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I’d sooner buy one of these for £35 Bob:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/hf-45b-18-industrial-floor-fan-220-240v/754HY

It shifts 9x more air, uses about 25% less power, and costs a third of the price. Angle is still adjustable but no remote control. Could add a smart plug for about £10 to get remote on/off though.

For £100 I’d want something closer to the kickr headwind which is a bit smarter e.g reading heart rate via ANT+ and dynamically adjusting fan speed in response
 

steverob

Guru
Location
Buckinghamshire
Also I'm confirming tonight with a test where the spawn point is for meet-ups on that course. Will report back as soon as I know.
On the test meetup, I was started on the Spur Road between Birdcage Walk and Buckingham Palace (for those that know their London geography), which was 1.22 miles from the proper start line on The Mall (e.g. you still have to ride up and down Constitution Hill first before reaching the line).

Strangely, the default distance that the meetup set for one lap was 15.3 miles - considering the lap itself is 14.65 miles, this would have meant (if I'd actually completed a full lap, which I didn't) I'd have seen the blue finish banner about one third of the way down Constitution Hill after the U-turn. This means when the meetup is set up, it may be best to add a mile or two to the suggested distance and treat the sprint banner as the proper finish.

However, the more important news is what this means for any handicap. Based on Tuesday night's finishing times and assuming that this new shorter lead-in will be done at roughly the same pace as Tuesday's lead-in, I have the estimated finishing times as follows:
CCC - 40:58
#68 - 36:26
#23 - 35:36
(if 68 and 23 are short on numbers and merge to form a superteam, I suggest we give them an averaged time of 36:01)
 

bobinski

Legendary Member
Location
Tulse Hill
I’d sooner buy one of these for £35 Bob:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/hf-45b-18-industrial-floor-fan-220-240v/754HY

It shifts 9x more air, uses about 25% less power, and costs a third of the price. Angle is still adjustable but no remote control. Could add a smart plug for about £10 to get remote on/off though.

For £100 I’d want something closer to the kickr headwind which is a bit smarter e.g reading heart rate via ANT+ and dynamically adjusting fan speed in response

I have one of those but no longer use it. Love my Kickr wind but my god was it a lot of money. Still, pretty quiet for what it does.
 

Joffey

Big Dosser
Location
Yorkshire
Few sandbaggers in the IRL Cat C race tonight (7 in the front group of 13 finishers) but I don't think it spoiled the race.

It started off pretty frantic and didn't really settle down until after the Aquaduct. I think it's because we had a group of about 35, anyway, that soon split on the KOM and we rolled into the finish with 13 in the group.

I managed 6th on the Zwift, 2nd on ZP and 2nd up the KOM.. which translated to a race win for me on points! 🏆 That's my first 1st outside of a TT since upgrading to C. In all fairness that's my first race proper outside of ZRL so buzzing is an understatement.

It seems I have a couple of rivals early on - Keith & Greg. One of them claims to be a bodybuilder. His photo looks a bit suspect though...

577213


Poor bugger, if only he knew he was racing against a northern man-bear with saggy tits :laugh:

I see @steverob is sat in 2nd spot in the league in D - well done that man!!! And also by the sounds of it @BurningLegs and @mjd1988 both did well in B - well done lads!

@LeetleGreyCells raced in C tonight and I saw him off the front at the start but then I'm not sure what happened as I couldn't see him in my group.

It looks like a good series so I hope we see a few more CC'ers over the coming weeks racing alongside us!
 
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Whorty

Gets free watts from the Atom ;)
Location
Wiltshire
Few sandbaggers in the IRL Cat C race tonight (7 in the front group of 13 finishers) but I don't think it spoiled the race.

It started off pretty frantic and didn't really settle down until after the Aquaduct. I think it's because we had a group of about 35, anyway, that soon split on the KOM and we rolled into the finish with a13 in the group.

I managed 6th on the Zwift, 2nd on ZP and 2nd up the KOM.. which translated to a race win for me on points! 🏆 That's my first 1st outside of a TT since upgrading to C. In all fairness that's my first race proper outside of ZRL so buzzing is an understatement.

It seems I have a couple of rivals early on - Keith & Greg. One of them claims to be a bodybuilder. His photo looks a bit suspect though...

View attachment 577213

Poor bugger, if only he knew he was racing against a northern man-bear with saggy tits :laugh:

I see @steverob is sat in 2nd spot in the league in D - well done that man!!! And also by the sounds of it @BurningLegs and @mjd1988 both did well in B - well done lads!

@LeetleGreyCells raced in C tonight and I saw him off the front at the start but then I'm not sure what happened as I couldn't see him in my group. It looks like a good series so I hope we see a few more CC'ers over the coming weeks racing alongside us!
Great race @Joffey :notworthy: I seem to remember that bodybuilder chap racing in the IRL league previously, but as I recall he didn't do all the races. Hopefully I can make a few of these races but how many will depend on my house move which is likely to be some time in April.
 

steverob

Guru
Location
Buckinghamshire
I see @steverob is sat in 2nd spot in the league in D - well done that man!!! And also by the sounds of it @BurningLegs and @mjd1988 both did well in B - well done lads!

@LeetleGreyCells raced in C tonight and I saw him off the front at the start but then I'm not sure what happened as I couldn't see him in my group. It looks like a good series so I hope we see a few more CC'ers over the coming weeks racing alongside us!
Yeah, a very enjoyable race and a potentially good series on the cards, although it was plagued with the all too familiar problems with racing in D that I'd forgotten about! More than half the riders not on ZwiftPower and of the rest that are, it included a handful of C's taking it easy and even one B who seemed to be using it as a training exercise to see how long they could stay away at the front solo. Just got to remember next week to tune in the ZP's Live view so I know exactly who it is I'm racing and who's just there to make up the numbers (completely forgot this week).

Start wasn't too hectic - still had to push fairly hard, but considering in C I had to do a full on sprint to even get in the third group on the road, it was a pleasant shock to system to see my heart rate at 165 instead of 180 and still be near the front. Even managed to spot a split happening in the lead group early on and (just) made the jump across before the gap developed. Had two brief internet drop-outs around the Ballon Sprint which meant I was briefly off the back when it returned, but thankfully was able to up the power to get back in the draft.

12 made it in the lead group to the Aqueduc (although I now know that only 5 of them on ZP) and I surprised myself by managing to the cross the line first (well second, but we're ignoring the B off the front). Maybe not the most competitive sprint ever, but given my usual weaknesses uphill, I'll take it. That surge dropped a further three riders from the group, leaving 9 plus the B we'd now caught (but only 3 on ZP).

The group pretty much stayed together for the flatter section and it was clear that everyone was now waiting for the final sprint. It started a bit further out than I'd anticipated and having a feather power-up instead of an aero like some of my rivals had, I decided to go for the 'hold fairly high watts for as long as I could' tactic and hope that I could reel in those who'd gone for the 'massive watts early that they won't be able to hold all the way to the line' tactic. And it almost worked - picked off one or two riders and held off some others chasing, but wasn't quite able to overtake the guy who won on ZP (finished 3rd), although just 1-2 seconds more and I would have had him as he was slowing massively. Came across the line 5th, ZP gave me 2nd. 2nd overall on points as well as the winner got second behind me up the Aqueduc, plus beat me on fastest prime time (3rd v 5th).

Obligatory video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o-hAG9XIvw
 
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LeetleGreyCells

Un rouleur infatigable
I had a difficult time in last night’s race. From an excellent, fast start to struggling to hold a wheel, it was hard work. Nearly every group I tried to stay with spat me out the back after a few seconds. All in the first 5 minutes. In the end, I managed to stay with a group of four others and got 62nd place in game and 41st on ZP. Not my best performance by a long shot.

I don’t think they had the new pack dynamics on for the race either. The number of times my avatar passed through another was crazy.
 

Joffey

Big Dosser
Location
Yorkshire
I had a difficult time in last night’s race. From an excellent, fast start to struggling to hold a wheel, it was hard work. Nearly every group I tried to stay with spat me out the back after a few seconds. All in the first 5 minutes. In the end, I managed to stay with a group of four others and got 62nd place in game and 41st on ZP. Not my best performance by a long shot.

I don’t think they had the new pack dynamics on for the race either. The number of times my avatar passed through another was crazy.

You were there with me one minute and then I couldn't see you on the Companion App map the next - I thought the app was playing up.

Looking back at ZP it was a fast race - the group I was in kept pushing to the KOM.
 

<Tommy>

Illegitimi non carborundum
Location
Camden, London
On the test meetup, I was started on the Spur Road between Birdcage Walk and Buckingham Palace (for those that know their London geography), which was 1.22 miles from the proper start line on The Mall (e.g. you still have to ride up and down Constitution Hill first before reaching the line).

Strangely, the default distance that the meetup set for one lap was 15.3 miles - considering the lap itself is 14.65 miles, this would have meant (if I'd actually completed a full lap, which I didn't) I'd have seen the blue finish banner about one third of the way down Constitution Hill after the U-turn. This means when the meetup is set up, it may be best to add a mile or two to the suggested distance and treat the sprint banner as the proper finish.

However, the more important news is what this means for any handicap. Based on Tuesday night's finishing times and assuming that this new shorter lead-in will be done at roughly the same pace as Tuesday's lead-in, I have the estimated finishing times as follows:
CCC - 40:58
#68 - 36:26
#23 - 35:36
(if 68 and 23 are short on numbers and merge to form a superteam, I suggest we give them an averaged time of 36:01)

Five and a half minutes over 15 miles on a flat course seems like a brutal target to me but 🤷‍♂️. It’s only fun I guess.
 

<Tommy>

Illegitimi non carborundum
Location
Camden, London
I had a difficult time in last night’s race. From an excellent, fast start to struggling to hold a wheel, it was hard work. Nearly every group I tried to stay with spat me out the back after a few seconds. All in the first 5 minutes. In the end, I managed to stay with a group of four others and got 62nd place in game and 41st on ZP. Not my best performance by a long shot.

I don’t think they had the new pack dynamics on for the race either. The number of times my avatar passed through another was crazy.

Well done for finishing 👍. I feel like races like that are as much a test of character as anything else
 

Legs

usually riding on Zwift...
Location
Staffordshire
I did a Road to Ruins race this morning, trying the bike change tactic. I fluffed the first change a bit because I didn’t trust my 7yo to press the right keys, so I dismounted and did the change while straddling the top tube. The MTB is much quicker even than Tron bikes in the jungle, but there was a group ahead who were working well together. Although I’d caught them by the time we got back to the hardtop and I nailed the second change, it was one against three and I had no chance of recatching them. Fourth on the road, second on ZwiftPower; a fun little Saturday morning escapade!
 

Joffey

Big Dosser
Location
Yorkshire
Just for anyone racing the RWB league this page/companion app has details of what the primes are for each race, seems to be just one each time

https://www.zwift.com/events/view/1837006?__znl=en-gb

View attachment 577271



Maybe everyone already knew which primes were which but sometimes I find it hard to find!

@BurningLegs
@Joffey
@Whorty
@steverob
@LeetleGreyCells

I spotted that - not sure many were aware as not many people sprinted for the KOM - or maybe they were just on the limit... either way a good spot Michael :okay:
 
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