Zwift Chat

[Joffey]

Great write up Martin - I enjoyed reliving that a bit more than actually doing it! And great predictions too!

Everyone did great last night - a few places we could have been a bit slicker and a few seconds lost at the start (yet another lesson learnt!) but on the whole it was great. And everyone certainly gave it everything. That has to be one of your highest average power figures for a race of that length right? You were so determined last night - as well ast the start you got slightly distanced a couple of other times I noticed and I thought it might be over for you but each time you fought back and were soon back up the front taking another hard turn

I'm really enjoying these TTTs with Team #23. It helps that we're all pretty similar riders in terms of our average wkg so it's a genuine team effort with shared workload - plus the added incentive of having a lead to protect in the league makes it more fun too!

Haven't seen any updates on how it went for Team #68 - how did it go for you guys?

We had a nightmare.

We were worried that we might not have 6 riders but @bobinski stepped in for @mjd1988 as he was struggling to leave the toilet

@JLaw had a nightmare with a tablet update and missed the event start but with 5 in the pen we thought we might be ok. As the flag went down @Ketty's Zwift froze leaving 4 riders.

As the team seems to be mainly Cat C at the moment we were soon getting caught by other teams but as always team spirit was high and we made the best of it and had a laugh on the way round, including some baiting of Zestria.

With 3 miles to go I disappeared off the screen with a connection issue and rode to the line on my own. At the end we scrambled around and saw that ZP has logged me finishing in so thankfully our time will count.

I think we overtook a German team at the end but I'm not sure.

Yorkshire next week, I'm not looking forward to it. I think there are only 2 events left now. It's been a lot of fun, but I'm glad it's coming to the end - it's wearing thin getting beat on every week in the next Cat up I need some Cat C races!

 

[bridgy]

Sorry, we've kind of kept the post-mortem within our own thread - it didn't go particularly well.

We were going in with a slightly weakened team anyway and then it didn't help that we lost two riders in the pens due to technicals (stuck on pairing screens and unscheduled updates) pushing us down to four riders, of which I was the slowest and so the others had to ride at my pace. Which would have been fine if I was able to perform at the level I know I should be able to, but I had an absolute shocker - watts all over the place and about 0.2w/kg down on typical power (0.3 down on my best).

And then in the last half mile we lost another rider due to internet problems, meaning we thought we might get DQ'd due to only three finishers - luckily it came back just as he was crossing the line and thankfully he appeared in the ZwiftPower results, so we did end up getting a time.

Amazingly we didn't finish last! I don't have access to the WTRL results page so can't confirm the full details, but we did catch a team that started a minute ahead of us - and by catch I mean finish bang slap in the middle of their team! I do have a video, but it ain't pretty - have shared it on our thread, but can post it here if there's demand.

We had a nightmare.

We were worried that we might not have 6 riders but @bobinski stepped in for @mjd1988 as he was struggling to leave the toilet

@JLaw had a nightmare with a tablet update and missed the event start but with 5 in the pen we thought we might be ok. As the flag went down @Ketty's Zwift froze leaving 4 riders.

As the team seems to be mainly Cat C at the moment we were soon getting caught by other teams but as always team spirit was high and we made the best of it and had a laugh on the way round, including some baiting of Zestria.

With 3 miles to go I disappeared off the screen with a connection issue and rode to the line on my own. At the end we scrambled around and saw that ZP has logged me finishing in so thankfully our time will count.

I think we overtook a German team at the end but I'm not sure.

Yorkshire next week, I'm not looking forward to it. I think there are only 2 events left now. It's been a lot of fun, but I'm glad it's coming to the end - it's wearing thin getting beat on every week in the next Cat up I need some Cat C races!

Oh dear, sorry to hear that! Underperforming physically is frustrating enough but when you can't even get going due to technical issues that's really annoying. We've had our fair share of thos kind of issues but thankfully so far its only tended to mean losing one rider.

@Joffey maybe there will be enough willing Cat C riders on here to enter a team in Cat C for next season where you can be a bit more competitive?

 

[Joffey]

Oh dear, sorry to hear that! Underperforming physically is frustrating enough but when you can't even get going due to technical issues that's really annoying. We've had our fair share of thos kind of issues but thankfully so far its only tended to mean losing one rider.

@Joffey maybe there will be enough willing Cat C riders on here to enter a team in Cat C for next season where you can be a bit more competitive?

Maybe, but then that means the B riders who the Cat C riders are supporting would then lose their team and their weekly ride. It's a tricky one - not enough for 2 B teams and not enough for a C team

I'm sure we'll revisit it after Christmas and see what everyone wants to do You never know we might all be in Cat D in January if we eat too much turkey

 

[straas]

Well done on the motivation - but rest and recovery is really, really important. Most of us have made the mistake of not resting enough and it comes back to bite us.

I agree turbos are spot on for most training sessions.

Possibly a bit over enthusiastic!

Felt much better today after a day off yesterday. Kickr lost connection with zwift again momentarily which then meant it wouldn't alter the power even when zwift said it should.

Had to stop pedalling to reset erg and also unplug the kickr for 30 secs, that seemed to cure it.

Really irritating now as it messes up the flow of the training.

 

[BurningLegs]

Have you tried any races on Zwift @straas ?

They're really good fun and an intense workout! I'd recommend setting up a profile on zwiftpower.com (where race results are processed) and trying a race or two 🙂

 

[straas]

I was going to wait until after the training program but might give it a go.

Do you sign up for them in advance?

 

[mjd1988]

I was going to wait until after the training program but might give it a go.

Do you sign up for them in advance?

You can sign up to races through the companion app, anytime up until they start.

Definitely worth checking this out, it tells you the ins and outs about the practical elements of signing up to zwiftpower etc but also strategy

https://zwiftinsider.com/how-to-race/

You don't have to be on zwiftpower to race mind you but longterm you should be. Races are crazy addictive but everyone takes a bit of a kicking until they get the hang on it

 

[bridgy]

You don't have to be on zwiftpower to race mind you but longterm you should be. Races are crazy addictive but everyone takes a bit of a kicking until they get the hang on it

Fixed that for you

 

[straas]

Just saw you need a heart rate monitor for most races?

I have an old garmin chest strap and a forerunner 235 - whats the easiest way to get connected?

I have a wahoo elemnt, but don't have an ANT+ dongle

 

[BurningLegs]

What Garmin chest strap have you got? Unless it really is very old then it will likely support bluetooth so can pair with Zwift that way.

I don't know much about the forerunner but a quick google suggests it's a watch? If it can read heart rate and pair with bluetooth then that should be fine too, but I think you normally get better/more accurate and reliable results with a chest strap.

 

[Brusgaard]

What Garmin chest strap have you got? Unless it really is very old then it will likely support bluetooth so can pair with Zwift that way.

The Garmin strap would need to be rather NEW. I believe most Garmin straps bundled with Edge/Forerunner released before 2019 will be ANT+ only. Buying an Edge 1030 today, I suspect it still comes with the old strap. The 1030 Plus I suppose have the Dual one.

 

[JuhaL]

Just saw you need a heart rate monitor for most races?

I have an old garmin chest strap and a forerunner 235 - whats the easiest way to get connected?

I have a wahoo elemnt, but don't have an ANT+ dongle

I have Wahoo Tickr X heart rate monitor, it support both bluetooth and ant+. Also cheaper Wahoo Tickr supports both Bluetooth and Ant+.

 

[Aleman]

I've just bought a pair of CooSpo Dual Ant+ and Bluetooth chest straps for less than the price of a single Wahoo Tickr or Garmin Ant only strap. A quick test this lunchtime showed no issues pairing with ANT+ and Zwift / Bkool / BigringVR ... It also paired with my galaxy note 2 over bluetooth to show HR in the Tacx App ... Which I sometimes use for a steady state session, controlling the trainer

 

[mjd1988]

Speaking of HRMs i think I've just jinxed my fenix 5 as it cut out the heart rate mid race for first time ever.

No freezing, or ant drop outs though and lag seems a lot better.

Didn't ride well either as still feel crap but glad I persevered and with any luck now that I've done a lap of ghosts in the machine it should all be fine for a while....I assume.

On the mend yet @<Tommy> ?

 

[BurningLegs]

Seems like one gremlin after another at the moment hey @mjd1988