Zwift, Tour of Watopia 2018

[JLaw]

Sadly I had to bail last night. Motivation was severely lacking after multiple mechanicals during the climb and being just plain tired due to terrible sleep all week.

Still hoping to squeeze in all the rides, but it's not looking good.

 

[CXRAndy]

Sadly I had to bail last night. Motivation was severely lacking after multiple mechanicals during the climb and being just plain tired due to terrible sleep all week.

Still hoping to squeeze in all the rides, but it's not looking good.

It's tougher than I expected to do ToW and fit my other rides in. A bit silly really because everything will begin to get compromised.

Hopefully the workload stress will pay back after a few days recovery once it's over

 

[Norry1]

You took it easy stage 1 then have gone for it on the other two

Correct Will probably go for it on the remaining stages ​

 

[Whorty]

I'd say that throughout the league there will be people trying their hardest, and people taking it easy.

Those with an abundance of talent can ride within their potential and still finish high in the standings.
Others can give it everything and still come near the back.

Which leads to a perpetual personal uncertainty - which do I admire more, ability or perseverance?

I'm the latter ..... I give everything and still finish towards the back But that's all good so long as I'm enjoying myself

 

[JuhaL]

I'd say that throughout the league there will be people trying their hardest, and people taking it easy.

Those with an abundance of talent can ride within their potential and still finish high in the standings.
Others can give it everything and still come near the back.

Which leads to a perpetual personal uncertainty - which do I admire more, ability or perseverance?

I have to say that ToW reminds lot of community rides timing or without. Some riders are racing, some challenge themselves and others just enjoy cycling. Good to have same feeling in indoor sessions, can't get much closer what Zwift does.

 

[Whorty]

Not sure I will get to do stage 4 tomorrow as have to go to the office, so may have to catch that stage when the final weekend comes along. Stage 5 will have to be Saturday as HID is having an op Friday so I'll be in hospital most of the day reading magazines and drinking coffee

 

[Whorty]

@Asa Post - join CycleChat team on Zwiftpower then we can more easily see your races and you can see the rest of us in the team.

 

[<Tommy>]

Tommy, Waiting for MRI results so no definitive diagnosis yet. But, at 55y I accept at vey least indicators are torn miniscus and some degenerative damage. The indicators are that walking and sitting makes things worse while cycling tends to make things better albeit if I have walked a lot then the cycling takes longer to help. I suspect joint issues are generally helped by the movement of pedalling subject sometimes tonoushing too many watts. An outlier which I am investigating is my footwear. When ITB and then knee flared up various people urged me to use footwear with no arch support such as vivobarefoot and so I did. I think doing so has made things worse so I am using arched insoles with them with a significant improvement. I used to be woken by knee pain and tendinitis in leg. Since using the insoles-touches wood- that’s gone. So, fingers crossed that a trigger for knee pain has gone. So, in short, I suspect pain/discomfort/inflammation will likely always be there but is likley manageable and hoped improved rather than exacerbated by cycling. Query what happens if, as I hope, my normalised power improves 30-40w.

I suppose the question for me is; ultimately does it help or hinder? Keeping moving is a way of stopping things ceasing up no doubt. I think calling cycling a low impact sport is fair compared to some others, but it’s also relative to how far you take it. The stronger your legs become the more strain you’re capable of putting on your knees is maybe another way of looking at it. Building the muscle that help support the knee is a way of helping protect it. But it’s tough to know if you’ve got it right.


.

 

[<Tommy>]

I’m happy to confess I had my difficulty settings @ 60%, only just made it on a compact set up 12-28 cassette. This was even with my new weight of 89 kgs.

On a different note, I tried lots of different diets over the years as I’ve always struggled with will power - enjoy peroni & cake too much, but I recently read the book about sugar free diet plan and it shocked me how bad sugar is, so whilst I’m happy with losing weight more importantly I’m happier about the health benefits o; kicking sugar out of your diet.

Scary thought is - what happens when the suns out and it’s peroni time ???

Well done for the weight loss mate. I agree totally in that I’ve found rather than doing fad diets just cutting out some of the crap works wonders. I lost a fair bit of weight by stopping eating sugar and booze. I still enjoy my food but just keep an eye on portion sizes. In the end I decided to choose one of the two. Booze won. I don’t miss sugar in my tea or the chocolate biscuits. But honestly I really enjoy a drink with meals or with friends so I’ve made peace with that.

 

[Whorty]

I suppose the question for me is; ultimately does it help or hinder? Keeping moving is a way of stopping things ceasing up no doubt. I think calling cycling a low impact sport is fair compared to some others, but it’s also relative to how far you take it. The stronger your legs become the more strain you’re capable of putting on your knees is maybe another way of looking at it. Building the muscle that help support the knee is a way of helping protect it. But it’s tough to know if you’ve got it right.


.

I have arthritis in my spine (ankylosing spondylitis) and when diagnosed was told I couldn't do impact sports anymore, which included the obvious like rugby and footy, but also (to me anyway) the less obvious like squash. Fear is, a high impact could break my back. Cycling (so long as I don't crash) is ok as it's not high impact, that is my body isn't crashing about the place. It's one of the few sports I can do now as I can't even run anymore as the jolting ruins my back. Thanks to the turbo I can even do it in relative safety of not hitting pot holes

I have other arthritis symptoms too although thankfully my knees are no worse now than they were when I played footy and rugger. Most pain I get is in the neck and shoulders, the wrists and my big toes (gout - so feckin painful!). I feel cycling helps my knees, strengthening the leg muscles helps protect them although I can see how grinding big watts could kill them too.

 

[CXRAndy]

Not sure I will get to do stage 4 tomorrow as have to go to the office, so may have to catch that stage when the final weekend comes along. Stage 5 will have to be Saturday as HID is having an op Friday so I'll be in hospital most of the day reading magazines and drinking coffee

I can't believe everyone is resting up before stage 4 .Wuss's

 

[JuhaL]

I can't believe everyone is resting up before stage 4 .Wuss's

Don't they, don't they. I need to chain myself on a tree to avoid ride all stages prematurely

 

[Asa Post]

@Asa Post - join CycleChat team on Zwiftpower then we can more easily see your races and you can see the rest of us in the team.

Done.

 

[bridgy]

Well done for the weight loss mate. I agree totally in that I’ve found rather than doing fad diets just cutting out some of the crap works wonders. I lost a fair bit of weight by stopping eating sugar and booze. I still enjoy my food but just keep an eye on portion sizes. In the end I decided to choose one of the two. Booze won. I don’t miss sugar in my tea or the chocolate biscuits. But honestly I really enjoy a drink with meals or with friends so I’ve made peace with that.

"Eat [proper, not processed] food. Not too much. Mostly plants". (Michael Pollan - https://michaelpollan.com/reviews/how-to-eat/).

 

[bridgy]

Anyone doing Stage 4 tonight? - I'm hoping to make the 6pm event