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bobinski

Legendary Member
Location
Tulse Hill
Super well done to Al and Joffey👏👏
 

mjd1988

Guru
Next week...pump Room 8 :eek:

534555


At least there is a sprint near the start!
 

bobinski

Legendary Member
Location
Tulse Hill
I found the start really tough tonight. I was on the trainer with around 10mins to go bu pt my warm up was more just about tapping the pedals than anything above 1 or 2 wkg. I paid for it in the first few kms as the legs felt on fire but the power wasn’t there. I was even thinking there was a problem with the power readout as I felt I was pushing hard but it wasn’t helping me. Thankfully the pack settled down and i started feeling better in time for the lead in sprint. Managed 3rd on it. i was 90% sure I had the sprint primes right in terms of which laps to go so I sat back on lap 1 despite others going for it, I sat back so much I was under P as i found myself near the back and I was worried I was gonna get caught the wrong side of a split. I won the lap 2 prime, and 2nd on lap 3. Time for recovery for the finale but the sprint opened up much earlier than I anticipated so it meant chasing too big a spread of riders. I was gaining places but ran out of tarmac, Got 7th in the end. I see ive been given the 🏆 but that was based on points won rather than winning the race...but I’ll take it and move on 😀

we should try to use discord next week as although i could see most of you other Bs In the race i wasn’t sure how everyone was doing...apart from bob who I could see whittering away in the distance :laugh:

😁
Well, we weren’t fast enough if I could type! I blame Del👍
 

Whorty

Gets free watts from the Atom ;)
Location
Wiltshire
Flip. There was no let up there was there.

Well done @Joffey and @IrishAl on the wins! Some great rides throughout, @BurningLegs transitioning well to a and @Whorty putting out b numbers on tired legs. @bobinski taking over Nick's sledging duties as well!

Pleased enough with that, sprint mistake aside! Got 3 points from one of the other sprints and contested the first 3. Really mistimed the first, wasted power up and then just drifted to the front too soon. Live and learn.

The last two laps were complete pain the whole time as I was constantly getting spat out the back on the flat. Had to sprint to latch onto the group several times so had nothing for the last sprint. Looking at the strength of the field getting in the top 20 would have been very difficult so in retrospect maybe would have targeted the sprints even more as there would have been no difference finishing 30th or 60th, but really happy with the workout.

downside is that that was the flat course :eek:
Your transition to B has been stella :notworthy:

You're another rider I can say ..... "I remember when I used to ride with him" :laugh:
 

steverob

Guru
Location
Buckinghamshire
Fantastic result Joffey. Not often one rider dominates every sprint prime and the finish. Did your race stay intact most of the way or did anyone try any attacks?
Not knocking @Joffey's efforts tonight (I've seen him race - he's got one hell of a sprint; able to leave the rest of the field and me behind easily!) but from previous experience it can be a little bit easier to get a clean sweep of points in D.

Firstly the number of riders is usually fewer than in B and C, and the proportion of those on ZwiftPower is lower as well, meaning you have less people to mark and more who you can feel safe about ignoring / letting go. You might actually finish 4th, 2nd and 5th in the three sprints, but ZP has you at first every time because you were ahead of those who mattered.

But the main thing is there's a much higher amount of riders who will just join up for a one-off race at the last minute because they fancy it or it's at a convenient time, who aren't interested in joining for a whole series. This means they won't have bothered to check the rules about sprints or KOMs, so won't contest any of them, except the finish line one of course.

I saw this in my first ever DBR race - despite having terrible short-term power numbers (I'm a little better now, but not much!) I was still picking up some points at every sprint because out of the group of 12 riders at the front that I was hanging on to for dear life, just 4 would race for the sprint point at each lap. The three riders actually contesting it were the ones fighting for the league points, and then there was me usually placed somewhere in no-mans land between them and the main field, the rest of whom would simply roll through the line at their usual pace. We'd then all regroup on the other side of the sprint and roll round as a pack until for the next lap!
 

steverob

Guru
Location
Buckinghamshire
Next week...pump Room 8 :eek:

At least there is a sprint near the start!
And of course that map does NOT highlight the hardest climb on the course, because it's not an official KOM. Pot Bank reverse at 14mi / 22.5km distance - average 8%, max 18%!
 

Spartak

Powered by M&M's
Location
Bristolian
Just rode the LaGuardia Aero Army TT, second time I've ridden this short time trial around NY. Small field & managed a 4th place on ZP, legs still tired from the Team IRL event last night but shouldn't make excuses... 😉

That's it now til the BC TT on Thursday lunchtime.... 16km course on Greatest London Flat. ..
Anyone else fancy it...?
 
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Joffey

Big Dosser
Location
Yorkshire
Not knocking @Joffey's efforts tonight (I've seen him race - he's got one hell of a sprint; able to leave the rest of the field and me behind easily!) but from previous experience it can be a little bit easier to get a clean sweep of points in D.

Firstly the number of riders is usually fewer than in B and C, and the proportion of those on ZwiftPower is lower as well, meaning you have less people to mark and more who you can feel safe about ignoring / letting go. You might actually finish 4th, 2nd and 5th in the three sprints, but ZP has you at first every time because you were ahead of those who mattered.

But the main thing is there's a much higher amount of riders who will just join up for a one-off race at the last minute because they fancy it or it's at a convenient time, who aren't interested in joining for a whole series. This means they won't have bothered to check the rules about sprints or KOMs, so won't contest any of them, except the finish line one of course.

I saw this in my first ever DBR race - despite having terrible short-term power numbers (I'm a little better now, but not much!) I was still picking up some points at every sprint because out of the group of 12 riders at the front that I was hanging on to for dear life, just 4 would race for the sprint point at each lap. The three riders actually contesting it were the ones fighting for the league points, and then there was me usually placed somewhere in no-mans land between them and the main field, the rest of whom would simply roll through the line at their usual pace. We'd then all regroup on the other side of the sprint and roll round as a pack until for the next lap!

This is very true. When I first started racing in the DBR series I was giving 100% all the time but I soon wised up to the low numbers of ZP riders so you can really manage your efforts in Cat D.

These flat ones are ideal for me as you only need to sprint 4 or 5 times during the race and you'll hoover up the prime points. The rest of the time you can just sit in the lead group. Obviously that's easy for me to say as on the flat I'm up there in Cat D but it all changes on the hilly courses.

Racing in D seems more about marking 1 or 2 riders and making sure you finish above them. It's fun, but I suppose at some point I'll have to start entering Cat C races to try and improve as a rider as last night's race was won at probably 70% effort and that's not going to make me improve. But once that Cat changes on ZP to C there is no going back for 90 days :eek:
 

steverob

Guru
Location
Buckinghamshire
Racing in D seems more about marking 1 or 2 riders and making sure you finish above them. It's fun, but I suppose at some point I'll have to start entering Cat C races to try and improve as a rider as last night's race was won at probably 70% effort and that's not going to make me improve. But once that Cat changes on ZP to C there is no going back for 90 days :eek:
I did notice on ZP that you'd had another big weight drop (PS. well done on that - keep it up!), so it was perhaps lucky that last night's race was one you could manage your effort on - whereas a hilly race where you're having to push hard constantly is going to put you VERY close to moving over to C...

Sounds lovely - didn't you say you were racing this one? :whistle::laugh:
Yeah, just my luck that I miss out on the nice flat race and get signed up for the lumpy one instead!
 
Next week...pump Room 8 :eek:

View attachment 534555

At least there is a sprint near the start!

The primes are:
  • Yorkshire Sprint Reverse
  • Yorkshire KOM Reverse (double points)
  • Finish (double points)
So on the first climb, I plan to just do enough to stay with a group on the way to the reverse KOM. If a couple get away I won't be too worried - especially if they appear to be racing for a prime that doesn't exist!

Doubt I will be able to compete at the finish so will treat the top of the reverse KOM as my finish line I think.
 
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