20:55
It was a big field of starters, 308 Cat A - note Cat A was for 3.2w+ so combined normal Cat A and Cat B
I got to the pen about 8 mins before the start and was near the front.
Start was no where near as mad as expected, it settled down after less than 30s of hard effort. The race pace was pretty soft, the lead group had 59 riders. At the end of the first lap, I put in a big effort to split the pack, but only took 5 or 6 riders with me, which was not enough. The overall race intensity was low, my average HR was 158 and AP was 326w, despite sitting near or on the front most of the time. As expected the last 5k pace picked up a notch, but nothing too dramatic. I had a reasonable effort on the sprint to get 10th place.
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Interesting, what’s the usual grunt needed to get in a lead group (i’m a B and always miss it), assume its 1xx% FTP for y minutes usually just not entirely sure what to aim/train for in terms of what a normal start is like.
30 secs sounds pretty easy and that I should have stayed in a B lead group at least a few times…
Great race by the way.
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I did the epic KOM and radio tower climbs as part of the mountain route yday - really enjoyed that excursion to a new part of the world.
Race this morning, usual story of being a bit too cautious at the start, missing the front group but nonetheless getting a good workout in with the group I ended up in. I finished quite low in B despite putting out a more w/kg than most. 260W for 42 mins at a snip under 4 w/kg for what it’s worth. The increase in fitness is really a by product, I’m enjoying Zwift for it’s own sake at the moment.
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I was at 420w for 38s at at the start, around 120% of ftp, then race settled down around 320w, , around 90% ftp. Was pretty disciplined race, first lap was 320w, second 330w
Just played the Team Italy Volcano flat race, 3 laps, 23 or so miles, 59 cat C starters, was relatively happy to be in the top 2/3, got to finish to find all bar 2 behind me had bailed!
FTP up to 217W now which means: I’m improving/wasn’t trying hard enough before/previously was scared I’d blow up/all of these
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I did the Tour for All race tonight, although my heart wasn’t really in it after a hard day.
Got on the grid early so got a decent place, it was hard at the start with the first minute being around 400W and then settling just above 300W, I was in the lead group until about 16k and the elastic snapped and I CBA to chase on only to probably get dropped again.
Picked up a second pack which grew until the line but didn’t compete in the sprint.
Despite this AP was 295W for 49 minutes, so I can’t be far off the 4W\KG for an hour, I should get some scales, or stop eating crunchies.
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I did the Tour Group ride, initial plan was to work on smooth pedalling at z2 but ended up pushing and pulling round the course. Heart rate was steady throughout just need to commit to smooth stroke. For some reason it feels more effort.
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No early start for me tomorrow, I’m entering this. Possibly my longest race. Wife & kids going on a play date at a secret outdoor location, and I don’t want to be party to that, so will ride instead.
Did the big loop in the end. Too much faff at the kids bedtime.
Put myself through 8x4 at 110%. Had to go down to 100% for the final 2 sets. Sufferfest
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Another BCSE race this evening. I’m largely aiming for a recovery week apart from the two scheduled races in this series.
Legs felt poor before the start. Even threshold watts felt tough during my warmup. Definitely got a bit better after than period of loosening, but no new power beats this evening. Still second best 10min power and 3rd best 20min power all time though, surprisingly.
Felt I “raced” better though. I made better tactical decisions. The only frustrating bit was just not being able to get nearer the front in the first 8mins or so. It was just so intense. I was in about 120th place or something like that. By the first little climb I moved up through the field but was the wrong side of the split, and that was that. But from there in I again felt I raced better, judging when to work harder and when to ease off more cleverly. Certainly helps getting more familiar with the roads.
Just one small error in the esses in the final run in to the line. My group caught another and as we merged and passed them, I lost contact with the front section of my group. Tried to get back but couldn’t. Finished 68th out of 274 overall on zwift. Well see how zwiftpower ranks things come the morning. Not bad for a day when I was, and still am tbh, feeling pretty rubbish.
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Nearly logged onto Zwift this morning to tick off another route but then remembered that I like riding outdoors as well. Didn’t get a single ride on or XP but the scenery pretty and in full HD.
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Z4 sesh up the alpe yesterday, hit the numbers nicely and unlocked the lightweights at the top, 6th time lucky woohoo
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Its really great to see people making so much progress racing on Zwift, I expect that we will all be faster on the bike when we are able to race again in the real world
I think @Doka has just been bumped up to Cat A, and looking at the Tritalk team on ZP a whole bunch of you are getting close to the Cat A 4w/kg threshold. I only made that jump 6 months ago.
I also remember very well what it was like, trying to hold the lead group, and the frustration when you just can’t hold the pace up a climb, you loose a second and know that there is no way you are getting back on. Don’t get disheartened: what I didn’t realise at the time is that I was pushing 90-95% just to hang on, while most of the other riders in the group were at 80-85%, they could use that extra capacity to absorb the surges.
There are things you can do now, firstly bike and wheel choices, these are increasingly important as you get near the front. Next, practice riding standing for long periods, After riding up the Alpe a few times. Pretty much any race under an hour I will do standing, however, it’s a great skill for long climbs in the real world, which has enabled me to gain some KOMs. In Zwift, If you are standing, you can respond much faster to surges as well as being better on the climbs where splits tend to happen. Its also the ability to ride standing for long periods that has driven the big increase in my FTP: 350w spinning at 90rpm quickly drains my legs, 350w standing at 70rpm feels pretty sustainable.
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Ha, that’s why I’m keeping my weight at 76KG, even if I might have gone down, less chance of being tortured in Cat A 
lol - reverse weight doping
I found that Cat A was not such a big step up, pacing and discipline are much better in Cat A races.
This.
Need to spend some time collecting levels and kit, currently still have the Halford Carrera with toe clips and wooden wheels
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Yes. It’s definitely the in game kit that is holding me back. Definitely that.
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