Who else is on their TT bike, using the base bars (and bar end shifters)? I never use the extensions these days! My Canyon is thru-axle so I don’t use that, and tbh I don’t want to trash it with sweat. I should probably tart my old Boardman CX up again, and get it on the trainer.
@Jorgan saw you had a great result yesterday. If you get into the front pack at the start, you are normally guaranteed a pretty good result as you get so much advantage early on. Even if you get dropped from the lead pack, you can normally reform a slower group and not get caught
I am, and have always had my TT bike in the turbo for over 20 years. I think I’ve only had a road bike in a turbo a handful of times just to see if it works.
(Plus my roadies are Campag and my TTs these days Shimano, which doesn’t play nice on a DD trainer).
I use the aero bars quite a bit but nowhere near as much as in RL and don’t use them climbing at all. It’s the reason I use gloves on the turbo as you can’t easily throw a towel on the bars and still change gear.
I’m on my TT bike. Do a fair amount on the extensions too.
I’m the same, my TT bike spends most of its life on the Turbo. I use aero bars quite a bit so that I can stay comfortable in that position. On the aero bars my max power is around 30w lower than the base bar, so I tend to go on the aero bars when I am riding 270w in a group. As soon as I need power I am on the base bar. I am trying to adapt so that I can generate more power on extensions, as this will help my IRL riding
100% of the time it is on my TT bike and it’s wrapped in towels. I prefer the TT to the road bike and I use the extensions on the TTs and when I need to bury myself to catch a group or the finish sprint
Yes, that was why I was hanging-on for as long as possible! The incline up through Volcano did for me and a few others though. I noticed loads of people must have dropped out or been DQ’d on ZP. Shows how many people sand-bag!
I have tin-foil wrapped around the stem/headset, to prevent sweat destroying it. No idea if it’s working! Plus a towel, headband and homemade wristbands made from old sports socks I sweat a lot.
Ironically, I find those mass starts harder. I’ve really had to work to get in any front pack, but when its strung out I’ve found the pace just seems to be a bit more relentless for longer.
Once you get some splits the urgency dies off.
Funny how perspective differs - cause I bet our races have been similar (as in the start… I expect the end of our races are vastly different
Jimmy Nail voice
He’s Lying
end Jimmy nail voice
See my race last week with @TROSaracen where I busted my balls to get in the front pack at 600W 8W/kg
We then spent a minute jostling before settling in at 312W 4.1W/kg for the duration…
…I led out of the Champs Elysses tunnel to the left turn, started winding up, saw the line and started pumping out another 8W/kg and shot my load and watched people flying past me at 10+ W/kg as I rolled over the line, dejected, in 10th.
Bar stewards
I’m also on the TT bike and do a fair bit on the extensions.
I just knackered the whole cable thing going into the top tube, so I’ve now got it lagged
Its all relative, and if its any consolation, I wouldn’t have done any better in that type of race. There is no way I am doing well in a sprint finish: ive tried everything, go early and get a the break, hold back and try to draft sprinters.
I can guarantee that leading out onto the Champs Elysee is exactly where you do not want to be.
The race where I know I will be in contention is the Road to Sky. I generally do OK on races where there is a lot of climbing, as the lead group gets smaller and smaller on the big climbs, typically there will also be several 45kg riders, in the lead pack, who don’t appear on Zwift Power due to weight doping
Yeah, I know that now
I went about 150m too early.
I’ve also got a wheel on trainer, so I can only do about 700-800W max (~10W/kg) before it starts jumping off the floor and slipping everywhere.
I’ve got loads of 900W 5s peaks outdoors, but none indoors.
Direct Drive drilled to the floor seems to be the best option
I like that Crit circuit with the little cobbled climb and the slight downhill off road (?) rollers snaking to the finish, I seem to do better on that one.
Champs is a really dull course.
I was doing ace on the London Loop the other day, too…until I’d forgot about Box Hill
I’m too tall and heavy for hills in Zwift.
Outdoors at 6-7% I can just tap out a great rhythm and watch people fall by my wayside, but Zwift doesn’t work like that.
I have a big eye bold screwed into the wall with a strap securing it to my Tacx Neo, otherwise it gradually works its way forward
Before I did this, on a race I finished with the handlebars at 45 degrees as the trainer had moved forward so much
My peak power is rubbish
Yep. Same for me. Anyone who saw my feeble seated attempts on the ZA workout 2 last night will see I’ve got no kick. Like @Poet I can get to 900-1000 on the road but nowhere near on the trainer.
Hardly surprising though. Generally I’ve no use for a sprint and never train it.
Last time I sprinted in a road race was 2014!! I went way too early. Lead out the eventual winner and rolled over the line in 5th
This is how I do it. A small towel rolled up over stem and a bike sweat thing and a towel over front wheel.
When I was doing all that climbing I did change and move the saddle fwd a bit and haven’t moved it back. Need to do that! I usually have a Spesh Sitero on there.
Nice. maybe in my track racing days. I’m lucky get above 680-700 these days
Signed up to the Casse-Pattes TT this afternoon, had a quick look on the entry list on ZP, pretty likely I’ll be in the bottom 2 or 3 of the Bs, we shall see…
Right, I’m back! New turbo purchased, buyers survey on my flat completed this morning, so time to revert back to the turbo being set up 24/7 in my hallway!
It’s amazing how weak I have become. From reaching my best ever cycling numbers during lockdown 1, and that carrying through to IRL riding, I’m now seriously low on power. But then it’s unsurprising given how little riding I was able to do once the nights began to draw in. Running has improved though!
I’m hoping the whole concept of “easier to recover fitness than build it the first time” can play out. So how to dive back into things? I don’t even have a ZP racing category anymore! This omnium I’ve seen mentioned seems like something to do this evening, so might see how badly I perform in that.
Are the weekly meetups still going? Took me a while to plough through 1000 posts of unread messages on this thread, given I’d abandoned it whilst not on zwift, but seems like they’ve been really good for everyone? Can’t make this Saturday morning as final packing at my gf’s flat that completes next week, but could do tomorrow if the Wednesday evening ones are still going??