WTRL TTT league last night!
Four notable items to report.
@IrishAl makes his Frappe class Premier League debut for IRL Jalapeños finishing in 39.44. How was it Al? Did you give up your DS role?
@Brendan Parker makes his debut in Latte class for BRT Cosmos finishing in 46.02. What did you think Brendan?
At the 4th time of asking I made it right the way to the end in a depleted team of 4 in Frappe class for WTRL Wanderers finishing in 43.31!
@bobinski brings home ZSUNR Protostars in 10th place in Latte class finishing in 43.15. Chapeau!
Achievements all round!
Bonus for me is that I finally got my start right! Realising now that you really need to push from a standing start about 3 seconds before the clock reaches zero, to counter the lag in your avatar responding. You're also starting back behind the start line in random positions, so by the time you cross the line you're actually moving at a reasonable pace and starting to group up in formation.
So, no early breathlessness from having to chase on too hard and that meant I settled into a much better rhythm. Group rode well all the way round the course, which was the event only Magnificent 8 course in Watopia.
I managed to avoid any sticky draft errors this week as well. We passed 6 teams on the 28km route. All different manoeuvres. The first pass was just smooth as our pace was higher. The next 4 were 2 groups of 2 teams with a small gap between them and some small ramps were involved. This meant we had to attack as a group, regroup between the 2 teams we were passing and then attack again. Plenty of scope for screwing up there but we got through as a group.
The last pass was a long one heading into Saddle Springs in the desert. As we were closing in, the team ahead upped their pace and held us at about 3 seconds from the underground oasis area until the approach to Saddle Springs. They were being pulled along by a strong rider at the front, so we sat off and just held the gap. As we approached Saddle Springs, we started to close the gap and then about 1 second behind them we attacked on the small rise as you head through the village just before the climb out of the desert. We upped the pace, made the pass and gapped them on the climb!
From then on, it was just a case of staying together to the top of the climb and then finishing via the descent and Ocean Boulevard before crossing the finishing line!
Glad to have got the mistakes out of my system and to finish as a team!
Lots of discussion lately about how hard it is to hold a pace line formation in the TTT, but here we are pulling it off last night. It does help to have a strong rider on the front! I'm in 3rd wearing my Cyclechat approved green cap!
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hi Del. Yes I had to give up DS duties which was a shame (I get a kick out of telling some of Ireland’s best riders to work harder) but the espresso team did well and finished 2nd again but without our star man Chris McGlinchey (top ranked rider in Zwiftpower. we brought in a new rider , one of the top riders in NI and he did really well Chris is racing pro-am invitationals this week again. I think the guys can win it once they get the teamwork right. They rode with 4 for the second half so I think a DS is important at the high level for success. I’ll need to make a tough call at some point. This week the focus is getting the guys to add transparency data to their Zwiftpower profiles. To avoid any questions of foul play. I know most of them through racing and can vouch for their ability but obviously when a team appears from nowhere others in the Zwift community legitimately ask questions,
my race went well. We went out first in which was good so no teams to worry about overtaking. We lost 2 riders before the climb so it was tough for the final 20km. I held in again to the end so happy with that and was able to give a big turn near the end to drop the remaiming 5 to the last 500m. We finished 6th in PL and 9th overall so really pleased to qualify outright for the PL next week which I hope will be on live stream On ZCL.
one tip for the start - I found myself well back in the pen so once the banner lifted I soft pedalled to get to near the front, but not over the line.
also upgraded to Apple TV. Have to say it’s worked really well so far.
