Zwift Chat

[Del C]

Thanks @CXRAndy and @Legs - I’ll have to try and build this into my workouts and races.

I’ve been playing around with cadence and position, but sometimes I probably overthink and forget to do the basic things like pushing hard on the pedals.

I laughed at the knot on cotton biceps. I always describe my upper body as an underdeveloped pipe cleaner!

 

[alex_cycles]

I've just agreed my 2024 Goals with my Coach and he's sketched out the high level Plan for me. I've attached it below as 1. It makes me more accountable and 2. I think some of you will find it of interest....

2024 Goals​

Process Goals – Most important ones!!



Jan-Feb training focus to be on base fitness with only a small amount of higher intensity work during these months. HI to come from Zwift races and some outdoor sessions. Also include some low cadence strength work both outdoors and indoors.

Mar-Apr block to start with focus on Lifting FTP (VO2Max sessions, then a block of miles in Calpe with some hill efforts while out there to continue VO2MAX building. During April include some more race specific work to achieve some race fitness for May. This period will also include some races but no goals or targets for these. Continue with low cadence work.

May period to include more race specific efforts aimed at achieving performance goals. Race as much as possible and ride “before” events if possible to increase training effect gained from races.

June – focus on BMCR RR Champs and riding “training” races to fine tune form for this event. After BMCR Crit champs big block of training to prep for RR Champs.

July – easier couple of weeks early in the month - mid season recovery period – then start to build again for remainder of the month. Might also include BC Champs TBC. Possible visit to Roy’s based around riding TLI Crit champs course at UCLAN (Preston)

August – first 2 weeks is a big block of training and the focus is TLI Crit and RR champs as they are only 1 week apart. Like June “training” races and fine tuning will be important. Possible visit to Roy’s based around riding TLI Crit champs course at UCLAN (Preston)

Continue year-round stretching and flexibility





Performance Goals



Achieve FTP of =>280W by end April – measure using 30 min test

5 min average power to be =>380w by end of April

30s min average power to be =>750w by end May (race finishes)

1 min average power to be =>600w by end of June (crossing gaps)

Maintain CTL of =>100 for the months of June and August



Outcome Goals



Maintain 69-70kg as competing weight April through to September

National Champs podium – road or crit

2 race wins during the year

Wow. Looks great, but also hard and busy. Highest CTL I've managed since I started recording this stuff is 82. You've set yourself a lot of hard work there. Good luck with it. I'm in the position now of trying to maintain and slightly tweak upwards a CTL of 58.
I had a frustrating 2023 with too many periods of time away from the bike (not under my control) and the generally poor outdoor weather robbed me of the significant volume I would normally get from club rides.

Of course I consoled myself with 146 races throughout the year instead But we all know too much racing doesn't really help your performance. Still fun though.

This was my annual review blog post https://cyclopathy.com/2023/12/31/2023-cycling-highlights/

 

[Del C]

Stage 3 done. It was horrible. Couldnt get out of the saddle on the vocano and ended up 1min 40 slower than my best time. Eek. Legs kind of ok still, NP of 233 so bang on 3w/k for the ride. Had a 3s lead over a chasing group 500m from the finish and they all out sprinted me The snapper x4 , where i have one of the slowest CC times, beckons tomorrow. As does the kom.

Strange course today.

Fairly flat with just the kicker out of the desert, and the niggly climbs out of the tunnel and up to the Italian village. Felt comfortable all the way, and then spat out the back in the sprint - hence my sprint questions earlier.

Because the Esses and Volcano KoM follow straight after, there’s no chance of getting back on. Found a new group, which stayed together until the end. I was ok on both climbs, but no more than that.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Zwift kicked me just as stage 1 of Tour of Zwift started, got back in and lost a 1km, luckily it still gave me the stage, also lucky I was doing the short route.

 

[Mo1959]

Zwift kicked me just as stage 1 of Tour of Zwift started, got back in and lost a 1km, luckily it still gave me the stage, also lucky I was doing the short route.

Just been Zwifting for 4 weeks and did the women’s 16.5 mile route. I was 4th from last. I thought there might have been a few just doing an easy pace but they set off at some rate so I just plodded on.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Just been Zwifting for 4 weeks and did the women’s 16.5 mile route. I was 4th from last. I thought there might have been a few just doing an easy pace but they set off at some rate so I just plodded on.

Lots of people treat them as races, ignore them.

If you want friendly easy rides then ride with PACK. You can find them on zwifthack events. If you click on the ride name it will tell you the pace they are going to ride at.

Valhalla also do very friendly rides, though their times can be a bit hit and miss.

Herd are another good group to ride with.

 

[Mo1959]

Lots of people treat them as races, ignore them.

If you want friendly easy rides then ride with PACK. You can find them on zwifthack events. If you click on the ride name it will tell you the pace they are going to ride at.

View attachment 717914

Valhalla also do very friendly rides, though their times can be a bit hit and miss.

Herd are another good group to ride with.

I’ve done a Herd one and an EZR one. They were both quite enjoyable.

 

[Legs]

5 min average power to be =>380w by end of April

If you’re free on a Sunday evening, I’d recommend one of the 3R LaGuardia Super Sprint races for trying to achieve this one - the total duration is just over 5 minutes, so you’ll generally get to include both the starting surge and the finishing effort in the 5 minutes that gets averaged. Of course, you need to sacrifice your race result for the sake of being a ‘bunch engine’!

 

[13 rider]

I’ve done a Herd one and an EZR one. They were both quite enjoyable.

Another vote for pack rides ,they got me into how drafting etc works on zwift

 

[alex_cycles]

If you’re free on a Sunday evening, I’d recommend one of the 3R LaGuardia Super Sprint races for trying to achieve this one - the total duration is just over 5 minutes, so you’ll generally get to include both the starting surge and the finishing effort in the 5 minutes that gets averaged. Of course, you need to sacrifice your race result for the sake of being a ‘bunch engine’!

When I first started Zwift racing they were my favourite race. But I think I did the Wednesday afternoon or Friday morning ones.

There's a 1-lapper of Glasgow Crit on Mondays at 1215 (Electric Spirit Preprandial Crit) that takes almost exactly 5 minutes as well.

 

[13 rider]

Stage 3 FRR done ,slipped down to 42nd tonight survived the sprint and that bloody uphill just after it to hang onto the front group until the volcano climb . Again just paced it at my pace and let people go only to pass them again,found my self on my own on the descent so cruised while a group caught me until the reverse KOM were the group just splintered again found myself alone a rider caught me and didn't seem to like me wheel sucking 😂 as he came past at 5/wgs anyway held him sat in for a bit . Took a turn on the front at which point he launched a sprint at 3.2km to go at 6.5w/kgs ,I let him go 👋 he took 35 secs out of me in that
distance ? .
Average watts 2.7w/kg

 

[mjd1988]

These are impressive numbers, especially for a crap sprinter like me.

My max power is about 860w in a training session, but I’m lucky to hit 600w in a race.

How do you do it? Is it mainly cadence, or leg strength? Or just a combination of the two, and if so how do they come together?

Is it possible to train to improve? I can ride for ages at a reasonable pace, which makes me a B cat, but I always struggle with my D cat sprint!

There's definitely some people genetically more suited to being sprinters but no doubt gym work can do a lot. Also bigger guys are always going to have an advantage in raw watt terms.
@Peter Salt is an example of someone whose sprint seems to have gotten better even proportionate to overall gains.

There is definitely techniques, some limited a bit to what type of trainer you are on, in terms of ability to pull on bars or even change gear - this forum post has a link to some videos https://forums.zwift.com/t/how-to-improve-sprint/606952

I took a look at a recent sprint to see what cadence did. Typically I'll be sprinting from around 3-400 metres unless someone goes super early. There's also a lot of importance in saving watts so you have a match left to burn. You can see from my watts a kind of biphasic peak, a really big sprint to get up to speed, then a very slight relax, usually if someone is right in front, then a second burst at the end. With the neobike I've found it easier to change gears under load so can change gears easily- although I was surprised my cadence was not as high as it maybe should be - most people would say to spin out at around 110 but everyone's different.

Not sure if these pictures will demonstrate what I mean as had to crop on phone. My average cadence is too low in general, I guess the increase is proportionate

 

[Venod]

I’ve done a Herd one and an EZR one. They were both quite enjoyable

Ascenders Brunch Bunch rides at 9:00 am on Mon, Wed and Fri are at a nice steady pace, very similar to pack rides.
Mon and Fri are 60 min, Wed 90 min.
I too had a bad start to TDZ, I was messing with Spotify and missed the start, it was the long course I made up about 100 places before the finish but it was hard work.

 

[CXRAndy]

Tomorrow's Friday Smash is Queen's Highway 2 laps at 1045 UTC
https://www.zwiftracing.app/zr-events/65841f72ea6e680018b846c0

Likely many will be back at work, but just in case anyone wants in

Hi Alex, the sign up boxes are greyed out, how do I sign up?

 

[alex_cycles]

Hi Alex, the sign up boxes are greyed out, how do I sign up?

Must be a ZR.app issue. I'll DM you the direct link

Phil @13 rider suggested making a ZP League for the month, which I have now figured out how to do.
https://zwiftpower.com/league.php?id=2075