Zwift Chat

[<Tommy>]

Just my two penny’s worth...

If we use the meet-up function for this the timings will be a disaster. We will need to go with a segment to get a completely accurate timing. But the lead in will confuse it. The optimal strategy for getting the best segment time will be to pootle to the start of the segment and then blast off. But this will mess up the handicap aspect of the race.

I think this is a good time to test out Alan’s idea of piggy backing on to an organised race. Then we have a clear start and finish banner. We’ll be on tt bikes so if we do catch anyone doing the race proper it won’t matter because we won’t get any drafting effect on tt bikes.

Also the on screen click will be the same for all of us so easier to get the start times right.

My vote is we try going off one at a time rather than in groups. It doesn’t matter if people get their start tikes sting as it’ll come down to the clock in the end anyway. And the more we practice the better we’ll become at it. To be fair though I think it’ll be a laugh whether we go in groups or one at a time.

 

[mjd1988]

Just my two penny’s worth...

If we use the meet-up function for this the timings will be a disaster. We will need to go with a segment to get a completely accurate timing. But the lead in will confuse it. The optimal strategy for getting the best segment time will be to pootle to the start of the segment and then blast off. But this will mess up the handicap aspect of the race.

I think this is a good time to test out Alan’s idea of piggy backing on to an organised race. Then we have a clear start and finish banner. We’ll be on tt bikes so if we do catch anyone doing the race proper it won’t matter because we won’t get any drafting effect on tt bikes.

Also the on screen click will be the same for all of us so easier to get the start times right.

My vote is we try going off one at a time rather than in groups. It doesn’t matter if people get their start tikes sting as it’ll come down to the clock in the end anyway. And the more we practice the better we’ll become at it. To be fair though I think it’ll be a laugh whether we go in groups or one at a time.

Agreed. Where you spawn in the meet up can be very disorientating- in the last few TTT s it's taken a while to get the group together on the confusion.

Im guessing we would all join the one group (a would probably make sense) and the first person goes off at the gun. As it would be an event there will be a clock so you should know beforehand your start time rather than timing it yourself

 

[Whorty]

I favour groups going at once, just because it's less prone to user error. There's less chance of you missing your slot when you see four others who you were meant to be riding with suddenly disappearing down the road! Also the usual problem of people forgetting to stop pedalling (or going to the pairing screen), means with departures every 20 seconds, we'll probably have various of the later starters slightly drifting down the road long before their allotted time.

This is a very fair point As a group we're not that disciplined at the starts

 

[Del C]

Thanks for the replies on individual or group starts.

It's fairly close, with maybe a slight vote in favour of individual starts, but on balance I think I'm going to say we should go with a group start for the first event. Here's the reasons why I think this will be better for the first event, where we are trying to set handicaps for future events.

1. There's a 2.5km lead in to the start of the Strava segment we would use. I should have remembered this as its the same start point we used for my road club's TT.

The spawn point is on the road just before the desert race pens and the segment starts at the rock arch start/finish line just after the cliffside village. What this means is that the first 2.5kms is a free ride warm up and the race proper starts at the rock arch. This means we'll probably reach the arch in a random order (this happened every week on my road club TT). On that basis, going in groups probably helps to stop people screwing up their departure time.

2. I looked to see if we could piggy back on a road race. There's nothing on Friday and only 2 events on Wednesday on this course, and those are at 17.10 (too early) and 20.15 (probably too late, especially for Steen as its 21.15 for him). Although this is an interesting idea, it doesn't look like its an easy option where we choose a route and then look for a race.

So, in summary I'm saying:

1. Let's start in groups with a 2 minute gap.

2. Everyone in a group rides a 2.5km lead in to the rock arch at their own pace to the start of the Strava segment, and then the race is on.

3. Ride 2 laps with the race finishing at the rock arch. It will be the 3rd time we cross the start/finish line at the arch. I'll set the meet up finish line after the rock arch.

4. Everyone posts up their times by adding together the 2 lap times for the Strava segment and we then use these to set handicap times for the next event.

5. I'll post up the finishing times as an overall list and as groups so everyone has an added incentive to ride!

6. Once we have the handicaps, we'll have to think again about how we start a hare and hounds event. I think it will work ok to race from the spawn point on subsequent events.

 

[<Tommy>]

I think you may as well discard the handicap aspect of it for the next race if that’s the way you want to set it. Just start everyone at the same time.

Is it really worth sitting on the line for an extended period just to spin for 2.5km? Just thinking out load here... I’ll think I’ll just set a time for the course and then you can use that for the next handicap race.

Edit: what happens when we have times. do we then race from the very start next time? Wouldn’t that make the times skewed anyway? It’ll always be hard to pick a course and then try and find an event doing that course. I’d recommend picking a race and then trying to adjust the handcaps to suit that race. Otherwise aren’t we always going to be dependent on the meet up function which is quite flawed at the moment?

 

[BurningLegs]

If we all set off at the same time on TT bikes then we can just use the meet-up finish times rather than having to use a Strava segment too?

 

[bobinski]

Like herding cats...😂

 

[IrishAl]

Let’s go with this Del. If my memory is correct even in a race event and we sit in the pen the clock doesn’t start to tick until each person crosses the start line.

I hope you don’t mind but to help with the admin of it all I’ve made a google spreadsheet (link HERE) and screenshot below.
if everyone can go in and add their times then this will take the hassle away from you. Hopefully it’s self explanatory but each person finds their name, and enters their lap times then the total will be added automatically and a quick sort will give a leader board. We can then sort out handicaps and have a handicap table as well.

 

[<Tommy>]

If we all set off at the same time on TT bikes then we can just use the meet-up finish times rather than having to use a Strava segment too?

I don’t think the finish times come up in a table unless that’s changed?

 

[bobinski]

Let’s go with this Del. If my memory is correct even in a race event and we sit in the pen the clock doesn’t start to tick until each person crosses the start line.

I hope you don’t mind but to help with the admin of it all I’ve made a google spreadsheet (link HERE) and screenshot below.
if everyone can go in and add their times then this will take the hassle away from you. Hopefully it’s self explanatory but each person finds their name, and enters their lap times then the total will be added automatically and a quick sort will give a leader board. We can then sort out handicaps and have a handicap table as well.

View attachment 532864

who knew so many men on CC liked a spreadsheet?

 

[mjd1988]

https://zwift.com/news/12044-race-recon-volcano-climb-after-party

Race recon for the Monday race. Proper hill for our climbers, proper pain for...me.

 

[BurningLegs]

who knew so many men on CC liked a spreadsheet?

I think we are going to need a spreadsheet to keep track of them all!

 

[BurningLegs]

I don’t think the finish times come up in a table unless that’s changed?

That’s true, but we can share times on here and compare them in a spreadsheet? Google apps would be good for that so people can just add their time themselves to save admin time.

 

[<Tommy>]

That’s true, but we can share times on here and compare them in a spreadsheet? Google apps would be good for that so people can just add their time themselves to save admin time.

We can, in fact I suggested the same thing in the past. But other people made a good point that the time is only on the screen for a few seconds. So there’s every chance that not everyone will remember to make a note of their time if they’re hunched over their bars. Even if a couple of people forget it messes up the results. So in that sense it’s a bit flawed.

Not to over emphasis the point I hope but basically the only way of recording the time for the entire distance of race and to guarantee you gather accurate times is to use an official race.

 

[Joffey]

Hi All,

I've had a first stab at Handicaps for 2 laps of Tick Tock

I've done them as follows:

1. Based them on the 1 lap PBs of everyone on Strava - 3 people have no times.

2. Doubled the times as a guide.

3. Grouped people into 5 group of 5 on what I think is current form. I've included Juha to see if we can tempt him to ride and set a time! I've left in Carl before he disappears down a video black hole. I've taken out Dean as he's not been here for some time. I've left in Paul T in case he fancies a go!

4. Taken what I think is the most realistic time in each group

5. Buggered about with the timings and then decided that as the first race is to create individual handicaps, I'll stop trying to be too clever and just set every group off at 2 minute intervals!

All groups go off at the allocated handicap time, so we should get 5 micro races within each group, a few battles between groups and an overall race in the first event. Everyone to ride TT bikes to stop drafting and to get as accurate a handicap system as we can for event 2.

Let me know what you think!

View attachment 532769

I like this @Del C