Too many tips in there Daz? 
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You mean on the descents? Because on the climbs you will naturally put out more watts, but I’m just chuntering along as normal until I see everyone going up the road, look to the top right of the screen and see we’re on a 6% climb 
Just to say, I’m more curious than anything else. It’s just a means to an end of getting fitter for me and it is giving me the motivation to ride on the turbo for the first time in 8 years!
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Also leading into inclines and on rollers; but you have to pay attention Rob 
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I think if you pick a few races and repeat you’ll see a pattern too. That early pace WILL drop… its just hanging on till then. Different races will ease off at different points too.
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I’d recommend doing the Crit City races - short multi laps so you quickly learn the lap layout and can anticipate when to increase pace, cruise etc, it really works on your race skills. I also have a dumb trainer with a bit of a delay so really need to be ‘on it’ to get in and stay in a fast pack and really learnt to get a ‘feel’ for it from regular Crits.
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It’s not watts, you’ve got loads, and all your short duration watts are also enough, so it’s not that you’re a “diesel”, you must be wasting them. Not getting into the pen early enough so you’re sat at the back, that makes a start difference.
But it’s almost certainly drafting that is going wrong, and you’re just working way too hard when you’re in a draft, there is a chance that the delay in reacting on your trainer harms you, so one thing, like in a real outdoor race spin more so you can accellerate faster to prevent the gap getting large enough that you’re every out of the blob.
And as always, 'cos zwift is crap, watch out for sticky drafts, they can completely cause you to be dropped for no reason, if the person in front of you slows you must immediately go round them or you’ll be stuck in their slow draft and be required not only enough watts to close the gap (very few) but also 'cos of the crap mechanics also the watts required to accellerate back up to the speed you were going 1second ago (loads) That means if it’s ever lined out rather than a blob or you just have one person in front of you, be really careful on the person ahead slowing and go round them if you can.
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Took me ages on the dumb trainer to trust droping my watts when i was in a pack. Because it’s so easy to just be cycling at the exact same power when you don’t need to be. But you have to be on the ball as to how much too loosen off and keep an eye for the sticky (like Jim says) or the slow reaction time between you noticing you’re going off the back and putting the power down to get back up.
Anticipating the climbs is the other one. On a smart, your resistance kicks and you’re forced to power up immediately. but on a dumb, unless you’re watching the course and profile like a hawk, then you won’t even notice you’re on a hill until everyone is bombing past you (or their w/kg on the list on the right suddenly goes through the roof). This is all pretty tricky if you have a small screen setup like i do.
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Got involved in the 3R interval ride 3 laps Tempus Fugit advertised as 3.5 - 4 W/kg average.
Won’t be making that mistake again!
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First short race as a Cat A, 3 x volcano CCW. Shredded, spat out and discarded like trash…
Positives: returned 4.3w/kg for the race, so it really makes me work (have to be honest Cat B races were a nice cruise after the initial selection). So I’ll get fitter and have the ‘stay in the group longer’ objective to pursue.
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Didn’t realise you could buy bikes and wheels with Drops. I have a huge amount. What’s the best road frame and wheels to buy? Do I need climbing setup and a flat setup or is there a combo that works best for both. I’m level 19.
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Make sure you have the everest challenge selected too - Tron bike trumps most bikes most of the time
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At L19 it’ll be Canyon Aeroad with DT Swiss Arc 1100 (for most races) Zipp 808s for flat and Enve SES 3.4 for pure climbing
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Are you boys going to be doing ZRL next series?
This was my stream from the final race in the series : ZWIFT LEAGUE | EMEA-E1 RACE 8/8 TTT | BL13 - 1st (8th Overall Zwift) and Division Champs :) - YouTube
I think Matt also did a live stream.
Have to say I’ve really enjoyed the series and racing in the team, and recommend you do the same for the next series. The admin side of things wasn’t too bad. I heard of other teams struggling with set squads (around 8). The advantage of that is you just send the race link to the same guys each week. The big disadvantage is as some riders fall ill, injured, cat upgrade (B-D teams) or simply unavailable…you’re stuck.
Because riders can race for more than one team, we had 2 A teams entered, with the best riders (for each week) placed in one team, and the rest in the other. A few guys fell ill, etc, but every week I think only had to put one in reserve. We all got to play!
So enter a team, and then you can sort out who wants in every week.
Only hassles for us was when WTRL/Zwift started messing up the race data for races 6-7.
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so if you are short with 2 teams you make sure team A has 8 and then Team B just doesnt score if 7 or 6 race?
6 race in the zrl teams. we had around 17 in the squad. but 2 were recovering from covid, one work, another with other team commitments and a new rider who was willing to be last call if reqd. So we had a good 2 teams with the best in one to aim for promotion. The other team did really well and came 6th/12 I think.
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So when the Companion App and Zwift Power have different courses for the same event, which is more likely to be correct?
Cheers, I bought the zip 808s off that.
I just have all the Zwift standard frames, because I was more interest in simulation than racing, and the Trek Emonda - not really sure how I got it, but that site says the Cannondale Evo is the fastest climber so I’ll get that.
On the TT front, I’m halfway through level 17 so any opinions about the Cervelo P5, Scott Plasma or wait until 18 to get the Specialised Shiv Disc? I don’t really know why you’d want a “fastest climbing” TT bike.
I thought The Tarmac Pro was the top climber. (with Enve 3.4 if you didn’t bag the Meilensteins).
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