb same time as peterob, but I just can't seem to keep up the same pace uphill these days.
From there peterob went ballistic, averaging 375 watts up the hill , so I wouldn’t have been anywhere near him even if I had kept my pace.

Got into a slow group on the way back and lost most of my time on the second flat. Finally got the cramps in my right leg going up the hill the second time and lost about 40 seconds there compared to the first attempt, so all in all not a particular good ride for me.

The right leg cramp is a reoccurring thing I’ve been struggling with for a long time. I don’t think it’s actually cramps, but rather the condition, I can’t remember the name of, where the tension of the muscles eventually blocks blood supply. The result is pretty much the same.

I would like to redo stage 3 & 4, but I’m starting my 6 week training plan now, so I doubt I will find the time to do them.

 

[<Tommy>]

I personally don’t think online racing will ever be 100% right but at the same time I don’t care that much , I know the people I want to try and beat and have a laugh with

But how much is ‘that much’? 🧐😄

Everyone cares to varying degrees. I know I know, every month or so we have to have a side competition to see who cares the ‘correct, acceptable’ amount

What I was really speculating on is not this group, but whether online racing will ever be a viable e sport.

 

[Norry1]

Interesting stuff Alan. You think the fact the assioma are single sided makes much of a difference to your test results?

I reckon it must. I know my L/R split is never (rarely) 50:50.

 

[peterob]

Stage 4, 48:02 for me.

I was actually doing fine until the first climb. I was at the foot of the climb same time as peterob, but I just can't seem to keep up the same pace uphill these days.
From there peterob went ballistic, averaging 375 watts up the hill , so I wouldn’t have been anywhere near him even if I had kept my pace.

Got into a slow group on the way back and lost most of my time on the second flat. Finally got the cramps in my right leg going up the hill the second time and lost about 40 seconds there compared to the first attempt, so all in all not a particular good ride for me.

The right leg cramp is a reoccurring thing I’ve been struggling with for a long time. I don’t think it’s actually cramps, but rather the condition, I can’t remember the name of, where the tension of the muscles eventually blocks blood supply. The result is pretty much the same.

I would like to redo stage 3 & 4, but I’m starting my 6 week training plan now, so I doubt I will find the time to do them.

I didn't realise you were in the same ride @LBHIFI, but then I wasn't really aware of much going on during that ride . It was my intention to give everything up the climb first time round so I could recover in the aero-tuck on the decline and get dragged to the base again in a fast group. That all worked well but did leave me cooked for the second ascent (I reckon I was pushing 100W less second time up).

I hope you overcome your leg cramping issues Lars.

 

[bobinski]

FWIW I genuinely don’t care for pro am or E-sports racing on Zwift. Other people more knowledgeable than me remain unconvinced that Zwift are willing to engage with the issues around trainer and PM accuracy, weight and height doping. Events this past week with a rider being eliminated in one race by zwift and then going on to win another with higher watts and another being eliminated and dropped by a team after racing at A level the last few years all suggest a reluctance to engage.
And at our level? I used to ride a lot with Zsunr but really struggled to stay with any of them. Turned out , and they didn’t know, they were all benefiting from using the V1 Kickr. They have all moved on since but no one I can see is hitting the levels they were 2y ago. Given most peeps fall into the 3-4w/k range trainer /pm inaccuracy is too great a factor to make racing anything more than a competition to improve your or rather my own fitness. If zwift can measure and account for some of this they choose not to.
So, when I race Its for fitness or to chase you much faster peeps and to try and stay away from you other slower but rapidly improving peeps.