Zwift, riding and racing.... update thread, info thread, motivational thread.

[v8-powered]

Finally managed to get over the 300kj level (306 to be exact) for a 30min ride on the Peloton.
Not huge numbers I know but still pretty happy with myself!

[weeksy]

Finally managed to get over the 300kj level (306 to be exact) for a 30min ride on the Peloton.
Not huge numbers I know but still pretty happy with myself!

What's that in something we can understand?

[v8-powered]

Finally managed to get over the 300kj level (306 to be exact) for a 30min ride on the Peloton.
Not huge numbers I know but still pretty happy with myself!

What's that in something we can understand?

Try this....

[weeksy]

I guess they're related to calories etc. But the power has meaningful figures to me anyway. What's the improvement on W been?

[v8-powered]

Yep, think it takes in HR too....

First 30min spin I did in March was 103W average and a max of 195W with that ride being the best at 170W average.

[weeksy]

Well it could easily be seen as a rubbish result LOL.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=904741
But, to be only 10s off the winner of B is brilliant for me. Not sure what happened to the other 15 riders who were behind me on the road. Power wasn't bad and it was only after the final dolphin kick that i lost the wheel and group to the line as they all found 10w/kg for the run-in. So pretty happy.

Race 2 went better than i expected actually, bit more rolling and lost the group at 1km from the end, but again, more than happy with that.. I'm not a great B and in this race i got dropped by 2s at one stage with 8km to go and pinned it and clawed it back to the group, which is unknown for me !!! Normally once i go, i'm gone. This time was on the 2% slog, it's only 2% but the extra weight and watts makes all the difference, so i was shelled and rolled home.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=904745

[weeksy]

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/08/zwi ... 7ZvRDGRkok

Zwift starting to implment steering in races.

[Horse]

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/08/zwi ... 7ZvRDGRkok

Zwift starting to implment steering in races.

Direct (ie point wheel left to go left) or countersteering?

Skimmed through but couldn't see it mentioned.

[Crosshair]

I think left/left right/right. But it says if you mount the Sterzo thing backwards then it turns the wrong way so I guess you could choose

[weeksy]

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1006244

Bit confused today, I think my HR monitor was reading low, entered a short flat race, playing to my strengths. Off the start the C's were 5s ahead and I was leading them out, as a few As and Bs caught us I jumped on and were ended as a group of about 20, with 6 of us being C riders, over the next 15 mins, 3 of the C's were shelled out.
With 1.1km to go a pair of As split us with 8w/kg and I ignored them, concentrating only in holding the group.
300m to go it all went nuts and I held my own but didn't set the world alight.

End if race I got an FTP increase to 298w and a DQ from race.
I've now been put into B for the race and I hope not for the next 90 days lol.

Fun race and tough effort

[weeksy]

After doing an outside lunch ride yesterday i thought i'd also do a little race.

It's a course i enjoy rather than one i excel at. The leg snapper went well first time up, but last 100m of the climb i lost the bunch i was in and ended up with 2-3 others in G2, but that was OK, it was still a decent position.... I ended up riding with them for most of the next lap, until the last 2km where i didn't have a lot left.

Struggling with leg power from the crash along with hand position on the bike, but was nice to get the HR up into the decent figures, which i felt i've lost for a while.

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=1055199

[weeksy]

I tried something slightly radical last night and jumped on a road bike for it to test handlebar position. It was better in some ways worse in others, but i do like the way i can seem to respond to surges better on the roadie over the MTB. However i still had issues at 11km with the pace, i just couldn't hold it and didn't want to totally fry my legs before today, so called it a day.

It was lucky i tried the bike as it's a mates bike and i found this.

2020-09-15_07-53-33 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Properly seized headset, but happily one of my spare headsets was a nice flush fit, so installed that and it's silky smooth again.

However, i'll be back on the 29er tonight.. But may fit a new tyre on the turbo as the Tacx one is very much worse for wear. I don't think it'll help anything in a perofrmance context, but it'll be a nice shiny one.

[chutzpah]

I spent years doing 20 miles a day commuting, plus club rides at the weekend, so never had the need for Zwift.

I changed jobs in November last year but was still riding 2 miles to work, and mixed it up with a longer ride home a few nights a week.

Then in the midst of lockdown I couldn't get out easily as I had the kids with me daily, and my wife was working full-time, so I signed up and used my Cycleops trainer with a cadence and speed sensor. I enjoyed it more than I expected so managed to buy a Saris H3 when they came back into stock at Sigma Sports and I have to admit I was blown away with how it reacted to changing gradients. I went from barely being able to sit on a turbo trainer even if I was watching something on Netflix to spending a solid hour on Zwift and RGT Cycling tackling virtual climbs (I love climbing hills, weirdo I know).

In May I signed up to the Build Me Up training plan, not for any real target but it gave me some structure for the week. It's quite an intensive one but in the midst of a time in my life where I could barely remember what day of the week it was nice to have a training schedule to follow. Coupled with this my wife was following a diet that was actually full of really nice food, I was dropping weight (not that I really needed to admittedly, I've been around 69kg for some considerable time now, but if I focus I can get down to around 64kg, 62kg if I *really* go for it but at that weight if I eat a doughnut you can then see it in the scales the next day! It makes me appreciate why pros say they can't sit at their race weight for long) and feeling great.

At the end of July we were meant to be going overseas on our annual visit to my mother-in-law's. Pretty much at the last minute that all fell through due to travel restrictions, and so we had an alternative holiday. A side effect of this was I fell out of my rhythm and off the wagon a bit, I haven't done nearly as much cycling as I should have. Luckily I haven't piled the pounds on or anything but I do need to get pedalling properly again.

So posting here as it had the words "motivation thread" in it.

I might start waking up an hour earlier in the morning (as I've fallen into the habit of having a bit of a lie in as I'm working from home) and getting a ride or an ERG session in then.

I didn't Zwift at lunch today but as the weather was splendid I went out on my summer bike for a ten mile ride.

[weeksy]

Both myself and Crust use this thread

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topi ... -series-1/

It's a friendly handicap race based upon your FTP etc. Lots of in-race banter and pre-post too...

[Slenver]

I'm Zwift-curious.

What do I need to know?

I'm still not a passionate biker, but I've settled into 2 morning rides/week before breakfast of between 25-30 miles, and far exceeded my norms with a 40-mile weekend ride last week. I'd still rather have a lie-in, but I quite enjoy the rides, more so as time goes on, and really like the feeling afterwards of having got my arse out of bed and achieved something, burnt a few calories and given my body that pleasant used feeling.

But the nights are drawing in etc, and I fear my resolve will quickly crumble when it's cold and wet outside. I'll hopefully go back to the MTB and local park paths but the thought of riding in the garage with some music playing actually appeals. I've not ridden a single mile with another person in reality (as an adult) and live in the sticks, and TBH, I quite like the idea of essentially combining the riding with a computer game

Should I just spunk a fortune on a decent trainer and go for it? Is it worth trying something cheap to start with? I currently have a gravel bike and MTB and already have HRM and the standard sensors, so presumably I could sensibly set the road bike up on a trainer for the winter and keep the MTB for real riding?

[weeksy]

There's 2 main options

1. bike, dumb trainer, speed sensor
2. bike, smart turbo

The dumb trainer doesn't adjust resistance on the fly, the smart one as you go uphill automatically gets harder to pedal. (dumb trainer it stays the same resistance, your man just slows down on screen)

Work out which first and we'll go from there.

I use a Wahoo Kickr Snap, it's brilliant.

You can do PC, Android, Apple for the actual interface.

[Slenver]

There's 2 main options

1. bike, dumb trainer, speed sensor
2. bike, smart turbo

The dumb trainer doesn't adjust resistance on the fly, the smart one as you go uphill automatically gets harder to pedal. (dumb trainer it stays the same resistance, your man just slows down on screen)

Work out which first and we'll go from there.

I use a Wahoo Kickr Snap, it's brilliant.

You can do PC, Android, Apple for the actual interface.

I'd definitely want a smart one, I'd want some level of involvement.

How much better are the wheel-off variety? Clearly just sticking the bike as-is onto the thing would be simpler..

For the interface I'm fine. I've got laptops, iPads and AppleTVs coming out of my arse. Laptop would probably be simplest - also occurred to me that I've got an old projector gathering dust in a cupboard, maybe hang a sheet on the wall of the garage with the lights off could be pretty cool

[weeksy]

Never tried one, i get the impression they're quieter. But both should be accurate to 1% max.

A couple simulate cobbles etc. Some also descend slightly differently in the way they freewheel. But again, i've not ridden others.

Laptop you'll need an ANT+ usb dongle, £12-13 Amazon.

The Kickr Core is the replacement for the Snap. You can get refurb ones on Wahoos site.

[chutzpah]

I started with a dumb turbo to try it out, you can simulate hills by going the opposite way to normal, ie go into a higher gear and the virtual power will work it out. But a smart trainer is a bit of a revelation tbh, it's night and day. A bonus of wheel off is other than being simple to setup you're also not wearing out your rear tyre.

[Slenver]

The Kickr Core is the replacement for the Snap.

Not sure that's right... the Core is wheel-off and they currently sell them both alongside the main Kickr.

I did see the refurb options though, looks interesting.