Zwift Chat

[ColinJ]

[Sorry for wittering on so much like this - I am trying to distract myself from how long I have to wait for my Victory to get here!]

My HRM monitor arrived this afternoon. It is a Christmas present but I got special dispensation to ignore that and open the parcel today! Obviously, I gave it a quick test...

It turns out that my bradycardia isn't as pronounced as it was when I was young and fit, when my RHR could fall to the low 30s, but even now it is 48 bpm when relaxing on my sofa. I reckon that might drop another few beats if I stretched out, cleared my mind, and breathed deeply and slowly. I am going to wear the HRM when riding up a few steep local hills to see how fast my heart beats then. I used to get it to the high 190s but I guess that would be more like 160-70 bpm now.

My preparations-for-Zwift spending spree continues...

The rocker feet 3D-printer guy offered me a 7% discount so I pre-ordered a set to be printed for me in early January. I'll need to buy 8 tennis balls as well.

I think that I will wait until I have done some Zwift rides to see if I need a better fan. The one I have was okay for my previous moderate turbo efforts but will probably not cope with any serious Zwift sessions.

I watched the TV fettling video again. I still feel a bit nervous about manhandling the big LCD display panel. The backlight strips replacement is pretty straightforward once the unit has been disassembled to get at them, but doing that without trashing the panel is the issue!

 

[Whorty]

[Sorry for wittering on so much like this - I am trying to distract myself from how long I have to wait for my Victory to get here!]

My HRM monitor arrived this afternoon. It is a Christmas present but I got special dispensation to ignore that and open the parcel today! Obviously, I gave it a quick test...

It turns out that my bradycardia isn't as pronounced as it was when I was young and fit, when my RHR could fall to the low 30s, but even now it is 48 bpm when relaxing on my sofa. I reckon that might drop another few beats if I stretched out, cleared my mind, and breathed deeply and slowly. I am going to wear the HRM when riding up a few steep local hills to see how fast my heart beats then. I used to get it to the high 190s but I guess that would be more like 160-70 bpm now.

I think that I will wait until I have done some Zwift rides to see if I need a better fan. The one I have was okay for my previous moderate turbo efforts but will probably not cope with any serious Zwift sessions.

Re HRM, my resting is about 60 (sometimes a bit lower). For Z2/Z3 riding on Zwift it goes up to about 130-140. In races my HR will average in the 150s and peak at 180 if there is a sprint (my sprint is ok at 10 w/kg). When I was fitter 2 years ago my resting HR was a smidge lower and my peak could hit 190 with a peak in 2022 during a CE B race of 199 At 54 years young, I was quite impressed with that


Re fans, what you need will depend on so many factors - how hard you ride, where you ride, how hot you get personally. I've only ever had a single basic fan and that works fine for me. Others have 34 colossal fans with the power of a jet engine! In fact, on Z2 rides I don't even turn the fan on so I can get a bit of heat training (I just need to be careful of my asthma when I do this as no fan can sometimes trigger my breathing).

Try not to overthink the setup, remember to enjoy the riding once you get going. You'll almost certainly tweak things as you go to get it right for you as it won't be 'perfect' first off.

 

[steverob]

Not sure I’ll be racing tonight. Gone down with the same cough my wife has had for the last three weeks that I’d hoped I’d avoided. Even if I do ride it’ll be a Zone 2 effort to get the badge that’ll see me trail round at the back. Cue all the jokes about no-one noticing the difference between that and my normal racing style!

 

[Whorty]

Not sure I’ll be racing tonight. Gone down with the same cough my wife has had for the last three weeks that I’d hoped I’d avoided. Even if I do ride it’ll be a Zone 2 effort to get the badge that’ll see me trail round at the back. Cue all the jokes about no-one noticing the difference between that and my normal racing style!

Hope you feel better soon I'll not be there either as did a 90 mins spin this morning and may be asleep by 5 o'clock

 

[CXRAndy]

Hope you feel better soon I'll not be there either as did a 90 mins spin this morning and may be asleep by 5 o'clock

I was up at 4.30 this morning

I maybe in bed at 5pm 😜

 

[Whorty]

I was up at 4.30 this morning

I maybe in bed at 5pm 😜

My alarm went off at 7, chilled a bit, radio, chatted to gf ... didn't catually get my @rse on the bike until nearly 10 o'clock

Once I start work again in the new year I'm going to have to get my routine sorted and be a little bit more disciplined. Still won't be up at 4.30 though

 

[CXRAndy]

Cheers Martin

 

[alex_cycles]

Not sure I’ll be racing tonight. Gone down with the same cough my wife has had for the last three weeks that I’d hoped I’d avoided. Even if I do ride it’ll be a Zone 2 effort to get the badge that’ll see me trail round at the back. Cue all the jokes about no-one noticing the difference between that and my normal racing style!

It's that time of year. We had a low turnout this morning. Just three of us.
Two regulars myself and Alex Silva (from Brazil). And another guy Flopera - who won 2 weeks ago but we'd never seen him before that. So a repeat customer.

We stayed together up the first climb and to the Clyde Kicker where I figured let's crank it up a bit. Flopera took the bait and started giving me a nice leadout, but forgot to stop and was never seen again

That left Alex Silva and myself to contest the rest of the race. Interesting dilemma for him. He has better long power than me and I have more explosive short power. We weigh almost the same at 67 & 68kg. So in theory his best tactic would be to get away and "out-TT" me OR to push hard and tire me out so I had nothing left to smash the final climb.

In the end though I attacked a couple of times but he was holding on, so I just drafted him, saving energy for the final smashy smashy.
We got the to the final Sgurr South climb and I lit the afterburners on the steep section, getting a 5s lead very quickly. Then i just held on as best I could to maintain the lead.

My plan A was to get away with Flopera, hold on and get a gap, but I couldn't catch him after the Clyde Kicker

The other Alex was in a difficult position, really. Not much else he could have done apart from maybe push really hard on the drag up to the final climb in the hope of damaging my finish power. He can destroy me on a long climb, but none of these were long enough for him.


View: https://www.youtube.com/live/jr-JFSTksI8?si=vTeX9LkBcw2EqCcB&t=453

 

[13 rider]

It's that time of year. We had a low turnout this morning. Just three of us.
Two regulars myself and Alex Silva (from Brazil). And another guy Flopera - who won 2 weeks ago but we'd never seen him before that. So a repeat customer.

We stayed together up the first climb and to the Clyde Kicker where I figured let's crank it up a bit. Flopera took the bait and started giving me a nice leadout, but forgot to stop and was never seen again

That left Alex Silva and myself to contest the rest of the race. Interesting dilemma for him. He has better long power than me and I have more explosive short power. We weigh almost the same at 67 & 68kg. So in theory his best tactic would be to get away and "out-TT" me OR to push hard and tire me out so I had nothing left to smash the final climb.

In the end though I attacked a couple of times but he was holding on, so I just drafted him, saving energy for the final smashy smashy.
We got the to the final Sgurr South climb and I lit the afterburners on the steep section, getting a 5s lead very quickly. Then i just held on as best I could to maintain the lead.

My plan A was to get away with Flopera, hold on and get a gap, but I couldn't catch him after the Clyde Kicker

The other Alex was in a difficult position, really. Not much else he could have done apart from maybe push really hard on the drag up to the final climb in the hope of damaging my finish power. He can destroy me on a long climb, but none of these were long enough for him.


View: https://www.youtube.com/live/jr-JFSTksI8?si=vTeX9LkBcw2EqCcB&t=453

Watched your vid ,I thought the other Alex must be really confident in his climbing as he did loads of work just towing you round ,having watched the results I was surprised he didn't force you to the front more

 

[ColinJ]

I must start watching some of these videos, but I have lots to do over the next couple of weeks so I may wait until the New Year.

I have watched a few Zwift reviews though showing exhausted riders sweating buckets. I decided that a sweatproof mat would be a good idea for me and I was going to order one, but then I remembered buying a suitable mat years ago for the floor exercises that I somehow never got round to doing!

I hunted around and found it rolled up under the bed in the spare bedroom. It will be perfect for the job.

 

[alex_cycles]

Watched your vid ,I thought the other Alex must be really confident in his climbing as he did loads of work just towing you round ,having watched the results I was surprised he didn't force you to the front more

He was stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea, I think. It would have been very hard for him to get away from me since I've got a better punch. But maybe he could have pushed a bit harder before the long drag up to the finish?

My job once I knew I wasn't getting away was "DO NO WORK" Save it all for that killer blow on the steep section. I was almost tempted to go on Brae 3 or 4, but apart from a little fun over the top on Brae 4, I mostly sat in.

If I'd have been him, I probably would have slowed down a bit to try and get off the front. But we did actually work quite hard anyway.

 

[Venod]

when I was young and fit, when my RHR could fall to the low 30s, but even now it is 48 bpm when relaxing on my sofa. I reckon that might drop another few beats if I stretched out, cleared my mind, and breathed deeply and slowly. I am going to wear the HRM when riding up a few steep local hills to see how fast my heart beats then. I used to get it to the high 190s but I guess that would be more like 160-70 bpm n

When I had the camera up my bum (in the hospital I might add) my heart rate dropped to the low 30s there were a few worried looking nurses round the bed, when relaxed and sleeping it it's usually in the high 40s I rarely get it over 160 nowadays, I did a MAPP yesterday it was a new course and they also tagged a Portal Climb on the end. Although it says new PR it's the first time up this climb.

I have replaced the light strips on a 42 inch LG TV and like you was a bit nervous about it, I followed the You Tube video and all went well, I put the TV face down on the kitchen table, you need plenty of space to place things as you remove them, I got the new strips from China, there are lots of different ones, so if you haven't got your replacements yet beware.

 

[ColinJ]

When I had the camera up my bum (in the hospital I might add) my heart rate dropped to the low 30s there were a few worried looking nursed round the bed, when relaxed and sleeping it it's usually in the high 40s I rarely get it over 160 nowadays

I'm glad that you explained that bit!

I have replaced the light strips on a 42 inch LG TV and like you was a bit nervous about it, I followed the You Tube video and all went well, I put the TV face down on the kitchen table, you need plenty of space to place things as you remove them,

I was going to do it on my bed but then I thought that I might not finish it before bedtime so I think I will do it on the spare bed in the attic room.

I got the new strips from China, there are lots of different ones, so if you haven't got your replacements yet beware.

I bought some on ebay. I'm sure that they will have come from China originally! The company had a good rating and seemed to do a lot of business so hopefully all will be well.

 

[CXRAndy]

I must start watching some of these videos, but I have lots to do over the next couple of weeks so I may wait until the New Year.

I have watched a few Zwift reviews though showing exhausted riders sweating buckets. I decided that a sweatproof mat would be a good idea for me and I was going to order one, but then I remembered buying a suitable mat years ago for the floor exercises that I somehow never got round to doing!

I hunted around and found it rolled up under the bed in the spare bedroom. It will be perfect for the job.

We can send you loads, a bit like a reading list for Xmas 😁

 

[ColinJ]

We can send you loads, a bit like a reading list for Xmas 😁

How about one of each type? A flattish race ending in a sprint, an undulating one where riders are getting dropped, a very hilly selective one... Maybe a time trial, a group social ride, and so on...

I was looking at some numbers and they were suggesting that I might be able to beat 1 hr 30 mins for AdZ but I would be very surprised (and delighted!) if I could.

I reckon that long hill climbs might be my favourite type of Zwift ride but we will have to see. I always had a thing about timing myself up the local Cragg Vale climb. That is a long continuous climb for the UK - just over 8 km. It averages about 3.4%, but with a ramp at around 9-10% in the middle. What makes it frustrating is that wind is almost always a big factor. Usually that is not at all helpful, but on the one day that you think you are going really well you stop at the top and discover that you'd had a gentle tailwind all the way up! Zwift would remove the wind factor and make progress (or lack of it!) obvious.