Congrats. It definitely feels good to see the "1st" in the zwift results. I like those ZHQ beta races because it's a hell of a lot easier to know who's legit and who isn't and it certainly feels good to lap the green cones.
But the team rode really well together and I had my best ride since I joined 5 weeks ago. A good start (at last!) meant I was comfortably in the group which was important with the long drag soon upon us, and no sticky draft issues. We grouped up well and powered through and kept our shape in the process.
Not that scientific really.
Well I got shifted up a group from last week and I was a bit worried, to be honest especially with the course, but as you were talking about starts we tried something different last night and it worked for the TTT format, we all went into the pairing screen from zero, ticked over and with 5 seconds to go all sat at about 4w/kg then all systematically from over discord left the pairing screen on 2 seconds and it worked, the only difference that had to be adjusted was where we were in the pen. so tweaking next week where we join the pen at the same time should improve that.Well a tough TTT last night.
2 laps of the Yorkshire UCI course, which is one of the toughest starts on Zwift. Out of the pens and very quickly starting the long draggy ascent, while trying to hold a group of 8 riders together is a real challenge!
Our team was boosted by the inclusion of a GB age group triathlete. When I heard the news, my initial thought was 'this has just got harder'!
Consequently, not much to report as we continued to work well and approached the final climb with the roundabout with all 8 riders intact. It was here that the split finally happened, with 5 of the team going over the top with a 5 second gap on me and 2 others. The other 2 guys were 3-4 seconds back from me. I shouted for the front 5 to go and then the 3 of us at the rear grouped up for the run in.
We finished 77 out of 194 in Frappe class and 160 out of 522 overall, with a time of 43.57. I came over the line in 44.50 with the other 2 guys in the rear group.
For me personally, the best ride I've had so far in TTT. Felt like I was really making a contribution and when the front 5 went clear on the final climb I felt good as I knew the 3 of us dropped had all done our part. Managed to score my third FTP upgrade in 5 weeks, now up to 258w, and my best 20 minute average power at 269w and 3.7w/kg.
Looking forward to hearing how the other guys went last night.
All the best to you both CArlStrange evening for me tonight. I'm sitting in the lounge with my good lady listening to her works leaving do (via Zoom). Very emotional as she's giving up work due to her health. She's worked with these guys for the best part of 15 years, and I've known most of the guys for a long time too (we'd always gate crash each others works drinks when we lived in London) plus I did some contract work for the company previously.
So nice to hear all the wonderful comments about her; they made a video of personal comments to her - real tear jerker.
She helped set this company up, set up a lot of the teams and working practices and has been a senior manager for years; they will miss her, but she will miss 'going to work' each day. Her MD is so upset she's leaving - it's so touching.
We always said when we thought her time was getting short that she should pack in work to have some quality peaceful time so this is really very emotional not only for us, but also for those at her company who know the significance of her stopping work. For the first time in probably a year I've had a couple of beers too, which is probably not helping
Well a tough TTT last night.
2 laps of the Yorkshire UCI course, which is one of the toughest starts on Zwift. Out of the pens and very quickly starting the long draggy ascent, while trying to hold a group of 8 riders together is a real challenge!
Our team was boosted by the inclusion of a GB age group triathlete. When I heard the news, my initial thought was 'this has just got harder'!
Consequently, not much to report as we continued to work well and approached the final climb with the roundabout with all 8 riders intact. It was here that the split finally happened, with 5 of the team going over the top with a 5 second gap on me and 2 others. The other 2 guys were 3-4 seconds back from me. I shouted for the front 5 to go and then the 3 of us at the rear grouped up for the run in.
We finished 77 out of 194 in Frappe class and 160 out of 522 overall, with a time of 43.57. I came over the line in 44.50 with the other 2 guys in the rear group.
For me personally, the best ride I've had so far in TTT. Felt like I was really making a contribution and when the front 5 went clear on the final climb I felt good as I knew the 3 of us dropped had all done our part. Managed to score my third FTP upgrade in 5 weeks, now up to 258w, and my best 20 minute average power at 269w and 3.7w/kg.
Looking forward to hearing how the other guys went last night.
Cheers Andy.
Looking back at the footage, it wasn't for very long at all, plus he was using a featherweight powerup (but I only know that because it was still visible above his head as he overtook me just past the line). He was holding the same 3.5-3.9 range as me down the first half of the finishing straight and then from there his numbers went up about 1.2 every second until it actually peaked at 8.8 (figures had already turned orange the second before), which is when the green cone came out. At that point the power numbers disappear from under his name so you can't tell what he's doing, but that was literally 11 meters from the line (I was 3 metres away, he was 8 behind me) so any slow down effects would not have any chance to take effect.
The green cones are Zwift's attempt to try and eliminate sandbagging (e.g. B's entering C races, C's entering D races etc.), but they are still in the beta testing phase and only available in a handful of races.
