Zwift Chat

[Breedon]

Results are
@Norry1 8th 58:59
Me 9th 59:00
@bobinski 13th 1:00:27
@JLaw 24th 1:07:57
@berty bassett upgraded to B Cat 1:02:56 3.25 w/kg

I'm really pleased with my results and my confidence is growing at my abilities to stay on the front pack.
There was a good pack with me and Norris a little high paced for the first lap but soon settled down to a nice quick ish but steady pace, did you notice who got the 2nd place for the sprint .

All working well on the 2nd to 3rd lap,but a group of us found our selfs detached from the front no body seemed to bothered but the gap was steadily growing so i made the decision to dig in and latch on, the rest of the group followed and towed them forward and we regrouped just after the start banner.
Still feeling ok, legs little like jelly but keeping up I had a feeling that attacks would take place on the final steep hill, we all rolled along to the hill and it soon broke down, me and Norris working together getting to the finish my legs are now really like jelly it was going to be sprint to the line which I knew I wouldn't win near the line I dug deep but Norris pulled head, I was also in the wrong gear.

Great ride well done every body

 

[CXRAndy]

Talking of cusp, I'm about to drop out of super heavyweight into heavyweight division. I need to be careful on holiday next week. Hotel has got a gym so spin each morning before breakfast.

The next stage is going to be tough.-middleweight. I will break into four parts to make the achievements reachable. I shall watch the power numbers and re assess if it begins to tail off

 

[Breedon]

That zwiftpower could get addictive!
It's recommending I upgrade too but 1 minute slower than Dean so doesn't seem right.
Those that raced did you all have gels etc? Need to get this worked out in advance.

I have 2 next to me but only use 1 half way round, I have some toast when I get in from work,not a heavy tea I have that after the race

 

[JLaw]

https://zwiftpower.com/race.php?id=9896

You're on the cusp between cat B and C. I don't think the race was hilly enough for your light weight to show benefits on shorter climbs

Looks like Bob got flagged for upgrading to B as well. Note that you can get 3 (I think) flags in a race before the bump up is automatic. So you can still ride C and as long as you're under the W/kg limits you'll be placed with C.

I didn't realize how much of a lightweight Berty was. He'd probably kill it on the the mountain-8 course or 3 sisters if anyone ever uses that for racing.

It was also explained to me somewhere that the W/kg limits are tested based on the 20M power -- which is something I do have to watch as sometimes I can approach the 3.2 W/kg limit over the first 20 minutes before popping badly. It can be some encouragement for a more metered effort.

 

[bobinski]

I

Results are
@Norry1 8th 58:59
Me 9th 59:00
@bobinski 13th 1:00:27
@JLaw 24th 1:07:57
@berty bassett upgraded to B Cat 1:02:56 3.25 w/kg

I'm really pleased with my results and my confidence is growing at my abilities to stay on the front pack.
There was a good pack with me and Norris a little high paced for the first lap but soon settled down to a nice quick ish but steady pace, did you notice who got the 2nd place for the sprint .

All working well on the 2nd to 3rd lap,but a group of us found our selfs detached from the front no body seemed to bothered but the gap was steadily growing so i made the decision to dig in and latch on, the rest of the group followed and towed them forward and we regrouped just after the start banner.
Still feeling ok, legs little like jelly but keeping up I had a feeling that attacks would take place on the final steep hill, we all rolled along to the hill and it soon broke down, me and Norris working together getting to the finish my legs are now really like jelly it was going to be sprint to the line which I knew I wouldn't win near the line I dug deep but Norris pulled head, I was also in the wrong gear.

Great ride well done every body

I kept thinking your group would slow and we might catch you but none of us were strong enough except going uphill when you would come into view on the right hand side only to disappear again as we tired. The zwiftpower figures suggest we might have been able to stay with you if you had not got away so watch out Dean and Steve!

 

[CXRAndy]

Looking at that course and the time difference between Bob s best hill climb and mine, I think I could of got it back in on the downslope before the next climb. How long I could repeat that effort is debatable

 

[bobinski]

Looking at that course and the time difference between Bob s best hill climb and mine, I think I could of got it back in on the downslope before the next climb. How long I could repeat that effort is debatable

Andy, you do realise I will go faster if I know we are racing

Mind you my average HR today was over 160 peaking at 173. Watts was bang on if not just over FTP .indont know if this means I was near enough on the limit or not.​

 

[Norry1]

Great race. No power drop-out issues today. Managed to stay with the lead group until about a mile from the end. Ended up with Dean and I riding together. We dropped the power for a bit, then I had a power-up which I used and sprinted flat out. Looks like I came 7th and Dean 8th. I'll put (Cyclechat) in my name next time.

 

[JLaw]

Great race. No power drop-out issues today. Managed to stay with the lead group until about a mile from the end. Ended up with Dean and I riding together. We dropped the power for a bit, then I had a power-up which I used and sprinted flat out. Looks like I came 7th and Dean 8th. I'll put (Cyclechat) in my name next time.

Yea, I need to do that as well. There's some support for "teams" in zwiftpower as well, but I've never bothered to learn about it.

 

[CXRAndy]

Andy, you do realise I will go faster if I know we are racing

Mind you my average HR today was over 160 peaking at 173. Watts was bang on if not just over FTP .indont know if this means I was near enough on the limit or not.​

Yes Bob, that means you were running just about flat out. My race data is the same, Ave >160bpm. You have to watch the guys who average 150bpm then ramp it up to 175 for the final mile or two. They're obviously much younger, erm and possibly fitter

 

[CXRAndy]

Comparing Dean's and Bob's ride, over the lap of Watopia reverse. It looks like Bob was caught napping at the start, with Dean getting a healthy 30+sec lead. The middle two loops were much better, but Dean still having an advantage(this could be because he's younger and therefore better looking fitter). Only on the last loop did Bob make inroads on time, by then it was too late.

Faster start Bob

 

[bobinski]

Yes Bob, that means you were running just about flat out. My race data is the same, Ave >160bpm. You have to watch the guys who average 150bpm then ramp it up to 175 for the final mile or two. They're obviously much younger, erm and possibly fitter

Thank you Coach Andy

Comparing Dean's and Bob's ride, over the lap of Watopia reverse. It looks like Bob was caught napping at the start, with Dean getting a healthy 30+sec lead. The middle two loops were much better, but Dean still having an advantage(this could be because he's younger and therefore better looking fitter). Only on the last loop did Bob make inroads on time, by then it was too late.

Faster start Bob

Yeah I did that last week though and burnt out, remember?
Only complicating factors are I woke with a resting HR of 56 not the usual 46 perhaps suggesting body working to repair shoulder ? And didn't have the benefit of working as well with other riders. Dean faster with a lower watts average so perhaps due to his good looks but more likely better drafting/group riding?

So, need to see if I can quickly get in lead group, tuck in, avoid working at front, avoid being spat out back, conserve energy while watching HR and try and average 150ish again while avoiding being spat out by the leaders AND then beat Dean? Yeah, piece of cake. Ummm, cake!

 

[CXRAndy]

Could it be the "trainer difficulty" setting or whatever it's called? That would dampen the effect of the hills in terms of resistance.

Lee, Jeff has mentioned the 'difficulty' setting, this makes the resistance harder or less. only 6% max yesterday.

You still need to make the power, either by high rpm cadence or outright leg strength, it just moves you into a different area of gearing for your bike/type of rider.

I leave mine on the middle for the kickr because its so similar to trainer road and outdoors.

I think Boxers said he upped his difficulty to maximum and then felt the hills were much harder.

Zwift is very much like outdoors once you've got it setup. At least you were using real power numbers from the hub PM

 

[CXRAndy]

Im not allowed cake at the moment

 

[CXRAndy]

Looking at the Cat A riders 2nd place. Ave 150bpm for the reverse climb high 400Watts. Only when required to hang in there his HR jumped to 170+ with high 600W efforts.