Zwift Chat

[Whorty]

Stage 2 finished

Optimistically was 2nd coming up to the first mega steep climb which tore the field apart until gradually a peloton formed sweeping up lone riders which was great, although i lost it on the 2nd mega steep climb and then crawled over the line. tour de zwift finished! (although i can imagine if it is tight, and i think it is, I may end up redoing stage 3). Time for a bit of gardening then a lot of rugby and even more wine.

4 seconds slower than my time ... now that is close

 

[peterob]

Pete, great position result with a Bronze

Thanks Andy . Bronze in the 'race' but only 4th amongst Cyclechatters for stage 4

I think that illustrates the importance of getting into a good group (and having a large field), as despite being in the front group all the way and finishing 4th on the road, I was easily in my comfort zone (my av HR was 20bpm lower than my other TdZ stages) and felt I could have gone quicker if pushed.

It was my favourite race ridden on Zwift though - 2 guys escaped about 5km from the foot of the climb but the pack kept them within 15 secs. WIth 1km to go they were 10 secs ahead and I jumpped from the pack (dragging two guys with me) trying to bridge to the leaders but the closest I got was 4 secs. One of the riders who came with me beat me to the line (I thought the finish was on the flat and not at the top of the climb).

Couple of lessons learnt....
1) Know where the finish line is
2) When mixing your drinks pre-ride, don't put protein recovery powder in the water and energy powder in the milk

I'll update the spreadsheet now as there have been a lot of rides today.

 

[peterob]

Spreadsheet update....

 

[Whorty]

Great time @Whorty - a fair bit quicker than your original time. With a smaller pack that's mightily impressive

A few catchup rides already done this morning. I'll update the sheet after my ride (stage 4 at 11:15).

I expected to make some time on this as I rode it the first time with the chest infection, but wasn't sure how less riders would impact me. I was lucky enough to have enough riders around me to allow me to grab a group for most of the ride (not race!). The only time I found myself on my own was the 4th time up the jungle - that was a hard slog. I crested that and caught 2 other riders but I went over the top of them on the bridge and they couldn't stay with me on the descent. I worked hard to grab wheels of 2 riders about 10 secs in front on the descent which I did which probably helped a bit.

Felt really strong today

 

[bobinski]

Well done Carl and Pete in particular ( oh and Adam- don’t want him to feel left out )
It looks like the Tour and competition amongst friends has had huge benefits for all.

 

[Norry1]

Looking to do stage 5 at 3.20 today.

On holiday in Cornwall and just done a 6 mile cliff walk, so may be a bit tired

 

[Nebulous]

I'm back on my weekend dumb turbo today on zp - did stage 1 in 1:12:53. I'm slightly cynical about that as it would see my FTP up over 10 watts. Then again - I've done 5 sessions a week since mid-November, felt tired at the beginning of the week after stage 9 so I've taken 3 rest days this week. I also had the highest average heart-rate I've had for any of the stages, so it is possible I've had some improvement.

 

[Aleman]

That was stage 4 and the TdZ completed for me 1:03:20 for stage 4, which was pretty good, was riding well within myself (I felt) for the three flat laps, and knocked 30 seconds of my Volcano PB ... If I'd done it at the correct time, I'm fairly confident I would have been faster

 

[bridgy]

Looking to do stage 5 at 3.20 today.

On holiday in Cornwall and just done a 6 mile cliff walk, so may be a bit tired

Similar here - I've just done a long walk up on the Mendips with my wife I tried to explain that Olympic track cyclists are banned from doing such things during competition but she strangely doesn't think me doing the TDZ is equivalent

Nice views though

 

[Brusgaard]

As you can see, my time didn't improve on stage 8 today.

I joined the race late (not too) as always and was placed at the back. When the race, sorry ride, started I got caught in the pack for the first 400-500m or so, and they seemed to want to ride instead of race. Burnt quite a lot of matches and a powerup then bridging the gap to the group of 8 racers in the front, only to have them drop me on that little 5-6% "climb" from Parliament St. to Abingdon St.

Got caught by the next group some minutes later, which I rode with until some way up Box Hill, before I was dropped again! Finished Box Hill in 8:32, which I think was better than Wednesdays best time. Worked hard to catch up on the downhill, but wasn't really worth the effort as the groups in front seemed pretty scattered after BH.

Hit the climb up BH 2nd time with a couple of guys which dropped me pretty quickly. But still managed to reach the top only around 5-10 seconds later than my Wednesday finish time, though the 2nd time up was around 50 seconds slower than the 1st. On the climb I was overtaken by one of your fellow countrymen, but I was able to catch him just after the top, and the two of us rode more or less together until the foot of BH again. Even though we are the same weight, and he's C cat on ZP, he beat me by almost 1 minute that 3rd time up BH.

Got overtaken by 3 others going up as well, and 3rd time up was another 10-15 seconds slower than my lap 2 time. The only consolation was, that they were a bit lighter than me. Well one of them quite a bit, 25 kg to be exact.

Had planned to do another make up ride tomorrow. But looking at the spreadsheet, I can't pinpoint a stage where it would be beneficial for the overall ranking. Paul (& son) are the closest, but most stages we are within 1-3 minutes, except stage 1 and 4. I don't think I can do those two much, if any, faster with the low number of participants in the re-runs! Will have to see if he improves his times considerably before making a decision! ​

 

[JuhaL]

Mission Tour of Zwift accomplished, stage-3 was 1:04:54.

 

[Randyberlin]

Similar here - I've just done a long walk up on the Mendips with my wife I tried to explain that Olympic track cyclists are banned from doing such things during competition but she strangely doesn't think me doing the TDZ is equivalent

Nice views though
View attachment 450271

Did you explain you're in second place only 40 seconds from gold?

 

[Whorty]

That was stage 4 and the TdZ completed for me 1:03:20 for stage 4, which was pretty good, was riding well within myself (I felt) for the three flat laps, and knocked 30 seconds of my Volcano PB ... If I'd done it at the correct time, I'm fairly confident I would have been faster

4 seconds faster than me!!!! It's getting silly how close some of the times are between us today Well done @Aleman

I was thinking about re-doing stage 4 tomorrow at some time. Wasn't expecting to better my previous time as legs will be a bit tired. Not sure though, will see how I feel tomorrow

 

[Brusgaard]

Did you explain you're in second place only 40 seconds from gold?

Well, even taking it easy, a decent ride on stage 2 will have him win overall easily. But if Pete takes a stab at stage 6 again, things might change.

 

[bridgy]

Did you explain you're in second place only 40 seconds from gold?

My arguments fell on deaf ears Randy!

Relaxing now and watching a bit of rugby - although it's Ireland v England and all these Guinness adverts are really making me crave a beer! If I can resist I will have a go at the stage I missed later.

Need to keep an eye on what Lee's up to with the catch up rides as well though...