Zwift Chat

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Whorty

Gets free watts from the Atom ;)
Location
Wiltshire
Is it not best 8 results or something though?


šŸ„³
I thought that too but I had a quick look last night on ZP and no mention of that. Be nice if it was though ^_^

Very pleased we're not racing up the Epic KoM and Radio Tower .... my legs were hurting just thinking about that :laugh:
 

Norry1

Legendary Member
Location
Warwick
Well that was a fun race but hard (unsurprisingly). Gtreat to see so many CCers at the start line - including ZSUNR ringer @<Tommy> and a returning from injury @peterob . A bunch of us B's were on Discord in the warm up which was nice to have a bit of a chat - but only @BurningLegs and me kept the chat going through the race. It was actually quite useful as well - not least when Nick and I were chasing back on to the group. I shouted "they've gone" and Nick said "I've got one more effort in me" and proceeded to put the hammer down. Forewarned, I jumped as well and we both made it back. Cheers Nick.

As anticipated, it was the Legsnapper that "made the selections" as Sean Kelly would say. After the usual quick start, it slowed a bit after a mile or so as people got ready for the hill.

I got in the right position at the front, in fact I was in 1st position briefly at the base of the hill, then it exploded. I averaged 394W up the climb but it wasn't enough and I was in 28th. Nick was just with me and Andy was 4 seconds ahead in a small group chasing the larger front group ahead. I think it was at this point that I shouted to Nick to slow a bit and let the large group behind catch us up rather than chase. We slowed a bit and joined the group which included @peterob and then reeled Andy's group in as well.

The lead group kept a steady 20 ish seconds ahead of us and we were neither catching nor losing to them. We hit Kleiner Hugel for the 2nd time and I started in 42nd and ended in 34th - I think Pete was dropped at this point. The front group was about 20 strong and we were about 16. We caught a couple of stragglers which evened our groups up.

It was after the 3rd hill climb that Nick and I got caught 7 seconds adrift and finally managed to chase back on - helped by Discord and then hung on for a bit recovering.

Our group was now in 18-32 position with the following group over a minute back so it looked like we'd all score reasonable points. My target in most B races is to finish in the top third - so I was just about on for that. We hit the final climb and I managed my highest average watts up it (399W) of the 4 ascents. We dropped 3 of the group but 4 of us also had to really pull to get back on as well and we regrouped at the sprint banner. I pushed to keep near the front as we hit the last kilometer. With 300m to go, we all opened up and Nick and Andy bested me by a few places coming 18th and 19th. I was 22nd in the same time of 50:15. I didn't realise but Tommy was 16 seconds ahead of us. Well done to him as well.

It was a tough race - with a bigger gap from average to Normalised power than usual. I also did my best 30s and 1 minute w/kg in races according to ZP so overall I'm fairly pleased.

Well done to the rest of the B's for finishing and bumping our points up and all you C's and D's as well.

Youtube vid is here ->
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKZ7bXafUio
 
Great write-up @Norry1 - I always look forward to your posts. Discord really was a great help yesterday. We wouldn't have caught the group with @Alongo in it at approx 40mins without it!

Interesting to watch it back - I wasn't sure whether the rest of our small group were sat on you when I kicked to bridge that gap but it looks like they did do a bit of work with you to get back in. I wouldn't have had that kick without a short rest before end, again coordinated on Discord.
 

bobinski

Legendary Member
Location
Tulse Hill
Well that was a fun race but hard (unsurprisingly). Gtreat to see so many CCers at the start line - including ZSUNR ringer @<Tommy> and a returning from injury @peterob . A bunch of us B's were on Discord in the warm up which was nice to have a bit of a chat - but only @BurningLegs and me kept the chat going through the race. It was actually quite useful as well - not least when Nick and I were chasing back on to the group. I shouted "they've gone" and Nick said "I've got one more effort in me" and proceeded to put the hammer down. Forewarned, I jumped as well and we both made it back. Cheers Nick.

As anticipated, it was the Legsnapper that "made the selections" as Sean Kelly would say. After the usual quick start, it slowed a bit after a mile or so as people got ready for the hill.

I got in the right position at the front, in fact I was in 1st position briefly at the base of the hill, then it exploded. I averaged 394W up the climb but it wasn't enough and I was in 28th. Nick was just with me and Andy was 4 seconds ahead in a small group chasing the larger front group ahead. I think it was at this point that I shouted to Nick to slow a bit and let the large group behind catch us up rather than chase. We slowed a bit and joined the group which included @peterob and then reeled Andy's group in as well.

The lead group kept a steady 20 ish seconds ahead of us and we were neither catching nor losing to them. We hit Kleiner Hugel for the 2nd time and I started in 42nd and ended in 34th - I think Pete was dropped at this point. The front group was about 20 strong and we were about 16. We caught a couple of stragglers which evened our groups up.

It was after the 3rd hill climb that Nick and I got caught 7 seconds adrift and finally managed to chase back on - helped by Discord and then hung on for a bit recovering.

Our group was now in 18-32 position with the following group over a minute back so it looked like we'd all score reasonable points. My target in most B races is to finish in the top third - so I was just about on for that. We hit the final climb and I managed my highest average watts up it (399W) of the 4 ascents. We dropped 3 of the group but 4 of us also had to really pull to get back on as well and we regrouped at the sprint banner. I pushed to keep near the front as we hit the last kilometer. With 300m to go, we all opened up and Nick and Andy bested me by a few places coming 18th and 19th. I was 22nd in the same time of 50:15. I didn't realise but Tommy was 16 seconds ahead of us. Well done to him as well.

It was a tough race - with a bigger gap from average to Normalised power than usual. I also did my best 30s and 1 minute w/kg in races according to ZP so overall I'm fairly pleased.

Well done to the rest of the B's for finishing and bumping our points up and all you C's and D's as well.

Youtube vid is here ->
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKZ7bXafUio


I did toy with joining last night but reading and watching suggests I made the right decision not too šŸ˜. That was some heavy breathing over the top the 3rd timešŸ˜‚Good work all.
 

Whorty

Gets free watts from the Atom ;)
Location
Wiltshire
Ok ... I'll put it out there for all to read. Seeing Martin, Nick and Del doing so well in B and me still languishing on C, I'll make this my last C cat league and I'll move myself up to B for the next league (whatever that might be). I'm not pushing B numbers yet so I will get destroyed in every race but I need to start seeing if I can hold the bigger numbers longer. It may be a short lived experiment again, but I need to at least try.

There, I said it - just need to see if I can podium on a C race now to justify moving up :tongue:
 

Alongo

Guru
I thought i had forgot to charge my earbuds for discord last night , but seems they are not charging so will have to replace ā˜¹ļø
 

<Tommy>

Illegitimi non carborundum
Location
Camden, London
Well that was a fun race but hard (unsurprisingly). Gtreat to see so many CCers at the start line - including ZSUNR ringer @<Tommy> and a returning from injury @peterob . A bunch of us B's were on Discord in the warm up which was nice to have a bit of a chat - but only @BurningLegs and me kept the chat going through the race. It was actually quite useful as well - not least when Nick and I were chasing back on to the group. I shouted "they've gone" and Nick said "I've got one more effort in me" and proceeded to put the hammer down. Forewarned, I jumped as well and we both made it back. Cheers Nick.

As anticipated, it was the Legsnapper that "made the selections" as Sean Kelly would say. After the usual quick start, it slowed a bit after a mile or so as people got ready for the hill.

I got in the right position at the front, in fact I was in 1st position briefly at the base of the hill, then it exploded. I averaged 394W up the climb but it wasn't enough and I was in 28th. Nick was just with me and Andy was 4 seconds ahead in a small group chasing the larger front group ahead. I think it was at this point that I shouted to Nick to slow a bit and let the large group behind catch us up rather than chase. We slowed a bit and joined the group which included @peterob and then reeled Andy's group in as well.

The lead group kept a steady 20 ish seconds ahead of us and we were neither catching nor losing to them. We hit Kleiner Hugel for the 2nd time and I started in 42nd and ended in 34th - I think Pete was dropped at this point. The front group was about 20 strong and we were about 16. We caught a couple of stragglers which evened our groups up.

It was after the 3rd hill climb that Nick and I got caught 7 seconds adrift and finally managed to chase back on - helped by Discord and then hung on for a bit recovering.

Our group was now in 18-32 position with the following group over a minute back so it looked like we'd all score reasonable points. My target in most B races is to finish in the top third - so I was just about on for that. We hit the final climb and I managed my highest average watts up it (399W) of the 4 ascents. We dropped 3 of the group but 4 of us also had to really pull to get back on as well and we regrouped at the sprint banner. I pushed to keep near the front as we hit the last kilometer. With 300m to go, we all opened up and Nick and Andy bested me by a few places coming 18th and 19th. I was 22nd in the same time of 50:15. I didn't realise but Tommy was 16 seconds ahead of us. Well done to him as well.

It was a tough race - with a bigger gap from average to Normalised power than usual. I also did my best 30s and 1 minute w/kg in races according to ZP so overall I'm fairly pleased.

Well done to the rest of the B's for finishing and bumping our points up and all you C's and D's as well.

Youtube vid is here ->
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKZ7bXafUio


Nice write up martin šŸ‘

After reading that I checked my own attempts up the climb yesterday to see what I needed to stay with the group.

463
462
474
382

And I was hanging on by my toe nails! My zwift weight is 77kg so Iā€™m not directly compatible to you without doing some math. That whole race does basically hinge on getting up that climb in one piece doesnā€™t it. Itā€™s the first time Iā€™d done that loop but it seems like the rest of the lap is just spent recovering and building up for the next attempt on the climb. So if you can get up it youā€™re safe for another lap. So even though itā€™s quite flatw/kg trumps pure watts.
 
Interesting perspective @<Tommy> - my W/KG is pretty good because I'm at 66KG right now, but I felt like the climb wasnt long enough for me to really make that count and that it favoured the high power riders.

I suppose that shows that it is hell for everyone :laugh:
 

Alongo

Guru
Itā€™s just long enough to have you hanging on for grim death just before the crest while you really need a good push over the top . Four laps definitely enough !
 

peterob

Veteran
Location
Chester
Nice write up martin šŸ‘

After reading that I checked my own attempts up the climb yesterday to see what I needed to stay with the group.

463
462
474
382

And I was hanging on by my toe nails! My zwift weight is 77kg so Iā€™m not directly compatible to you without doing some math. That whole race does basically hinge on getting up that climb in one piece doesnā€™t it. Itā€™s the first time Iā€™d done that loop but it seems like the rest of the lap is just spent recovering and building up for the next attempt on the climb. So if you can get up it youā€™re safe for another lap. So even though itā€™s quite flatw/kg trumps pure watts.
Interesting to compare my wattage up the legsnapper to you Tommy - 392, 350, 359 & 346. It shows I'm way down on the 1 min power to be able to stick with the fast boys at the moment :ohmy:
 

Del C

Veteran
Location
Horley
Great write up @Norry1

I guess I ought to add a little to give the perspective from the back of the race and to offer @Whorty a possible glimpse of what his near future could be :biggrin:

Firstly, I had a better start out of the pen. I've said many times recently it's been a problem and while I still had a little chasing on to do last night, the gap was smaller, I had less to chase and it took less out of me. PBs out of the pen and averaging 312w for the first km is all going in the right direction.

So, I found myself well up in the front pack on the first lap, holding my place all through the flat part of the course, over the bridge and through the cobbled section and felt I was well placed about mid pack going into the Legsnapper.

Then, as Martin said, the Legsnapper made the first selection, and I'm afraid I didn't quite make it. But this time it wasn't through a lack of application. Another PB for me at 1.11, max watts of 414 but may average watts of 329 show that I just couldn't hold it all the way to the top and the gap that opened there took me out of the race. After that, it was always a race just to try and finish as high as I could.

@Brusgaard had been dropped with me. He was a few seconds back behind me at the top, but he chased back on and we formed a group of 3 with another guy, Dave Ellison, that stayed together for the next 3 laps. Steen and I did pretty much all the work with Ellison pretty much along for the ride. Every time up the Legsnapper, he jumped and pulled away. The first two times, Steen and I reeled him back in on the descent, but the last time round he put in a major kick. I went after him, but I didn't have enough and that opened a gap between myself and Steen and that remained the case for the three of us until the line.

So, what can I take from yesterday. Well some things are getting better, but its the same weaknesses that I'm paying for. I've said several times I need to find a way of increasing my short term power, 15s, 30s and 1m. My starts are improving, and I had another PB on the Legsnapper, but a 10 second gap by the top turned into 2 to 3 minutes by the end of yesterday's race.

Doing the TTT races has seen my FTP rise twice in the last 2 weeks to 256w and my figures for 95% of 20 minutes on ZP are now 3.41w/kg, so I'm sitting comfortably inside Cat B. Last Saturday I managed to finish just inside the top half of a B cat race for the first time, when I rode in the WTRL iTT. All this is positive stuff and was reflected in the way I held my place to the bottom of the Legsnapper on lap 1.

It was the same story last Friday for the Cyclechat TTT. I did plenty of work in the B team and was there until we hit the 2nd steeper KoM. I thought I'd probably struggle there, and so it proved.

I haven't really looked hard enough to find workouts that I can use to try and increase my short term power, and I suppose in the back of my mind I'm wondering if its possible for a guy in his 60s to actually take that next step? I don't expect to have the snap in my legs that I'd have had in my 20s and 30s, but I'm happy to try as I just need to improve enough to close the gaps that took me out yesterday. I've said on here before I used to ride with a guy who was the 70s age group national road race and TT champion, and he was a machine, so I hope I still have time!

Anyhow, 45th out of 51 on ZP, so a small contribution to our position in the Team Standings!
 
Last edited:

mjd1988

Guru
Great write ups b team. I hope after this series I have the discipline to do a few more targeted workouts to try and make the push up to b this year at some point. I do find it hard to avoid the races though which is probably plateauing things.
 

Whorty

Gets free watts from the Atom ;)
Location
Wiltshire
Great write ups b team. I hope after this series I have the discipline to do a few more targeted workouts to try and make the push up to b this year at some point. I do find it hard to avoid the races though which is probably plateauing things.
I'm trying to stick to 1 race a week (although last week was 2 with the CC handicap) and the rest workouts. I'm trying to focus the workouts on the areas I suffer with the most, which is the burst of power and then followed by a tempo followed by another burst of power. This is working OK for me in C races, but my average in these races is still well off B pace!

Last night, apart from the legsnapper, it was pretty easy to sit in that group - I didn't have enough to make a proper break away and make it stick, but I wasn't going to get dropped either. I definitely need to start riding with stronger riders more frequently to help me make that step up.
 
Top Bottom