shovelhd

Shooting for the ZTR C tonight at 20:00EST.

valygrl

Today's outdoor ride sidelined by gusts to 40mph. Heading to the basement in a few minutes.

shovelhd

Zwift Richmond, one lap warmup with some solid tempo/threshold, then two laps of the ZTR (C) race. The race was keeping a steady 3-3.5 pace from the rollout with the leaderless group staying together nicely. The first time up Libbey Hill shattered it with a group of five
in front and my group of six 10s back. We chased for a bit and closed which wicked up the lead group pace to 4-4.5 which in turn burned two of them off. They rode right through the back of the chase. We lost a rider as well so it was a lead group of three off the screen and the chase group of five. Approaching Libbey Hill for the second time I attacked the chase and put 20 seconds on them. This shattered the chase into solo riders, the lead of which I crossed the line 10s up. I let them know I was all done and called it a night. 1:35 and some good work in.

Hermes

@shovelhd Great race and effort. Was that a win? I assume yes but not sure.

Did 30 minutes of Zwift tempo power.

shovelhd

No, DNF as it was a three lap race. If I had stuck it out it would have meant almost two hours of intensity which is too much for me. I'm pretty confident that I could have held fourth though.

happybday29475

I did the Euro ZTR-C ride at 130pm EST. I didn't warm up, just barely made it to the start. Hung with the group for 1 lap, then did easy Z1 for another lap, at which point VG passed me at a good clip without even having time for a "Ride On!".

I am completely detrained and am a shadow of my former self. It is quite fascinating being on the rivet for efforts that 6 months ago I could have held while having a conversation. However things are improving quickly and I no longer have hip pain.

My CTL is all the way up to 15. Last year I raced and felt great with a CTL of about 80...I hope to be back there in a few months.

Racer Ex 

Hang in there Tom. Good to be pain free, and all things flow from there.

Put in a solid hour today on the Worlds course at an IF of 9, then switched over to the Tacx Flanders course for 30 mins. Turned the fan up for Flanders.

shovelhd

Good to see you back, Tom. Don't forget that as unique as Zwift is, it's still riding the trainer, and riding the trainer is hard. There is a small draft effect but it's nothing like the road, and there are no road features that create small rests. If you coast in Zwift you can pay a very high price to catch back on, much more so than the road. It is all of these factors put together that has me choose to race at C level. My ewang is in the B/A range, but I cannot sustain that on the trainer for over an hour with attacks and tough climbs added in. I'll get crushed. Another factor is that Zwift racing isn't your average club road race, you are competing against riders from all over the world of all ages. Keep your perspective with Zwift. Used properly, it is great training, and the competitions are just for fun.

valygrl

I admit I didn't see you Tom - I was doing sweet spot intervals, maybe i just couldn't see through the HUD ? Welcome back to training, and glad you are pain free!

Actually, I don't know how anyone texts or does right-ons while they are working harder than zone 2. ... but, I have my phone on a table next to me and i have to pick it up to use it, it's not on my handlebars, so maybe that's why.

shovelhd

Funny you mention that. I can do limited keyboard messaging and ride on's at threshold but no way could I send a private message on the phone. That's why I was sending group texts to you that time we ride together.

valygrl

And, that's why I was not really able to reply

Hermes

@rapwithtom Hang in there and think of rebuilding your strength and aerobic fitness as an opportunity. Maybe there are some things you can do differently and or better than the last time. Use the time that your aerobic fitness is building to increase strength in the gym. Since you are the same person as before, your fitness will return to previous levels. That fact would cause me to rethink how I would approach this time. Were you happy with your former self or do you want to be faster?

I know the answer to that but it is something to think about.

happybday29475

You wouldn't have known it was me...I have a silly screen name right now, something to do with Bahati...I should grow up already...

LAJ

Don't you dare.

Glad you're back throwing down, @rapwithtom.

happybday29475

That is a great and thought provoking post.

Do I want to be faster? Top-level: I love bike racing so of course I want to be faster, but there many other things I enjoy, too, and getting faster on a bike has to compete with those other things....I'm not sure that I want to elevate the priority of bike racing in my life above where it already is. So I expect to keep learning and improving, but being as good as I could possibly be probably involves trade-offs that I'm not willing to make. So yes, I want to be faster, but it's not all important.

Specifics on what to do better than last time:
- I would like to learn to become more aero..it will put more arrows in my quiver. That means, in part, more flexibility. That's always been a challenge for me. I'm working on it. If I ever get a win by a solo breakaway, you'll know that I'm no longer a caterpillar..
- Last year I finished the season 15 pounds lighter than I started the season. And, there's still a fair bit of ice cream around my waist, so there's still more to go. My eating habits are better than they've ever been, but they're still pretty imperfect...working on it.
- I was a decent sprinter for cat 4's. I would like to see if that holds at higher levels. There are a couple of very good national level age group sprinters around here (Joe Paulsen, to name one, look at his track results), and now that I'm a 3, I'll get to compete against them. Frankly I'm new and untested, so simple statistics suggests that it's unlikely that I can be at their level...but Imma gonna try. So that means track time and weight room...I'm already back in the weight room with my new hip, and even though the weights are light right now, it begins...and I'll be getting track time as soon as the hip allows..

shovelhd

Just remember, for your sprint to be worth anything, you have to be able to stay on the front in crunch time. This is especially important in the higher categories.

happybday29475

LAJ, I know you're working hard...do you have any goals for the season that you'd care to share?

happybday29475

Yep. And I'm not one of those guys who is flying through the categories. I'm expecting lots and lots of ***-whippings.

Edit:
When I first started road racing, I thought the winner of a sprint was the person with the biggest watts. After last season, I think timing and positioning (both tactical savvy and physical ability to have position) are more important...which is exactly Shovel's point. And where I probably face the steepest learning curve. Let it begin!

Racer Ex 

Tom, track sprinting and road sprinting are different games. Both reward speed but applied in very different ways. Weight work is a good place to start for either though.

Heathpack 

Out of curiosity, how do track and road sprinting differ?

shovelhd

A track sprint starts on the last lap, so at most 400 meters. A road sprint, even in a short course criterium, starts at least 1km out. There are also more riders on the road, so the sprint is very dependent on positioning and tactics.

shovelhd

Going to jump onto Zwift in a few minutes. I'm going to do the Colorado fast group ride (ZTR). I may not finish it.

happybday29475

Got it. I don't have experience to agree or disagree, but I understand.

I'm just out of Cat 4. I figure that, in either crits or track, people (cat 1's) with superior fitness and experience are going to school me for at least a while, if not indefinitely, and that the best I can hope for is to surprise some people. (In Colorado, you jump from 50/4's to 50/Open )

But I'm fortunate to live not far from the new Boulder Velodrome, and 90 minutes away is the newly covered Colorado Springs Velodrome, so I should be able to get lots of track time. Also, my race team has a really strong track contingent, so there's camaraderie and team support, too, which will also encourage track time.

I figure I'll develop a preference for either crit or track sooner or later. Up to now, it's been all fun and games for me in both, with crits being taken more seriously by me but track maybe being more intense. (This last year I though of lot of my category crit races were pretty tame until the 1k.) Also, track has a huge advantage of having many races in a single day/night of racing, so I think the rate of learning tactics is significantly faster than on the road. In fact, I am sure that learning tactics in mass-start races on the track, even at a beginner level, helped me immensely in my cat 4 crits.

Anyway, since this is a Zwift thread...should Zwift's next course be a velodrome?

I'll on Zwift in a couple of hours, but likely am just going to do my own thing rather than a group ride/race. Holler if you see Bahati...

Voodoo76

I would say one of the biggest is leg speed. Being able to apply power at 160 rpm is a big advantage on the track. You get more top end out of a gear you can accelerate.

Developing that is a big reason for motor paced work (overspeed). Nothing on the road feels quite like running at the back of a motor.

Was going to get a little sprint work in on Zwift today, but might be able to get outside.

Racer Ex 

This. Conversely you may need to go from a low RPM. And you have banking that you or your competition can use to get a running start. And passing means taking the long way around in the corner or gambling on enough kick to come around.

That's just for mass start races. Match sprinting you might be jumping from a near dead stop. Tactics in match sprints are a whole different ballgame. You're probing for opportunity to get separation. Sometimes separation doesn't help though. At nats I went from 750 out against the eventual winner and 500m world record holder. Had a gap. Blew around me in the final corner like I was glued down.