valygrl

Cool, Sunday St Louis works! I tried the CO ride a couple weeks ago, the start was a mess and I never made it into the group - but I think it didn't matter b/c it was way too fast for me anyway. The STL ride looks like I have a chance of lasting at least the first lap.

Racer Ex 

If I don't go over the hill tomorrow to get hammered by the yutes, I will check out the STL ride. Prolly do an hour or two today of drill work. Yesterday I got the AOL "you've got FTP" note. Sigh. Just when I was building CTL I gotta up my number.

shovelhd

Coaches suck, don't they Ex?

I just finished 2 hours and three laps of Richmond with about 1200 others. I stuck with the Colorado guys for the first lap, 2nd up both KOM's before pulling the plug and doing some sprint work. Hit PR's on two sprints (best, 15th) and came within .03 of a third. Then I just rolled around burning miles, about 35 total. So I might be a bit cooked for tomorrow. I'll use my real name unless one of you comes up with something witty.

valygrl

Thanks for the ride, shovelhd. I rode hard and PR'd a bunch of strava segments. I only barely use Strava, but i connected it to my Zwift account, and that's kind of fun to follow. Definitely got a lot of benefit from the draft.

Edit to add: but more importantly, what kind of car did you buy?

Voodoo76

20m Test on the island, really close to 3.5 W/Kg. Might not seem like a lot but for a 60 yo sprinter, well i was pretty stoked. Still a ways off my goal. Trainer time/Zwift has been good for me, a little easier to focus.

shovelhd

It was GREAT to ride with you. valygrl is one strong woman.

I did the ZTR STL training ride. Lap 1 is 2.5, laps 2 and 3 are 3.5, with KOM's and sprints active, and lap 4 2.5. I took the first KOM and sprint, but after the front group made contact with me, a Cat1 from CT attacked (CDR - Tim A.) and then I was history. I sat up and waited for valygrl. She wanted to hit the next KOM hard for a PR so I paced her up it. I don't think there's that much benefit to the draft up the hill but having someone ride in front of you a little harder makes it easier to go all out. After that I did one more sprint with another guy from the ride, he pipped me at the line, I think I was top ten for the hour or close to it, but it was another PR for me. After that I said goodbye while valygrl finished her tempo work and I switched to the flat course to warm down. USA Crits had a flat course criterium going (I've been waiting for this) in the reverse direction. I was pleased to see one of our local guys (CDR - Jeremy B.) with some Italian guy, OTF as they blew by me at 4.5. He attacked the Italian guy a minute later. I hope it held.

valygrl, this is Mrs. Shovel's new car, a 2016 Toyota Rav4 Hybrid, replacing a 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid with 185K and zero issues. I do the negotiating, she signs the papers.

valygrl

Thanks shovel, nice of you to say.

Sounds like a good car choice.

Racer Ex 

Did the world's course yesterday. Buncha low cadence work. 2/368 on the KOM. 3rd hard day in a row. Starting to feel it.

shovelhd

Richmond is a tough course.

Racer Ex 

It's easy if you keep it under 2.0

shovelhd

I don't have enough gear to keep it under 2.0 on the climbs.

Racer Ex 

Have people noticed the cadence you pedal is reflected by your rider? Pretty cool stuff.

shovelhd

Yes. Also anyone doing a workout has an icon next to their name in the chart and a heads up display on the front of their bike.

Voodoo76

It seems like when I'm riding at exactly 90 there is a hitch in my get along. Wondering if this changes in 5 or 10 rpm steps? Looks a little slow at 140.

There are also I believe 3 different size riders based on BMI.

Racer Ex 

Heading out around noon Pacific.

shovelhd

I'll be on the WWR tonight at 8pm EST. I did the Sub2 last night, but it was rarely sub 2.0.

Racer Ex 

I think we should re-title the two Zwift threads.

This would be "Post your current or future Zwift rides here". The other thread would be "All things Zwift"

Comments or thoughts?

shovelhd

Well, life got in the way and I was not able to ride tonight.

I am all for having a Zwift discussion thread and a separate Zwift ride thread in the Masters Racing forum. I would use both. They will cross-pollenate but we can try and keep things orderly.

happybday29475

I tried the WWR tonight. It was my first Zwift group ride. What a cluster. No way were people keeping it 3.0-3.5 w/kg...either everybody has lied about their weight, or a bunch of pros hang out on Zwift. Either way, I was planning for this to be my first ride with any hard efforts since surgery 6 weeks ago...and in that I succeeded, even if the group ride experience was horrible/non-existant. I'm going to try again tomorrow; I need to (gradually) start adding a little intensity to my rides.

valygrl

Yes good idea! How do we get a moderator to do that?

Racer Ex 

I happen to coach one. I'll make it happen.

shovelhd

I think some of it is intentional and some of it is not. The variance of equipment people have drives a variance of mappings of RPE to output. We had a guy on the Sub2 who insisted on being on the front all the time even though he was constantly way ahead of the leader. He knew that, and chose to continue to ride that way. You will see guys like this on group rides, the ones that continually go against whatever the group agreed to do. In his defense, he was riding on a dumb trainer at an average 2.5 ewang, over the target but who knows how that felt to him, and I won't dump on people with dumb trainers and no power meter. On the other hand there was this guy on the same ride who decided that his training plan was to go at 3.5 ewang on laps two and three during this 2.0 target ride. You can guess what happened when he hit the front.

These annoyances do risk the viability of the platform. For riding around and hitting goals on the course (KOM, sprint, lap) it's just fine. For individual workouts and social rides, fine. Racing, other than the categories being way off, fine. For structured group rides which rely on common sense and courtesy, not always fine. No different from the road though.

Racer Ex 

There's some pretty amusing stuff there with the dumb trainers. Had a guy fly by me at 5.6 w/kg and keep going and going...

I'll be out there starting 9:30-9:45 Pacific today.

gsteinb

thread name changed as per request

Voodoo76

Today's Zwift ride getting sidelined by 65F/Sunny and afternoon off work Plan was, still is, some hard 5m efforts. Hopefully hitting the ZMR on Sunday.