Zwift Chat

[Whorty]

Mixed day and ride for me yesterday. Had a real downer in the afternoon so didn't get to the start line with my head in a good place. Didn't think I could cope with being on Discord, but I did go on and with a little waver at the start, it was a real help talking to the team as we're riding - thanks guys, I needed that

The ride itself was strange. I went off slow for me, thinking I'd sit in the blob until the first climb but ended up falling off the back. I chased on a couple of times, but I seemed to find wheels of riders who were letting the blob go and leaving me off the back. Upshot is I started the first KoM i about 48th position. I figured as I was so far behind the leaders I might as well try for a fastest time so pushed on. I did get a PB on that first climb, ave 266 watts (3.6 w/kg) but only managed 13th fastest time on the night. I went over the top in about 23rd position I think with Tony just behind me.

I was still feeling OK at that point. I'd caught Tony (@Aleman) and the rest of the team on the way up and on the descent Tony closed the couple of second gap as I sat on one of our rivals wheels (TFC). The 3 of us rode all the other hills together, up to the start of the final climb where Tony and TFC pulled away along with some other riders we'd swept up.

I was ok on climbs 2 and 3 but blew up completely part way up the final KoM. Had nothing left but knew I was safe in the points as I was 19th on the road and with a team mate in John (@Johnsop99 ) the next rider behind there was little pressure on as the team would get the same points even if John came past me. In the end we ended up 18th and 19th - I assume a rider somewhere got DQ'd?

I did get quite a few PBs last night .. on the descents Must be a mixture of anvil and supertuck

I was nearly 3 mins off my PB on that final climb. I think this shows how much my legs went

Thanks @steverob for herding the cats of CCC and @bridgy and @mjd1988 for organising the teams through the season

Great ride CCC and also #23 and #68 ... seems we all have a battle story to tell and now the dust has settled we can pretend we enjoyed the ride

 

[Del C]

We've had a bit of a tussle with @Del C 's WTRL team all season, and if the results are now finalised, we've managed to finish on the same points, but one place ahead of WTRL on count-back - phew that was close

It was a good battle!

Looking forward to the next round in ZRL4!

 

[steverob]

I was ok on climbs 2 and 3 but blew up completely part way up the final KoM. Had nothing left but knew I was safe in the points as I was 19th on the road and with a team mate in John (@Johnsop99 ) the next rider behind there was little pressure on as the team would get the same points even if John came past me. In the end we ended up 18th and 19th - I assume a rider somewhere got DQ'd?

That probably would have been our mystery invisible rider just after the top of Keith Hill then. I didn't see all of you go past that point, but did see Tony, Jeff and Lee and all of them gained one position about 300 metres after passing the KOM banner, even though there was no rider there and no-one on the 'riders nearby' board to the right. I can only assume that someone quit the game at that exact point, either thinking the course ended at the top of the hill, or they had a mechanical problem (but surely they would at least have coasted to the end of the downhill bit) or a network outage (but it would have to have been one that lasted over 20 minutes).

 

[steverob]

If anyone on here wants to relive the hardest hour and a half of their cycling lives for some unknown reason, you could always do it by watching CCC's efforts below:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE2F0TOjgJA

Unfortunately it ends just as Tony crosses the line and so you don't see any of the rest of the team finish, which is totally my fault, so apologies for that.

(I forgot that if you're viewing someone else, you can't see where the finish is if it's not at a banner, and you need to have switched camera to someone else BEFORE they cross the line, otherwise you'll be watching them in the 'open world', not in the race and it's a real palaver to get the camera back into the actual race again. I did eventually manage to do that in time to see David, Jeff and Lee finish, but by then I'd already stopped the recording.)

 

[<Tommy>]

Well done to all my Team #23 teammates - that was a tough way to finish!

I was in a group with Tommy for most of the race - apart from when I went over the top of a climb 4 seconds ahead of the group, and then stupidly got dropped on the descent as the group passed me! That took a lot of effort to get back, but I did eventually.

I was a bit distanced on the last climb to the finish and ended up in no man's land with a rider 40 seconds ahead and a group of riders 40 seconds behind. I was really suffering by then but made it my mission NOT to get caught by the group behind and thankfully that was mission accomplished!

I know everyone fought hard for every position they could get in a very competitive field of riders.

We've had a bit of a tussle with @Del C 's WTRL team all season, and if the results are now finalised, we've managed to finish on the same points, but one place ahead of WTRL on count-back - phew that was close

View attachment 590682

@Del C had a team in the same league as us? Can’t say I noticed

 

[Legs]

Clearly lots of work for me to do - I didn’t expect to end up in as poor condition as this!

I have decided to change tack and train for a 10 mile TT. Going to enter an open event at Goodwood race circuit so got an event to target and train for.

So lots of sweet spot and threshold efforts coming up for me. Hoping that by doing a new discipline I won’t have anything to compare to and be miserable about!

Don't beat yourself up about it, Nick. Four weeks post-op, I was wearing tight underwear and walking gingerly, not thrashing myself on a turbo trainer for 90 minutes!

A lot of people will tell you that time trials on Zwift are hard! I like doing the 17.6km Tempus Fugit and 8km Bologna events, of which there are loads (TT Tuesday, Fast Friday, Newbury Velo etc etc). Get yourself a Canyon Speedmax or Cervelo P5 and watch your times drop week-on-week as you perfect your pacing and your fitness comes back .

 

[Whorty]

Anyone got any plans this weekend? i've volunteered to join one of Rachel's friends Hannah who is training for a 100km walk in aid of MS and in Rachel's memory. We're only doing a 20km walk tomorrow as it's one of her shorter walk days!

She has set up a just giving page if anyone does have a spare fiver and wants to support a good cause

You can donate to their JustGiving page by clicking here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundrais...ail&utm_term=31dd30b438ab4c61bcda45450fec3048.

 

[CXRAndy]

Anyone got any plans this weekend? i've volunteered to join one of Rachel's friends Hannah who is training for a 100km walk in aid of MS and in Rachel's memory. We're only doing a 20km walk tomorrow as it's one of her shorter walk days!

She has set up a just giving page if anyone does have a spare fiver and wants to support a good cause

You can donate to their JustGiving page by clicking here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundrais...ail&utm_term=31dd30b438ab4c61bcda45450fec3048.

Walking eh, watch out if not accustomed to distance. My BIL and his Mrs walked the from central london to Henley for charity 40miles I think.

She did fine(trained for it), BIL couldn't literally walk for 2 weeks due to shin splints, not enough training

Good luck
https://www.google.com/search?q=shi...droid-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

 

[Whorty]

Walking eh, watch out if not accustomed to distance. My BIL and his Mrs walked the from central london to Henley for charity 40miles I think.

She did fine(trained for it), BIL couldn't literally walk for 2 weeks due to shin splints, not enough training

Good luck
https://www.google.com/search?q=shi...droid-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

Only 20km tomorrow for me - I did a 6km on Tuesday as a 'tester' and wasn't too bad (back was a bit tired at end). Least I can do though I think is keep Hannah company on a training day - 100km walking is going to be brutal when she gets to the actual event

 

[Aleman]

Hey guys, inspired by the trace velo vids regarding Cheapy Chinese bike builds, I'm thinking of doing just that. The £200 quid frame I'm looking at has a max tyre size of 28c, now the whooshy wheels I'm looking at are available in three widths, 25, 27, 28, and 29mm. I'm thinking I can use the 28mm with 28c tubeless ... Unless you know different 😁 ... FWIW the internal rim width of the 28mm rims is 18.5mm

 

[<Tommy>]

Hey guys, inspired by the trace velo vids regarding Cheapy Chinese bike builds, I'm thinking of doing just that. The £200 quid frame I'm looking at has a max tyre size of 28c, now the whooshy wheels I'm looking at are available in three widths, 25, 27, 28, and 29mm. I'm thinking I can use the 28mm with 28c tubeless ... Unless you know different 😁 ... FWIW the internal rim width of the 28mm rims is 18.5mm

I’ll look forward to seeing it built. I’ve been tempted to get a Chinese frame and then get it painted over here. £200 is bloody cheap. What’s it made of?

 

[CXRAndy]

Light bicycle,(China) do wooshy wheels, with superwide aero versions to take 28-32mm. My 30mm tyres are superflush and now measure 32mm wide.

I think they do frames too. Also Yoeleo make frames and wheels.

I couldn't fault light bicycle for responding to emails, price and timescale

 

[bobinski]

Hey guys, inspired by the trace velo vids regarding Cheapy Chinese bike builds, I'm thinking of doing just that. The £200 quid frame I'm looking at has a max tyre size of 28c, now the whooshy wheels I'm looking at are available in three widths, 25, 27, 28, and 29mm. I'm thinking I can use the 28mm with 28c tubeless ... Unless you know different 😁 ... FWIW the internal rim width of the 28mm rims is 18.5mm

He is a chirpy chap that Trace Vélo isn’t he. Those speedplay copies he reviewed look 1st rate too.

 

[berty bassett]

sun shining - ive packed the turbo away - thoroughly enjoyed rgt leagues but i fried myself last night so to take away temptation i have packed it all away for a bit - you watch winter come back with vengance tomorrow

 

[Whorty]

25km walk today with Rachel's friend Hannah - thanks guys for supporting her Absolutely glorious out there. Been some years since I walked that far, and the 4 1/2 hours certainly hurt the legs. Hannah's event is 100km .... how she can do what we did today 3 more times I have no idea!!

The walk is on Strava - pic below if anyone interested. I'm definitely going to try and get some more walks in this summer and mix it up with the cycling