Originally Posted by
TMonk
Killer Z race this morn, "Epic" series, 80 km. A lot of low gradient climbing back loaded on a 40 km course (Makuri 40), 2 laps total. I ended up 5th/26, 12 other As on the start line.
Pretty tame first half of lap 1. Into the climbs, I put in a big surge at the base and am holding 5-6 w/kg going up. I was hoping I would force a selection, but I didn't... the group just kinda ramped high 4's-5, then reeled me in when it flattened out. Damnit lol. I'm kinda cooked going over the top and into lap 2. Some beast of a dude is just crushing solo on the downhill, and two others bridge to him. Nope, not me, I'm trying to survive and thinking of quitting lol. But I didn't.
I sat in and focused on fueling and hydrating and my mentality improved over the next 20-30 minutes. I was ready to crush again in my chase group of 4. Another rider and I dropped the other two on the climbs, and then finished together more or less. Killer workout. Did some zone2 after and caught up on some work emails for a total of 3 hrs at 200w (3 w/kg)
When you race, what do you set your Trainer Difficulty to? I used to race at 100%, but things like the kicker in Downtown Dolphins would have me out of the saddle pouring out the watts, burning matches on every lap. So I'm curious, especially whether you just set it to zero on TTs so you can simply put out the same power throughout.