FML so much for going into that as the top ranked team.
Rooftop Kom was just mental. Dropped to second pack. Eventually got back on.
Castle wasn’t much more fun either.
I’d planned and practice my bike swap for temple with a hot key switch.
So many issues in practice but most seem sorted.
Wife got twitchy and fired it to early. Still wasn’t too bad.
Was not enjoying the climb, caught the pack, got up to p3… Big last effort.
Oh f£gk that’s not the top. Still 90secs to go.
Hung on. Still only got 5th FTS and 4th FAL.
And then the bike swap at the top was even worse than bottom. 4th to 19th
I tried helping out as well, Matt said it’s not a complete brutal category, maybe not for him
Almost made it to the top of rooftop in the pack and they cruised until the second climb, I did hang with a few others until the temple. After that it was mostly solo to the end.
Legs were also not interested from the start either and AP was lower than usual, but I didn’t finish last!
One of the team did come first though and Matt was 10th.
Over the top of the Rooftop KOM I was the first person not to make the front pack of about 25. Luckily they sat up a little and we got back on just after the tunnel.
Same story on the castle KOM, again just missed the front pack, chased back on and just caught them at the start of the temple KOM. Had to ride this at my own tempo but with the judicious use of the steamroller towards the top I’d made it from about 20th to 12th by the top.
Front 8 were away and gone but on the way down got into a group of 4 going for 9-12. Steamrollers on the gravel before the tunnel got the group down to three but in a long sprint I lost 10th place on the line by 0.01s
First Zwift race in ages. Route a bit of a slog with the three climbs and too much gravel.
Made front pack but missed the split on 1st climb. We got back on before 2nd but same thing again. This time we formed a decent 2md pack and were rolling along nicely but front were gone.
Rode tempo up the big climb, three used steamrollers early and made a break. So settled in with a small group.
One went 2km out at 6wkg I’d saved my steamroller for that last gravel bit so joined up with them and I took the sprint honours for 30th.
Garmin said new FTP and lactate HR so clearly working hard. Need a few weeks of those in the legs before it starts coming back.
I am enjoying racing in A2 - I found last season that A1 was just about hanging on as long as I could and grabbing a very occasional point, A2 I am a solid top 10 contender - Even if I know that I am not playing with the big boys, it still motivating.
Yesterdays race was hard, but I got FAL and FTS points on each climb. Started at the back and surfed through to close to the front. The Temple KOM I got dropped early when loads of people dropped the steam roller, I waited until the steep section about 2/3 of the way up, and quickly caught and passed 10 riders, I almost bridged the 25s gap to the lead group, they were tantilisingly just 6s ahead and well within sight at the top, in the end I eased off to ride with 4 others, we maintained a gap at 13s, to the leading group of 8, but couldn’t close it down. Managed a half decent sprint at the end to finish 10th
Will miss the last race as I am travelling to London on Tuesday evening. So far its been a great series. I suspect that we will be bumped up to A1 as we are leading our division comfortably
I was mulling this with my team - is a steamroller (which reduces crr) better used on steeper sections (when going slower) or flatter (when faster). I too went for steepest part near the end (well I thought it was near the end - it wasnt lol).
Yes the series has been better than I expected - looking at season 2 I’m again not hopeful, but look to be proved wrong.
Think we just need a P3 next week to win our division. We won the first TTT so looking likely.
I had the same thought, I have to say it made a huge difference, the riders ahead had an 8s lead, I closed the gap and passed them really fast with the steam roller.
Our team is in a similar position, 5 points in the lead at the moment, so no massive pressure on the TTT - we will be missing a few strong riders on the TTT so careful not to be complacent
Bl00dy hell - you won all 5 races?
We are getting mullered by 2 riders from one team; but we have better depth and generally finish with our team in the front group. So TTT really should sway in our favour - unless they bring in ringers.
Tho I can’t see 3 teams beating us unless we have technicals.
Me too I also used it on the steeper section after the flat bit in the middle.
And used the last one on the gravel bit just before the tunnel to Neokyo, this made a big difference and three of us with steamrollers easily put 10 seconds into the one guy in our group who had foolishly already used his on a cobbled bit of the descent from the Castle
Finally made it to level 43 and made a small dent in that, this weeks ToW stages are a bit miserable through the jungle. Hopefully make a bit more progress with the double XP next week and if they have a mop-up week?
Yeah I found this one a bit dull, can’t be bothered to change bikes when I’m just riding steadyish and then seems to take forever with everyone passing you
The “free ride” option is a good idea - you go through the TdW link at the top of the home page and all of the routes are there for you to choose from. No TdW kit and you’re just riding in a normal Watopia session, but you get double XPs on the first time you ride each route and it counts towards completing the TdW.
It’s probably more enjoyable to do the actual event, but I’m rarely ready to ride when they start on the hour
on it